No Such Thing as Good and Evil

Gaelin looked down at the naked and now unconscious body of Vestelle in his arms. He stared at the rapidly darkening veins throughout her body and looked toward the sky. “Ruvyn!” He yelled, and the same green armored fairy from before landed next to him.

“Yes sir?” Ruvyn said while nervously staring at Shade.

Gaelin handed the body of Vestelle to him. “Take her to the hospital as fast as you can. Then gather every holy healer, ever non holy healer, and anybody who has ever even thought about healing and bring them to the hospital as well, understood?”

“Understood, sir.” Ruvyn replied. He took one more weary look at Shade, then took off.

Shade didn’t watch the man fly away, instead he maintained an unyielding gaze at Gaelin. After Ruvyn left, Gaelin turned back and met his gaze. There was a tense silence that followed before Gaelin finally spoke. “Still alive then.”

“Yep.” Shade replied flatly.

“You look basically the same as I remember, though I would suggest buying clothes that fit.” Gaelin said in a completely stern and serious tone that didn’t match the comment.

Shade was wearing a green warrior tunic when he sensed the amulet break and transformed into a dragon, stretching it and the black warrior pants to their limits. It looked like when body builders buy shirts 3 sizes too small on purpose to show off their bulging muscles. As advertised though, the clothes stretched, but did not break. “I definitely wouldn’t recommend warrior clothing to anyone trying to fight anything other than maybe a dying cat, but even so, I can’t deny its elasticity.” He replied in a similarly stern voice that didn’t match the conversation. He paused as he stared into Gaelins eyes. “What about you. I can’t say you look the same, what’s with the golden eyes?”

Gaelins eyes were bright gold, not just the iris like Faylens, but the entire eye looked like golden lamps were staring at you. Gaelin smiled and white feathered angelic wings sprouted from his back. “Those gods you don’t believe in blessed me with power.”

Shade showed no visible reaction, though on the inside he was rather intrigued. “Are you sure you didn’t pick up some STD while fucking a harpy?”

Gaelin snorted. “Yep, still the same.”

Another silent standoff began before Shade broke it this time. “I’m sure we’re about to have a conversation that decides whether or not all hell breaks loose here on this bridge, but before that happens, can I ask you a random question?”

“Be my guest.” Gaelin replied.

“Well, speaking of the bridge, what’s with it? A draw bridge and moat? Who’s this realistically going to stop? Most of the strongest species can fly, and apparently now the ones who can’t just get blessed by some god.” Shade said.

“It wasn’t my idea.” Gaelin replied, gesturing with his head at the queen behind him. The shakingly nervous queen and king had been silent the whole time, and had taken a few steps back from Gaelin after Shade had landed, so Shade had barely even noticed them.

“Oh, that makes sense, sadly.” Shade said.

The queens rise to the throne was like it was pulled straight from one of those fairy tale stories. An elven commoner who fell in love with a prince. The prince fell in love with her as well, but the nobility wasn’t a fan of their love. They were forced to date in secret for years before finally the nobility relented and allowed them to marry and they lived happily ever after. That was until the king and queen died. Her husband, the prince, was the brother of the king, so as he was not directly in line to the throne, he had some people pulling for him to become king, even though he didn’t want to. Some people thought power should rule, and he was as powerful as anybody, even rivaling Shade. But his power was only physical, mentally he was as weak as an ant, scared of everything and anything, never having even fought a monster of any kind in his life. But that didn’t seem to matter to some within the castle and against his own wishes, he became king, causing his wife to be thrust into the role of Queen. The only thing she knew about being a queen though was from fairy tale books, which she seemed to be using in real life.

“Are their alligators?” Shade asked.

“Two.” Gaelin replied. “Steven and Paul.”

“Human names?” Shade said.

“Most of the main characters in the books she reads are humans.” Gaelin replied.

Shade nodded but didn’t say anything as another silent standoff took place until Faylen finally made it to bridge, landing next to Shade. “You’re slow.” He said, not moving his eyes away from Gaelins.

Faylen was breathing fast, hands on her knees, taking a breath in-between every word. “Maybe. You’re. Just. Fast.” She then caught her breath, stood up straight and looked around. “Are we on a draw bridge over a moat?”

“Already talked about that, should’ve flown faster.” Shade said.

“Who’s the girl?” Gaelin asked peeking at her quickly before returning back to the impromptu staring contest with Shade.

“I’m not sure.” Shade replied.

“Not sure? Did a stray cat follow you here?”

