An Important Decision

*In ancient history, Argus*

The room was supposed to be a soothing place where one slept. The gently sloped walls were a light blue color, matching the sky and designed to let the sunlight reflect within the space during the day, or the moonlight in the evening. Now though, the bedroom and it's thick bed surrounded by curtains that had been drawn back was a place of tension, of rising anxiety.

The Eredar named Devasha stood in the center of the room, her lean form draped in sheer silken robes that allowed her porcelain white skin to feel the cooler evening breeze that came from the open window. The softness of the fabric and the comfortable temperature did little to ease her though as she stood at the foot of her bed, her hooves shifting in place on the smooth marble floor.

Like many of her kind, Devasha adorned the tendrils that framed her face with golden rings. These clinked together lightly as she shook her head, the soft magical lights that illuminated the room twinkling on the gold and the smooth surface of the horns that curled from the top of her head and framed her face. She sighed, bringing a carefully manicured hand up to run through her deep blue hair, staring down at the source of her concern where it lay on the bed.

For such a momentous decision, the object was small and unassuming in appearance. A simple crystal set in some type of dark metal, the artifact glowed and pulsed with a bright green energy; a type of magic that she had never seen before despite having studied magic for longer than she could recall. Some had called it Fel energy, some had simply referred to it as the 'gift', but to Devasha's eyes it was a wild and unpredictable new thing in a world that had remained peacefully unchanged for eons. While some of the other Eredar had proclaimed it as the herald of the next era of grandeur for their civilization, Devasha had many doubts and questions about whether or not her people should take up such magic.

She stepped closer to the object, a hand reaching out to poke at the metal frame that held the crystal. Merely being near it sent a shiver up her arm, increasing her concern. It was not that she feared power, not at all, but power was something to be earned. Something to be gleaned through difficult study, careful manipulation of one's magic, and through the wisdom that such learning brought. This reeked of a shortcut, of reaching out to grab something external to oneself, and she didn't like it one bit. Like it or not though, besides for a few naysayers, most of the Eredar were partaking of this energy, including her family in the housing complex that she was in. To be part of the bold new world they hoped to shape, she would have to use the Fel energies of the crystal.

And yet...she could not. Doubts and misgivings continued to plague her, and so she stood immobile, lost in thought as the time to make the decision slipped away from her. Never one to act rashly or quickly, she waited, weighing the matter over and over again in her mind, until behind her the bedroom door opened, sliding into a recess in the wall through the magic that controlled it.

"Devasha! You have not used the artifact yet!" came the voice of Xavuus behind her. "You cannot possibly imagine what you are missing!"

Devasha turned, her silver eyes widening slightly as she took in the form of her beloved. They had all agreed that tonight would be the night, and he had kept his word on that. She could see the change in him already, see the way his form seemed larger, more powerful. His skin had begun to darken, the first hints of a reddish hue appearing here and there. All of this would have gone unnoticed though, if not for his eyes. Within them glowed the magic of the crystal, the green fire that sparkled near her on the bed.

"I...have not prepared myself yet," Devasha said slowly. The answer was calculated to give her more time to think, to give her a way to find a reason to avoid making the decision now. It was far too late however.

"Nonesense!" Xavuus declared, marching over to her. His hooves pounded on the stones, his larger form looming over her as he grinned down at her. "You must use it! Take it into yourself and feel the power that we've been missing!"

She studied him for a moment in silence, the pause communicating much. She looked down again at the crystal, shaking her head slightly, "I have misgivings, my Heart. I do not know if I can go down this path."

His laughter was almost mocking, and made her turn her head to stare into his glowing eyes as he replied, "You speak foolishly, for you have not tasted of the power! Take it up and feel its energies and all will be answered, I promise you that!"

The response increased her anxiety, and her mouth drew down to a frown, "My Heart...please, I need more time to consider it. I am not ready to take such a step."

To Devasha's surprise, he leaned forward, gripping her arm roughly, his voice no longer pleasant, "You delay when you should be doing! Take up the crystal and put an end to these pathetic doubts! You weaken yourself voluntarily with each minute you delay!"

Everything about the situation was wrong. He had never, in all their many years together, laid a hand upon her in such a way. He had never spoken roughly to her, never displayed such reckless haste or unneeded anger. It was not their way, it was not expected, and it turned her feelings from anxiety to alarm in an instant.

"You are hurting me, Xavuus," she said quietly. When he did not release her arm, and instead dug his fingers in more tightly and pushed her towards the bed, the surprise of it turned to anger. "Please...release me so that we may talk about this..."

"You will take up the crystal NOW, Devasha," he said, his voice now full of actual menace.

Hurt, upset, and not fully understanding why he would treat her this way, Devasha shook her head, looking down at the artifact and snapping her fingers. A tendril of her powerful arcane magic wrapped about the fragile crystal matrix, crushing it to a fine dust that settled over the bed. That such power would come between them, that it would sit atop the place where they made love, was unthinkable to her, and yet it had happened in that moment.

He pushed her then. Shoved her against the edge of the bed, her hooves scrambling for purchase and deep blue marks appearing on her arm where he'd bruised her. He glared at her, his tone vile, "And so you would deny your destiny, deny power. You are a weak fool, Devasha. I cannot believe I hadn't seen this before now."

