Hell's Bane (COMPLETED)

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Road Demands Sacrifice

Hugo had disappeared for several hours after that, only to return back to the pagoda with an almost insulting expression of amusement. When Amandalin asked what had happened, the explorer didn't answer – rather only grinned wider. Amandalin looked at him as if he had gone crazy.

They left Vermigan riding on two newly-bought horses, Amandalin strapping the Chest to her horse's back, and Hugo delicately placing an unconscious Joss on his. A multitude of emotion swarmed them, of the victory of taking the Chest and the loss of Drea, of the anxiousness of not knowing the road ahead of them.

Behind them, the walls of Hugo's hometown faded away, with everything they had left there only memory to them. Hugo felt a tinge of amusement mixed with shame that the followers of the Bazayuk would return the next day to see their "holy palace" trashed with buckets of blood and rotting flesh. The explorer shook his head. I didn't kill anyone, did I? No, but I helped somebody kill the leader of that group. Am I still to be held responsible?

You must be the hunter, Hugo.

No, I refuse. There is the hunter and its prey, but there is also those who stay wisely out of the feud.

The explorer clenched his teeth in effort to block out the sound of his dead father's voice in his mind, but it persisted. What about the times when your friends are in trouble? Take Drea, for instance – if you were to murder the soldier who would've ended her life, would it have been a justified death?

I... I... I wouldn't have killed the soldier! Knocked him out, perhaps, but I wouldn't've ended his life!

Do you still believe that now that Drea is dead? Do you still believe that the soldier deserves to live, despite what he has done?

...I don't know. If it's already done, this I suppose there's no way to undo it.

You do not crave revenge, then? You do not crave revenge for the soldier's deed?

I suppose I would crave revenge, but it would still be a foolish move to kill that man just because of what he has done.

Just because of what he has done? Then would you kill Kazim? That man has murdered thousands – would you slay him "just" to stop him from continuing his conquest? Would that be justified?

...I'm... I'm not sure. To kill him would mean to save many other lives, but a murder is nevertheless a murder, and I cannot bring myself to do it.

The voice of his father tsked in his mind. Then you are truly a coward.

I don't know what to think about it! I want to kill him, but I don't want to kill him, and...

When the time comes, you must make your decision. No limb removals, no knocking him unconscious, or he will continue his storm of violence. Death is the only way for him, Hugo.

I will not be the one to end his life.

You cannot guarantee it.

I do guarantee it!

You are weak if you think someone else can do such work for you. In the end, you will be the one who will deliver the final blow, and you cannot bank all your beliefs that someone else will come to your aid.

Hugo stayed silent, not knowing how to respond. The voice continued to drill into his moral beliefs, puncturing a hole that was wide enough to spill all that he knew out and place new things in.

When your mother died, Hugo, you know well enough that you wanted to watch an entire nation burn. You wanted to become a soldier and strike down all the grief that those armies caused you. Do you not deny that, Hugo? Do you not deny that there is a part of you that craves for justice and revenge?