Consequence

[The Wave]

"No. I don't."

There was so little left now, soon this miserable chapter of his life would end and he would be free. But before this Jevaisius had one last thing to say.

"No." Jevaisius agreed "Neither do I."

He never had. He had done such horrible things, such unforgivable acts and yet he felt no conviction. He had done things not seen in the darkest nightmares and did them without ever wondering why. At those moments there never seemed to be any alternatives but now he could think of so many. He'd burned her alive, scorching flesh her flesh so methodically all so he could find Lanya. It had seemed so important and though he knew it still was he didn't know why.

All Jevaisius knew was that it had began with her and it would end with her.

Snap.

It all happened so quickly. In an instant the string had wrapped themselves around his arms, silently slicing into his arms while simultaneously stopping him from striking Lanya. The pain was unbearable but he could not scream, there simply wasn't time. The strings were already wrapped around his throat and before he could make a sound they had cut into his neck.

But it was impossible, he had destroyed it. He'd been certain, there had been nothing left of it, whatever this was it couldn't be Greenfyre.
And in a way, it wasn't.

There was blood everywhere now, Jev was surprised he had so much, but he was still alive. It was agony, a pain beyond anything he could have ever imagined, but he was still alive. It wouldn't last of course, his injuries were too severe, but Jevaisius had come so far and done so much that a little thing like death was not going to deter him.

The metal strings began to glow red, smoke rising from Jev's body as they scorched the flesh they were in contact with, and slowly Jev moved forward. His legs had had been bound like the rest of him but his knees slowly fell to the ground. It tried to pull him back, it tried to keep him still, but he continued. The strings overcame any resistance the man's flesh had been giving them and began to gnaw on the bone but still he pushed forward.

Jevaisius Yalsa last thoughts had passed long ago but even so know he knelt before Lanya. His arm was still raised above his head but it would not fall, the strings had dug in so much now that massive clunks of flesh had already fallen from it. Jevaisius face was drenched in the blood coming from his arm but his eyes remained open. They never closed, they never seemed to lose focus, all they did was stare ahead into the eyes of Lanya Caliope.

And then it was over.

As Jevaisius Yalsa knelt in pool of his own blood both the strings of Greenfyre and the ring on his finger began to cool, they clicked and hissed as they did so but soon even that ended. There was little left of then, just a desiccated and scorched corpse, and the only thing left that could be recognised as Jevaisius Yalsa was his face.

He was smiling.

[Lanya Caliope]

She watched in mute surprise when the first strings appeared. The memories they brought surfaced, but she was too lost in a labyrinth of confusion to understand what was happening. This was impossible; it could not be. Greenfyre was dead. It was dead.

But the cuts and blood were real enough. He met her eyes as he collapsed to his knees, pain so blatant across his face that she felt herself begin aching for him. He was hurting, and it was the guitar. The guitar was killing him. But the guitar couldn't kill him; it was dead. And yet blood poured from his body in gushes, staining the road in front of her. So much blood - but he was not a little girl. The little girl had only a small amount of blood. This grown man had more, so much more, enough that the expanding puddle reached the toes of her boots and continued creeping closer...

No.

She was already crying, though she did not realize. Her own pain dulled her senses and actions, making her sluggish in body and mind, but when the pieces clicked she could only stare in shocked silence. He was dying, and then he was dead. It was quick, very quick, just like it had been the first time. Bits of muscle were bared from his struggles; his eyes were already glassy in death. And yet he was staring at her, staring into her eyes, boring straight through to where the pain waited for him to remind her.

How many more have to suffer because of your sin?

She was having more trouble than before breathing, and could not fathom why. She didn't realize that she was gasping for breath from both shock and the need to cry, and her body could not compensate for the two separate needs. She did not understand that the black stars swimming in her vision were bad, and that she needed to get up and walk, to move at all, or she would be found here with a dead body and a homicidal instrument, and oh gods, where was Flame?...

The first action she managed was ripping her eyes away from the man's corpse to try and locate the robin. He was rolling himself onto his feet several lengths away, moving with the care of someone who is unsure if a limb is broken or merely sprained. Her eyes welled further at sight of the hurting robin, and she managed a sob before cutting herself off with a vicious internal scold.

Stop. Crying only makes it worse. You start, you won't be able to stop. Stand up. Go to Flame, and check on him. This man is dead - he's dead. You can't help the dead. Check on the still-living...

She wanted to obey, and yet found herself frozen still, tears staining her shirt. Unable to move, she looked back to Jev's smiling corpse and started shaking. The blood puddle had stopped expanding when his heart ceased beating. And still, he stared into her eyes. His gaze froze her in place; she found herself paralyzed by pain, sorrow, and regret.