No Such Thing as Good and Evil

“There are many things I want to get from this meeting, but mostly information.” Gaelin said. “Let’s start off with the most basic of all the questions. Shade, seeing as you are in fact not dead, could you please tell us where you’ve been and what you’ve been doing for the past decade?”

Shade looked at the bottles of liquor in front of him. “Well, I’ve been drinking lots of these in the places that typically sell lots of these.”

“You’ve been drinking…. for a decade?” Gaelin asked.

“Sounds about right.” Shade replied, then he got a disgusted look on his face. “I also tried some drugs as well, but those weren’t for me.”

Gaelin laughed as he shook his head. “I want to ask more questions about how someone could drink for 10 years straight, but we don’t have the time, so I’ll move on. The next obvious question is about Elluin, the man who claims to have killed you. Have you ever fought him before, did he assist you in faking your death?”

This time, Shade laughed. “Faking my death? I didn’t fake shit. I’ve never even met the man. I didn’t even know I was dead for years until one night I ran out coins and accidentally sobered up. On my walk out of that town I passed a couple who were talking about taking a vacation to Alessandria. They said they were going to visit the statue in honor of my death, which as you could've guessed, was quite a shock to an alive man like i was, and still am. Why somebody would call seeing a single statue a vacation is also beyond me, sounds like a boring ass vacation. Though since I’m here, I would like to see my statue, I’m curious to see how my dying would look like.”

“We could probably swing that, judging by how I can’t sense any echos from you right now and you look like a normal human, you could probably just walk to it and nobody would notice.” Gaelin replied.

“First you invite him into the castle, now you want him taking casual strolls through the city?” Orist snapped, but his wife squeezed his hand again and he calmed down.

“I’ll personally escort him there then, that should alleviate your concerns Orist.” Gaelin said, before turning back to Shade. “Back to the issue at hand though. If you haven’t met Elluin, how did he get your daggers? That’s how he verified his kill as there was no body.”

Shade looked around the room as if everyone in it were the dumbest people he had ever met. “There was no body? I didn’t know that. I figured he presented some torn to shreds dragon corpse and pretended it was me. You all thought I died because he had two daggers? You can’t be serious.” Shade then took his black and red daggers out of his bag and slammed them on the table. “They aren’t even my daggers. Everyone believed I died and that some random ass merchant killed me because he had prop daggers? Has the collective IQ of the continent plummeted?”

“To be fair, I didn’t believe you had died." Gaelin replied. "And I doubt many others did either. I think people forced themselves to believe it out of hope, then when you didn’t come back after a while that hope turned into acceptance.”

Shade scoffed and mumbled to himself “Hope that I died, huh.”

“Now though that it’s clear you’re not dead, the next obvious question is what are your plans going forward?” Gaelin asked.

“I don’t really have any.” Shade shrugged. “My plan was to help Faylen here train for a while, then I was actually going to contact you somehow and ask you to get her into the knight academy. After that, I don’t know, probably go back to drinking?”

“You wish to become a knight?” Gaelin asked, turning his gaze to Faylen.

Before Faylen could respond, Merith jumped in, talking for the first time since the meeting began. “I’ll personally make sure she’s accepted! Classes may not start for a few months still, but we can start training immediately! I can train her in hand to hand, as well as sword combat, you can train her in echos usage!” he said looking to Saria.

“Yes!” Saria replied clasping her hands together, eyes sparkling. “With the glow coming from her wings, I imagine she must be bursting with power!”

“Oh, she is, you could sense her coming from miles away!” Merith said. “It felt like an entire army was on its way here, maybe one day she’ll be a knight commander herself!”

“Yes! With our training she could become one of the strongest knights in history!” Saria replied.

The two of them were giddy thinking about training their daughter, giggling like children. Faylen glared angrily at them but Gaelin put a hand on her shoulder and she looked at him. “I know you must have complicated thoughts on them and the situation. I know in your mind they should have acted differently when you were born, and maybe they should have. But you don’t know the influence of the church here, even doing what they did for you was a huge risk. If they were caught going against the church, they could have been kicked out of the royal family and jailed, maybe even executed. Please don’t discount the joy they must feel finding out their long lost presumed to be dead daughter is still alive.”

Faylen looked away from Gaelin. “Whatever.” She replied.

