Summer Garden

Rendi

Rendi stood near the ghoul, who was meditating, the ground around him dying.

It felt odd to stand here, in this paradise, when he knew what was happening around them. Life flowed around them in peaceful harmony. Insects buzzing, animals playing. The trees were singing in the gentle breeze. It was the melodies of his youth, when he was a young boy learning to survive alone in the forest. Somehow, in this tamed realm, it had recaptured the scent of the wild lands where he had scavenged and fought and killed. Had learned how to stay alive.

He felt perfectly at peace, though he knew a Fae was dying whilst grasping the last light of a dead god. Despite the fact he knew that his old master was beginning the final steps for war. This entire place would be scorched away in the rage that would follow them here.

Yet he couldn't grasp onto the urgency of the situation. His mind rebelled, desperately holding tight to an empty quiet.

He looked over at the ghoul, and wondered. Did this perverse serenity invade the mind of the mortal as well? Or was something plaguing the creature, driving it to prepare for the coming battles?

"Luna called you Rendi."

The assassin raised an eyebrow. It was unusual that a mortal would detect his gaze so easily, perhaps there was more to the creature than he could see. "Yes."

"Who are you, really?" The ghoul asked, a hint of venom in his voice.

Rendi considered the answer. He wasn't sure of it himself. "I am bound to the Lady Luna. My soul is hers until such time as I am extinguished from reality, or she sees fit to release me."

The ghoul leaned back, "You resent her?"

"I am incapable of negative thought or emotion towards her." He confessed easily, "I am bound to her."

The ghoul looked up at the sky quietly, "You were the one who hurt her, weren't you?"

Rendi felt a shock wave of guilt that threatened to stop his heart as he remembered the pain he'd inflicted, and the joy he'd felt at hearing her hiss and growl and scream. "Yes."

The creature fell silent, watching the sky. His face gave way to no emotions, and his mind seemed shut off. Rendi was impressed. These were the mental disciplines of a soldier, of someone who had seen battle and fought.

"I thought you were just a blacksmith's apprentice." Rendi began, "You have training though, do you not? A military of some kind..."

"We all do." The ghoul shrugged, "My world is at war. It has been at war since before I was born... I picked up my first sword when I was six, to defend my mother... It didn't work, of course. Nearly got me killed... I was conscripted when I turned ten. They just picked kids up off the street... I remember when the mage pointed me out. I was scared then. So scared... I wasn't scared in that first battle. I was angry then... But I was scared when they chose me to fight. When she chose me to fight."

Rendi felt his soul squirm in anxious thought, "She? The mage was a woman?"

"Vastras." The ghoul replied quietly, "Queen Vastras. She founded a city, to try and escape the politics. I really thought she died a long time ago... I didn't recognise her. How would I? Two decades and she hadn't aged at all. There was a mage, a real mage. Not just someone grasping at magic, but someone who understood it. Who innovated and invented magic. She transformed us all without even trying. She built the spell that formed the shield of the city herself... Bound it. That spell withstood three sieges in my lifetime, without her needing to repair it. I have no idea how. Some sort of recrystallising or something. I didn't understand, I don't think anybody did."
Rendi sighed heavily, "This name you speak evokes... Feelings... In my mistress."

"Vastras... Fell for me." The creature said quietly, "Or I think she did. Summer wasn't exceptionally clear on what she was meaning. Maybe Vastras just felt guilt for killing me. I don't know. I'd only seen magic a half dozen times before I died... And now..."

The assassin crouched, running a hand over the grass, "Inside, sir. Something approaches."