The Chimera

by Scarheart

Chimera 17: Conversation With a Nightmare

"We must talk," a voice came to Luna. It was a whisper, a roar, in her mind, around her, before her. It was young, old, it was many, it was one. The voice caressed, it strangled, pleaded, demanded. It was an old companion, a stranger now. It was her greatest triumph, the weighted guilt of her past.

It was the power of Nightmare Moon. It was before her as a shadowy form in her dream. Yes, she knew it was her dream. She was at the oasis, the form of Silent Wing gray, cold to the touch, but breathing. The shadow of dark magic that had once been hers to call her own at one point was a mass before her, undulating and making no move towards her.

Luna was terrified.

"No, not again," she breathed. "Mother, no, not again."

"I know you," rippled the shadow. "I awakened your rage, your laments, your jealousy. I awakened all that was dark within you, amplified it, exposed that hatred within you and let it manifest, grow, destroy."

"No." Luna said firmly, though her voice felt it was going to crack. "Stay away from me."

It ignored her plea, but it still did not move. Around the oasis arose dark little forms with white blazing eyes. Thousands upon thousands of them. They stared at Luna, it seemed, accusing. "In your rage, the blood of the innocent mixed with the guilty. No flesh, no spirit, none whom you felt wronged you, denied you what you felt was your right was spared your wrath, save the one who sent us to the gray Beyond," it said quietly. All the eyes shifted to the shadow.

A vast cry echoed through the dream. It was the voice of many. The dead sang.

"What do you want?" Luna asked. Her attention went to the eyes around her. "Are these those whom I killed?" The dark Alicorn felt her heart surge into her throat. Why now?

Again, she was ignored, her presence required to do nothing more than listen. The shadow shifted, formed, established hard, dark wings, long legs, silvery blue armor Luna knew all too well. Cat-like blue eyes appeared gazed upon her. Nightmare Moon stood before her, in all her dark majesty, regarding the smaller form impassively, yet curiously.

"We were once one, you and I, until Harmony scattered us, splitting me from you." Moon moved with supple grace, like a regal queen, her steps slow as she was soon hovering over Silent Wing, regarding him curiously, longingly. "His name is not Silent Wing. His name is ancient, having been written in the stars long ago, only to be taken by madness and twisted, to be saved by a mother who gave her very essence to save him. He rebelled against the one who called him his master. Twice. The third time he was broken, his soul split in twain."

Luna did not move, but found herself fearing for Silent Wing. Without thinking, she moved towards him.

"I will not harm him. I cannot harm him," Nightmare Moon said, blinking slowly as she watched Luna approach. "I have no desire to harm. I can only manifest the power through the emotions of the host."

"What are you saying?" Luna asked. "What are you talking about? I want nothing to do with you. You are in my past. I cannot allow you to infect Silent Wing."

"Infect?" Moon flickered annoyance. "You do not understand, do you? I was still scattered to the winds when your rage drew a part of me to you. Tell me truthfully, Princess Luna, are you as powerful now as you were when you were the creature known as Nightmare Moon?"

"I do not see where this is relevant," began Luna, confused by the sudden shift from Silent to herself.

"You rivaled your sister in power," Moon continued, nuzzling the gray form at her hooves.

Luna started forward, outrage forming on her lips.

Moon came up suddenly, sharply focused upon the Alicorn. "The world could have been yours, Luna. You held back against your sister. You had a chance to deliver the final blow, yet you hesitated in the last moment, gave her an opening and spent a thousand years in torment, alone." Her head was tilted to one side, not angry, but curious. "Why?"

Luna stood her ground. "Why should I answer your questions? It's because of you I did so much harm!"

Moon levelled a steady gaze upon the smaller Alicorn. "I? I am but a source. It is my nature to manifest and amplify emotions. To take the actions of which you had complete control over yourself and shift them to me is incorrect. One does not blame the tool for the actions of the one using it."

Luna felt at a loss.

"We shall speak again. For now, rest. I should like to speak with you more. He is not ready for me yet."

"What?"

---

Luna woke up, shivering. Night was falling. The stars were out, she noted, gazing up at the darkening sky well past twilight. She wondered if Tia was going to raise the moon. With everything going on, would she be able to? The war had to be taxing her strength, especially on a mental level.

But, she was strong. She had endured Discord's rebellion, King Sombra's corruption and domination of the Crystal Empire, and even her sister's jealousy. After that, she was alone for a thousand years. Oddly, she had a hard time remembering those years as it felt more like an uncomfortable blur to her. But the disconnection from home during her incarceration haunted her to this day still.

