10000 years ago
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Ruin
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I was working the fields as usual, plowing the path on the dry land into which later the seeds for the crops would grow. I was sweating a lot, we were well into summer and it was the middle of the day. I was minding my own stuff when from the corner of my eye I saw Lord Cassius, an old fat man with golden hair, an unruly beard and a stomach that could rival three men's and the ruler of this town, walking briskly through the fields and into the forest on the opposite side.
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'That's weird, he normally doesn't leave his home unless he's going to a party' I pondered, but immediately let it go since I was just a peasant and unless he decided to raise the taxes whatever he did was none of my concern.
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Or at least that's how it should have been, but curiosity was burning me alive and I decided that the field work could wait until tomorrow. I started slowly moving towards the Lord while pretending to work.
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After a while the Lord reached the forest and continued walking right through it.
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" That's really strange" I muttered to myself and continued persuing him.
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Once I entered the forest I felt a sudden relieve as the temperature dropped a bit and the sun was no longer scorching me. The forest was full of different sounds: birds chirping, the rustling of leaves, and even the sound of running water from a nearby ravine. The big trees cast a shadow all over the forest, cooling the temperature and making this one of the best resting places in all the town during the hot summer.
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A few scratches and trips later the Lord finally stopped near the entrance to the most important mine in the region. The entrance was nothing more than a black hole in the middle of a big mountain surrounded by the forest.
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As I was watching the entrance the Lord entered the mine with confident steps. I was about to follow when I heard screaming coming from the mine and decided I could wait a little bit until the Lord came back and the go snoop around. After all I may have been a fool, but I wasn't that much of a fool. The Lord had already executed a few people just for looking wrong at him and I didn't want to be his new trophy, so I waited, and waited, and waited while the screams continued.
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Still hidden behind a big tree I finally watched the Lord come out of the mine smiling like a maniac, blood dripping from his hands, in which he held a blue gem with all his might, into his leather shoes.
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My heart started pounding as soon as I saw the blood, but it didn't seem to be the Lord's. The only option was that it was the miner's blood and after that realization my blood ran cold.
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The Lord started walking back to his castle while clutching the gem and muttering. I was too far away to hear what he was muttering but my gut told me it was important and that I should hear it, so I started getting closer, moving from tree to tree and hiding in the bushes while walking and crawling towards him. When I was finally close enough to hear him mutter " They deserved it, that was so much fun" I decided I had to go back and see for myself.
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While the Lord continued moving through the forest I started slowly backing away. When I was sure he wouldn't hear me I ran towards the mine.
Once there I took a deep breath.
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" You can do it, just go in " I said to myself. I was at the entrance of the cave when the awful smell of blood hit me. Covering my nose I continued walking further into the cave, passing torches on the wall that did nothing but farther my fear as they cast shadows all over the short passage, filled with carts and pickaxes.
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A few minutes later I finally found the miners and what I saw made me fall to the ground and retch my breakfast all over the floor.
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The miner's bodies were destroyed, with holes all over them and blood pooling beneath them. Some miners even had all their limbs pulled out of their bodies and scrambled all over the floor. One man was opened from head to toe, with all his entrails visible and his opened glossy eyes looking nowhere.
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It was a brutal sight, but the worst part was thinking that I was just outside as it happened, but I was no fool. I knew that if I had entered I would also have ended like them.
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After resting I got up and started looking around. Besides the bodies there were a lot of pickaxes around and a deep hole in one of the walls which very probably contained a gem or some mineral, but it was nowhere to be seen.
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"The gem in the Lord's hand" I realized, but I didn't know what that had to do with this massacre. All I knew was that it was definitely related.
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I started backing away from the bodies and left the mine running towards my house, afraid that this could happen in the village too. My worst fears were confirmed when I arrived at the town and I saw that the whole village was already destroyed.
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What once was a flourishing quaint little village filled with small cottages with straw roofs and clay walls now was a pile of ashes with very few clay blocks remaining in a parody of what once were homes.
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But not only were the houses destroyed but everyone was dead. The scene in the whole village was very similar to that of the mine. Corpses laid everywhere, blood pooling on the streets and mixing with the ashes to create an awful looking mixture. The smell of blood and fire mixed in my nostrils, making me gag.
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As I walked through the village I realized that no one and nothing had been spared. All the cattle had been slaughtered. Everyone was dead and unmoving. The only movement in the town came from the fire that still remained in some of the former houses.
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Looking at all the desolation I felt like I wanted to puke but didn't have anything left in my stomach to expell.
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After the initial shock I quickly panicked and ran to my house.
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" Please, let them be okay, please let them have run away in time"
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But as I neared my house I realized the harsh truth, they were dead. My house laid in ashes. All of it destroyed. Only a few bricks remained and in front of the house my sister and mother were there, or at least what was left of them.
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Their once beautiful brown hair was now a brownish red color, their blue eyes now closed forever. Their bodies were destroyed in so many different parts that I knew not even the most powerful magic could bring them back. I realized that this destruction couldn't have been cause by one man, not even by a mage, this was the result of using dark, ancient magic.
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I laid down near them and took their cold hands into my shaking ones. Then I cried and cried, regretting the fact that I would never see them again.
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" If I was at least similar to them then I could remember them better" But unlike them my hair was blond, taking after my deceased father, who died in a plague a few years back. My eyes also resembled his, they were deep dark black. Everyone always told me we were each other's spitting image and it had never bothered me, but now I wished I resembled my mother and sister so I could remember them better, but that wouldn't happen.
