Some kind of lion, maybe.

Was it just coincidence, or…

I reached out with my left foot, pushing the already half decomposed head up a bit. Much of its fur and flesh were already decayed. If it was a normal creature, one within the realm of reason, it would be safe to assume it'd been weeks since its death.

But it wasn't a normal creature. It was a monarch. Or at least, it had been.

Even the bones were mushy. The only things that seemed still mostly in tact were the thing's teeth… and judging by its shape, size, the jaw and teeth… Yes. It had definitely been a lion or something close to it. Though why did the few remnants of flesh and fur look like it had been red…?

Probably because it had been.

Taking a deep breath I sighed as I glanced around. I had found the carcass of the monarch in a small field of knee-high grass, and nearby was a larger dirt road. One that looked like it was only a few years from being forgotten since it was being retaken by the natural elements. There were large patches of grass all throughout the road, and even a few small trees scattered here and there. Odds are this road was only used by our own people, typically by Brandy or the others when taking stuff to the Bell Church.

There was a half destroyed wagon not far from me, which looked like had been broken up by axes on purpose. Likely Light's idea. If they couldn't use it, no one should be able to, was likely her reasoning.

It was hard to tell if there had been any deaths, since there was a light storm raining down upon me. And it had been for a good portion of the day. I could smell blood, not just the monarch's, but I couldn't really smell gore. Though that might just be because Light and the rest had taken the bodies with them, as to respectfully bury them elsewhere. Though a part of me hoped that this lion had been weak like Pinchie and that lizard, I knew not to believe it. Something told me this thing had not died easily.

There were too many wounds on it. Even through its decomposition, I could see the effort it had taken to kill it. It had dozens of little nicks and punctures on its softening bones, enough to tell me it had likely taken a bunch of attacks to bring it down. Plus there were arrow shafts scattered around, enough on cursory glance to tell me they had likely fired many dozens at the thing.

I could smell Lilly and Merit, though oddly not Renn or anyone else. Their scents were faint though, but that was no surprise… It was hard to tell, since the monarch was already half-decomposed, but the battle had likely happened within a day. Maybe last night or the day before.

Maybe even this morning, actually… the monarch no longer had its heart within it, likely taken by Light, so I wasn't able to outright tell how strong it had been… but maybe I was lucky and it really had been the same as that lizard and Pinchie. A newly born monarch, without much strength. It might not have had any abilities at all, or ones that were so weak they may as well have not existed in the first place. Kind of like Pinchie, or that lizard. Neither had seemed capable of anything more than they were.

Monarchs were weak when first born... but not for long. And not always. Had Renn and the rest just been... lucky?

It was so odd. It was one thing for a god to make a mistake, or create something on a whim… but to do so three times? That I knew of…? Why make monarchs that were so weak? Without any abilities…? Without any obvious purpose?

There was so little reason to it… not even a manic god, or an insane one, would do it. It wasn't like gods could just pop out monarchs without thought or effort. It was something they spent resources to accomplish. It took effort and planning. Sometimes it took months of planning for the bigger and stronger ones… so…

Sighing as I tried to make sense of it, I wondered if I should be relieved or not.

The monarch was dead. If there had been any casualties, I couldn't tell yet, but I had a hard time believing a smaller monarch such as this could have defeated Lilly, Merit, Light and Martin's son… and Renn. Especially if…

Tilting my head at the skull, or what was left of it, I noticed the way a piece of it was missing. I knelt down to inspect it closer, and reached out to turn the mushy skull a bit. Yes, there was a rather familiar looking hole in the top of its skull. Not broken off, or eroded… but outright missing. Even with it getting all soft and mushy it was still rather obvious that it had been cut and removed by something very sharp, as if cut at a molecular level.

Yes. They had used the spear. Likely the killing blow.

I wonder who had wielded it? Renn? Lilly?

No matter.

The thing had done its job. Fulfilled its purpose. It had not only ended the life of a creature without purpose it had protected ones that did. Mother would be proud… and…

"Oh my."

The world went still as my heart thumped into my throat.

Slowly turning my head… I looked upward, and my stomach twisted as I stared up at a man.

One in the sky. Floating dozens of feet above me. Standing up there, as if the laws of gravity had no meaning. One who was already drenched by the rain, and looked as if he'd just gone through a severe windstorm. His clothes were a mess, and… wait…

A god being hit by the rain and wind…?

