Nath watched as Mal stumbled along the dark path home where he fumbled with the door before silently entering the house. She had been sitting in a tree with a good vantage of the road for hours now waiting for Mal to return home and sleep before she talked to Mal’s mother, Rebecca. After waiting a couple minutes to be sure that Mal would be asleep she hopped off the branch before gracefully rolling to her feet and casually walking up to Rebecca who had been sitting on the bench outside the house. Without opening her eyes Rebecca softly spoke.
‘So this is you leaving then?’
Nath not taken aback in the slightest by Rebecca ability to somehow always know where Nath was replied equally soft and with melancholy tinting her words ‘We both know that this is the only choice, if I stayed we would all be run out of the village the second the crops fail again or simply because they are sick of having’ this next part was spoken in a mockery of the high priest ‘an unclean, impure tainted half-breed bringing down Semphine’s wrath. And besides even if we were not thrown out or outright lynched Mal will not stand for me to remain for long.’
There was a very long pause between the two women as Nath took a seat next to Rebecca and stared out into the forest. Finally, Rebecca spoke ‘where are you planning on going?’
‘I’m not sure, if I can find anywhere within Topenthine that is slightly less hateful than here then I will probably stay there and gain a few levels before trying to reach Bottolne or even the elven lands if I am strong enough to make it through the Ahaie forest.’ Nath paused for a second weighing her words, ‘there is a dungeon a couple miles from Falreath, one that I think only I’m aware of. I know the risks of entering a new dungeon, but I may try and conquer it before leaving Topenthine.’
In a hushed tone and looking around as if anxious that someone was listening in to their conversation Rebecca spoke ‘I am not sure if anywhere in Topenthine is safe for you anymore. I cannot advise you on the dungeon but I believe you should try to cross the border swiftly.’ She paused as if debating whether or not to continue before sighing and ushering Nath closer. ‘What I am about to tell you would in all likelihood end up with me being tried for heresy if it got out however if you are to go out on your own then maybe knowing more of why this place has become so hateful will keep you alive.’ Lowering her voice even further so that barely a whisper escaped her lips Rebecca continued ‘The reason for all of the hate and prejudice is because of Semphine and the church however not in the manner which you probably think, well not entirely at least. Over the last thirty years or so there has been a growing corruption in this village I did not know why or how for many years but one day I finally gained a prompt telling me what it was and the prompt named it as Semphine’s compulsion. Stay away from the church Nath, I believe there is more going on than either of us can know but I do know that devout followers of Semphine are probably your greatest threat while you remain in Topenthine.’
Silence reigned between the two women, both of them knew that if even a hint of this conversation was overheard by anyone, even Mal, then neither women would see the dawn. Finally Nath spoke as if feeling out the taste of her words ‘Semphine’s compulsion. Huh’ she breathed. ‘yes it makes sense,’ Nath muttered to herself before continuing to Rebecca ‘I did not know that you knew about the’ Nath paused ‘compulsion’ she said, still unused to verbalizing what she had been seeing for years now.
‘Ah yes, I had always wondered how much you knew about the compulsion. I was sure that you would have seen the slow corruption however I never knew how much of it you would have grasped.’ questioned Rebecca.
‘I have an ability, Elven vision. It allows me to see magic of all natures with greater ability. It also allowed me to look into people and see the corruption that festered within. However, I did not know that it was Semphine whom caused it?’
Rebecca replied with a rye smile that did not reach her eyes. ‘Well I did not said that Semphine caused it simply that the affliction is called Semphine’s compulsion. None of us can understand the will of the gods nor their motivations or influences.’ Rebecca sighed. ‘I am sorry and no you are right, in all likelihood this is somehow Semphine’s doing it just.’ Rebecca trailed off, ‘I like to believe that Semphine is still the god which I was taught he was when I was but a girl. The idea that Semphine the benevolent god of purity is actually a hateful and malicious god. It’s difficult.’
There was an uneasy pause between the women as neither knew exactly what to say. After a moment Nath asked partially out of curiosity but also so that their last minutes together would not end on such a hollow note. ‘How did you avoid the compulsion, I know you do not go to prayer due to your leg but.’ Nath paused, ‘there has to be more to it?’
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
‘That, that is a long story, I would say that it is a story for another day however if you truly wish to know the answer then I may never have another chance to share it with you.’ Rebecca paused.
Nath answered, ‘If you would like to share, I will listen’.
