Post by Kaven Drell on Oct 3, 2020 20:14:42 GMT -5
“Twinkle…
Twinkle…
Little…
Star…”
Soft giggles echo as the usually eerie figure of Kaven Drell looms over a tiny girl, tucked into away into her bed. The words are soft as a whisper, the sort that has cut other opponents to the core of their soul, but in this moment Eleanor Drell is enchanted by her father. Reaching both of her hands out to him, the tips of her fingers graze the bushy beard that has started to return. This, quite simply, is a glimpse into the other side of the fearsome Trench Warfare Champions life.
“Story papa. Story.”
Eleanor speaks through a yawn that had crept up and conquered her before she had expected it. He acquiesces, shifting his body weight to slouch on the small bed with its pink bed frame. For a moment he ponders what story she might want to hear. There is a lesso in his words every time that he speaks and it will be do different with Ellie, regardless of her age. A message must be conveyed. A message must be understood. A message, it must be taught. Briefly, Kaven glances over his shoulder as though he knows he’s being watched and within his eyes sparkle the fury, the malice, and the fervor that epitomizes the rest of his life. This story, this message, it isn’t just for Ellie. It’s for all who will watch. More than that, it’s for one bright, shining star. Indi Rhyder.
“Tell me the o-”
Reaching out, he placed a finger upon her lips, shushing her with a gentleness rarely seen from Drell and he smiles another sincere smile. Truthfully, to anyone who had ever come into contact with Kaven Drell, it was likely unnerving. Men like him weren’t supposed to have moments like this.
That was what the world told him, anyway.
That was the box they always wanted to put him in.
Those were the chains that they were ceaselessly trying to bind him with.
But he refused. And would continue to refuse. He would continue to wreak havoc. To tear. To break. To burn.
“Once upon a time..”
Kaven began, using his hand to tug the blankets a little further upward, tucking Ellie in just a little bit more.
“There was a young woman, a carefree spirit whose imagination knew no boundaries. She was wild and free, and because of that the world shaped itself around her. Everywhere she went, no matter what kingdom, the people adored her. They cheered her name and dreamt of being her. As time passed, simply being the carefree spirit whose imagination knew now boundaries was no longer enough for her. Freedom wasn’t enough. No, she wanted more.”
He paused, letting his words hang on the air a bit as his wide eyed daughter stared upward at him, fully wrapped up in the story that he was beginning to tell.
“You see, Ellie, every night this young woman went to bed she gazed out her window and looked upward into the night sky, dazzled by the stars that speckled an otherwise endless sea of black. When she would wake up each day began to be a greater struggle than the one before. Simply being the champion of the people, the one who embodied what they wished they could be themselves, it wasn’t enough. Their respect and adulation wasn’t enough any longer. She wanted to be worshipped. She wanted to be like the stars in the night sky, the ones that little girls wished upon, the ones that grown men and women bowed their heads to and centered their world around. Greed. Power. Glory. With each passing day they began to grow, gurgling and boiling within her soul. And at just the right time…”
Drells brow furrowed into a scowl for effect.
“The mayor of the town, a wicked man named Gunnar who wanted nothing more than to rule his land with an iron fist, came to her with an offer. He could give her what she wanted, if only she was willing to make a deal. If she gave up her soul, she could burn as brightly as the stars in the sky. But first, he would need a favor from her. You see, for a long, long time Gunnar had been at war with a man who refused to do what he was told. He believed in many of the things that the young woman once had, but unlike this young woman he was unwilling to relinquish his soul. Instead, he fought against the mayor, freeing the townsfolk home by home. And the mayor, well, he just couldn’t stand for that any longer. He needed to make an example out of the rebel, and Indi would be the one who would do it.”
Ellie, looking concerned, piped up with a question of her own.
“She didn’t do it, right Papa? She didn’t listen to the bad man?”
Gently, he stroked her hair and sighed, a frown bending his bottom lip downward.
“I wish that were true, Ellie. But the truth of the matter is that the young woman accepted the mayor’s offer. And so began the war between the young woman and the rebel, two who should have been on the same side. Two who should have worked together. Two who could have changed their own world for the better, if only the young woman had taken the rebel’s hand instead of the mayors.”
Leaning forward, Kaven kissed Ellie on the top of her head and brushed her hair back from her face. Reaching over, he tugged on the little cord that was attached to the lamp and extinguished the light, plunging the room into relative darkness aside from the little rays that snuck underneath the doorframe from the hallway.
“Now, go to sleep little one.”
“But wait, Papa! What happened to the woman and the nice man?”
Kaven sighed as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, before tugging the blanket back and scooping the little girl up into her arms. It only took a quick moment or two for him to maneuver himself from the bed to the window, where he pointed up at the stars that were shining down brightly in the night sky.
