Night Watch I: Eliza, Ward of Andrew

*~Mystery POV~*

I felt so…tired. As a young, angry man, with little self-control, I had committed many wrongs. Inexcusable things, really. After spending several years alone, I had seen what some might call ‘the error of my ways.’ Not because of the faulty society from which I had fled, not because I had been told, over and over, I should feel that way, but because I realized I had truly reacted immorally. I needed to not only be the better man, but the better Fae.

These days, I was man of defense, not offense. I had dedicated my life to atonement for my past. Both for those unnecessarily violent acts, and for unwittingly bringing great evil into the Forest. If rumors were true, that masquerading evil had been stopped... Permanently. I couldn’t bear to think of doing it myself, I hoped those reports were true. Regardless, the Forest was riddled with the scars of my temper.

Through the years, I had slaughtered countless ghasts, soucriants, ghouls, revenants, zombies, and the occasional aptrgangr, all with the goal of trying to perform noble, virtuous acts and fight evil. Whenever I heard a rumor of something truly foul, I would follow it, and if it actually was true, I would kill it, and never collect a reward, aside from food and shelter.

Then there were the oddballs. For example, once I encountered a Conjuration Healer who had been caught ‘accidentally’ creating a tilberi. She claimed being hard-of-sight, and having read the wrong bit of directions in a text. Regardless, it was easily dealt with by sending it out to collect lamb’s droppings from three pastures, and then to make three piles. No ripping or slaughter required. You pick up a little knowledge about that sort of thing when you travel a lot…

But after years and years, I was weary and lonely. To make things worse, the rumors were growing darker. Many species were amoral, would attack the Fae for something they wanted, or randomly for supplies. Goblins did it all the time, stupid fuckers. But I didn’t think any species was truly inherently evil. It might seem like it, but the truth was more likely that an amoral species had found itself with either an evil leader, or some sort of compelling, evil force at its front. And for several years now, something had been different about the troll attacks on the Fae.

There were too many, for one. Also, they seemed to be getting smarter. Trolls had always been stupid, my entire life, with no rank or order. I had seen that change, gradually. They were getting organized, and furthermore, shifting their focus to the Wild Ones. That was bad. The Wild Ones may be the fiercest tribe in the Forest, and protectors of the Soul, but the trolls had almost made off with the Soul three years ago. And I had heard occasional things, here and there. People had been seeing troll scouts.

I knew what it meant. Time to get my ass to the Wild Ones, and defend the motherfucking Soul of the Forest. I wasn’t looking forward to it. War sucked horse apples. Introducing myself to a bunch of strung-out, highly capable warriors would be even more pleasant, however. Here’s to hoping I got there before fighting broke out. Ugh.

I rolled over, pulling the sewn-together blankets tighter over my shoulder. I was grateful for the shelter of the small cave, true, but even more grateful for the second blanket. My toes were finally fully covered.

Notes

hmmm... war? why would the trolls want the soul? just, like, to have it? is it shiny? does it do stuff? like, what, exactly?

who's POV is this anyway? and what evil did they unleash, hmmm.....?

:D stay tuned!