The Anniversary

[Grayell]

The demon smiled in a vindictive manner and spoke his riddle.

"Tis not so easy my riddle. I will not take a guess, your fairy tales are so half hearted. Only when you know the true answer will you have my name.

What is it that we all have and no one wants? Hearts filled with it that ache, mouth's suffer for eating it, it is everywhere and it is nowhere. It cannot be taken but is given so easily, if possessed it is empty if obtained it is enlightening. So many have it that don't deserve it, so many deserve it but know it not. It costs some dearly though it costs nothing at all.

You are here for it. In it. Looking for it. It is here, but you will not accept it. The past has it not, the present has this only. Yet you dwell on it. You have found it yet you are lost.

Know this and know my name."

[Margrett]

She rolled her eyes.

Gloria used to tell that one. It's nothing. Second part's wrong. You don't know as much as you think, demon. I'm not dwelling on anything. I know this place has nothing left for me. I'm just here to visit.

She set her jaw.

Now. About my wish.

[Grayell]

The demon shrugged but his smile did not quit for a moment. His legs swung beneath him and he tilted his head.

"Oh very good, you know my name and still want a wish. Let's hear it then."

[Margrett]

Tell me about the forge. And then leave.

She folded her arms.

You don't have anything I want, besides settling my curiosity. You can't bring him back, and you can't bring the town back. I refuse to believe you can.

[Grayell]

The demon only shrugged again.

"Oh I can do that and more. But you get one wish and you asked for two. I shall leave when we're done, but whilst it's tiresome I am afraid I must insist on absolute clarity on your wish.

Start with I wish...."

[Margrett]

She thought for a moment.

Show me, Nothing. I'll wish once you show me what you can do.

[Grayell]

He sighed and slipped from his rock.

"You ask for a lot and have no right to any of it. But very well, I am obliged to entertain you. Mortals."

He sighed again and then struck his rock with his pick... and immediately the tunnel fell away. She was in the town square, Williamsburg full of life around her. She recognized so many faces, but all had aged. They had never left. The town had grown some, there were new children in this time, running about and playing happily.

The castle stood in all it's splendour down the road, purple flags with her crest upon them fluttering in the breeze. Beyond that, the town had grown even more, houses stretching out and then surrounded by farm land. It was quite large now, had become a city - a metropolis.

Bye her side stood Nothing, though no one noticed him. He leaned on her like a wall and studied his pick rather bemusedly. He pointed as if to cue something and three children she did not recognize, they were too young, rushed to her.

"Empress Mikael! It really is you! It's the Empress!"

They clamoured to touch her but their mother stopped them, sweeping them up and blushing. They had alerted the crowd and all of a sudden, all the people in the square dropped to a knee, their heads low.

"Forgive them Empress, they are young."

They did not fear her but instead bowed in admiration.

[Margrett]

Margrett knew it was an illusion, knew that this was a trick. Even if the demon could grant this, it would be twisted somehow. But even so, she felt a pang of want, of need. This is what she dreamed of. This is what she'd wanted Williamsburg to be, before he was killed. She kept her face cold and emotionless, but her heart ached a little. She didn't bother addressing the people around her. They were visions. Not real.

This is...interesting. I suppose this is a vision of the future as it could be. If I were to wish for this.

[Grayell]

Nothing nodded.

"Oh yes, this is not my creation but the reality should circumstances be different. Of course, I cannot grant you everything you wish. That is beyond my power, this instead is me just.... changing the path of your past.

They admired him you know, as much as they admire you."

He pointed behind them. As she turned she saw the grand statue of her father, his face sculpted with incredible precision, him standing proud and yet entirely warming. It was an incredible likeness.

However, a plaque was upon the podium the statue graced. The date was clear, he had passed some years ago. A Williamsburg without her father.

[Margrett]

She was silent, awestruck for a moment. The dates were...wrong.

This is years...years after he died.

She crouched, examining the plaque, then turned to Nothing.

He wasn't killed, then. In...this version. What happened? What did he do?

[Grayell]

Nothing only smiled and gestured in a bored manner, leaned on her again.

"He died from a chill in his bones. Doctors were hopeless to help him, magics were unable to stay it's spread through his body. He was old anyways I suppose, no one lives forever. You became their leader than and built all of this. I'm not sure it fills the void but it is grand no doubt.