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I would never see them again, walking through the house, or playing hide and seek. I would never smell again my mother's perfume which smelled like lilies, or hear my little sister's laughter and in that moment I made a promise to myself.
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" He's going to pay for what he's done"
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When I calmed down it was already dark and I decided I couldn't stay here any longer. I was going to confront him, no matter what.
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I got up and started walking towards the castle at the top of the hill. The castle was so huge it could have fit all of our village inside, but I didn't know how it was inside since only novels were ever invited inside.
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" Well, guess I'll find out now"
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With determination I finally reached the gates of the castle, but to my dismay there were two guards in there, wearing full armour that left no space for an attack. Besides I had no weapons and even if I did I wouldn't know how to use them. I was a peasant, not a warrior, so I decided to sneak inside instead.
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After circling the castle a few times I finally found a little hole where I could go through if I gave it everything I had, so breathing deep I entered the castle.
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Once I passed the wall everything inside was dimly lit by candles hanging on chandeliers high above. I carefully snuck around and was lucky enough that I didn't encounter any servants, probably since it was night time. The dark corridors were filled with doors on every side and a few handful of portraits of the Lord and his family.
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I continued wondering until I heard a deep voice, one which I recognized as the Lord's coming from a nearby room. I pressed my ear to the door and started listening.
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" Yes, it's power is amazing, it can destroy anything in a 1 mile radius even if the user doesn't have any magic" The deep voice said.
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" Really? That's astounding" The second voice was lighter and more feminine, though, who it belonged to I had no idea.
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"Now I can finally rule the world. Not even high mages would be able to do anything to me. I'm going to be the king"
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" And I'll be right by your side"
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At that moment I realized what had happened. The Lord had killed the miners to keep the secret and then killed the villagers to test the gem's power. Rage engulfed me. He had killed my family for a stupid test. I wanted to enter the room and kill him right then and there, but I contained myself, pushing my anger back again. I decided I couldn't let that monster live, much less as long as he had that gem.
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Backing away from the door and into the dark corridors I started plotting.
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' I'll wait until the Lord is asleep and then enter his chambers and steal the gem' After finally thinking of I plan I snuck into the room near what I supposed was the Lord's room, which was the biggest one in the mansion and started waiting.
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As I was getting more and more depressed, thinking of my family I finally heard the Lord enter his room. After a while I started hearing him snore, that's when I decided to go in.
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Silently, and thanking the gods that the Lord didn't have a lock in his room I entered the dark room, which consisted of a table, a wardrobe and a big bed in one end where a big figure laid asleep.
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I walked towards the desk and silently laughed at how easy it was to get the gem back. It was just laying on the desk, unguarded. I picked it up and silently left the castle without encountering any inconvenience.
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" Should I keep the gem or should I hide it?" I muttered. It would be great to have all the power in my hands, but after what had happened I couldn't bring myself to do it. I decided I would hide the gem so that no one could ever find it.
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Waking confidently I entered the forest, already planning where to hide this gem so that no one could ever find it and do to other families what had been done to mine. But as I was about to hide it I felt a pull coming from the gem and a voice suddenly started speaking in my head.
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' Don't you want to bring them back? I can do anything, even raise back the dead. You just have to wish for it' I was seriously tempted by the offer, but then I remembered what my mother had told me all those years ago when my father was dying and the doctor said they could expand his life a little longer. My mother had looked me in the eyes and said " Sometimes you need to let go"
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I didn't think my mother or sister would want to come back. After all my mother was already fairly old and my little sister would die of heartbreak when she was gone, so I decided against it. Besides I knew what my mother, a devoted shaman, would say. " You can't disturb nature, you must let it follow its own path" So I did, saying no with my head and ignoring the gem, which begged not to be abandoned. I hid the gem and left.
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In the morning the next day
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As soon as I woke up from my little spot in the forest I heard shouts and turned to look at what was causing all that commotion. By when I realized it was the Lord's soldiers it was too late. They had already spotted me and were coming for me.
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I accepted my fate and let them carry me from my hiding spot to the castle, where I was thrown at the feet of the Lord. His head was as red as a tomato's, no doubt from the fury that someone had stolen from him just in front of his nose.
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" Did you take it?" He screamed.
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" I have no idea what you are talking about" I replied with a poker face. One that I had mastered while playing cards with my father.
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" You must know something, if not you would be dead, just like the rest of them"
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His words bothered me and I asked.
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" Why did you do it?"
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" To test the gem's powers, of course"
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" Don't you see them as people?"
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At that he snorted while looking down on me.
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" Now you are going to tell me what you know or we are going to have fun"
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Doubling down on my lie I muttered.
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" I don't know anything"
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" So that's how you want to play it. Fine, take him to the dungeons"
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As they dragged me into the cold, dark dungeons all I could think about was that I would never tell him what he wanted to know.
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A few days later
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' Mom, Dad, sister, I'm going with you now' I thought as the last strength I had left my body along with my spirit.
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Lord Cassius
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I watched as the damn peasant died on the torture table. Nails and fingers missing, joints broken, dager wounds all over his body. My torturers had done their best and yet this man had died before he told me the truth. It was very annoying. I wished they would have tortured him more before he died but, oh well, after I got the gem I was sure I would have lots of other playthings.
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Turning around to get out of the dungeon reeking of blood I gave one last order to my subordinates before leaving for my room.
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" Find that gem"
ns216.73.216.1da2
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