"I'm… surprised! But I shouldn't be. I had thought you were dead! Actually… how are you still alive? Hasn't it been thousands of years…?" the man asked me with a frown.

My jaw popped as I stood and shifted, and the wet ground beneath me did too. A far off tree cracked and fell, as if getting hit by a lightning bolt. It hadn't though. It was storming, but not that kind of storm.

The man reached up to wipe the rain out of his face, pushing back streaks of long hair. Hair of red and blue. He huffed at the rain, obviously annoyed by it, and then crossed his arms as he started to descend to the ground.

"I don't remember your face… but I remember your hair. France?" I asked carefully. His hair was multi-colored and had stripes in it. A few gods had such character traits, but not many. It was why I remembered him, he was one of those eccentric ones who had modified his own body outside the norm. Most hadn't done that, hadn't dared to risk it.

"France…? Did you seriously just call me…" the man sighed and shook his head. "It's Stance! Stance! As in…" he then struck a pose, extending his arms out and tilting back a bit… as if about to participate in some grand play. "Stance!" he said, shouting up at the rain.

Right.

Stance.

I remembered him now.

An eccentric god who thought himself a grand playwright. Particularly ones full of jokes and grandiose themes. He was an entertainer to those who had everything and anything, and took great pride in his skills of doing so. I remembered many praising his plays, and finding amusement in just being around him.

But I wasn't amused.

A few heartbeats passed, and Stance returned to standing normally as he looked back at me. "Right… you were like this. A bore. How is it you have no appreciation for the arts? Your father would be ashamed, you know!" Stance said with a light wave at me, as if disappointed in me.

Rolling my left shoulder, I kept my cool. "Your last few art pieces haven't been very… you. Maybe you've lost your sense for it too?" I said with a tiny gesture to the carcass behind me.

Stance flinched, as if I'd just slapped him. "Still as sharp tongued as ever… Tell me, why are you killing my babies? I've ordered them not to harm humans, so why?" he asked with a gesture to the corpse behind me.

Glad to confirm they were his, I gently shook my head. "Not to harm them…?" I asked.

"Yes…? I've made sure of it. I need them doing more important things… plus why would I kill humans?" Stance asked.

I shifted as little as I possibly could. "I found your lizard eating them," I stated.

Stance frowned and shook his head. "Not possible. The only killing I've allowed is of lesser creatures for sustenance. Nothing more."

"Then it saw humans as lesser," I said. I wasn't going to make a comment on how the monarch behind me had attacked non-humans. That would just make him act even odder. This man, this god, had indeed been one of the few to not harm humans. He had been on the side for their survival. Everything else though, had no place in his world of art. They had not even been good enough to be extras or props, in his opinion. It was one of his many hypocritical traits. All gods had them, but his were rather basic. He found non-humans and similar creations to be impure, yet found his own to be special. Just because he made them a weird color, or gave them odd personalities. A typical god.

At least, that was what I remembered about him. I was trying my best to remember all I could of him, his abilities and what he had done and how he had done it… but I honestly felt a little shocked. I was stunned. It was taking me a moment to calm down. A long moment. Right now I wasn't very confident in what I knew of this god. It's been so long… who knows what I did and didn't remember. And who knows if what I thought I remembered was even correct or not. I didn't have Renn's memory. But I was confident in him not being an enemy of humans. Surely. He had been with that group, hadn't he…? Yes… Surely…

So… was he lying, or was I misremembering?

Stance again crossed his arms, doing so in a slightly dramatic way per usual. "Again, not possible. I don't remember you doubting us so vividly, Vim. Have you grown cynical in your old age?" he asked.

I shifted again. This time a small section of earth nearby slid, rising up a bit… forming a brand new hill.

Stance turned to look at it… stared at it for a moment, and then slowly looked back at me. "Right… Okay. Before you go and do anything stupid, I'm not lying. I'm serious. I'd show you if I could. All my recent creations are passive. They will only attack under great duress, or if I order them to. And I've neither ordered them to nor have I felt them getting damaged enough to warrant any kind of self defense… well, until now," Stance said as he gestured behind me.

Wait… until now?

"What of your lizard…?" I asked. Hadn't he just admitted that was his too? Was he saying he had not noticed when it died?

"Hm? The ugly komodo dragon? Yes, that one too. Really Vim, who do you take me for…? Why would I hunt humans, and why in that way?" Stance asked, shaking his head at me as if I was the crazy one. He then lifted an arm, and swiped lazily in the air in front of him. He frowned as he stared not at me, but to his left.

