Ten of Swords (Draft Only)

0. The Dark Sea

It was all dark, but for reflections flickering from an invisible source as the boat and the ferryman's oar moved through the impossibly black water. Mist hung in the air, prickling skin with cold and damp, illuminated only slightly by the same unknown light. The ferryman himself was draped in a heavy robe with a silken texture, all but his hand entirely hidden from sight. Unlike the legends however, his hands were made of flesh, not bone. They were smooth and pale, lacking any pinkness in favor of the colorlessness of death.

"Do not get too comfortable," he said gently. "This will only be a brief journey."

When he lifted his head, it should have been possible to see his face. Instead it was impossible to focus on. Hazy, and ever-shifting. The woman in the boat beside him struggled and failed to make out and singular feature. "Where to?" She asked.

"Here. We are on the Dark Sea."

Their voices did not echo, despite the vast openness of their surroundings. It was as if the water itself feared repeating their words, like doing so would violate some grand taboo. Instead they were surrounded by an immeasurable silence, with only the sound of their voices and the oar hitting the water keeping the woman from hearing her own heartbeat. That was if she had a heartbeat at all in this place. She realized she might not even be breathing, if what she knew of the Dark Sea was true.

"I'm sure you have many questions, but we haven't much time. You will return to your body soon, and I must speak with you before then." He pulled the oar out of the water and lay it down in the center of the small vessel. The brief existence of true silence was overwhelming. "You must know what condition you are in. You will live, but after that? Without intervention, you can do nothing. You will die, long before your time. I can help you, give you the power to save yourself, the people you love, and everyone else, but you must listen to my request."

"You're some kind of demon, aren't you?" The woman scoffed. "I have never heard of the ferryman offering divine aid, but I have certainly heard my fair share of deals run afoul. Especially when someone is dying or desperate." She couldn't afford to risk an arrangement of that nature. Such things often resulted in unmitigated bloodshed, and the battle she fought was not one that should be won by leaving a trail of corpses.

The ferryman almost seemed to laugh. "The ferryman? Yes I suppose I do look that way. What I am is irrelevant, and this is not a deal. I will give you my gift regardless, and I will tell you my request regardless. The rest is up to you. I only hope you will listen to reason."

"Why me? Why would you offer power to a little rebel, driven into a corner, with a knife in her gut, if not to take advantage of her desperation?" She opened her arms wide in a grand gesture of exasperation, indicating herself as the little rebel  in question. Indeed, she wasn't particularly special in the grand scheme of things. She had the command of a small squad, but that squad was half dead and bleeding out.

"If you lack the ego to see yourself as anything but that, then see it like this; everyone, at some point in their lives, will be at the right place and at the right time and not realize it. There will be a moment in your life where you will be at the perfect time and place to perform one action that will save countless lives, prevent unimaginable suffering, and in turn cause as little pain as possible. There are few requirements, only that you are powerful enough and that you know what to do and when to do it. I will provide those for you. Truly, it is a matter of circumstance. I simply wish to use the chance that you will have so that we, or I if you find that more believable, may prevent disaster."

She looked away from the ferryman as he spoke, watching the ripples in the water as they floated along listlessly. This was all quite unsettling, and she did not trust that there was nothing more to this than a genuine wish to help mortals, but his voice sounded genuine. It was full of the ups and downs of true emotion, tiredness, and perhaps sadness as well. "What is it, then?"

"You will need to kill someone. I know you have done it before. You have made many hard choices in your life and I am afraid this will be another. You may trust this person, even care for them, but they can not be permitted to live past that moment. I can't tell you who they are, because you need to have a genuine relationship with them before they will be vulnerable enough for you to succeed. I can, however, give you a trigger."

The lights on the water were starting to blur and fade. The mist was growing darker. Time was growing short.

"Taan'enen, mukan tou elai. Once you hear this, you will have a little time before you must act. Do not force yourself to act too soon."

His voice started to grow distant.

"Goodbye, m y

It was all gone.