Shade looked over to the two giggling parents. “I’ll give you some free advice. If you want to know what she really needs to train in, you might be surprised based on what’s around her shoulder. She is fucking garbage with a bow. I mean like, laughably bad.”

Faylens angry glare came back, this time directed at Shade. “Really, after all the nice things I said about you?”

“You said I bought you because I was black out drunk and that I slept with you as a slave.” He replied.

“Are either of those false?” She asked.

“Is you being worse with a bow than a blind archer with no arms false?” he retorted.

She scoffed and turned away from him.

“Anyway…” Gaelin said, trying to get the meeting back on track. “The reason I was asking about your plans is I was wondering if you were going to take any action against Merellien.” Shade shook his head and laughed again, but didn’t say anything. “What?”

“What would you like me to do Gaelin?” Shade replied pointedly.

“I’m not asking you to do anything. I’m just wondering if due to the dragon laws if you’re going to do anything about them yourself.”

“Wondering, or hoping?” Shade quipped back. “How about I ask you a question. What are you going to do about Merellien kidnapping Vestelle?”

“That just happened today, we still need to sort through all the facts and go from there. It sounds like from early reports and what Faylen told us while you were procuring drinks, it was dragon hunters. Technically, they are separate from Merellien, so we must be careful in how we respond.” Gaelin replied.

“Ah, good old political talk, saying a bunch of words without actually saying anything.” Shade sarcastically said before leaning forward in his chair and peering seriously at Gaelin. “Quit the bullshit already, just spit out what you actually want from me, otherwise I’m going to walk out. I’m a dead wanted criminal; I don’t need to waste my time in some knight meeting playing word games.”

“Fine.” Gaelin said, meeting his stare. “I want you to join the fight against Merellien.”

Shade laughed again, leaned back in his chair and looked at Faylen. “What did I tell you, what did I tell you. It’s always the same, always. Fear, anger, hatred, those are things people feel about me. But when a war needs being fought, when people need to be killed, they call me asking for help.”

“Just to be clear.” A monotoned voice said from across the table. “I am against asking you for help.”

Shade looked over to the man. The man was a middle-aged looking elf sat in between a middle aged looking female elf and a younger male elf. The older male elf had long blonde hair and bright green eyes, while the female elf had short blonde hair and green eyes, and the young male elf was completely bald, also with the matching green eyes. From how similar they all looked, it was quite obvious they were all related in some fashion. The three of them, like Rania and Merith, didn’t have the golden eyes from Rivas. They all had been staring quietly at Shade during the meeting, though their disgust from his presence was quite obvious.

“I assume you don’t want my help because you hate me more than you want my help, but still, I respect it.” Shade said. “I see the three of you also haven’t passed the trials, a bunch of sinners like Rania?”

“We haven’t tried the trials.” The middle-aged elf replied flatly while Rania silently shook her head annoyed. “We don’t follow Rivas.”

Shade looked over at the Harpy. “Non followers of Rivas as Knight commanders? That’s allowed?”

The Harpy maintained a flat unamused expression himself. “As long as they don’t break any laws or doctrines, there is no issue. We are not the theocracy you seem to suggest we are.”

“From the sounds of it, you had multiple noble children killed based solely on religious beliefs, saying they were devil spawn. That sounds pretty theocracy like to me. Also, now that it turns out that was bullshit, what are you all going to do with the church moving forward?” Shade said turning toward the royals at the table.

“You speak as if you are certain that we were wrong about it, yet you have not said what or how Princess Faylen here was cured.” The Harpy replied.

“I told Gaelin outside some of it. But I took her to an old friend of mine, Aerith, you may remember her as I traveled around with her for a long time.” At the sound of Aeriths name, Merith and Saria seemed to tense, which Shade noticed. “Aerith examined her and broke the curse. She determined that it was a simple curse, but theorized that the reason nobody could find it was because it was placed on the Faylen while she was still in the womb. Which by the way, you should probably investigate that, as if somebody is cursing noble children so that the church would have them killed, that seems like a big deal.” Some murmurs went through the room from his allegations, but he ignored them and turned to the stone still Saria and Merith. “What’s with you two, as soon as I said Aeriths name, you froze. Did she do something to you?”

