Chapter Twenty-Three
I stood before Halia's statue.
I stroked her stony face, as smooth as it had been when she was... Active. She wasn't dead. Just cursed. Petrified. I could undo this. It was no different than if she were in a coma. She stood in a defiant stance, her face fierce.
"I'm going to fix you," I told her. "I have to go to war with these twins. Led and Ziamili. Sound like assholes, don't they? They definitely are."
My finger traced over her cheekbones to her lips.
"I miss you, Halia." I smiled. "You were the first one I convinced that I'm not the bad guy. It worked with you. I just had to show you I was different. I need to do the same with Astovin Village and to Lord Shorvin. I can do that. I
will
do that, Halia."
She didn't answer.
I sighed. "I hope you're having beautiful dreams in there." Guilt rushed through me. "I never should have let you go and fight basilisks and a gorgon. I should have sent you back." Pain squeezed my heart but a chuckle escaped my lips. "You wouldn't have gone though, would you?"
I stared into that fierce expression captured forever.
No, no, not forever. Just until I killed Ziamili. He controlled the Earth Glyph from what I could tell. Each of the twins had two Glyphs. Light and Ice for Led, Earth and Metal for Ziamili. Was there a way I could use that against them?
I didn't see how.
"I'm going to have to start scouting the base," I continued. "Have to send some of my wildhounds away. I don't like the idea of attacking them. I'm angry, Halia." I could voice these thoughts to her. These feelings. "I'm so angry at what they did to you. That they could trap you in this prison of stone. I
want
to kill Ziamili and get his Earth Glyph. I yearn for it more and more. I never thought I could be that person.
"If I could, I would murder him."
The word echoed through the room.
"This is how it starts," I said, Fuegin's story echoing in my mind. "What drives us dungeon builders into being evil. We're thrown into these situations. Kill or be killed. And every time you do it, you change. It becomes easier. You think less and less about what you're doing as you find reasons to do it.
"Good reasons!"
I trembled before her, my hands balled into fists.
"They're evil. They attacked Astovin,
petrified
men, women, and children just to lure me from my base to kill me. They didn't want a fair fight. They wanted to hit my Void Crystal and take me out as fast as possible. The means didn't matter. Oh, no, they justified it, didn't they?
"Just like I've justified killing them."
"Your reasons are nobler," said a motherly voice.
I turned to find Mom standing in the doorway. My mommy-dryad stood naked as always, her lush breasts swaying. She sauntered to me, her leafy-green hair swaying about her lush and mature face. Her hips rolled with a natural grace.
"Are they, Mom?" I asked her. "I want to kill them to punish them for hurting Halia."
"That anger's only natural," she said, putting her hand over my heart, touching the four glyphs I had tattooed into my skin. "They've attacked you and hurt those you love. You want to protect your family because you know they will attack again. You want to save Halia and protect Astovin. Those are
virtuous
deeds."
"I just want to hurt them," I whispered.
"You know it's more than that." Her finger idly traced the Life Glyph on my chest, stroking the peace sign made of the four cuneiform letters. "Look, you have Life branded on your chest. A tree that grows and spreads its canopy wide to provide shade for those you love. Shelter and protection."
"A tree, huh?" I asked. "I guess that makes more sense than a peace sign."
Amusement played on Mom's lips. "Just a little, Leo. You have that anger, but you also have that love. And, if you didn't realize it, asking yourself these questions, pondering your motivations, is not something an evil person does.
"They would have no doubts. They would just do it. They would crush the twins without hesitation. They would use whatever low and dirty tactics possible. What are you going to do?"
"I have to scout them," I said. "Figure out what their lair is like. How best to hit them. How to get to the pair of them."
"Are you going to attack a village under their protection? Hurt and kill their subjects?"
"God, no," I gasped, horrified by the idea. "I wouldn't do... Ah, I get it."