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I moved forward across the roof of the fortress, which was shaped like a cross. I had appeared at the end of one arm. As I neared the center of the cross, I suddenly cried out.
"Annah!" As I approached, I saw that the bodies of all my friends were neatly laid out about the center of the cross, like macabre trophies. Annah, Fall-From-Grace, Morte, Dak'kon, Nordom, they were all there. If my enemy had thought to weaken my resolve it was a fool's gambit. The only way I could justify my companions' sacrifice was if I completed my mission, either recombining with my mortality or seeing it destroyed.
Suddenly, a barbed, armored figure appeared in front of me. The figure spoke.
SO YOU HAVE COME. THEN YOU SHALL DIE AGAIN. YOU ARE UNWELCOME HERE, BROKEN ONE.
"What have you done to my friends?"
ARE THEY DEAD? YES. UNLIKE YOU, THEY HAVE BUT ONE LIFE, AND THEY WASTED IT FOR YOUR SAKE. THEY DIED FOR YOU AS THEY ALWAYS HAVE. SUCH IS THE WAY OF ALL MORTAL THINGS. IT IS THE FATE OF ALL THAT FOLLOW YOU, BROKEN ONE. YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN MUCH.
"Why did you do it?"
THEY TRIED TO HARM ME. *HERE,* OF ALL PLACES. I DEFENDED MYSELF. IN SO DOING, MORTALITY CLAIMED THEM. THEIR DEATHS WERE BY THEIR OWN HAND.
I GAVE THEM THE OPPORTUNITY TO DEPART THIS PLACE, BUT THEY SEEMED DETERMINED TO HELP YOU, DESPITE THE COST TO THEMSELVES.
"So you *killed* them."
THE TIEFLING GIRL WAS ESPECIALLY FIERCE IN YOUR DEFENSE. HER FEELINGS FOR YOU BURNED BRIGHTER THAN ELYSIUM'S FIRES.
AND THE TANAR'RI... SHE WAS QUITE STRONG. HER TOLERANCE FOR PAIN WOULD HAVE SHAMED THE BAATEZU THEMSELVES.
I TOOK NO PLEASURE IN THEIR DEATHS.
"Then why did you *do* it?"
IT WAS NOT MY WILL. IT WAS NOT I THAT BROUGHT THEM HERE. ALL OF THEM HAD A CHOICE. AND THEY CHOSE TO DIE FOR YOU.
IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE WAY OF ALL THAT FOLLOW YOU. FOR THEY ARE TORMENTED SOULS, SEEKING A RELEASE. BUT THEY KNOW NOT WHY.
YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN THIS. AND YOU SHALL AGAIN.
"I know you for what you are - you are my mortality. Your armor - it is twisted like tree branches. Such things speak of Ravel's magicks."
I AM THAT WHICH WAS SPLIT FROM YOU BY THE HAG'S POWER, FREED FROM THE PRISON OF YOUR FLESH.
I AM THAT WHICH WALKS WITH ALL LIFE. MY VOICE IS A DEATH RATTLE, A LAST BREATH IN THE THROAT, THE WHISPER OF A DYING MAN.
"Freed from me?"
THE MOMENT I WAS SPLIT FROM YOUR CANCEROUS SHELL, I KNEW LIFE. I KNEW FREEDOM. I SHALL NOT SURRENDER IT TO YOU.
"We were not meant to be separated. And the Planes have suffered because of our separation."
YOU KNOW *NOTHING* OF MEANING AND SEPARATION. BEFORE YOUR MEMORY DIES AGAIN, KNOW THAT WE WERE NEVER MEANT TO BE AS *ONE.* THIS SHALL BE THE LAST TIME YOU AND I SPEAK, BROKEN ONE.
I needed to question my mortality, to seek for a weakness. I also, even now, was still curious, still interested in knowing more about the creature before me.
"Then there is something I would know, spirit - I have traveled far, and there are many questions you can answer."
I WILL INDULGE YOU THIS ONE LAST TIME. THEN THIS FORTRESS SHALL BE SILENT AGAIN. ASK YOUR QUESTIONS. BUT KNOW YOU SHALL NEVER REMEMBER THE ANSWERS.
"You have done everything you can to prevent us meeting from face to face. Why?"
DO YOU THINK I *FEAR* TO FACE YOU, BROKEN ONE? I DO NOT.
"An iron golem, forged from the weapons of war, told me this once: When one kills from a distance and does not show himself, it speaks of weakness. It is how a *coward* fights."