Gaelin looked at the two of them, then to Faylen, then laughed. “I didn’t even think of that, Shade my friend I’m not sure even you can deny fate exists at this point.”

“Whys that?” Shade replied looking at him.

“Did Aerith ever tell you who the father of her child was?”

“Yea.” Shade said. “She said it was some fairy knight commander who couldn’t have children.” He paused for a second, as the screws in his head turned. He then looked to Faylen, then to Merith, then back to Faylen, then to Saria, then back to Faylen again. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me, there’s just no way. This is getting ridiculous now.”

“What is it?” Faylen asked.

“He’s saying Elmyra is your sister, or half-sister I guess.”

Faylens eyes went wide for a brief moment, before anger consumed her again and she lashed at Merith. “You truly are the lowest of the low. You can blame the church for me and the other devil spawns, but what’s you’re excuse with her? Elmyra told me that she’s never met you, or even really knows who you are. Are there any other children who you’ve failed as a father for we should all know about?”

Merith grimaced at her words, but it was Saria who spoke. “We couldn’t let people know of his child out of wedlock, the church would…”

“Fuck the church!” Faylen snapped. “We’re all people, with feelings, wants, needs. If this church keeps making you do bad things for some fake visage of holiness, maybe you should reconsider your beliefs!”

“We helped clear Aeriths name from wanted lists, which if you knew how long her record was, you would know how difficult that was. We provided funds and are now helping Elmyra get into the same Knight academy you wish to attend; you act like we’ve done nothing for her.” Saria shot back.

“Are those good enough excuses in your mind to let a child grow up without a father?” Faylen shot right back.

Saria was going to respond, but the harpy beat her to it. “You two had a child out of wedlock?” He asked.

“So, what if they did?” Faylen snarled, turning her rage toward the birdlike creature. “If everyone consented, what does the church care.”

“The holy doctrine is quite clear on how relationships are supposed to work.” The harpy replied, meeting her angry glare.

“I can see why Shade says he doesn’t believe in the gods now.” Faylen spat. “Even if they do exist, it sounds like they don’t deserve our beliefs or respect. What people do in their personal lives that doesn’t negatively effect anybody else is not some gods business.”

“You should be careful of how much blasphemy you speak around people like me.” The harpy said harshly.

“Or what?” Faylen replied, hand slowly moving towards her dagger.

Suddenly the room went dark like someone turned off all the lights, then it lit back up. Everyone in the room except Faylen looked at the man they all knew had done it. Alongside Gaelin, he was the only other knight commander left from when Shade was a commander himself. Also, alongside Gaelin, he was the only one Shade would legitimately have concerns about fighting. The man looked like a regular male elf with short blue hair, pierced ears with wooden snake earrings, and a golden necklace with a golden snake pendant on it. He was also the fourth member, alongside Gaelin, the Phoenix and the Harpy to have the golden eyes.

Shade though knew he wasn’t actually an elf. The man was using an illusion, just like he was, as just like Shade, people feared and detested his true form. The man’s name was simply Kivas, and he was a monster that would terrify even the strongest of warriors. Shade stared at his eyes and shook his head. “Oh great, this seemingly shitty god gave the fucking Hydra holy powers.”

Faylen growled at the interruption of her argument with her parents and the harpy, but Shade put a hand on her shoulder, and she slowly moved her hand away from her dagger, before leaning back in her chair reluctantly.

“It’s nice to see you again, Shade.” The hydra in elf form said. While looking like an elf, it sounded as if all 9 of the hydra heads were speaking at once.

Shade respectfully nodded to him. “It’s nice to see you again as well Kivas.” While they weren’t friends, and barely even acquaintances in the short time Shade were a knight, they did have a mutual respect for each other. They would confide in each other their frustrations from being outcasts and hated by society that others couldn’t understand nor cared about. Shade also knew Kivas was quite strong. When they sparred, Shade always won, but Kivas would push him to the limit in ways he wouldn’t want to admit. “Golden eyes as well, can you fly now?”

“Yes.” Kivas replied.

“That doesn’t feel very fair.” Shade muttered.

“Shade.” Kivas continued. “As you know, I understand how I’m sure you feel about being asked for help when everyone treats you poorly. I’m not going to ask you to help, nor will I push you too. I am curious though as to what your thoughts are on the situation with the dragon laws, and like Gaelin, what you plan on doing, if anything. My understanding is that to this point, outside of a few minor events, no lucifer dragons have acted in any way.”

