i am the mace, the map, the fall and the high
He would never forget the treacherous journey that had brought Rune into his life. When the monsters had opened their jaws to tear him into pieces, he thought his life would be brought to a close then and there. He hadn’t had the future rolling through his head yet, and so he had imagined that to be his end.
In a way, it had been. They had swallowed him and spit him out again a different creature. A piece of his soul had been torn away, only brought back in the form of a harpy eagle through the kindness of Beqanna’s gods. At first he hadn’t quite understood what it was that had been stolen from him, but as time had passed, he had come to realize just how much the bird serves as his only guide to morality.
If Rune should ever disappear and leave the Guardian with no one to guide him, he doubts the world would like what he could become. And he would never be able to blame it on a curse that cannot claim him.
The futures are there, lying in wait like a spider. But what choices were the ones that would pluck the threads to bring it closer? Rune wants to know far more than he does, but it is a secret he would never share with the world. He hadn’t lied when he said it wasn’t his head that needed looking after. She should be far more concerned for the bird that never leaves his side.
For once, his features are serious as he considers Cheri’s words. He can understand them far better than she likely realizes. He too had woken with that burning need inside his soul. And he too had made strides to satiate it. But where she had spread her wings to release her light to draw the world to her, Reave had crept through the shadows to steal it. Living up to the name his mother had bestowed upon him at birth.
But he says nothing.
She thanks him, and Reave grins. “Don’t thank me just yet, Cheri,” he replies, humor suffusing his features. Then he nods her off before turning to leave the peaks she’d brought him to. “I’ll see you soon.”
reave
@Cheri