Inheritance

End of Part 1: Chapter 44: Savior

"I have a proposal." Laurence said uneasily. "If you are sincere, Eory, then you will not mind a slower, but kinder and more productive death sentence."

Kori waited in apprehension of what he would suggest—ready to protest.

"The Astral Elves are always looking for more recruits to fend off the doppelgangers. Will you agree to help them?" King Laurence asked.

Kori gasped. "No! I will not allow it!"

Eory cocked his head to the side. "What are you talking about?"

Pollyanna answered for the king. "He wishes to lock us into the Crater of Resentment, near the waif homeland where doppelgangers—evil shadows who eat life with every step they take--spring relentlessly up from the ground. The Astral Elves put up a magical barrier around that place and once you go in, you can't get out. We will be locked in with death itself!"

King Laurence glared at her and said, "please, there are many people who live full lives within the Crater—and they live lives of fulfillment, too, because they are doing something for the good of every creature on Yharos. You want to be good, don't you Eory? Well, sacrificing your life to ensure the peace and prosperity of all the kingdoms and peoples on Yharos sounds noble enough to me, and a good enough punishment."

"Don't do it, Eory. People in the Crater live lonely, sad lives! Many of them take their own lives if the doppelgangers don't get them first!" Kori cried. She turned to Laurence. "Just let him go, please Laurence!"

"I will not bend, even for you, Kori! Every kingdom is in danger with these creatures alive!" Laurence yelled and loomed over her menacingly, but the waif did not cower. She wrestled with the conflicting feelings inside of her when it came to the king. It was an irrevocable love mixed with a sick and perverse dependence and a result of her own loneliness and need for affection. She could never tell whether the king was taking advantage of her or whether she was just stupid enough to fall in love with a man who was married.

Eory thought for a few moments, and then he motioned Pollyanna to come closer to him as he disengaged from Kori's protective hug.

Pollyanna did so and knelt by his side where he whispered into her ear. "Is there a way to free you from my service? I don't want you to have to come."

Pollyanna was silent for a moment as she looked into his eyes searchingly, and then she said, "I don't want to be free from your service."

His eyes narrowed with desire. He didn't realize how badly he wanted to hear her say that. She kissed his forehead and then stood up.

Eory nodded, then. "I will go. If it will make up for the lives I have taken here, then I will go."

"No!" Kori cried with her voice cracking, "no... Eory, I beg of you—don't do this... I want you in my life! You're all I have!"

Eory crouched and held her close again. A small smile bloomed on his lips and he remembered again just how lucky he was to have someone kind enough in the world to save a child with evilness tainting his soul. He realized now, as a mature adult, how lonely she must have been to have selflessly given so much of her life to such a corrupt child that was not her own. "Kori, I want you to find a different reason for living. You deserve it more than anyone I know. It should be a good reason, and it should be only for yourself."

Kori turned away from him and covered her face in her hands. With a muffled voice she said, "you're a good reason! Why can't you see it?"

Eory looked at her back for a time with a reflective expression on his face. In a moment he said, "because my hands are covered in blood. I'm not fit to live with you, however much I wanted to."