MY ENERGIES ARE NEEDED TO SUSTAIN THIS PLACE, BROKEN ONE, ELSE IT WOULD BE *MY* HAND ON YOUR THROAT WITH EACH OF YOUR DEATHS. I MAY NOT TRAVEL BEYOND THESE FORTRESS WALLS FOR LONG.
"Yet, even when I was within the Fortress walls, you sent Ignus to try and stop me, when you could have stopped me yourself."
THE SORCEROR WAS... CONVENIENT. HIS RAGE FOR YOU RUNS DEEP. I THOUGHT IT FITTING HE BE ALLOWED *VENGEANCE* UPON YOU. IF THE PLANES CANNOT TEACH YOU MERCY, PERHAPS *PAIN* CAN.
"He wanted revenge? For my teaching him the way of the Art and making him suffer?"
YES. AS PAIN TAUGHT HIM, I THOUGHT PAIN MIGHT TEACH YOU. BUT THE SORCEROR WAS WEAKER THAN I THOUGHT, AND NOW YOU ARE HERE. SOON, THERE SHALL BE ENDING OF THINGS BETWEEN US, BROKEN ONE.
"So you sent Ignus to try and stop me... but when he failed, then you *still* didn't confront me, even when you could have - instead, you put that crystal in my path to imprison me."
YES, THE CRYSTAL IS A PRISON, PERHAPS ONE OF THE GREATEST EVER DEVISED. I USED IT, FOR I TIRE OF TRACKING YOU ACROSS THE PLANES, NAMELESS ONE. YOU ARE... *DIFFICULT* TO FIND.
"Why am I difficult to find?"
JUST AS THERE IS POWER IN NAMES, THERE IS POWER IN *NOT* HAVING A NAME. THE EYES OF THE PLANES SLIDE OFF SUCH A ONE. ONE SUCH AS YOU -- AND ONE SUCH AS I.
I PREFER YOU BE KEPT CLOSE, WHERE I MAY WATCH YOU. THE CRYSTAL IS SUCH A PLACE WHERE YOU MAY BE KEPT.I WOULD KNOW *HOW* YOU FREED YOURSELF FROM THE CRYSTAL.
"I had help. The woman I brought here long ago, Deionarra, freed me."
AH... THE LOVE-TORN SPIRIT. THERE ARE TIMES I HAVE FELT HER ECHO IN THE HALLS OF THIS FORTRESS. SHE SHALL *NOT* FREE YOU AGAIN. THERE IS *NOTHING* IN YOUR SHELL OF A MIND THAT IS OF CONSEQUENCE, BROKEN ONE.
"Except that - from what the Pillar of Skulls told me, there were three that knew where you could be found and how to reach you - one is Trias, one's you, and the other is me. If you kill Trias and I, they'll be no one who knows who you are and how to find you."
YES, THE ANGEL THAT SHIELDS ITSELF WITH GOLDEN LIES. YOU LED ME TO HIM AT LAST. LIKE YOU, THE BETRAYER WAS DIFFICULT TO FIND. HE WILL DIE THE FINAL DEATH.
"So you used me to find him? You wanted me to kill him, didn't you, so his knowledge would die -- then you tried to kill me, so *I* would forget where to find you."
I SEE TIME'S BLADE HAS NOT BLED YOUR MIND OF ALL REASON. MY PURPOSE WAS ALWAYS SUCH: TO MAKE YOU FORGET.
"But *why?* Why do-"
BECAUSE I NEVER AGAIN WISH TO SUFFER YOUR *PRESENCE,* BROKEN ONE. YOU ARE AN IRRITATION, A REMINDER OF WHAT LIFE ONCE WAS, AND I DETEST SUCH REMINDERS. I WISH TO BE LEFT IN PEACE IN MY FORTRESS. AS YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN ME, I WISH TO FORGET YOU. FOREVER.YOU LIE. YOU HAVE ALWAYS FORGOTTEN. AND I HAVE ALWAYS REMEMBERED. IT WAS ALWAYS SUCH.
"'Always' doesn't mean what it once did. I have died, time and again, and my memories have returned to me."
YOUR DECEPTIONS WILL NOT *SHIELD* YOU HERE, BROKEN ONE.
"It is the truth. Killing me won't stop me - because killing me doesn't make me *forget* anymore. I'll know you always, I'll remember everything you've done, how to reach here, and eventually, how to destroy you."
THEN I SHALL IMPRISON YOU, NAMELESS ONE. IF YOU WILL NOT FORGET, THEN I SHALL NOT ALLOW YOU TO BE FREE.
