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The cold silence stretches out, seconds turning into minutes which threaten to turn to hours. There’s a part of you that wants to stay like this forever, if it meant that you didn’t have to make the painful decision laid out before you. Elle’s lips tremble as she awaits your response. There’s so much that she dearly wishes to say, but she doesn’t dare open her mouth for fear of… what, pushing you away?
Gratia waits too, with the perfect patience of a born hunter. For her, it must seem like the easiest decision of all. You wish she could see the world the way you see it. Then, it really would be an easy decision for her to make.
“Gratia,” you begin, her eyes widening ever so slightly at the sound of her name, “You and Elle can see the future, all the horrors it holds, but I’ve seen the past. Did you know that our family, our whole bloodline, was started by a brother and sister just like us? Twins who shared the same soul – he was a brave warrior, and she was a witch of the forest. Their life was anything but easy. They turned their back on their companions, who had become tainted and impious. Those fallen kin were destroyed, but those twins – our ancestors – lived on.”
“You see?” Gratia murmurs, “It is no sin to-”
“Sin or not, it’s a cycle,” you interrupt, holding up a hand to silence her, “Repeated over generation after generation, all leading to the same lessons. Learn from the past, or be doomed to repeat it. Learn from the past, or be destroyed by it. They ran, leaving their companions to die, and now look at you – all too eager to repeat the same fate.”
Gratia shakes her head. “Ten long years we were separated, dear brother. Now that we’re reunited, I don’t want our lives together to be short and filled with sorrow,” she insists, “I want to live, and I want YOU to live too!”
“So stay with us, help us fight!” you urge, “I’m sure that there was a time, however brief, when father thought he could stop this. I will continue that work, no matter how much pain or sorrow that involves. With you at my side, I’d be able to bear any burden. But… if you truly must leave, if your fear is so great, then I will not stop you. I will only wish you luck.”
For a moment, it seems like she might do just that. Gratia turns, casting a longing gaze down the endless tunnels. The labyrinth is an infinite unknown, promising both wonders and horrors. Yet, no matter what miracles might await within, they would always be hollow. False gold, ready to tarnish at the slightest touch.
“How I wish you could see the world I see it, dear brother,” Gratia sighs, “The foolishness, the banal mundanities, the mediocre masses that fill it. But… you see something else. You see something that is worth saving.”
“And we share the same soul,” you remind her, “So you too could see that, if you allowed yourself.”
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