Shade shook his head while still maintaining eye contact. “I assumed you meant who is she related to as she has royal wings. To that, I don’t know.”

“Then you do know her than. How did a dragon in hiding come to find a rainbow winged fairy?”

Shade let out a snort. “Hiding? What am I hiding from? None of you scare me. But if you really want to know, I’ll tell you. Did you hear of that hotel that caught on fire in Tyrael, where all those nobles and merchants died? That was us, though mostly her, I only provided the hells fire at the end. You see, that hotel was housing slave auctions, and at one of those auctions, I bought her. She then wanted revenge, and she got it.”

“You were at a slave auction? Maybe dying has changed you.” Gaelin replied with some actual shock in his voice.

“I would argue it was more due to the alcohol I had drank that night, but who’s to say.” Shade replied.

“Either way, Tyrael is a small town, and as the man who investigated that incident, I know all the people who died there were minor nobles and merchants who thought they were richer than they actually were. Why was A rainbow winged fairy being sold at such a small-time slave auction?” Gaelin pondered out loud.

“She didn’t have rainbow wings back then; they were black and you couldn’t sense any echos in her. In fact, nobody even wanted to buy her as she was supposedly the spawn of the devil, I got her for just one coin.” Faylen glared at Shade, not enjoying her past as a slave being so openly discussed, but he ignored her glare and continued. “I’m assuming what happened was she was born to some noble with a curse on her, and when the curse couldn’t be broken for whatever reason, the nobles threw her out like trash, as nobles do. Nothing means more to them than their image, their fake visage of perfection they have to keep up. Can’t have a black blotch on that, even if it’s their own damn child. Well, I brought that blotch to our old friend Aerith, who cleansed the curse and revealed this rainbow winged fairy you see in front of you.

Gaelin nodded at the story while ignoring his barbs about nobility and looked over to Faylen. “What’s your name?”

“Faylen.” She said with annoyance in her voice.

Gaelin nodded again having already known most of this from his conversation with Aerith after the hotel incident. He didn’t want to reveal that to Shade though and had to pretend like he was finding it all out right now for the first time. After his conversation with Aerith, he had done some digging into who Faylen might be and believed he made a discovery. A discovery he could act on.

Gaelin wanted the same thing Aerith did, he wanted Shade to go to war with Merellien. Unlike Aerith, who seemed hellbent on Shade reviving the fallen kingdom of Endross, Gaelin didn’t care how Shade went about fighting them. Whether it was reviving Endross, joining Alessandria or as a rogue singular entity, as long as Merellien burned it was all the same to him. Shade though was as hated as anyone throughout Alessandria, and for good reason. He would need a good excuse if he even wanted to talk with Shade, nonetheless get the rest of the kingdom on board with allying with him.

Gaelin knew Shade didn’t believe in gods or fate, but standing on the bridge, he wondered if the gods or fate had intervened. The exact excuse he needed had seemingly fallen from the sky. Hell, he wasn’t given just one excuse, but two at once. Just a few hours ago he was worried that Vestelle, one of the most beloved people in the castle, might never be seen again. Now the very person he needed an excuse to speak with that the kingdom would accept, had saved her. Not only that, but he had somehow, someway, while apparently drunk out of his mind, saved a second princess as well. While maintaining a serious outward demeanor, Gaelin laughed a little on the inside. The man in front of him had helped him become the knight commander he was today. Shade had also helped find and train Alexis, the now knight commander of Normuc, Aerith, one of the greatest curse breakers in history, and now this lost princess, Faylen. Shade might not believe in the gods, but to Gaelin, there was absolutely no way that all of it could just be coincidences. Shade might not like them, nor believe in them, but in Gaelins mind, the gods for whatever reason seemed to believe in him.

While the three of them were talking between bouts of silent staring contests, dozens of knights had begun to surround both sides of the draw bridge with more appearing by the second. They held a mixture of weapons, but all of them were pointed at the same person, Shade. All of the knights on the ground had various colored armors signifying they held ranks of some sort, while the knights in the air had iron, steel or leather armor signifying they were standard knights. “Merith!” Gaelin yelled, and from the castle side of the bridge, a gigantic 7-foot-tall pearlescent winged male fairy with flowing long blonde hair that was braided like a fantasy Vikings from a book the queen had certainly read, wearing full golden armor like Gaelins, but without the cape, slowly walked past the silent king and queen to stand slightly behind Gaelin.