The dark mare drew in a sharp breath, biting back the sob she knew wanted to come out. What was with the dream? Were those shadows around her representing those lives she had taken in her rage so long ago? Had she been so bitter in her jealousy of the ponies and their preference of the sun over her moon to warrant her slaughtering them with little more than the effort of flicking a hoof at them?

Her blue eyes fell upon Silent Wing's still form. Rising to her hooves, she trotted over to him and hovered her muzzle near his. He still breathed. Relieved, she gave him a soft, quick nuzzle and went to the edge of the water for a drink. She then filled her cheeks for him, thinking he must be thirsty after the day's passing. Trotting back to the stricken prince, Luna gave him water. He responded as before, this time with what she thought and hoped was more vigor. A golden eye opened, like before and held her for a moment. A weak little smile formed.

"Everything hurts," he croaked, following it with a painful little whimper.

She hushed him with a little kiss. "You will heal. I shall help you." With no reliable magic?

Silent tried to shift, but Luna would not let him move. "I guess I can't avoid you now, can I?" His grin became sheepish. "Mother would be happy."

Luna chuckled despite herself and the prince's condition. "But I would rather you be happy. I have no intention of devouring you as is customary with you changelings and your quaint cannibalistic habits."

Silent Wing shivered. It was becoming cold. Without thinking, Luna lay next to him, draping her wing over his body. Protests were cut off with more little kisses.

"Be silent, my Silent," she whispered. "No harm shall befall you under my care. You have my word. I know of Baethesa."

He froze, body tensing. Luna pulled him close, letting her body heat keep him warm. He felt cold, so cold!

"Frakas told you, didn't he?"

"Yes."

"I don't want to talk about it," Silent said sadly. "I did terrible things I should not have been able to do."

"As have I, Silent." The dark Alicorn was careful with her hooves as she wrapped them around his body. "Now, I am having a hard time with my magic in this area. I need to heal you, so I'm going to have to keep you close so I don't have to transfer my power over a distance. I think I can avoid losing what magic I can if I simply transfer it through physical contact."

"You're a terrible liar, Luna."

Flushing cheeks burned. "Whatever do you mean?"

"You just want an excuse to hold me."

"Is that bad?"

There was a pause. "No. It's nice."

She laughed a little. "Good. Now be still! I cannot heal you with all this noise. This region has a strange effect on my magic. I cannot cast it with full confidence as it appears to drain me the moment it leaves my body."

Silent Wing did go silent, settling against the Alicorn as she used a wing as a blanket for him. Luna smelled nice, he noted absently as he still felt so weary and weak. The pain was still there, but it was a dull throbbing. Small waves racked his body, marked by the little twitches up and down his frame.

The moon rose. Luna observed with sadness, wondering if her sister mourned for her now. The moonbeams filled the Princess of the Night with its magic, invigorating her. Her mane assumed its aura of stars within it, enveloping the prince gently.

Quietly she whispered into his ear, "I have thee and I shall not release thee, so long as you have me and do not wish to release me." Her magic flowed into him, praying it would not be absorbed.

Healing him shall not be difficult.

Nothing was happening. Luna tried harder, pouring more of herself into mending the prince. Doubt flickered in her heart.

You should be able to heal him.

Frustration began to affect her efforts. All this power and he was simply absorbing it! Silent Wing groaned, in pain, little muffled cries coming from the mouth he kept clamped shut. He was trusting her. She could not fail him!

He'll die anyways. His wounds are simply too much. You only delayed the inevitable.

"No!" She grit her teeth. "I cannot abandon him! Not now! Not ever!" Tears began to pool in her eyes. Luna felt the doubts of her past rise up within her heart. This was different. This was despair.

"Luna?" The prince's voice was feeble, yet curious.

"Hush, my darling. I must concentrate. Trust me, please." She tried to sound pleasant, but she really wanted to scream in frustration. Why wasn't it working?

"Okay." The colt settled. No, he is a stallion, Luna corrected herself. He had done more than enough to prove himself in her eyes.

There is only one way you can save him, overcome the plague against magic in this place. There was once a great battle here, the magic used so great and so concentrated, the end result was a zone where magic is rendered useless unless one has exceptional power. It is a barrier you must overcome in order to get past the residue of a forgotten war.

Luna closed her eyes, setting her lips to a hard straight line. "I cannot."

Then the one you call Silent Wing will die.

"There is another way!" Luna insisted.