"It's dead," I said, confirming what he had just done himself.

"Wait… what? Why wasn't I alerted…? Did you kill that one too? It was ugly Vim, and stupid, but it was still one of mine you know!" Stance asked as he looked back at me.

"As I said, I found it eating humans."

Stance was about to shout at me, likely to tell me how that was impossible… but he hesitated. He looked again to his left, blinked a few times as he studied whatever he saw… and then shook his head at me again. "I… I don't understand…" he whispered.

My fingers twitched a bit, so I half closed my hands. I didn't make fists, not yet, but I didn't want him to notice my own panic.

My panic over his own.

He was being serious… wasn't he…?

Was this another case of a god going insane…? Like the one who had been living near Merit's Kingdom?

Although a terrifying aspect, it was also somewhat relieving. What if all of this had just been a flailing god's final moments as his mind shattered?

Though… unlike the last one, this one had not been waiting for me to end his life out of mercy.

"Where have you been…? You're not the type to have hid all these years. To hide. Where and what have you been doing for two thousand years?" I asked the man who looked like he was about to freak out.

He looked at me, his lips twitching a bit… and then right before he said something, he reached up and hurriedly slapped at his face. I nearly jumped at the sudden movement, but kept still as I watched him angrily wipe his face off and push wet hair once again out of his face.

"Blasted rain!" Stance shouted as he went to tying his long hair behind his head.

"Why not just… stop it?" I asked carefully.

"I can't! That's the bloody problem!" Stance shouted as he seemingly gave up trying to tie his hair back. It seemed he had only gotten half of it secured; the rest fell to the side and onto his shoulder. He gestured at the world around us, rather briskly and angrily. "Probably why my own servants are acting against me too! And why they're all so worthless!" he shouted.

My jaw clenched as I watched the god fume in his anger. He swiped his hand in the air again, did it a few more times and then gestured in front of him to his left.

"See!?" he shouted at me.

"You know I can't see, Stance," I said softly.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Stance shifted, and then flinched and shook his head… as if his head hurt. The action made his loose strands of hair cling to his face again, but this time he ignored them as he nodded at me. "Right… I'm sorry Vim… I'm… I'm having…" he started to speak lower, and I gulped at the sight.

I'd seen many gods go crazy. Or act it. Over rage, or pain and sorrow… But this was the second time I've actually believed one to be insane. Truly insane. Not from my actions, or pain, but just... time? Maybe?

It made him scarier somehow.

"Wait… your parents! Right!" Stance then perked up, smiling at me as he stepped closer. Firming my footing as he stepped towards me, I quickly chose how I'd end him. I prepared myself, as he happily pointed at me. "Why'd I not think of this before!?" he asked me happily.

"Think of what…?" I asked carefully.

"I screwed up! I tried to perform a new spell, a huge one…! One that would have changed the world! Beyond the system! But… but I failed. It failed. I was sent to a dark place, where I've been asleep. I just woke up a little bit ago, a few months I think, and… well…" Stance frowned as he glanced upward, not to his left, and seemed to suddenly get lost in thought.

Asleep…? For almost two millennia…? I mean… it was possible. He was a god. But it seemed outrageous all the same.

"You've… been asleep," I said gently, as I realized he wasn't going to continue on his own. He had gone quiet and was staring off into the sky, looking too high to be doing anything of importance.

Stance blinked and then looked back down at me, and quickly nodded. "Yes. It's the only way to describe it… I had been sealed! By my own design!" he said, laughing a little at himself. As if at the absurdity of it.

My eyes narrowed at him as he pushed back his wet hair again. He did so with a scowl, which made me… believe him.

He didn't need to suffer the wet rain. He could snap his fingers and stop it. If not the rain itself, but his being affected by it. He had well over a hundred different things, a hundred different spells and abilities, which could help keep him dry.

Yet he wasn't using any of them.

As if he couldn't. As if he was unable to.

Yet he had just been flying. And he has been making monarchs…? Though, there was no denying the monarchs had been lackluster. Even I had thought them oddly weak and stupid, even before now. How was a god having such difficulties? Was it even possible? Or was it not that he didn't have full control over his abilities, but that his mind was so far gone it was impairing him to the degree it limited him that much?

"Why not just make… an umbrella or something?" I asked softly, as if to confirm it.

