The pain seared again and she arched forward against her bonds, screaming in agony as her flesh grew bright in the darkness.
"Stop trying to remember!" He struck the cane down across her thighs again. Such was the process of breaking them in. " If you stop trying to remember, the runes will stop hurting and we can move on.."
Sobs racked her as the pain began to die in her chest. The runes darkening back to burnt flesh as her head hung down, tears rolling down her cheeks. It was several moments of silence in the darkness before she was calm enough not to sob with each breath. "Why?.. Why can't I protect them and remember them?"
He had taken the role of trainer because he could be heartless, but it didn't mean he was absent of a heart. This was the reason why - because he did care so much and wanted to share it. He leaned back away from her against the rocky cliff face.
"To remember is to risk them, to put them in danger.." His voice was soft as he spoke, looking out over the cave. Despite the darkness he saw everything as though it was mid day. He watched the coming and going of the others, those sparing in practice. " When we become Fallen.. we are removed from humanity to keep them safe. The dangers we fight would consume them if they knew.. Its the one part of the pact they still are bonded to."
She went limp against the bands that kept her up right, unable to resist the weight of this new life. A life she had been chosen for and chose apparently. Though she didn't remember. She couldn't. " Ignorance is bliss or so they..." as she tried to remember who said the saying her skin seared to life again where the runes were etched in to flesh just below her collar bone. Flame within her skin it seemed and she screamed again, bucking against the bonds for the pain.
He winced, remembering was the hardest habit to break in the new Fallen, this time he let her buck and scream till she was unable to.
"We all go through this.. do not think you are alone." He tried to sooth her again with his words." It is vow we all take. We all bare the runes that lock that part of us away. " His fingers found his own runes in the same place as hers, just below his collar bone. Long since etched in to his flesh it had been a long time since they had blazed with life. The skin was smooth scar tissue now, it would be sometime before hers would ever look like that.
"Tell me again... tell me how we are chosen or chose.. " Her voice was hoarse but strong.
At least she wasn't trying to remember.
"At the beginning of time, there was only light and darkness. Guardians of the light fought relentlessly against the creatures of the Void who only knew how to devour. Some of the Guardians though, grew tired of the endless fighting and sought to make peace with the Void. With some of the Void they found kinship in a desire for Peace, but in others from the Void they saw a chance for power.
The Council of the Guardians found out what they considered betrayal by their comrades and banished them from the light. But since they were not creatures of the Void, they had no home there either. They retreated to a space between the light and darkness, welcoming any others who sought the same thing as they - Peace from the Endless War. Time passed and this place began to develop life of its own because of the presence of light and darkness in something close to balance, as well as peace.
As time passed, the strongest of the Guardians sought Peace there, but they were followed by the Voids strongest warriors. The war came to the space, but to the surprise of both sides the Fallen as they had become known fought back for the peace of their land. And they had a fierceness unknown to either side - this was because they had something to protect, they had a reason to fight. The Void strived to welcome or seduce them to the darkness, while the Guardians sought to "claim" them by right. The new war this brought nearly destroyed the very thing they had fought for. They soon saw that if they didn't make a bargain with the Void or the Light - they would have nothing worth fighting for and be back where they started for better or worse.
The called a council truce to meet, a chance to bargain with both the Guardians and the Void. They wanted to be free from the war, but wanted to protect the new land, as well as the new families they had. It took weeks of arguing before the agreement was made that to exist in the space between light and darkness was to remove them from the war and thus remove any power they had been granted to fight the war. They had to forget what they were or where they came from to be allowed in - but by the same turn to remember was to elect to go to war.
The Fallen knowing that it would just invite the war back to their door step said they would only agree that if it was not to go to war, but serve as guardians for the space. Collecting any who remembered to keep them from telling others and training them to help in policing the space - thus removing the Guardians or the Void from responsibility to protect it.
The Void seeking to disrupt this potential power twisted the deal, refusing to agree unless the Fallen who remembered were also forced to forget what they were protecting. This started a new round of arguments till an old Maji who had been since before anyone could remember offered to create runes - these runes would allow the Fallen to remember they had something to fight for, but not the details of who or what it was.
The Fallen unsure of what the Maji was offering was the first to agree - eventually the Guardians and the Void also signed off on the pact. But not before one more ratification was made - should wide spread knowlage happen, either side have rights to invade and collect any they wish to fill their ranks for the endless War.
So you were chosen at birth because of simply existing, you chose to become a Fallen because you remembered, you believed and you knew you had something worth fighting for.." He carefully rolled the cane back and forth between his fingers as he came to a end of the story.
" I just wish I could remember if it was really worth this.." She signed softly, wincing as those runes burned slightly but not as harshly as before. She wasn't sure if it was because she was getting used to it or if that was just a warning not to try.
"To become Fallen any more.. it has to be. I've been among the ranks for far too long, more and more there are gaps in the arrival of new Fallen. Because we can't remember.. we don't know why. But the only thing we can think of is we are fallen far in to myth and legend - which stops people from either believing in us, in the war or in having something to protect." He didn't like the thought of that begin true - to be forgotten when you were fighting to protect something, to be forgotten by that very thing felt like a sour dose of poison.