“Yes, commander Gaelin?” Merith said with a voice so deep his armor seemed to reverberate as he spoke. Merith was holding a diamond tipped spear that was at least 10 feet long, and had it at the ready, waiting to attack at a moment’s notice.

“Tell me Merith, did you hear any of what our guest said to me just now?” Gaelin asked

“No sir, I did not.” He replied.

“Well then, Merith, I’m going to ask you some personal questions, but if nobody on the outside of the bridge can hear us, I would like you to answer them honestly, can you do that?” Gaelin asked, finally breaking his staring contest with Shade to look over at the tank of a knight.

Merith took his own gaze away from Shade to look quizzically at Gaelin. “Yes sir, I will answer any questions you have.”

Gaelin nodded, turning back to Shade. “Good, then let’s begin. Your name is Merith Tornala, correct?” He asked with an ignorantly curious voice.

“Yes, sir.” Merith responded, confused by the question that Gaelin obviously knew the answer to.

“Your name wasn’t originally Tornala though, was it? How did you get that name?”

“As you already know sir, I married Saria Tornala, daughter of King Orist Tornala and Queen Leena Tornala. I took on her last name as is custom when marrying into nobility.” Merith responded.

“Right, right.” Gaelin said, pretending to be just now remembering all of this. “Saria is the eldest child of Orist and Leena, correct?”

“Correct…” Merith responded, growing ever more confused at the questioning by the moment. Shade and Faylen were themselves staring at Gaelin confused, though their confusion was different from one another. Shade had squinted eyes trying to discern what bullshit Gaelin was about to pull, while Faylen was wondering why Gaelin seemed to be performing some sort of interrogation or therapy session.

“That would make her, and by connection you, potentially first in line for the throne.” Gaelin continued.

“Sir, may I speak freely?” Merith asked.

“Always, Merith. I prefer my men to feel comfortable around me, you know that.”

“Sir, what do any of these questions have to do with the current situation?” He said peering away from Gaelin for a moment to Shade, before looking back to Gaelin.

“Everything.” Gaelin responded. “Merith, despite what your wings may suggest, you’re quite strong, which allowed you to become a knight commander, then court a woman as strong and beautiful as Saria. If you ever had children, they would be power houses. Have you ever had children Merith?”

Merith tightened the grip on his spear as his voice turned somber. “Sir, please, what does this…”

Gaelin cut him off with a suddenly serious voice again. “Answer the question, Merith.”

Merith looked down at the ground frustrated, and began talking through gritted teeth. “Yes, I’ve had many kids.”

“Odd, I haven’t seen any of them around the castle? You would think I would. Where are they?” Gaelin asked.

“Sir, please, why are we talking about this?” Merith pleaded.

“Merith, you said you would answer the questions.” Gaelin said sternly, letting out a small amount of echos, though even small, you could feel just how much power he truly had.

Merith winced at the power that flowed over him, then took in a few deep breaths. “They’re dead, Gaelin.”

“Oh? That’s a shame, they would’ve been quite strong I bet. What happened to them? How did they die?” Gaelin asked returning to his ignorantly curious voice he had been using at the beginning of the questioning.

Meriths grip on his spear became so strong cracks began to form on the shaft. “We killed them. We had to, they were devil spawns, all of them.”

“Devil spawns?” Gaelin asked, quickly peeking at Shade and Faylen. “Explain.”

Merith took a few more deep calming breaths before speaking. “All of my children were born with black wings and no echos. No matter what healer we took them to, what curse breaker we took them to, nothing could be found. The church told us this happens from time to time, that devils curse powerful people in order to stop them from having powerful children. They told us we had to kill them, that if we didn’t, the devil would use them to infect the world.”

Faylens eyes went wide as she figured out what Gaelin was getting at. Unconsciously, she took the staff out of her bag and held it in her hand, pointing it right at Merith.

Shade also figured out what Gaelin was getting at. “Gaelin, don’t you think there might be a better time or place for this?” He said sternly.

Gaelin looked back to him with fake confusion. “I’m not sure what you mean Shade. I’m just taking some time to talk through some life issues with my fellow knight commander.” Then he put his finger to his chin and looked quizzically at Faylen. “Wait a minute, now that I think about it, doesn’t the story of that girl standing next to you sound similar to the one Merith just told us about?”

“Oh, for god’s sake Gaelin.” Shade mumbled to himself, rubbing his hand over his face.