"Because my blasted energy isn't recovering! I think that's why my communications aren't working either, Vim. And why all the babies have been stupid and… well…" Stance then frowned and lowered his hands, his shoulders slumping. "I'm so sorry… I don't want to believe it, but it's possible. If so I… I don't know what to say," he then said.

"Believe what…?"

"That they're killing humans! I think… I think they're defective, Vim. I can't explain it! I made them all to help me find everyone else, since I can't seem to communicate with anyone. I was going to make a bunch and send them every which way, like a bunch of carrier pigeons or something, but they've all been so… stupid. Maybe my orders hadn't properly registered…? Maybe thanks to my lack of energy, something went wrong…? Or maybe I'm still being affected by the spell I failed?" Stance rambled off reasons for his strangeness, ones that sounded to me like him grasping at straws.

But… It made sense. In its own way.

A god who had screwed up. And now his own abilities and powers either were failing him, or didn't work at all. Honestly he wasn't the only one I knew and heard had succumbed to such a thing. Many had died by their own hands. Their own spells failing, or destroying themselves as they attempted to do something beyond the realm of even fantasy. So what he was saying, and what I was understanding from it, made sense.

If I was to believe him, that is.

"Wait… you're not able to talk to anyone else?" I asked, realizing what he'd just said.

"No! Which is why I'm glad I found you!" Stance stepped even closer, and suddenly he was in range. Not close enough I could touch him yet, but close enough that I now felt confident.

I could get him before he could get me at this range.

"Found me…" I whispered as muscles started to twitch and spasm. My body wanted to act… but my mind wanted to hesitate.

I needed to learn more. To find out more. But could I risk it…? Should I…?

Renn was nearby. Maybe not within a few miles, but close enough to be in danger. I shouldn't be risking it. He'd be able to sense her and Light with ease, and in fact already likely knew about them. I wasn't entirely sure to what degree his abilities were limited, after all. He could create monarchs and had known of this monarch being killed, and had been able to fly here, so he wasn't entirely disabled.

Letting him live just to understand his circumstances was not worth the risk. But what if this was some ploy…? What if there were other gods nearby?

The list of potential dangers grew and grew, even when I already decided to wait a moment.

"Your parents! Your mother will be able to help me, I'm sure of it! Plus I'd love to see your father, I'll be honest I'd been asleep all this time so to me it feels like only just a few days ago I'd seen everyone, but I can't help but feel like I've been alone for an eternity! I even spent some time just talking to the humans nearby the other day; you should have seen me… I even put on a little show to pay them for the food and drink and…" Stance then walked right up to me, next to me, and then stopped. He sighed as he stared past me, and down at the decaying monarch.

I turned a bit, both to keep an eye on him… and to see what had his attention. Sure enough, it was just the monarch's corpse he was looking at.

"You owe me, Vim. I know they were ugly and worthless, but they were still my babies. Plus they took a lot of my mana! What precious little I even had!" Stance said with a gesture at the thing.

"You don't have enough to resurrect it?" I asked.

He shook his head and sighed. "No. And even if I did I wouldn't do it. Now that I know they're attacking people… gosh! Should I kill the others…?" he then panicked as he swiped his hand in the air to his left.

My heart thumped as I thought of that colorful tiny crab. "How many have you made…?" I asked quickly.

"Four. This one, the lizard, a crab that wasn't even big enough to eat and a bird," he said.

Four…? Bird…? Oh. Maybe the chicken, as Elaine had called it. Wait…

"Were they all like this? Or like that crab?" I asked. Hadn't the chicken supposedly been big? And strong? It had started those fires for crying out loud!

"Huh…? Yes. The stupid bird hadn't even been able to fly. There. Done. Feels horrible wasting energy like this, but better safe than to be sorry," Stance said with a nod as he swiped his hand again.

My heart fell as I realized what just happened.

Pinchie was dead. As was the bird, if it had still been alive.

Gritting my teeth, I kept myself calm and collected as Stance sighed again and reached up to wipe the rain out of his face once more. "Oh well… So? Where are you parents at Vim? I hope they're close, I honestly don't think I can even fly very far at the moment. Now that I look at it, I bet I'd not even be able to cast a spell of flight on you either," he said as he thought about it.

He was being serious wasn't he…? Not just about his lack of ability, but what he wanted.

Does… did he not remember? Does he not know…?

