[COMPLETE] R E V E R S E #NaNoWriMo2k17

Prompt 1: Talona's Immortality

Prompt: How did Talona become immortal?

Six hundred years ago...

Lorebooks didn't lie.

The journey to the top of the Pillar was gruelling and difficult. To make matters worse, the climber wasn't a god. They weren't even a dragon. No, they were far smaller and far less significant than that.

The previous footholds the Arcanist once used were gone. Rocks crumbled at the touch as the harpy slowly pulled herself up, one tiny step at a time. Her goal was the top - but it seemed so far away. The landscape below was shrinking as she passed the cloudline, the top still too far away to reach.

Left, right. Left, right.

From one glance, you couldn't see anything different about her. She looked like an ordinary harpy - small, feathers, her face always covered by her mask. She climbed with grim determination, resolved on nothing but to reach the top.

She was younger. Younger than the most. Traumatised by war, her thoughts twisted, she was a living, breathing, incarnation of strife. Her mask hides her scars. Her feathers hide her broken heart.

And nothing will repair it.

Left, right. Left, right.

There was no rest for her. The Pillar had been blasted nearly smooth over the centuries by sandstorms and winds, and eroded by rain. To stop would be suicide, a very long fall to the ground below. She was exhausted, but she pressed on.

And on...

At last, the top broke into view. With one final push, Talona heaved herself over the edge and collapsed onto the surface. The stone was baked hot by the sun, rough against her skin. She allowed herself to rest, exhausted from her long journey.

I see that you have determination.

She opened her eyes, sitting up. The voice seemed to come from the sky itself. The sun seemed to dim.

I did not think that you were up to it.

"You were watching me?"

A pause.

Yes. Stories have underestimated me. I am more powerful than they think.

"So, you know why I'm here then?"

If he had a face, she could've sworn that he was smiling. Indeed.

"Then do you accept it?"

Another pause.

I have not considered yet.

"Then consider fast."

How do I know that I will have your word? You could may as well run away with my blessing the moment you receive it, and 'll never be able to follow you.

"A chance for freedom. Revenge."

Still.

"My friends and family told me to gave up. I did not. I persevered. I travelled all the way from the Starfall Isles to here. I climbed the Pillar in the scorching heat for an entire day." She clenched her fists. "Is that not enough to prove to you my loyalty?"

Fine. Tell me, why do you want immortality?

She growled, standing up straight. The clouds were morphing into the shape of a dragon's head, and she looked straight into its dark eyes, unswerving.

"You know why, Shade." She opened her wings as if to embrace the world. "I am the one who will lead the monsters to justice. I am the one who will destroy the dragons, and topple the eleven gods from their thrones. I am the one who will bring you back."

"But the mission isn't easy. There will be deaths, there will be losses. And without a proper leader t watch through it all, how will we ever succeed?"

"I don't want immortality, I need it. To lead the Beastclans until the day we win. To protect against failures in the future. To bring you back and into power once." She flared her wings. "I will trade the entire world for you, for this gift."

There was dead silence for a few seconds. She waited patiently, never breaking her gaze from the Deathbringer as he studied her critically. His eyes were like lasers, staring into her heart and mind.

Very... very well. You have convinced me.

"So yes?"

Take the gift. Remember your words.

The head flew down, coiling around her like a great serpent, and she could hear it laughing quietly.

We will make great partners.

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Just for reference, Talona's immortality only spans to natural death causes(i.e old age). So she can still be killed via murder, poison, drowning, burning, etc. Should've been more specific when she asked ;)