Chapter 17

Evil

Grey woke in the light of day. He could not see his surroundings but there was a soft breeze and rapping of the window against the wind. His hands opened and closed to touch the fabric at his back. A soft comforting feeling that he had not felt in a very long time. A bed. He lay on the bed. His body weakened. He did not have the strength to hold himself upright. His eyes stared blankly at the ceiling. Eyes as white as pearls.

"Are you awake?" says a woman's voice.

Grey looks to the direction of the voice.

"You are?"

A woman sat next to the bed. Her hair flowing like silk white. The wind seemed to flow unnaturally around her long robes.

"I am Iris. This is my home. Did you want a cup of tea?"

Grey nodded.

"Yes, please."

Iris held out a teacup and gently placed it in Grey's lips. Grey took it cautiously and took a sip. His face turned a funny shape.

"Haha, it is a little strong. I had tried to make it better for your wounds."

Grey nodded his head. He didn't know who this woman was but he knew she had saved his life.

"Thank you."

"No need to thank me," smiled Iris. She gently stroked his hair. "When you get good enough to stand. Let's take a trip outside."

"Okay."

The days passed then months. Grey lay in the bed most of the time. He had not moved in such a long time and took a long time to recover. All the while he had thought of Mylene. She had been sent to such a terrible place. He did not think she would suffer for the first few years, and would work as a maid, but later who could tell? Already his thoughts were of how to get her out safely.

"Iris," said Grey. In his hand a stick. He walked with her in a garden the bees buzzing around them. Every so second, Grey would tap the ground in front of him. His legs wobbling.

"Iris. I had a friend who was with me in the mine. I know this is sudden and may cause you a lot of trouble but may we go get her too? Last I heard she was in Urich."

"Grey," said Iris. Her emerald eyes glistening under the rays of the sun. "The fellow who owns that mine owes me a favor. So I am allowed to save a child of my choosing every so year. Though that mine is a vicious place. It is one protected by people who profit from its wealth. It is not so easy to get anyone who comes from the place. If your friend was sent to Urich. She will not be a place open to common folk."

"But," asked Grey. The fear rises in his chest. If such a place was not open to the public then she could go her whole life without meeting a mage. "Isn't it possible to tell the guards or the king? Will they not understand and stop that sort of malicious thing? We could tell them and have a just reason to take my friend back."

"Grey when you first came to my home. I asked you about your past didn't I?"

Grey nodded. In the months he spent recovering he had talked with Iris. They would speak about their experiences, grief, and loss. She had been a weak child from birth. Unable to walk out of her room. Confined for 16 years by her parents. It was not until a childhood friend of hers took her out of the house and a traveling priest kindly took her in that she began to heal in mind and body.

"Do you think there is right or wrong in the world?"

"Of course! Wrong is to hurt people. To cause them suffering and laugh at their pain. These people are the most vile in the world."

Grey remembered the eyes of the overseer, that black knight, and the men laughing by the fire among the burning bodies. What kind of evil nestles in men's hearts to cause them to such terrible things?

Iris shook her head.

"I don't think that is the way to look at things."

"What do you mean?" asked Grey. He had known Iris to be a devout and good person. She was a traveling priest who went around saving the sick and dying. Why would she say such a weird thing?

"Grey if you look at the world in such a way then everything will be evil. Who has not caused suffering to others. Who has not wronged? You have told me that you have wished to be a hero, but have you not caused such terrible suffering on the people around you?"

Grey took a step back. Shocked.

"What do you mean?"

"Your master had also thought the same as me. She had told you not to be pig headed. To not seek justice so blindly to ignore your  surroundings. You ignored her and fell into the dungeon to punish a girl. Causing such mess. A large group of monsters chasing you then chasing others. Did you think your fun was good? You have killed several people without noticing it. Those too slow to escape the masses following you."

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A jolt ran through Grey's body. His eyes widening in realization.

"You ran back to your home. Ignoring all reason. All sense of danger. A clever kid like you should not have let your emotions get the better of you, but still again you did. Causing your master to come get you. And in doing so, you led her into a trap she would have otherwise avoided. Killing her as well."

Grey's hands trembled. He dropped his stick and fell to the ground. Guilt poured in as if a rush of water.

"When you escaped. Doyle called out to you to not run too far. To avoid danger that could lurk in the streets. You ignored him as well for your sense of justice would not allow the thief to get away. And in doing this you led not only yourself but the girl with you to two years of suffering in the most horrific of places."

"Ah." gasped Grey. "Ah."

"And at last your cleverness led the one person who was left caring for you to go about her life in a place where no one would ever see her. You sentenced the girl to suffer for eternity, chained to the very people whom you call evil."

Sweat dripped from Grey's face. His eyes dilating. His legs felt like weights, anchoring him to the ground.

"If you call such people evil. Then the truly evil ones are those who do things out of good will and cause needless suffering among their loved ones. The latter is malicious the other ignorant. Both do wrong, but while a malicious person is easy to see, easy to hate. The other sinks deep into the hearts of people. Not noticing. Like a parasite. My parents were the same. Telling me I was too weak. Telling me lies that sank into my heart to this very day. Grey evil does not exist. I tell you this. Only people, people and their intentions."

Iris helped Grey up to  his feet. Grey's hands trembling as she took him up.

"Let us go back inside. I think the air is not so good. You should rest some more."

Iris walked Grey back inside and lay him back on the bed. She got out a wet rag and wiped his face gently before leaving. Her eyes staring back into the room as she closed the door. She could hear him whispering something under his breath and smiled.

~~~

Later that night, Iris sat in her study. Her quill moving she wrote on a parchment. A shadow moved through the curtains behind her. A shadow dark and black.

"Falin?"

"It is I." whispered the shadow. It took a seat by a chair. The darkness covering the creature's body like a cloak. "How goes your new initiate? I shall have gathered my candidates in the coming days."

"I have only one."

"One? Do you mean that cripple that you keep in your room all day? He remind you of yourself?" the shadow sneered.

Iris eyes flashed towards the Falin. As her gaze rested upon his eyes. He could feel a impending danger. A chasm as large as an ocean rushed up to swallow him whole. He leaped back and raised his battle sense.

"Why so scared Falin?" said Iris, softly.

Small beads of sweat formed on the shadow's face. Who wouldn't be scared in front of this monster?

"Ah, it was a jest. Please forgive my words."

Iris turned her head and returned to scribbling notes on the parchment.

"I think I will have him meet the rest of the candidates tomorrow. Bring all of them. Now leave."

"As you will," bowed Falin. He vanished in a whiff of smoke.

Iris leaned softly to a small painting at her desk. A man dressed in a full regalia of plated armor. A sword by his side. A little girl with white hair. Her eyes as green as the grass around her. A man in leather armor. His beard long and gruff. A woman with a bow and a bright smile. And last a little boy next to the little girl. He wore a long robe and a hat too big for his head. He smiled weakly, holding the girls hand. Five people all happily staring at the painter in front of them.

"Watch over me friends. I shall show the world. True despair."