Rebecca looked long and hard at Nath before sighing, ‘I wish things did not have to be this way. I should have had this conversation with you years earlier, I should have helped prepare you better for this harsh world and I should have learnt to deal with my fear. But then again, all our fears are justified, who knows if I had talked to you about the compulsion when you first awakened then we may be sitting in a shallow grave as we speak. But anyway, enough of my rambling, you wished to hear of my story and again I am truly sorry that I did not share earlier as I am sure that I cannot impart all I know in a single evening.’ Rebecca looked off into the distance and visibly gathered herself before beginning ‘This town was not always as it is now, once when I was but a child Falreath was flourishing, everyone had enough to eat, everyone was housed and despite having a lord the inequality was not so brutal. We even had skilled craftsmen and artisans even those who labored the lands had high levels, able to produce more food than today with a fraction of the hands required now. People were happy and by people I do not just mean humans. When I was a girl there was a dwarven family and Gretel the blacksmith who was an orc. And of course, there was the odd wandering handsome young elven bachelor.’ Rebecca gave a knowing look towards Nath before sighing ‘but that only lasted while I was small even by the time I became an apprentice to our last healer, may he be damned to a hellscape, then the village was turning. People became more hostile and insular, they began to gain levels more slowly, old Herald died, and his son became the new lord who began slowly raising and increasing military drafts so he could impress his noble friends with a lavish mansion and an impressive garrison. Soon most the skilled laborers had either moved or grown too old to the same yield as in their youth and from then the hatred grew. At first, I thought that it was the circumstances which made all bitter however I started to notice that something was feeling subtly wrong with those in the town who spewed the most hate. It took years to find out exactly what the feeling was and by that time Falreath was a shell of what it used to be however as the years passed, I could start to tell from a distance who held the most hate within their hearts, they simply felt wrong to me. Eventually I gained a prompt, it congratulated me on being able to spot Semphine’s compulsion and gave me a bonus to seeing through enchantments. After that day I so wanted to move from falreath but as my husband was long dead and the rest of the villagers would barely pay for my help if a family member was dying, well we had no funds and you and Mal were but children.’
Rebecca’s story came to a halting end as if she ran out of words to speak there was silence between them for long minutes while Nath processed exactly what Rebecca had told her. Eventually Nath spoke ‘the compulsion, how, how are you not corrupted also by it? And why is it only you who seems to be immune?’ Nath asked
Rebecca had a pained look on her face however she spoke anyway, ‘My mentor.’ She broke off before woodenly continuing, ‘he was a cruel man. My parents made a deal with him that he would teach me either until I awakened or gave up on becoming a healer. But he took their money up front. He did not want an apprentice let alone one who was a girl. He. He, well after I gained my class he never saw another dawn. After that I unlocked the hidden stat resilience which I assume is what had protected me from the compulsion.’ Rebecca left off with a hollow look in her eyes. There was so much unspoken yet Nath understood, whatever he had done Rebecca had gotten her recompence.
Nath and Rebecca spoke late into the night. They never touched on anything dark nor the future as they simply retold old stories of better times and both silently wished that things were not as they were. Eventually Nath stood and spoke.
‘I should be off soon, it is better that I am well away from here by dawn lest Mal gets any untoward ideas.’ She paused for a second, thinking. ‘I want to see him one last time while he sleeps. I do not want my last memory of him to be of him filled with rage and corruption.’ Rebecca simply nodded and watched with sad eyes as Nath opened their door and stepped inside for the last time.
It was dark in the abode as Nath stared at her cousin. His strong features that were so frequently contorted into harsh, ugly expressions were smoothed and peaceful in sleep. Nath noted numbly that between Mal’s unruly dark hair, wiry physique and handsome features that he was rather good looking, if a little short. Nath let out her breath that she did not even know she held as she longed for times past where she could talk freely to her cousin, where she could joke and laugh and share her troubles. She wished for the boy who would stand with her as the village children threw stones at her. She wished for the teen who would go exploring with her and carry her home after she broke her ancle. She wished for her best friend to be returned to her, for this hateful man who she barely knew to be gone forever and replaced by the smiling youth she once knew. With a leaden heart and a face beyond her years Nath turned and made to leave, however just as she was about to step away and leave her life behind forever she had a strange compulsion. She stared at Mal, she willed the layers of flesh and blood to bend to her sight, pushing through the resistance she felt a give and she stared at Mal’s corruption. She stared, and stared and her mind froze. Mal, mal was clean, there was nothing within him no dark stain not even a whisper of filth, nothing. He was spotless, cleaner than Rebecca or anyone whom she had ever seen. Nath stumbled to the kitchen table and collapsed in a seat as one word resonated through her entire being. How?