Tellerian Hawke
Defender of Oerth
Mervonia said:"When we arrive in the port, you must conceal yourself to avoid drawing attention. I believe the best ruse is wrapping your skin in bandages under the pretense that you suffer from the rotting sickness, which is both highly contagious and highly [feared]. I will remain by your side in more modest robes pretending to be a common priestess escorting you to the temple for healing spells."
Bastian nods at her, his mind still in turmoil from his recent ordeal. ~I do not feel the hatred anymore, though my mind insists that you are my enemy. Compassion lives inside of me, like an alien thing, a sickness, except now that it's there, I have come to realize that the hatred which the compassion's presence helped purge from me was the true sickness, a sickness that threatened to damn my eternal soul, and drag me down into the Hells. The only anger remaining within me is directed inward, at myself, cursing my former life, and the misguided ideologies that ruled it. It appears that this woman has given me the chance to atone for that life, a life spent spreading misery, pain, and cruelty. It would be a supreme tragedy to waste this chance.~
Mervonia said:Mervonia glanced at you with more pity in her face. "Accept it Bastian, you were nothing more than a killer as a Madigore. Now you have a chance for a meaningful purpose, free from the sins and expectations of that name. I promise you will not regret it! I also promise to explain the prophecy and answer all your questions once we make our way safely out of the city. For now all I ask is that you agree to do as I bid until then."
"You are not my prisoner. I claim no power over you, nor do I expect any service from you that you do not willingly give."
Bastian's response is calm, peaceful, and meditative: "I see the truth of your words. Had you wished me dead, it would have been so. You were merciful to me. I can only surmise that there was some spark of good, some small, redeeming quality, that you saw within me, that led you to that course. I am grateful, both that you had mercy on me, and that something inside me was worth saving. It means that my legacy is not yet written, and that the chance to change it for the good lies within my grasp. I shall not betray you, and I shall not fail you. I refuse to waste this second chance that I've been given. Bring me the bandages, I will wear them gladly. Besides, the sight of my new appearance is not exactly pleasing to my eyes. The less I see of my new skin, the better."