The day had long been obscured by thick cloud cover and the patter of water. A man drifted into the forest, his hat and the collar of his coat obscuring his face. the man carried a briefcase and took long strides quickly arriving at a waterfall.

The man looked at a nearby tree before setting down the briefcase and opening it. he then took out a small white leather pouch filled with red petals.

The man dropped a petal, and it sparked in the water. The sparks dissipated but a red came flowing up from the pool of water beneath the waterfall. The red then spread out and painted an image of a girl grabbing a rusty rock and then heading off into the distance.

“Oh, how you look so much like him.”

A salty droplet was added to the pool along with the rain.

The man set off.

There was a cliff, and he followed along until he came across a tree that lent against the cliff. The man gave the tree a kick sending it far away from the cliff.

“Why did we even bother with those little shits when they left something like that.”

The man looked along the cliff and mumbled.

“I am going to have to do a sweep of the entire perimeter… haish, I really shouldn’t have trusted them to do a good job.”

The man then walked towards the cliff. when he got close to the cliff, he put his foot against it then continued walking. The man walked up the cliff holding his hat as he went.

When the man got to the top, he looked at the fresh dents in the scraps of iron.

“So, it was true, another generation cursed for our mistake.”

The man then began walking forwards. his feet didn’t fall into the rusted metal, nor did they damage or even touch the foliage.

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The man walked past many skulls with crowns of weeds growing from their skulls. Nearing the centre there was even a suit of armour standing upright and it stared at him.

A blue flash escaped from the man’s face and the suit of armour turned to its side. The man walked past the suit of armour and entered a clearing.

There were eleven other suits of armour surrounding the clearing in a circle. The man didn’t pay them much attention and instead looked to the very centre of the clearing.

There was a tall black obelisk with a small grey stone either side. One of the stones was old and cracked while the other’s only damage was some moss.

The man set down his briefcase once more and this time he took out two bottles. The man then took the bottles to the obelisk in front of him and emptied their contents onto the two stones. Even as the black obelisk seemed to stare at him when it revealed an eye in it’s centre the man did not move.

“None for you, you know I didn’t like you when you were alive, it doesn’t change just because you died, John.”

At the man’s words the tips of the grass around the obelisk ignited. The fire didn’t last long and soon a constellation of stars was revealed within the grass.

“You may play your games some other time. I am even less happy with you than I normally am, and you should know why.”

The bottles the man was pouring finally ran empty and he looked to the aged stone. The man then brought himself down to one knee and kept his head down towards the stone.

“We knew back then; we knew that they spoke nothing but lies. Why would you never admit that we were on the wrong side? Now you lie here, your son lies here, and your granddaughter too shall lie here.”

The eye within the obelisk looked down at the man and it squinted. Something seemed to please the eye, but what it was mattered little to the man.

“All those measures we took, we brought in the assassin, we exhausted the coffers bringing in those knights, we did so much for the future. but now I realise that all we did for the future cemented us in the past.”

The man then walked over to the newer stone, but this time he stood.

“You were a disappointment. To give that fucker what we kept hidden for generations, what even he who started this couldn’t part with. Every day we grow fewer, we had a spark, you ruined it… even so I cannot be mad, you take after him.”

The man then picked up his briefcase and began walking away. When the man arrived a the suit of armour he spoke softly.

“My brothers, I thank you for your service, even in death you are doing what you loved.”

The man then took a look behind him and shouted at the obelisk.

“I hope you fall over in the wind you fucking hoax of a king!”