Sacrifice - Riskbreaker
Rune Grey
starstrike@softhome.net

*Spoiler Note: This work contains moderately extensive spoilers for the ending of Vagrant Story. Please read at your own risk!*

What is a reflection? What is sight? Mere images in the mind of a man, memory that can be turned and shaped as easily as I might pick up a piece of garbage, or slay a man with my blade.

Memory is what we make of it, a comforting blanket to keep away the demons of our past, or a scalding hot poker, stabbing us in our most fragile parts of our psyche. Reminding us that in the end, we are all but human... no matter how much 'power' we may receive in the course of our lives.

'Power'.

I've seen this power destroy everyone and everything that it touches, corrupt men's very souls until they become naught but howling beasts, demons in the possession of whatever dwells in the city of Le Monde.

The restless dead, waiting for a withered shell of human life to claim. Demons beyond speaking, dwelling within the darkness under the city.

And above all of it, the true evil.

Us. The VKP. Mullenkamp. The Knights of the Cross.

Guildenstern was utterly consumed by his ambition and lust for power. The destruction of his soul was complete even before he sheered the Rood Inverse, the Blood Sin, from Sydney's back and applied it to his own. Every one of his men was expendable, all mere pawns in his quest for power. Samantha, Duane, Neesa, Tieger... all of them mean nothing to him, except as a means by which he can claim the 'power'.

Grissom followed in Guildenstern's footsteps... a priest, willing to sacrifice everything to achieve what he believed was the mastery of the Dark that was possessed of Sydney and his followers. I understand now that his soul was lost the moment he gave himself over to the Dark, to summon that Titan against us.

In the end, the Dark consumes all of those who intend to reach for it. Rosencrantz, Grissom and Guildenstern. But Sydney and the Duke were able to wield the power of the Dark, the Duke to assist in ruling the kingdom from the shadows, Sydney to control the Mullenkamp cult. Is there a difference between 'desire' and 'duty'? And if so, where does that difference lay?

For the Blood Sin rests upon my shoulders now, the burden of a power greater than any that exists in Valendia. As long as the Blood Sin, the Rood Inverse that was burned into Sydney's flesh so long ago, remains upon me... I am the master of Le Monde. The Dark answers my every command, moving at my beck and call. The power of Sydney, of Guildenstern, and of a nation of sorcerers a millennium dead is my cross to bear for the rest of my life.

My 'duty', my promise to Sydney is that I will protect this power with my life. Perhaps that is all that keeps me from becoming a demon as well... the demon that I was, the demon that I will be again, should I fail my task.

The task of the Vagrant.

Author's Note: Well, this is the first of a 3 or 4 part fiction series that delve into the thoughts of the main characters of Vagrant Story. C&C would be appreciated, but I don't expect all too much of it. After all... Vagrant Story is TOUGH. Getting to the end is a challege enough... I might just give you a nasty flashback to the end levels if you keep reading this. ^_~