Is toying with his life worth your pride?

"This has nothing to do with pride! This has everything to do with that which is evil."

Am I evil?

"I believe you are."

Tell me then, Princess of Omnipotence, what is evil?

Luna could not answer right away. Silent was asleep now, fading into her embrace with a contented face, occasionally twitching with spasms of pain. At least she could numb his physical hurts. He knew he was dying.

He knew it.

"Please."

You have some time to consider. Not much. Perhaps until the dawn. He is not ready to accept his birthright. He is not complete. If I were to resume the place I was made for, it would shatter his soul and send it across the Void. Let me join you, Luna of Equestria once again and together we can make his body whole. We can together overcome the barrier dulling your magic.

"No!" Luna hugged her prince close to her, burying her snout in his thick tangled mane. Tears were streaming freely as she tried again and again with frantic bursts to push her magic upon Silent's injuries, to heal them, to do away with the possibility of becoming the one thing she loathed above all.

As you wish. I shall not move against you for now. I must allow you to choose for yourself the path you must eventually take.

"I will not become Nightmare Moon again!" she cried.

Is it the Nightmare you fear, or yourself? The presense was gone as if it had never been.

Luna remained awake all night, watching over Silent Wing. She could not sleep, for fear of losing him should she look away for even one moment. To her relief, she found she could still go into this dreams. Deciding to do just that, she released herself into the Land of Dreams, to seek out the prince.

---

Tseng Tzu observed sightlessly the pair from the rim of the crater, his ancient wrinkled face unreadable in the moonlight. On either side of him were a pair of camels swathed in the light robes of the desert folk, also observing the Alicorn and the chimera curiously. Each one leaned on a long pilum, a javelin with a square-shaped tip, a long steel shaft roughly two feet long attached to a wooden shaft three feet in length. Their heads were covered in heavy turbans, their faces covered, revealing only their eyes. Upon each back sat a changeling, garbed in similar fashion.

Anticipating the Topaz Kingdom would be aware of the airship, Tseng Tzu had departed to seek out old allies. The camels, of course were quick to supply minimal support, as they were still embattled in a current territorial dispute with the Topaz. They had little use for sea combat, as they were loathe to step off the sands of their home. As for the Jade changelings, they sent two randomly selected younger sons to represent them, indicating their dubious belief in the old griffon's need for help.

He had not anticipated the dragon to show so soon nor for it to fall so quickly. It had taken him the better part of the afternoon following the magic Silent Wing contained within him. It was like following a star on the horizon. Any creature with a minor aptitude for magic could sense it, though in varying degrees. Hating having to abandon the ship, but seeing the need to establish a safe haven on land, he had to go ahead to see what he could find. He had been promised. In return, he received what he how had with him. Luna was made aware of this.

It was better than nothing. At least they could sense what he sensed from Silent Wing, though not quite as clearly.

"Inform the Council of Queens," Tseng Tzu said to them as he stroked his long feather beard. "Tell them the Queen of the Moon has come at long last and she brings her favored consort. Watch for Topaz patrols, my friends. May the stars guide you."

Silently, the camels nodded, bearing their changeling riders who were equally silent. They took wing and disappeared into the night, going in a separate direction as their camel allies.

The Broken Jades were going to be needed. The trouble with them was they simply loved fighting perhaps too much and their desire to dominate the other in individual combat. On top of that, the matriarchs were troublesome to deal with as they had little trust for each other. They would be interested to see this chimera indeed. They would be able to sense the magic in him. They would squabble over who would have the rights to him. As a male, Silent Wing was about to be thrust into a mare-dominated society where his status as prince meant little. Jade changelings were, after all considered the most volatile and uncontrollable of all.

The key to this would rest upon the shoulders of Luna. If she were to be accepted as a matriarch, she was going to need to somehow get some of her magic back.

"They dream," he noted quietly, starting down the slope.

There was going to be a fight and Luna was going to have to protect Silent Wing from power hungry changeling Queens. Not just one, but heads of many houses. The Jade Republic was nothing to take lightly. They would certainly be interested in Silent Wing.

Should he survive the night.

All there was to do now was wait and see. The struggle would be from within.

---

Luna sat next to Silent at the tree where his hope lay. Chrysalis and Atalanta had been replaced beneath that living tree, the only living thing in all the land of his dreams. Why was everything so dead? Why did nothing change? His dreamscape was almost as if it was in permanent stasis. Side by side they shared the same view, quiet for a long while as in time they drew closer and closer together until she leaned into him and he pressed the side of his head into her neck.

