Elona Bound: Part 6
----- A Past Sacrifice -----
Four years ago...
The crystalline structure of the beast's arms penetrated me. I flew backward from the assault, slamming into the dune behind. Warm blood poured forth from my wound, ensuring it would be a fatal gash. I prepared for the inevitable end; the solace of my clones finishing the beast brought satisfaction and I smiled a bloody grin. I had decimated Kralkatoric's advancing army of branded minions, thereby stopping them from invading the small village, and perhaps stopping a child from loosing her family. As I closed my eyes, I heard my mother's voice tell me a story.
"Once, long before you were born, there was a village in Vabbi. This village lived under the guise of protection from the god-king, Palawa Joko. The god-king promised their afterlife would be claimed and sentenced to servitude of his agenda. The people of the village knew that to be truly free in life, and death, they must rise up against their oppressor. Thus, did they form a guild of heroes to fight... But the heroes perished, becoming undead servants of Joko. As penance, Joko went to each settlement and claimed those who would be defiant to an early sentence of undead slavery. The last village Joko came upon had a plan, however: As the god-king approached, he was presented with a beautiful young girl; the most alluring woman he had seen in some time. Joko accepted the gift, claiming the girl as one of his brides - and in so doing - spared the town. Much later, there are tributes that are still given to the god-king as concubines which spare the town's inhabitants..."
My mother's voice merged with the storyteller's as I fought the warm familiarity of nostalgia. I opened my eyes to see a stunning young woman dressing my wound. Clad in blue matching her sapphire eyes, behind small glasses, the sky echoed her charm. Her hair was mildly disheveled in a haphazardly beautiful way. She smiled brilliantly, spoke in soft melody, and had the most gentile touch. Her alluring eye winked as she saw my stare; I, in turned, blushed. I'd never felt my heart beat so fast as it did when she told me her name, 'Valandra'.
We spoke much over the course of my rehabilitation. Her village was a comparatively poor community on the outskirts of Vabbi and healers were hard-pressed to find. There were traveling caravans which brought medical supplies to the region, but my unexpected arrival came at a time coinciding with Kralkatoric's branded minions cutting off supply. Thus, it took a great while for my wounds to finally heal. Valandra was my motivation for recovery: I'd grown fond of the woman, and she of me. Each morning I would awake to her fragrance and each night I peacefully rested as her songs lured me to slumber. I found, for the first time in my life, my quest didn't dominate my thoughts, instead preoccupied with Valandra. Eventually casual flirtation gave way to a much deeper relationship, and we gave into our love for one another.
It was only after my wound was almost completely healed, and many nights in her arms, that she shared her future fate; one I had assumed was a afflicted dream... She was to be sacrificed for her people. My heart - so alive for the first time in my life - stopped. Shock and distress gave way to anger thinking the tyrant Joko again threatened to destroy my peace, my life, my heart. I vowed not to let it happen again!
Over the course of the next few months, I formulated a plan; one which I believed my dear love would be most happy to execute, for it meant she would not have to sacrifice herself. Using my powers of illusion, I would allow Joko's men to retrieve a replica of Valandra. I could maintain this illusion while she spirited away, and when the clone reached a sizable distance, it would subtly disappear. The awakened abductors would report to Joko that the maiden escaped and Joko would be unaware the village hadn't properly complied. Valandra would be the sacrifice without actually becoming part of the madman's harem.
One night as we lay together, I explained the plan to my lover. What followed was unexpected: she refused to playing her part in the subterfuge. She explained she had been raised to understand her lot in life; was consigned to it. While her feelings for me allowed for something she hadn't known before, she would not let it detract from her sworn duty to her people. Needless-to-say, we argued (at length!) Tears were shed, voices raised, professions of love surfaced... But, it was all for nothing. Her mind was solidified; she would not put her village in jeopardy for her own freedom.
But I would... and did.
The morning of usurpation had come. She awoke with a resoluteness that I would have been proud of, had the situation been different. Our tears had already been shed, last passions exchanged. Valandra thought all that was left to do was to await her captors. Her abductor, however, was me. I wrapped my arms around her, whispering an incantation of sweet confusion. Whisking her away from the village, I left behind a clone which I could control from some distance. It would appear to the awakened that she was stoic and detached, as one would be in the situation. My plan would have worked perfectly... if only Joko had sent a detachment and not personally arrived to claim his prize.
The village's screams froze me and snapped Valandra from the spell, awakened to the sounds of her village burning and being slaughtered. A horrified shriek of pain, anger, disgust and heartbreak came from the woman I love, and in that moment, I was a small child again: reliving the pain of my own village's death. What had I done?
My attempt to hold her back from the chaos of the scene was pointless. I honestly don't know if I tried or if I gave into the guilt I felt for my selfish, arrogant act. Valandra fought me, both physically and with expletives that cut deeper than a blade ever could. She felled me with a blow to my tender bruised flesh, and I sorrowfully, embarrassingly, shamefully sobbed as she ran back into the destruction..
I discovered later that she had ventured back into the village and successfully brokered a deal with the monster, exchanging her body, soul, and afterlife for a cease on the village's desecration. I know not of her current whereabouts, other than the inner sanctum of the bone palace, where she's undoubtedly desecrated, herself. My heart breaks to think of the torment she's forced to endure. I often find myself longing to rescue her from the fate she sealed, but in so doing, would it again lead to the countless deaths she's sacrificed herself to protect? Would I even be welcomed by my dear heart? This pondering keeps me from accepting the moon's sleep magic, and I'm forced to return my thoughts to taking down the monster which wrought destitution on so many, feasting on the heartbreak of Elona.
I know not if my future brings me to be a hero which rises up against the Scourge of Vabbi, self-proclaimed god-king, Palawa Joko. But for all those I have lost... For all the pain he's left in his wake: I shall try.
Thus, my return to Elona.
To Be Continued...