While Faylen was still angrily mumbling to herself, Shade and Kivas had a short stare down, as the rest of the room waited for his response. Finally, Shade took on a serious yet somber expression and spoke. “I don’t know why no other lucifer dragons have acted, I don’t know where they are or if they’re even still alive. I also don’t know what I plan on doing, if anything. Your queen said it herself; I’ve killed so many people it’s hard to even quantify. You may not believe this, but even people like me have limits on how much blood I can spill before I start to drown.”

Various disbelieving scoffs and murmurs rose throughout the room, but Kivas maintained a blank face, showing no reaction. Another silent stare off took place as Kivas seemed to silently and blanky study Shade while considering his response, before he finally spoke. “May I offer you my thoughts, Shade? I know unsolicited advice is typically frowned upon.”

“Be my guest.” Shade said, genuinely curious of what Kivas had to say.

“As you know, many other Hydras hate me for being in this position. Most beings in the world treat Hydras like monsters, yet here I am, serving as a knight for one of the kingdoms. Most Hydras won’t even talk to me, believing me to be a traitor.” He paused, and finally showed some real emotion, anger. “But if anywhere, including here in Alessandria, ever came out with laws for Hydras like the ones Merellien did for dragons, I would burn this place to the ground, no matter the cost.”

Shade shook his head. “But what would be the point?”

“The point?” Kivas replied confused. “The point is to save your fellow dragons.”

“But would I be saving them if I did join the fight?” Shade leaned forward in his chair and turned to the king and queen. “If we want to have this conversation, then let’s have this conversation. Let’s say I did join the fight, let’s say Aerith gets her way and I revive Endross, making a kingdom full of dragons. After the war with Merellien is over, then what? Last time Endross existed, this very kingdom took part in a war against it. I’m not going to pretend like there was zero merit to Alessandria’s involvement, but it does beg the question. What would this kingdoms response be if Endross came back? Especially if the leader of Endross was a notorious criminal that you have a statue and holiday in honor of their death for. Would I just fall into another war? I’m not sure how strong you think I am, but even I can’t beat two kingdoms worth of armies. Which would mean dragons would either die in that second war, or lay down and submit to you.”

The king snarled at Shade. “I’m not sure what you’re looking at me for. I’m against asking you for help, if it were up to me, you would be in shackles or better yet, dead right now. If you are looking for concessions or incentives from me for your involvement in the war, you won’t get them.”

Shade nodded and looked around the room. “That’s exactly what I expected. It’s why I said this meeting was meaningless. If you’re not going to guarantee my future safety or dragons future safety, then why the fuck would I help any of you?” He got up out of his chair and began towards the door.

“You would let thousands of dragons die for this pettiness?” Kivas said.

Shade turned back around. “Pettiness? The choices are let thousands of dragons die and Merellien wins, or let thousands of dragons die and Alessandria wins. What difference does it make to me?”

“Merelliens win would mean slavery for all dragon kind, that would clearly be worse, no?” Kivas replied.

“Maybe, but you seem to have this weird thought that my only chance to act is now. That this is the last stand, that after this war, it’s all over.” Shade replied.

“What do you mean?” Kivas asked.

“If I am to go to war, and we are to let thousands of dragons die no matter what, then isn’t the best choice obvious?” Shade said.

Kivas’ elf eyes went wide. “You plan on letting Merellien win, take over the world, then go to war with them and clean up the scraps.”

“I wouldn’t say that’s my active plan, but it’s certainly an option. And judging by how the king wants to treat me, its looking pretty fucking good.” Shade replied, then turned back to the exit and walked out.

Gaelin turned an angry glare at King Orist. “What are you looking at Gaelin? You really expected me to ally with that monster, after all he’s done.”

“I was hoping you would be able to see what’s best for your kingdom rather than make decisions based on emotions, but I guess that was a bridge too far for you.” Gaelin replied.

“He killed the king, my brother!” The king snapped.

“And when the city is burning down while you and the rest of your family is strung up on the gallows because of your reluctance to accept his help, I wonder if you’ll feel the same way.” Gaelin snarled back, and left the meeting room himself, with Faylen following close behind.