"I don't want to die." His voice was steady, though his own words shook him deep down.

"You are not going to." Luna nuzzled him. "I swear we will find a way."

"I'm afraid."

"As am I."

Ah, I can speak to the both of you now.

Both the Alicorn and the colt shot to their hooves, their attention drawn to the center of the lake. The glass calm of the surface was disturbed by a single ripple. Soon it was followed by another and another and yet a fourth ripple. A dark shadow rose from it, perched upon a white mountain of rounded rocks and bleached branches. Water cascaded in thousands of small waterfalls from the steep slopes, the dark winged figure peering down upon the two observers with great interest and eager anticipation. It reached a pinnacle, a hundred feet above them as more white stones formed a path across the lake towards the newly grown mountain now in its center, with great torches lighting the way.

Come forward and let us speak plainly to one another. There is much to negotiate. Perhaps a reasonable accord can be reached speaking to both of you, rather than convincing the former Nightmare Moon.

Luna hissed sharply. "Why do you persist?" she demanded, placing herself between Silent Wing and the black dragon of shadows she could now plainly see.

His wings undulated with the same sort of mysterious aura Celestia and Luna possessed with their mane and tails. So too were the ridges and spines along his back similarly shimmering. Unlike Flamespyre who inspired horror from those who first met him, this was a creature of immeasurable beauty and power.

His golden eyes shifted from Silent Wing to Luna, inclining his head politely. I seek no quarrel. I assure you, our union was not intended. I mistakenly was drawn to you in your anger, thinking your power was his. The dragon shifted his footing, curling his tail securely around his feet. I sincerely apologize for the anguish it caused you. I had no control over myself. I was nothing more than instinct reacting with no means to communicate. I have been torn asunder for so long.

Silent Wing pushed himself past Luna gently, giving her a reassuring smile before addressing the dragon. "I know you from my dreams. I've been seeing you in my sleep since we left Canterlot."

Luna stared at him. "And you did not tell me?"

Sheepishly he shrugged. "I never felt threatened by him. He would just watch me and say one word."

My name.

"Oblivion, isn't it?"

Changelings see me as the God of Death, as my former master Flamespyre so designated me long ago. I was once whole, but am now a third. The other third stands before me, half of the soul needed to complete us. The other is in Canterlot. In order for me to help you against Flamespyre, I must be made whole. However, I cannot be made whole until the two halves are made one. Oblivion flickered as a shadow, his undulating form pulsing like a steady heartbeat. Those brightly lit golden eyes flared with each syllable, adding emphasis to the speech not coming from vocal chords, but from thoughts projected into the very world around them.

"But I'm dying and there's nothing that can be done." Silent Wing sighed. "I can feel my strength leaving me."

"There is a way," Luna said softly. "But it could change me back into a monster."

Silent Wing regarded her. "Then don't do it," he said plainly. "I'm not going to ask you to do something you don't think you can do. You know your limits. I don't know a lick about magic."

"It is not a matter of magic," she insisted sadly. "It is the doubts I still have lingering in my heart. I am afraid I will forget what happened to me last time and want to hurt those I love."

"I don't believe it." The prince turned to face her, stamping a hoof. Oblivion simply watched, a dark and ominous form. "Look, I don't know anything about Nightmare Moon other than what I've heard. I never asked you about it because it's none of my business."

In the events leading up to the battle with her sister, many lives of those who rose up against Nightmare Moon perished. She threw down Celestia in their first meeting, catching her completely off guard. Then she went on a rampage while Celestia's guards hid her until her injuries could recover. No pony would give up the Sun.

As the dragon's voice filled their minds, images appeared around them, depicting the events of a thousand years ago as his memories flickered to life around them. They were illusions within a dream, floating to exposure in Silent's mind. Luna could not bear to look, casting a hateful glare at Oblivion as the dragon exposed her tragic past from her perspective as a completely different mare.

"Damn you," she grated coldly at Oblivion.

The moment of her banishment after Celestia recovered from her wounds and went forth, prepared and with great reluctance to strike down the younger sister. Even so, the battle took three days and three nights. The face of Equestria was forever changed. In the end, Nightmare Moon was banished to the moon. We spent an eternity of silence, staring back at home, the mare lamenting where as I was simply waiting to be unleashed. I am nothing more than a weapon with partial sentience. I know not right from wrong, only that I must be wielded.

"Why do you want her to become Nightmare Moon?" Silent Wing asked Oblivion, stepping towards the dragon. His hoof touched the white stone. The young prince glanced down and recoiled. What leered back up at him was the skull of a pony.