He died peacefully. In some pain of course, but died naturally. As perhaps it should be. You... didn't talk before his time though. Tension was high. Unfortunate. He seemed to not want any of this as the years rolled by. Became something of a recluse. Seems a man has his limits and he was tired. Perhaps.

But..."

He grinned in that devilish manner once more.

"There is another alternative of course. He's alive. It's a little different, but the sickness has not taken him. He is as proud as ever, defiant. Quite spirited really.

Would you like to see?"

[Margrett]

She stood and looked at the statue. Part of her didn't want to see it. But she had to know.

Yes. Show me. I'm not wishing for it yet.

[Grayell]

He only nodded with a smile and again swung his pick, it striking the statue now. Williamsburg fell away around them and then came back, decayed and decrepit. There were no plants here, nothing so kind as life of any sort; the town was destroyed... mostly.

The square was surrounded by cages and crude buildings, a fire here and there, armed men in black armor huddled around them in the rain for warmth. People were trapped in those cages, wasting away and moaning in pain, suffering. A sickening cough broke the air behind them, then a curse. She knew that voice.

Turning, the statue was no longer there. In it's place was a man cage, tall and cruelly small and within it stood her father. He only stood with an unforgiving look, a hard heart. He was thinner, sickly almost and much older but his spirit still had strength. But there was a longing... a hatred in his eyes almost. How long had he been imprisoned, exposed to the cold and rain? What torture had they visited upon him? Why was he singled out in this fashion? She likely knew the answer to that - he would not give in. He was an example.

Nothing swung with a hand on the bottom of the cage.

"He killed her first. And when she failed, they bolstered their efforts. He sent you away in the night but Williamsburg could not stand against their might. Most of your people have died or been traded. But he remains as the lord of this town. He won't die for some time... they keep him alive to tease him. Have fun at his expense. But he never shows them anything.

No... he is very much a stone now. But he thinks of you always. A shame. You haven't the resolve to help him any longer. You were not fed by anger and hatred, you no longer had the passion to make you such a fierce warrior. No, you are lied to instead, false letters arriving to tell you of how wonderful things are at home. You're happy in your convent, a life devoted to purity instead."

[Margrett]

Her muscles nearly exploded forward, but she caught herself, gritting her teeth, hand reaching out, very slightly. She almost grabbed the bars, almost ripped them off. This wasn't him. This was a shadow. This was a hallucination. This wasn't real.

She repeated it until she got hold of herself, glaring at Nothing.

This is what I meant. I wish for him to be alive, you give me this. Don't tell me my wish isn't going to end up twisted. Even in the first one, he's dead.

She looked back to the town, her heart aching with guilt.

Better off, maybe. But...he didn't want it.

She took a step towards the cage, even though she knew it wasn't real, and put her hand on the bars.

He never did. Who am I to force him into it.

She looked up at the shadow of her father.

I don't know why I want the first vision. Maybe I'm reading too much into what he wanted me to have. Maybe I want to make something so strong all the...slavers and armies out there couldn't stand against it. Revenge. Petty, but...noble, I hope. Not kill them, but...choke them out. Let them kill themselves. Maybe it's idealism. I can make a world where no one will have to go through what I did. My father couldn't do it before he died. He wasn't the man to do it. As strong as he was he didn't have the heart.

She set her jaw.

But I do. And I know that anything I will have I will earn. That's what he would have wanted. For me to earn it myself. Maybe he wouldn't have approved of my goals, but he'd have approved of my methods. He'd approve of what I'm trying to do.

She turned back to Nothing.

Take me back. You don't have anything I want.

[Grayell]

Nothing waved his hand and within seconds the setting has changed. They stood again in the tunnel.

"I twisted nothing. I showed you outcomes, results of decisions. They're all very real, both of them entirely whole. Those are an easy thing, I simply bump you into that reality and there we go, your wish is done.

But.

I can grant you more. You can have them both. You can have it all. It's very simple... you just have to acknowledge that in changing your world, you change it for everyone. Should that matter? I don't think so. Maybe it will be better for everyone.

But that would be your twist to choose. Williamsburg strong, developed and entirely happy. Your Father, alive and well, an incredible leader and beloved by his people and you with him. Hell, I'll even eradicate slavery to sweeten the deal.

Just ask for it. Take everything you want, damn the ramifications. You world will be perfect. It is... but a few words away."