"But, I've done nothing wrong!"

"Correct!" the voice called in his mind. "You've done nothing wrong because you've done nothing at all! All your life, you've done nothing to improve the world. You've never had any friends to speak of, you've never learned any real trade, all you know is how to hurt, how to kill, and how to lift heavy objects."

"That's complete garbage!" He yelled, but his shoulders rolled back just a touch.

"And then, there's the time you were most useless. The night the soldier came to your house." Dyluk went white, but didn't move. "You remember that night? Of course you do." The man smiled, as though comforting a child. "He told you that your father wasn't coming back. He told you that your parents had been intercepted by thugs, and that, though your father had tried to fight them off, he was not a soldier, and he'd died."

Dyluk dropped his sword. "Shut up."

The man smiled broadly. "You couldn't take a stranger's word at something like that, could you? You sprang into pointless action, running out the door, running and running clear across the entire world you knew, across the entire town to the Bridge Building Site. And there you saw them."

Dyluk fell to his knees. "Please," He whimpered. "Stop."

The man nearly yelled, "There you saw your parents' bodies, lying on the shore, blue-green in the dusk light, and swollen from days in the water. Both of their throats had been slit, but there was no blood, not after all those days. And then you, being weak and prone to inaction, simply fell to your knees as you are now and cried your pointless tears that helped nothing, just as you are now."

Dyluk fell down to the ground, sobbing loudly. "Father!" he cried, between sobs.

The man's smile changed to a smile of cruel victory. "Your father? Why call for him? What compassion would he have for the son that drained him of his money but gave him nothing in return? That's all you ever were to him, a leech that took and took and never gave anything back."

Dyluk was completely reduced to a sobbing wreck. He lay in the fetal position, sobbing and wrenching in emotional pain.

Celesia watched all this, still unable to move. She fought the invisible force that held her, crying out in her mind to Dyluk, silently screaming comfort. ‘He's lying! You were just a child, you couldn't have saved them! All of the nation combined couldn't save them, so how can you blame yourself?' But her mouth was not her own and her words were silent.

Celesia pushed with all her will and strength against the invisible force that held her fast. She had to move! Still struggling to be free, she watched the man take a sword from it's sheath. "You were never worthy of such parents! They gave you life, and you never gave anything back! They are dead even now because you weren't there to help them!" He raised the sword above his head, preparing it thrust it down at Dyluk's crumpled form. "You're misery ends today! Die, as it is your last peace!"

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Celesia threw her hand in the direction of the man. He flew backwards into the wall. "It's all a lie! You did what you could, Dyluk!"

"No," Dyluk sobbed, "I didn't."

"No, Dyluk! You were a child! There was nothing you could do! I know you did everything you could, more than was expected of you, because you always have. I know you are a worthy man and a strong man and a good man. I lo..."

Dyluk stopped writhing, but lay there, listening in the silence, waiting for her to finish. But how could she? What she was going to say was forbidden! Worse than forbidden! She couldn't even form the words in her mind! She could never tell him, it would be the end of them both, of the three races! She would...

She couldn't move again. Her muscles were stone again, her body not her own. She'd given up her only chance! Now it was all lost!

The man, trying to stand despite the blood pouring down the back of his head, held his hand out to Celesia, holding her fast. Now that he was specifically holding her instead of fighting them both with his mind, she had no chance of freedom. Her tears would not even come. The silence of the room was unbearable.

The man finally stood. Slowly, he stumbled to where his sword lie upon the ground. He fell to his knees, picked up the sword, and used it to balance himself as he stood again. Using the sword as a cane, he made his way back to Dyluk. He stood over Dyluk, raised the blade above his head again. Silence was shattered as he screamed a horrid war cry and thrust the sword down.

Celesia closed her eyes and fell from the ceiling of the cave and crumpled upon the floor. She heard the sputtering of a man dying for a few moments, then it stopped. Now free, her tears soaked her face, her hair. A small puddle began to form. "Dyluk..." she whispered to herself.

A warm hand touched her shoulder. It felt comforting somehow, but she didn't react. Another reached under her knees and she was lifted from the cave floor. Then she was carried. Her thoughts were so filled with Dyluk and her great betrayal of him that she thought nothing of her future. Let the man kill her! It would be a blessing to live no more with this weight on her conscience.

"Celesia." She knew that voice. It wasn't the man...

She opened her eyes. "Dyluk!" she screamed and hugged him. Her tears flowed down his back as she squeezed his neck. He let her legs drop to the ground and hugged her back. After a moment of happy sobbing, she calmed herself and asked, "I thought... how?"

The embrace ended.

"You didn't see?"

"No. I shut my eyes." Now she understood. How could she have closed her eyes unless the man had been killed? The instant she closed her eyes was the same instant that the man died.

"Lets go. This threat is ended." Dyluk extended his arm.

She smiled at him and took his arm. "Absolutely! I wish to never see this place again."

And they slowly walked out of the cave, arm in arm.