After closer inspection, he realized they were all bones and not all from just ponies. There were griffon skulls, minotaur skulls, diamond dog skulls, dragon skulls, and even several skulls of races he could not identify. The path was made of them. Bones, too. His eyes followed the mass until they fell upon the mountain. They were all skulls and bones and skeletal remains.

I told you, I am - rather we - are Death. Oblivion settled down like a cat, his legs gathered beneath him as he adjusted from his sitting position. He stared down at the prince, yawned, and shook his great horned head. If I am ever going to be reunited with the one I was intended to be wielded by, then you must be healed. There is a magical field you and I made when we denied the Master final victory five thousand years ago. After that, the Master was made very angry and split us into three pieces. The First Matriarch was put to death, I found, for interfering with the Master's plans. He has taken most of your life essence, I sense. Your current stored magic is recent. I can smell the death of your brother upon you. It must be his amplified remnants. In order for you to be made whole, you must first be healed before your body fails you. The damage was great. If you die, then I shall be nothing but a weapon with no master to wield me properly. Though Nightmare Moon is not my proper persona to be acquainted with again, it would be the logical step in restoring you to full health.

Oblivion was rambling, words tumbling over each other in a mass confusing to Silent Wing. Luna had to digest it carefully, but she believed she understood what the dragon was getting at. She had followed the prince closely, not for once taking her eyes off the black monster looming over them like a living gargoyle.

"What if I were to use the magic Silent Wing has within him? It is already there. It just requires tapping into."

Silent was surprised, craning his neck to her. "You can do that?"

It is worth looking into. However, time is short.

Luna ignored Oblivion, focusing on the prince with whom she wanted to spend eternity with. "I can do it. But it could be as dangerous. It requires us occupying the same mind while completely unaware of the outside world. It requires mental discipline and is actually forbidden because it can damage a mind or both minds involved permanently."

Silent was mute with wonderment and apprehensive.

"Do you trust me?" she asked him.

"I do."

Luna smiled. "Good. Then do exactly as I tell you."

Yes. A mistake here in the mind of a chimera is not the best place for one to lose concentration. Oblivion ignored the glare from both the prince and the princess.

---

Tseng Tzu could not see, but he could sense danger approaching. A hunter of the night were coming, the desert's fiercest coming towards the oasis for a drink. If the wind shifted, it would certainly smell the sleeping pair. From the sound of it, this one was large, dangerous.

Hungry.

The old master felt this was going to be his defining moment in his long life. To him, life and death were a part of each other. One had no meaning without the other. The cycle was endless for most intelligent beings. He was no different, though his own life had far exceeded the typical lifespan of a griffon. How many centuries had it been? Fifteen? Sixteen?

"A long life," he noted sagely, remembering the promise he gave to an old acquaintance. A promise to teach a colt struggling to live in a kingdom of racism and xenophobia how to rise above it and become a leader in his own right. He had traveled the world, exploring places long forgotten and others best undiscovered.

Taking his staff, he drew a line in the sand, forming a circle around Luna and Silent Wing, knowing where to place it without his eyes, having been taken from him long ago, when he was young. His own master had requested Silent be trained, appearing after a thousand years of being away. An explanation was not needed, but the request was unusual. However, it was a simple request and Tseng Tzu saw the reason for it the moment he first felt the colt's aura.

Silent Wing became something of a grandson to him as well as a student. The white griffon was fond of the boy and was determined to let him have a chance to discover what he truly wanted to do in life. The scent of the Alicorn told Tseng Silent was already reaching for one of his dreams right now. The energy between them was good, he decided as he finished making his circle around them. Having done that, he grunted, tilted his head into the wind and listened.

Ah, there it was. Observing down, no doubt. Its eight eyes were locked on him, looking with hunger, savoring the meal to come. Pincers clacked together eagerly as the hunter approached. It could smell them now and it came with dreadful intent.

The sand scorpion was one of the most feared denizens of the desert, and among the largest until one came across the great worms out in the dune seas further inland. There were desert raiders, of course, but this close to the shores and so far from the caravan routes made it unlikely. The wild predators were more than enough to deal with. The predator now coming at him had a thick black carapace and heavy chitin protecting it. Sensitive stiff hairs lined its bodies in certain places to make up for its poor eyesight. They were good enough to spy out the griffon and those he guarded from the scorpion. It was huge, easily a ton.

It was a good night to die.