"But I already escaped from 'the greatest prison ever devised.' You can't kill me, you can't hold me, and you can't make me forget myself any longer."
YES... BUT IT WAS NOT YOUR DOING. THE LOVE-TORN SPIRIT FREED YOU. SHE SHALL NOT DO IT AGAIN. ONCE I CRUSH THE BONES FROM YOUR BODY, I WILL TAKE YOUR LIMP SHELL AND SEAL IT WITHIN THE CRYSTAL. YOU SHALL NEVER WALK THE PLANES AGAIN.
"She won't *need* to. Why did you send shadows to kill me rather than trying to defeat me yourself?"
I SEND SHADOWS BECAUSE THEIR REACH IS LONG. YET IT IS *MY* EYES THAT GUIDE THEM.
"So the shadows can travel distances you cannot."
THERE IS *NOTHING* I CANNOT DO.
"Yet you never traveled beyond these walls to fight me... only sent shadows. I think you're *afraid* to confront me... or else you are lying to me, and there is another reason you remain here..."
YOU KNOW *NOTHING.*
"Why is sustaining this place so important for you? If you are truly as powerful as you say, why would you want to remain here? There is NOTHING here."
IT IS MY FORTRESS. IT IS MY HOME.
"And what a home it is, too. Mortared from my regrets, with nothing but the shades of those we've murdered filling its halls, abandoned relics of the past languishing beneath dust, and the life-draining energies of the Negative Material Plane to feast the eyes on. There are words for places like that - they're called *prisons.*"
EVERY WORD BETRAYS YOUR IGNORANCE, BROKEN ONE. THE FORTRESS IS *SILENT.* ALL THAT COMES HERE *DIES* BEFORE INTRUDING INTO MY PRESENCE. AND THE SHADOWS ARE QUIET CREATURES.
"I think you *have* to remain here, along with the shadows and the ghosts, because that's what you've become. I don't think you sustain this place at all. I think it sustains *you.*"
I REMAIN HERE BY *CHOICE.*
"*Really?* So when you said you can't journey beyond this Fortress for long, you were lying? And how is it possible that a Fortress built from MY regrets needs YOU to sustain it?"
I WILL SEE YOU DIE A *THOUSAND* DEATHS FOR YOUR INSOLENCE, BROKEN ONE. YOU ARE AN INTRUDER WITHIN THESE HALLS, AND I SHALL SEE TO IT YOU *NEVER* RETURN.
"I may be immortal, but Ravel told me the ritual was flawed: Whenever I die, I lose a fraction of my mind. In time, after many deaths, I shall lose the ability to even think for myself."
IT IS OF NO MATTER. YOU CANNOT DIE. YOUR MIND MAY BE LOST, BUT YOUR FLESH WILL LIVE ON. THAT IS ALL THAT IS NEEDED.
"'Needed?' Why?"
WE SHARE A LINK, YOU AND I, HOWEVER SMALL. I DO NOT WISH YOU DESTROYED, ONLY FAR FROM ME.
"Consider this: you say we are linked. So when I suffer, you must suffer as well. Perhaps you are trapped here *because* you suffer, but differently than I do."
THE WEAK SUFFER. I *ENDURE.*
"Is it possible that as I die the death of the mind with each of my deaths, you die the death of the body? As I lose spirit, you lose substance. That's why you find it harder and harder to leave this Fortress and travel beyond this plane. This Fortress is not only your prison, it's going to become your tomb."
IMPOSSIBLE.
"Is it? You said we were linked. Surely, you've felt your body wane over the past century - you even carry the branchings of Ravels' frame over yourself, and you *detest* her - but you need the frame over your spectral form to prevent yourself from decaying faster."
EVEN IF THERE WERE TRUTH IN YOUR WORDS, THERE IS NOTHING TO BE DONE. I WOULD SOONER DIE THE DEATH OF THE BODY HERE IN THIS FORTRESS THAN SUFFER EXISTENCE WITH YOU.
"So if I were to die, that link would be broken..."
YOU CANNOT DIE.
"Well, if I cannot die, then you can't exist. You're my *mortality.*"
PERHAPS ONCE. NO LONGER. I HAVE CHANGED. I HAVE TRANSCENDED AND BECOME SOMETHING GREATER.
I had had enough of my arrogant mortality. It was time to end this. But first, I wished to see if anything could be done for my friends, for though they were dead, their spirits might still be nearby, and could be reunited with their flesh.
"My friends... I want their lives returned to them, and I want them to have free passage from this place."
NO. THEY ARE *DEAD.* DEAD THEY SHALL REMAIN.
"Why? *Can't* you save them? Don't you have the power?"