"I… can take you to them. Without flight though it'll take a while," I said, deciding for now to just play along.

He nodded and frowned. "Nothing we can do about it, I guess… oh well. On foot it is. In a few days I'll have enough to at least cast a few spells, so we just need to wait until then," he said as he turned back around, and stepped away from the monarch's corpse.

"Right…" I mumbled as I stepped after him.

How long should I play along…? How far could I take this?

And should I even do it…? Even if I played along, it wasn't like it'd last. After all… it wasn't as if I could actually take him to my parents. Which meant it'd only last a few days. Once he was able to give us flight, or just outright teleport us elsewhere, my lie would be revealed.

What was I hoping for? If he was being completely honest, and honestly I was willing to bet he was, there was nothing I could learn from him. Nothing of worth, at least.

He wasn't able to communicate with the other gods. He wasn't able to use any of his abilities, at least not to their full potential... he was claiming he couldn't even fly for very long for crying out loud! So…

What did I expect from this…?

Stance sighed as he looked around the area. "Where are we anyway…? Which territory are we in, Vim?" he asked.

It took me a moment to remember. "This is the eastern quadrant. The one that Rue used to rule," I said.

"Rue! Gosh I forgot all about her… hm…" Stance smirked happily at whatever memory that came to his mind upon hearing her name… and then he blinked.

Then he slowed.

Then froze.

And I saw it.

One moment he was happily remembering some distant memory, the next he understood something.

Stance went still. His eyelids opened farther. His pupils shrunk… and utter understanding dawned upon him.

He then narrowed his eyes, as utter shock encompassed his face.

I could not read minds. Let alone a god's. But anyone could read his thoughts right now. It was that obvious. That clear.

Stance the god had just remembered who I was. Who I actually was.

Who he was speaking to. Who he was talking to, as if they were a long time friend.

Who he was standing next to.

And such a realization made Stance the God utterly terrified.

No more playing along.

Stance spun. He turned with as much speed he could muster as I rushed towards him. He raised both hands in attempt to snap his fingers and wave at the same time, but he wasn't fast enough.

My body had been waiting for this since I had turned around and saw him floating in the air. No. Since before that. Since I'd realized someone had created a monarch several months ago. I'd been waiting for this moment, for this opportunity. So my speed was nothing but exceptional. My reaction time flawless. I slapped his hands away and had my own hands around his throat before I could even think my actions through. I ran forward and into him, lifting him off the ground and pushing him over. He fell backward, and I fell forward onto him, pinning him down into the ground.

He landed in the soaked grass and dirt with not as much force as you would expect from me tackling someone. Yet out of the corner of my eye I saw the ground around us shift and budge. We'd just sunk several feet.

I pushed my right knee onto his chest, and my left on his right arm that I had crushed and bent in the fall. His red and blue hair covered half his face, having come undone from the force of my impact. Utter panic covered his now pale face as I took a deep breath… and squeezed.

"Wait!" Stance wheezed with the last bit of air I'd ever let him have as he tried to push me off him. His left arm and hand thumped against my chest, with enough force that had likely broken half my ribs… but I didn't even flinch. I paid no heed to any of the damage I endured as I pushed down harder, with all my weight, as to both keep him pinned and to keep him from breathing. I felt not just his bones and body crunch and break beneath me, but the very earth too. I felt water pool and heard splashes as we sunk into the moist ground, pushing aside dirt and grass as he tried to escape from my grip and strength. His very head dug into the dirt and ground as I pushed, digging my thumbs into his throat.

I didn't wait. I didn't stop. I found myself exerting more force and using more strength than I had in centuries. My very clothes started to rip and tear. I felt the skin on my knuckles split open from the force of my grip. I felt my bones ache as my whole body grew hot… and then…

"Vim…"

I barely understood him as he gurgled and choked. His eyes had begun to bulge. His pale face was now a shade of purple and blue. His effort to push me off lessened… his squirming turned into small wiggles. His eyes started to roll upward, and in other directions…

And then, something snapped. Something small. Something wet.

His whole head jolted a bit to the left, and I felt the tension in his whole body snap alongside his neck. He instantly went rigid, and then still.

Yet I still held his throat. I still applied pressure.

I kept squeezing. Even as minutes passed. Even as my hot body grew cold, and the rain falling upon my back fell with more weight and in greater numbers. The storm had worsened.

