Tayien's end?

[Maevan2]

When Tayien regained her consciousness again she was still lying on the ground down in the cartel's cellar. Lying in the dirt and her own blood. She tried to open her eyes but the only thing she could see was a blurred torch in the distance. She was alone, neither Cazen or Daelus were there. Did they escape or did they fall too? She didn't know. There was nobody else in that room. But that didn't mean much.

Not even the cartel's thugs seemed to care about her. It was like the whole world has just forgotten her. Tayien tried to imagine that Cazen and Daelus managed to escape but she felt that they probably shared the same fate like her.

“So this is the end? Bleeding to death like an injured animal in a dark and cold cave?”

This was not the end she had planned. It was the end she has always been afraid of. Dying alone and forgotten with nobody to bury her remains. With nobody to visit her grave now and then. Vanishing like she never existed. She started to cry silently as she felt her life fading away more and more and while she was not dead yet she knew that she would die. And that it would just a small matter of time till everything was over.

“Maybe I just get what I deserve? What did I do to make the world a better place?”

Suddenly she could hear two men coming down the stairs. She was too weak to really understand what they were saying but they were obviously drunk and in a good mood. That could only mean that Cazen didn't escape either and this thought dissolved the rest of was left of her will to live. All those things she should have done, all the things she should have said. She never dared to face Yashia again after that day when Yashia caught her and Cirion in the temple barracks. She never dared to tell Cazen her real feelings. Instead of that she told him to go to hell. Why? She didn't know, all the reasons seemed so irrelevant to her now. But all these things should become meaningless soon. It was over.

“So they have come to bring this to an end? To dispose of what is left?”

She just lay there when one of the thugs grabbed her by her feat, hoping they would burn her or just throw her off the cliff. Or maybe even feed her to their dogs. Anything that would the pain once and for all would be welcome.

But when the thug grabbed her feet and started to drag her towards the stairs a wave of pain ran through her body and she moaned.

“Hey, look at this! This bitch is still alive”

“So what? Let us just get rid of her. I am starving”

She didn't dare to open her eyes. But she could smell him as he leaned over her, the dirt, his sweat and the alcohol. He touched her hair, her face and moved his hand slowly over her neck to her chest.

“What a shame, I would love to have some fun with this lady”

The other man laughed.

“You know that you are a an sick old bastard? But do whatever you want, but don't expect me to cleanup the mess afterwards”

The other man laughed once again and went up the stairs again and left her alone with the other thug. She knew what would happen next and this brought her will back. But as she tried to tried to resist another wave of pain ran through her body and she screamed.

“Shut up!”

He hit her head with his fist and her whole world turned into another dizzy wave of pain that washed the rest of her willpower away again. There was nothing she could do about it and anything she would have tried would have made it only worse for her.

She didn't know how long it took. But it seemed to be ages to her. She prayed to Helm to let her die, to spare her from this. She didn't want this to be the last moment in her life. And maybe it was a gift from Helm or maybe she was just too weak. But she fell unconscious again after a while and regained her consciousness again when the man was already dragging her to the cliff.

The thug lifted her over his shoulder as he reached the cliff and finally he threw her off the cliff with no even the slightest emotion on his face. But for a moment Tayien could feel the sun on her face and smell the fresh air and suddenly she started to smile.

“Mother, father, Cazen.... here I come”

And then she fell...

[Maevan2]

And Tayien fell. Deeper and deeper. Deeper than she would have ever imagined. And while she fell she felt her consciousness fading away once again. But this time it would be for the last time. She know knew she would hit the ground any moment.

When she opened her eyes again she knew that something was wrong. She was supposed to be dead. Nobody could have survived this. But this, this wasn't the fugue plane or the city of judgement. It was dark room and the only light there came from a candle next to her bed. She tried to look around. At least as much as her state allowed it. She look down at her self and touched her wounds. They were still there and she felt the pain again as she touched them. But it was obvious that somebody has taken care of her. But this didn't make any sense. She couldn't have survived the fall. Her bones should be crushed. She was still in a terrible state but her but she didn't have any other wounds than those from the fight in the cellar. And suddenly she realized that she never hit the ground. But this made even less sense to her. Her mind tried to make sense of this. But the more she thought about it the less sense it seemed to make. And suddenly she started to panic. She tried to get, she tried to get out of there. Where ever that might be. But this was to much for her in her current state. But before she fell asleep again she saw a shape step out of the dark. She still couldn't see who - or what - that shape was. But the shape spoke to her. It spoke with a voice like she never heard before. But it sounded friendly and soothing.

“Fear not my child. Your time has not come yet”

[Maevan2]

She slept long and peacefully and when she woke up she had no idea whether she slept just for hours or for days. It didn't take long till she realized that she was no longer where she has been before. Once again she had no idea how she got here. But this obviously not the same place. The whole architecture was different. But it was familiar even though she couldn't figure out from where she knew it at the moment. She knew that she has been to this place before. But she was too confused by the all the events and she wasn't able to think clearly. There were just to many different thoughts in her head at the same time.

“Fear not my child. Your time has not come yet”

These words of the stranger came back to her mind. Who was he? Or what was he? How did he her rescue her? And why? And especially: where was she now? She lay there, staring at the ceiling, trying to order her thoughts and make sense of this all. Minutes or even hours passed but it was to no avail. So she finally decided to stop looking for answers hoping they would come to her soon enough.

After a while she started looking around again. She knew this place. The color of the walls, the style of the furniture. The answer was so close. So close that she could almost feel it. And suddenly she caught a glimpse of something she hadn't noticed before as it was hidden in the shadows. It was a symbol, a holy symbol. At the very same moment she saw it she finally realized where she was. Helm! She was in the temple of Helm. And for the first time in weeks she really relaxed.