DO NOT *QUESTION* MY POWER HERE, IN THIS PLACE. THERE IS NOTHING I CANNOT DO, NOW THAT I AM FREE OF YOU. BUT IT IS NOT MY *WILL* THAT THEY BE SAVED. THEY CHALLENGED ME IN MY HOME, AND THEIR DEATHS SHALL BE REMINDERS TO ALL THAT CHALLENGE ME.
"I don't think you have a choice. I don't think you *can* resurrect them."
BROKEN ONE, IN THE SPAN OF YOUR FORGOTTEN LIFETIMES, I HAVE OBSERVED, LEARNED, AND GATHERED POWER WITHIN THE VAULTS OF MY BODY.
WHEN YOU FOUGHT IN THE BLACK DECADE WAR, ALL YOUR MILITARY KNOWLEDGE WAS CARVED IN MY MIND. WHEN YOU DANCED SORCERIES WITH LUM THE MAD, I LEARNED WITH YOU. ALL YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN, I HAVE *NOT.* THE POWER OVER LIFE AND DEATH IS BUT A MINOR DISPLAY OF MY POWER.
"So that link we share... it allows you to experience what I experience, learn what I learn..."
IT IS A SMALL THING, OF *NO* CONSEQUENCE.
"Deionarra told me that I could reverse death only when the victim had died close to me. But what she awakened in me - are you saying that was only a fraction of my power over life and death?"
YOUR MIND IS A BROKEN STONE, ITS EDGES DULL FROM MISUSE AND NEGLECT. EVEN IF YOU KNEW POWER, YOU WOULD NOT KNOW HOW TO HARNESS IT.
"If you claim *you* have the power, then I must have the power, too - even if I wasn't there at the moment of death."
YOU DO NOT HAVE THE YEARS NEEDED TO LEARN THE ARTS OF LIFE AND DEATH. YOU WILL FALL BEFORE ME.
I felt a stirring in my mind, and I suddenly realized I *did* possess the years needed to learn - for I knew it all once, across multiple incarnations. But the process would take time, and I knew my mortality would *not* allow me the time I needed, unless I made it. I had found a record stone from my practical incarnation, speculating on the purpose of the entry hall I had found myself in. I poured all the conviction from my lifetimes of experience into my next utterance.
"You know, as I made my way here, I opened that inner vault. Those greater shadows are running free in the Fortress - they're no longer locked in that chamber."
YOU *LIE.*
"Then see for yourself, if you don't believe me - I'm not going anywhere."
I SHALL RETURN AND THEN TAKE YOUR MEASURE, BROKEN ONE. IF YOU HAVE FREED THE SHADOWS, I SHALL *FEED* YOU TO THEM.
"Very well... I'll be here. IF you make it back."
I WILL TAKE YOUR MEASURE SHORTLY.
My mortality vanished. Immediately, I ran to Morte's corpse, to use my power. As I reached out, Morte suddenly spoke.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold up, chief. Uh... there's a few things I need to tell you."
"Morte…?! You're not dead!"
"Well, yeah -- when you've been dead as long as I have, you learn to fake it really well. I've been kind of listening to your whole conversation. Use that power you got on someone else - I don't need it."
"So you were going to *lie* there while I got my ass handed to me?"
"Well, *yeah,* chief. It's not like you'd die. I mean, if you failed, you'd need someone to remember for you. Plus, you know how worthless I am in a fight - well, when I'm not taunting some mage or another..."
As my power touched him, Dak'kon took a staggered breath, then looked up weakly. It looked like he was barely clinging to life.
"Once, Dak'kon, you made the Pronouncement of Two Deaths as One. It is that time."
As I spoke the words, Dak'kon's eyes closed - for a moment, I thought he couldn't hold on to life any longer - then they opened, and his eyes were no longer the dead black I remembered. Instead, they carried the metal texture of his blade, and I knew that Dak'kon had become something *else* -- something far more powerful. Dak'kon took a breath, then steadied himself, his blade *sharpening* as I watched.
"This blade is yours."
I reached out with my power, there was a rush of air, and Annah stirred - she raised her head slowly, then shook it, confused.
"I found my mortality, Annah - and it turns out it doesn't like me much. I need your help."
Annah eyes took on a steely glint, then she nodded.
"I'm gonna stand by yeh."
As my power touched Fall-From-Grace, she rose dizzily to her feet - even disoriented, she somehow managed to maintain her composure.
"Fall-From-Grace - we're at the Fortress of Regrets, and I found my killer; it's my own mortality - it's taken on a life of its own. I really need your help right now." She nodded, slowly; her strength seemed to return as she heard my words.