“If I remember correctly, you told me that you found that girl at a slave market. Nobody was willing to buy her because she was devil spawn, right? She had black wings and no echos.” He then turned back to Merith, who himself was now staring right at Faylen, the frustration in his face having turned to hope as he also realized what Gaelin had been getting at. “Some memories have just flooded back to me, if I’m recalling correctly, the last child you had was a girl named Faylen. From the digging I did, my understanding is that you and your wife didn’t kill her as you did all your other children, instead, you snuck her out of the castle one night and brought her to an orphanage.” He then turned back to Faylen. “I’m sorry, I’m getting old, memory issues you know, could you tell me again, what was your name?”

Faylen though didn’t respond, instead, a large ball of lava formed over her head. “What are you doing?” Shade yelled, and lunged to try and stop her, but couldn’t.

She launched the lava ball right at Merith, who from being in shock from his daughter still being alive, didn’t have time to react. Gaelin did though, and despite the group being mere feet away from each other, in an instant, he pulled a golden shining sword with a golden cross hilt that radiated golden light, from a sheathe around his waist, jumped in front of the lava ball, and cut it in half, which caused it dissipate into nothing but smoke and mist.

“Show off.” Shade mumbled.

Faylen growled at the sight of her failed attack, and went to launch herself at Merith, pulling her dagger from it’s sheathe with her off hand. “You son of a bitch, I’ll fucking kill you!” Shade though reached out and grabbed her arms, knocking both the dagger and staff to the ground, then pulled her into a bear hug. “Let me go, let me go, I have to kill him!” She tried to engulf herself in ice, hoping that the ice would cause Shade to let go, but before she could, Shade with his tail reached into his own magic bag and pulled out a collar, then placed it around her neck, causing her to lose all ability to use her echos, before letting her go from his grasp. “Take this off right now!” She snarled, desperately trying to get the collar off.

Shade took on a mock sarcastic tone. “I told you to practice being able to overpower collars that were actually on you, but noooo, you wouldn’t do it, thinking it was unnecessary. You would never let a collar be placed on you ever again, so there was no need, yet here we are.”

“This isn’t the time for jokes Shade!” She snarled, ripping and tearing at the collar.

“It isn’t the time for rash decisions either.” He replied, voice turning stern and serious. “How many times are you going to lose your head and try to get yourself killed, look around Faylen.” Faylen stopped ripping at the collar and looked around as he had asked. All of the knights that had surrounded them had their weapons at the ready still, but instead of them being pointed at Shade like they were before, they were now pointed at her. “Understand now? You keep telling me you’re not weak, but you are, not just physically, but mentally as well. This is just like the hotel all over again. You have no control over your emotions, a walking liability. You should have just stayed behind like I told you to.”

Faylens rage vanished instantly as she listened to the clear disappointment in his words. “I’m sorry.” She said softly.

“Good. Then put your weapons away.” Shade said, removing the collar back off of her. She slowly reached down to the ground and grabbed her two weapons, storing the staff in her bag, then sheathing her dagger to her waist.

“Family reunions.” Gaelin said shaking his head while putting away his own sword and hiding his wings. “Always an argument. You tell yourself there’s not going to be one this year, the racist aunt won’t be there so everything will go smoothly, but it never does.” Merith went to approach Faylen, but Gaelin stopped him, and forcefully turned him around, then began to push him back towards the castle. “Come on Shade, come on Faylen, we have a lot to talk about.”

“You’re inviting him inside?” King Orist said to Gaelin as he walked past, finally speaking for the first time since Shade had landed.

“What would you have me do instead?” Gaelin asked.

“Fight him, kill him! Surely with all these knights here, you could put him down!” Orist replied.

“We could, but how many of my knights would die in the process. And what of Faylen, would you have Meriths daughter, your granddaughter, killed for a second time, that’s rather cruel your highness.”

The king looked at Merith, whose eyes were filled with a father’s determination, then to Shade, then back to Gaelin. “Fine then, do what you want Gaelin, you always do anyway. But if he kills anybody, it’ll be your head.” The king then turned, grabbed his still shaking queens’ hand, and stormed back into the castle.

“Does that mean if I kill someone, Gaelin dies.” Shade then began looking around at all the knights that were surrounding him still. “Anybody feeling suicidal today? I’m offering free deaths to the first 5 customers. I won’t even eat your soul!”

Gaelin sighed. “Still the same as always. Do you remember where the meeting room in the castle is?” he said, turning his head around while still forcing Merith back through the doorway. “Meet me there in 5 minutes.”