Twirling his gnarled staff in his ancient talons, Tseng Tzu moved, flaring his old wings as he placed himself squarely between the scorpion and the sleeping couple. Then, he prepared himself mentally for the battle to come, exhaling out slowly, then inhaling, spreading his hind legs firmly apart and rearing as the scorpion closed upon him. At the last moment as the pincers closed in on him, he twisted up and over the beast, using the curl in its barbed tail as a springboard. The spasming muscles sprang him up, his wings flapping as he became airborne for a moment as he gauged his opponent's location sightlessly. Diving straight down and angling towards the direction he had come, he drove the tip of his staff into the scorpion's armor just behind the two center eyes. There was a loud crack upon impact, the natural armor nearly giving way to the blow.

Tseng twisted away, avoiding the stinger he knew was coming after him, staying behind the grasp of the pincers. The scorpion wheeled on him, sensing his feet striking the ground. It did not understand it was being attacked, only that its prey was defending itself. There was its meal in front of it, tantalizingly close. It rose on its eight legs and darted in with its barb, hoping to drive its victim into the grasp of one of its pincers.

The old white bird spun, using a talon to grab the tail and guiding it into the incoming right claw. The pincer instinctively closed on the barbed tail, crushing it. The monster chittered, releasing its tail. It hung limply as it withdrew, dangling over the body and leaking ichor where the armor was cracked. As it did so, the left pincer found the master's staff and wrenched it from his grip. The master's other talon found the scorpion's face and slashed with wicked claws. They scraped harmlessly over the armor, but it was not the intent.

Three eyes were now useless.

It cost Tseng as the right pincer came in, clipping the left rear leg. Blood flowed as he kicked it away, took to the air and bore the pain with a grimace. It would not release him and the old griffon was hurled to the ground. The wounded tail came over the scorpion's back, aiming for his center mass. Tseng could feel the creature moving for the killing blow, twisting this way and that until he gripped the barb in on talon and jammed it into the ground.

He felt his leg snap under the grip of the scorpion's pincer. There was a wrenching sound, the tearing of flesh, then culminating by a dull pop. Tseng Tzu was free and he moved underneath the scorpion's body, rolling on his back and ramming his claws into the relative soft underbelly of the monster. With a shriek, he focused his chi into his two taloned foreclaws and rammed them with all the force he could muster straight up and through the armor.

He was rewarded when the scorpion recoiled, blood and ichor splashing over the badly wounded griffon. It staggered away, flailing uselessly with its tail at empty air, legs kicking up soil and tearing up the underbrush. The sand scorpion had enough, sensing its injuries were grievous. They were fatal and it did not know it was dying. As it began flopping up the crater, it's movements became less and less controlled and more and more driven by reflex.

For Tseng Tzu his fate had been sealed. His left leg was gone at the hip. His life poured out into the sand. Still, he smiled, considering the safety of his student and the one he loved safe.

It was a good night to die and Tsang Tzu sang his death song.

Though I die, I smile

No regrets for a life lived to its fullest

I pass from this world to the next

Life without death

Death without life

One nothing without the other

I go with gladness in my heart

My love, my life, I go to your embrace

My love, my life, I come home at long last

Accept my being and my deeds

I pray they are enough to be remembered

It was an honor to have lived such a wonderful life

Farewell, my student

Farewell, my son

Discover your destiny

Only you can decide your fate

As the sun comes, find yourself

My life for yours, a good trade!

Farewell, farewell

Though I die, I smile

The moon mourned for him as a shaft of light came from it and bathed his form for his last moments, fading only when his spirit fled his body...

Author's Note:

A master has passed on to the next life...
Will Silent Wing be able to fill his shoes?

Comments

[THoD]

We can only hope.

[FaleYur]

One thing I can value in a writer is the ability to kill characters. Or, not so much to kill them, but to make them out to be mortal. Many writers -such as myself- fall prey to the easy way of writing a character. We make them out to be an unkillable badass, and if they do die, they go out in a blaze of glory to serve a much higher purpose or turn the next chapter into sob-fest.

What you have done here is you have made a portrayal of a badass character that is realistic. You killed Tsang Tsu not because it would earn you some shock value, but because he was mortal. Because he was fallible. You knew that just because he is centuries old and a fantastic fighter, that didn't make him indestructible. And that makes him even more of a badass in my opinion.

You have my respect for pulling this off good sir.

[Razzy]

No, Sun Tzu!

At least he went out swinging. Farewell, old bird, continue kicking mass amounts of arse in the afterlife.