"I fear now that we have entered, this place will not easily let us go."
I reached out with my power, shaping the soul into Nordom's shape, slowly, until I felt it slipping back into the modron's body. There was a shudder from Nordom's frame, and he sprang to his feet.
"Nordom, I *really* need your help right now... I found my killer, and it's my mortality."
"Awaiting Order."
My mortality suddenly reappeared on the roof.
THIS WILL NOT HELP YOU. YOU ALL SHALL DIE.
I now felt confidant that we could defeat my mortality, but some of my comrades might die again in the process. Besides, my problems arose from the separation of my mortality, which destroying it would not solve. I thought I knew of a way to force my mortality to rejoin me. It would all depend on whether it hated me enough to prefer destruction to the alternative. Best of all, none of my friends need die. I cried out.
"Wait! I have one final question: What can change the nature of a man?"
THE QUESTION IS MEANINGLESS.
"Nonetheless, before there is an ending between us, I will hear your answer."
THEN THIS IS MY ANSWER, AND YOU ARE THE PROOF. *NOTHING* CAN CHANGE THE NATURE OF A MAN.
"If there is anything I have learned in my travels across the Planes, it is that many things may change the nature of a man. Whether regret, or love, or revenge or fear - whatever you *believe* can change the nature of a man, can."
THEN YOU LEARNED A FALSE LESSON, BROKEN ONE.
"Have I? I've seen belief move cities, make men stave off death, and turn an evil's hag heart half-circle. This entire Fortress has been constructed from belief. Belief damned a woman, whose heart clung to the hope that another loved her when he did not. Once, it made a man seek immortality and achieve it. And it has made a posturing spirit think it is something more than a part of me."
YOUR DEFIANCE WILL HURT YOU MORE THAN ANY WOUND IN THIS PLACE. BELIEF CANNOT CHANGE THE NATURE OF A MAN.
"I think it can. I think belief could even unmake me, if I believed it *enough.*"
YOU DO NOT POSSESS THE FORCE OF WILL FOR SUCH A THING.
"So you admit it's possible."
DO NOT TRY MY *PATIENCE,* BROKEN ONE.
I focused my will inwards, centering myself.
YOU ARE A *FOOL* TO THINK YOU CAN ACHIEVE SUCH A THING. YOU CAN BARELY KEEP YOUR OWN TATTERED MIND INTACT. THERE IS NOWHERE LEFT FOR YOU TO FALL, BROKEN ONE.
I kept focusing.
*STOP.* YOU KNOW *NOT* WHAT YOU DO.
"I know what I do. You have tormented me enough, and now it ends."
IF YOU DO THIS THING, *WE* SHALL BE UNDONE. THERE IS NO ONE FATE HERE. YOU DESTROY US BOTH.
"As I see it, I have two choices - either I kill us both, or I let you kill me again and again, losing what few pieces of my mind I have left. I think I'd prefer we both die - UNLESS you have a THIRD solution."
THERE IS NO OTHER RESOLUTION TO THIS MATTER.
"I think there is - we can become one again, as we were meant."
YOU KNOW NOT WHAT YOU DO. IF WE ARE RE-UNITED, THEN IT SHALL BE AN ENDING. THERE SHALL BE NO *FUTURE* FOR US. WE SHALL GO ON TO FURTHER TORMENTS.
"It is better *that* happen than the multiverse continues to suffer because of us."
IF WE BECOME ONE, WE SHALL SUFFER. THERE IS TOO *MUCH* OF THE NATURE OF THE FIRST ONE IN US FOR US TO BE SAVED. WE SHALL BE DAMNED. YOU KNOW NOT WHAT YOU DO.
"No, I know very well what I do. And I think this is the only answer. Prepare yourself."
KNOW THAT I HAVE ALWAYS *HATED* YOU, BROKEN ONE. WHEN WE ARE ONE, I WILL CONTINUE TO *HATE* YOU. WHEN YOUR SHELL DIES AT LAST, KNOW THAT I SHALL TAKE *PLEASURE* IN YOUR DEATH.
"I can live with that - and so can the planes."
KNOW THAT MY HATRED FOR YOU WILL *UNMAKE* THE PLANES. PREPARE YOURSELF. WE SHALL BE AS ONE AGAIN -- UNTIL YOUR LAST MOMENTS OF LIFE.
"Very well. I am ready to become mortal again." My
mortality surrendered its will, and finally, after so many lifetimes,
and deaths, and regrets, we were one again.
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