The god's neck started to twist and crumple within my grip. Before I knew it my fingers which had been touching only at the tips were now pushing each other aside. Blood spurted from not just his mouth and other orifices, but from his very throat as it began to rip apart.

Then, without any fanfare… I separated his head from his body.

I stopped squeezing his neck and immediately grabbed the head. I stood up, lifting the head up as to put distance between it and the body. As I stood, I felt my own injuries. My left leg felt weak, as if it couldn't support my own weight. My chest and stomach had a weird tingling sensation, as if swollen. I knew if I glanced down I'd find parts of my body bruised and broken, though how much of the damage had been from Stance and not from my own rapid actions was up to debate.

"Not going to regenerate?" I asked through clenched teeth as I stared at the lifeless head.

They had such abilities. Some could regrow their bodies, similar to what I could do. Others faded to mist and reformed at a distance. A few melted into goop, only to form back into shape hours later. Although there were many ways they could do it… there was one single constant. One step that all methods had, no matter the form.

It had to happen quickly. Within minutes. Or it'd never happen.

And it seemed…

"You really had been out of energy, hadn't you…?" I whispered as I started to relax.

It had been long enough. Stance was still dead. His eyes dull. His body unmoving…

Glancing around, I was a little surprised to find I was in something of a hole. One nearly big enough that it almost blocked my sight from my surroundings. We were probably six or so feet down, if not more. Water was even starting to pool at my feet, enough to nearly cover half of Stance's dead body. It was rather clear and clean, considering we were in a muddy hole.

Stepping away from the body, I quickly climbed back to normal ground and looked around. I held on to Stance's head, holding him by his colorful hair as I took a moment to study the world around me.

I felt no monarchs nearby. No gods. No divine abilities…

Usually when one killed a god, the world noticed. Or well, the world connected to them. The parts and pieces they had placed into existence. Their monarchs were summoned. The parts of the world they had manipulated, like the weather or ground, shifted back to normal. Sometimes even the time of day changed. More than not fellow gods showed up, to find out what was going on and what happened…

But it seemed nothing of the sort was happening here and now.

Breathing deeply, I ignored the feeling of my body healing. Bones were being reset and mended. Flesh that had torn or swollen tingled as it reconnected and expelled whatever blood or gunk had leaked or formed from the wounds within. My left kneecap popped, telling me it had snapped out of place without me knowing, and I felt several fingers do the same as joints reset within them.

The rain was falling rather hard now. The sky darkening. As if to try and cool me off, or maybe to weep the passing of one of the divine figures that used to rule it.

Used to, being the key word.

"You hadn't lied, had you Stance?" I asked as I lifted the head once more. It remained unchanged… though now there was some black blood dripping from it, and it seemed the left eye had popped out of the socket.

There was no way he hadn't been. He had raised his hands in defense when I attacked. When he had realized the mistake he was making by standing so close to me, by acting so friendly with me.

He had tried to attack me, but nothing had happened. No spells. No abilities. The damage he had done to me had been purely physical. From blows from his fist, and his struggling and flailing as I broke his neck.

Stepping a few feet away from the scene of the battle, I walked over to a section of earth that had popped upward and formed a weirdly shaped mound. I sat on it, since it was just the right height to do so comfortably. It felt soft, but didn't give way or shift as I relaxed a bit; telling me it had likely been formed from my earlier shifting and not from the act of killing the god.

Dropping Stance's head in front of me, I watched it roll a bit before coming to a stop. It did so facing away from me, but I didn't care.

The deed was done. I had killed him.

I should be happy. Ecstatic. I had just removed a plague. A tumor. A calamity. He had been creating monarchs, ones that had terrorized the world and its inhabitants. He had been one of the flamboyant ones, wild and uncontrollable. Although he had not been an enemy of humans, he had been an enemy of all other life on this planet.

Stance had undoubtedly been the cause, if not the main one, for all my recent fears and stress. The prophecies, the troubles… Maybe even Narli's strange problems too. All caused by his oddness. So removing him was just and proper.

Not to say the least of what he'd do if I left him alive. He would have hunted Renn as I hunted them. Because to him, and those like him, she would have been an abomination. All of the non-humans would have been targeted by him once he saw through enough of his insanity to do so. After all, there had been a very real chance his insanity would have cured itself in time. Or even worsened.

I'd done well. My parents would be proud. I would do it again without hesitation…

Yet…

Why did I feel like I'd just made a huge mistake…?

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