“Well, Ellie, you see those stars. Sometimes, the fire and light that fuels them? It gets too hot. They burn too bright and in the end the flames consume them. So it was with the young woman. She did the mayor his favor, waging war with the rebel. And she gave him her soul in exchange for the opportunity to burn brightly in the night sky for all to see. But what she didn’t realize, what none of them realized, was that all along? It was the rebel that was the fire. It was the rebel that was the flame and the light. And while the young woman took them for herself, in the end, he consumed all that she was until nothing was left of her.”
He fell silent and in the dark room Drell could nearly hear the thoughts whirring in his daughters head, trying to piece together the unusual story that her father had just told her. This was an important message for her to learn early on. That every action, every choice, every decision had a price that must be paid. But she surprised him in that she wasn’t sad, but she questioned him further.
“What about the bad man, papa? What about the mayor?”
A smile crept across his face as moonlight shown through the window, illuminating his face in a haunting manner.
“Ah, yes, Gunnar. Well, he knew that Indi was his last hope. The war between himself and the rebel, it had been going on for some time. He had tried to chain the rebel. Tried to imprison him. Tried to bend him to his will. But in the end, the rebel and his righteous cause were victorious. But, Eleanor, even with such a great victory over so grand an evil as Gunnar the Mayor was, it still came with a price. A price that the rebel had to pay. A price that he was required to exact. You see, that victory had cost him an ally in the young woman. An ally that could have changed the world and shifted it into a much better place. But with the young woman consumed, and the mayor brought to justice. When the rebel looked around, the world that he had fought so desperately to free from the shackles of tyranny? It was nothing but a wasteland encapsulated in flames. That, was the price that had to be paid. And all that he could do, sweet Eleanor, was to let it burn. And to build from the ashes.”
The two continued to stare silently out of the window and up into the night sky. Long moments passed without a word before finally Ellie yawned and rested her head upon her fathers shoulder. Another moment passed as seconds ticked away. Soon enough, the little girl was asleep as her father hummed a soft, familiar song in her ear as he tucked her back into bed, kissed her forehead goodnight, and exited the room.
Softly he closed the door behind him. Once it was shut he leaned back against it and closed his eyes, his thoughts rushing through his mind at a million miles per second. When they opened once again the gentleness that had cocooned the rage was gone, and now all that was left was a burning madness. Without moving, he spoke again.
“I know you were listening…”
Drells head cocked to the side, looking down the long hallway at a curvy woman with long green hair easily identifiable as Winter, the mother of his daughter and a viciously violent woman in her own right. She simply folded her arms across her chest and stared back at him, a smile forming on his lips as she seemed to wordlessly dare him to scold her for eavesdropping. Drell didn’t, but instead shifted his head to look in the other direction, ironically right into the gaze of others whose presence he seemed aware of.
“And I know you were watching, Indi.”
For a moment Kaven simply stared right into her eyes, knowing that she would be watching and listening at some point.
“When you stepped foot into the Battleground for the longest time our paths remained separate. I even appreciated what it was that you were accomplishing. With your wings spread so freely as you darted into the hearts of the audience at the Battleground. From afar I watched approvingly as you dispatched the fraudulent, the parasites, those who came from elsewhere to suck the lifeblood of the Battleground, MY Battleground, until they had bled it dry. I was entranced by your seeming lack of ego and wanderlust. You… you were one of the few I truly believed understood. Our methods were different but at the end, our ideals were the same. You, Indi Rhyder, had a rebel heart. And you sold it for a trinket of gold.”
A heavy sighed radiated from deep within his soul, as though the thought of what had happened pained him grievously.
“You relinquished your freedom for the shackles of a golden belt. I would tell you that you should be ashamed, but watching you I have come to know that you have long since forgotten how to blush. You could have been the chosen one, Indi, but now… all that remains for you are a few moments of sparkling light in the night sky in the midst of a sea of people searching for freedom. For a new way. For a place that allows them to be themselves, rather than forcing them into a mold. You could have given that to each and every one of those lost souls you promise to find. But instead? You sold their freedom for your own personal glory and have left me with no other choice than to do the one thing that I truly do better than anyone else.”
There is a brief pause as he continues to stare, rage shifting into hatred in his eyes.
“Star light. Star bright. First star I see tonight, Indi Rhyder. You have but a few days left to twinkle and sparkle in the night sky. So I will allow you to continue to burn, fueled by deception and lies. I will let you burn, Indi Rhyder, for but a few more days. The chants for me to do so will come. The chants for me to kill will come. But at Guerilla Warfare, you will come face to face with a man not looking to provide the means of rebirth or rejuvenation. There is no other path left for you, Indi Rhyder.”
Softly, he hums the same familiar song that he had been humming to his daughter a few moments earlier. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. As he hums the notes shift into words.
“Twinkle, twinkle little star. How I wonder what you could have been… had you not left me with any other choice but to…”
Shiting the weight of his entire body, he snarled and hissed at the camera uttering one final word.
“CONSUME!”