Devasha had been a mage for a very long time. She had studied magic for so long, had engaged in magical experiments that could potentially be dangerous so often, that it was second nature for her to keep wards prepared for such eventualities. As she stared Xavuus in the eyes, something in the back of her mind screamed at her in warning, some little instinct that she did not know she possessed. In that fraction of a second, she murmured a single word, a word that she'd used many times when one of her experiments had failed and she needed to protect herself.

It saved her life. In less time than it would take one to blink, Xavuus sent a stream of green flames at her, the magic bending around a bubble of protective wards that shielded her body. It seared the furniture behind her, setting the bed alight and destroying smaller pieces of furniture. While the spell did not harm her, the shock of it, the fact that he had tried to kill her, was almost more than she could bear.

"Xavuus...my Heart...why?" was all she could utter.

"Because you are weak, and unworthy of joining us. Our race must be purged of those who refuse to take power when it is offered. Die, Devasha!" he shouted at her, hurling more magic at her.

Unfortunately for the newly corrupted Eredar, his grasp of his new powers were not as strong as one who had studied her art for so long. Although his spells did indeed have great power, again the flames curled around her wards, this time reflecting backwards. Half the room was consumed in a fiery explosion, blasting a great hole in the wall and sending him falling.

Devasha took a hesitant step towards him, seeing that he was still breathing. In that moment, she realized that she could not help him, that he would simply attack her again once he regained his senses. That same voice that had screamed at her to protect herself now screamed at her to flee while she had the chance. She drew in a deep breath, and then she ran, dashing through the hole in the wall and into the corridor beyond.

She did not know where she was going, she knew only that she had to escape, had to get away from those who had taken in the magic. She could feel the magical energies spiking in the complex all around her and she knew that others were taking in the power, willingly embracing what must be a most vile evil. She knew that if she stopped running, stopped to think about it, that it would drive her to immobility.

She passed many doorways, her hooves pounding on the stones as she ran, the corridor opening up ahead into the common area that joined the various parts of the complex where her family resided. As she entered the open space with its curved chairs, she skidded to a halt, seeing two figures standing there, their eyes glowing and their skin already partially red.

It was Keltuun and Taara, her son and daughter.

"Going somewhere, Mother?" Keltuun asked, his tone matching that of his father's. He grinned at her, the Fel magic glowing in his eyes as he gazed at her.

"It seems she did not take up the Gift," Taara said, shaking her head. "What a stupid thing you've done, Mother. Why couldn't you see reason? Now you cannot join us as we prosper!"

Devasha simply stood before her children, her mouth agape and unable to form all of the words she wished to say to them, unable to tell them how sorry she was for what they'd done to themselves. Behind her, she could hear the hooves of Xavuus as he ran down the corridor, eager to catch her. In that moment she felt her heart breaking as she realized her beloved and her grown children had been severed from her forever by what they'd done, what she'd refused to do.

They saw it in her eyes. She didn't need to speak it; no words were needed to convey the depths of her sorrow or the rift that had suddenly come between them. Both of them brought their hands up, Fel green fire dancing on their fingertips as they hurled deadly magic at her, intent on ending her before she could stop others from taking up the power.

Although Keltuun and Taara were fully grown, they had not had the experience with magic that Devasha had. Combined with their lack of familiarity with their new powers, this lack of experience proved to be the undoing of their spells. The flames danced around Devasha, again colliding with her wards and curling up around her. Through the crackling gout of flames, she could see them glaring at her in anger, could see the disappointment that she hadn't died from the spells.

She was left with a terrible choice; fight her own children, fight her beloved Xavuus, or die. She had no experience with combat, had never lived in anything but peace, and in that moment she realized she couldn't bring herself to do it, not now, not here. She realized she was going to die.

Sometimes, when we least expect it, we find strength within ourselves that we did not know we possess, however. Deep in Devasha's mind, primal instincts took over where her will was unable to cope, her body crying out for survival even as her mind gave up. Barely even thinking now, Devasha brought her hands up, murmuring words of magic and directing the angle of her shields up and away from herself.

The flames that her children had hurled at her curled up, colliding with the ceiling and exploding there. Flaming wreckage came down all around them, crashing into the floor as the roof above began to cave in from the blast. Devasha watched in a dazed state as her children fell back away from her, fleeing the destruction, and she shouted a word of power, her arcane magic whisking her away from the rain of fire and teleporting her a short distance to the door that lead out from the common area to the street beyond the dwelling. She stumbled out, leaving her cursing, demon-infused children behind.

Devasha ran as she'd never run in all her years. Around her she could feel the energies as they rose in the town, the other citizens either taking up the magic or discovering that their friends and families had turned on them as Devasha's had. In the back of her mind, she mourned what was happening to her people, her heartbreak coming to the fore. She shook her head, continuing to run and not knowing where to turn.

In the distance she saw something that caught her attention, snapping her out of her misery and focusing her. It was a beacon, a column of light. That others had not seen it surprised her, for it glowed more brightly to her eyes than the sun itself. In that dark moment, it represented hope, represented reprieve and safety, and Devasha could feel it calling out to her and to all of those who had chosen as she had. Crying now and not knowing what else to do, wearing only her robes and bereft of her family, she turned towards it, fleeing.

Fleeing forevermore.