Balance

“Balance”

by Vestius

„It is done…” whispered Grim with his dying breath while calmly slumping onto the chaotic battlefield. He couldn’t hear the calls of his companions nor the sounds of the battle around him. He was just left there, in front of the temple, in the frozen wastes of Shiverpeak mountains. He did not see his whole life before him… only his final days in Tyria, the days he believed would last longer and in serenity.

Grim left his adopted son Roan in Vabbi with Grim’s mother Lohiz. He received a message from Argus that he wanted his help in Northern Kryta. Even though Grim said everything he wanted to his father and found peace after their first and final meeting, he still couldn’t ignore his father’s plea for help. When he arrived in Lion’s Arch it was getting late so he wanted to hurry. He did not foresee, however, that Kryta would be so beautiful during the Scion. When he was traveling through Kryta from Lion’s Arch, Grim admired hundreds of different flowers and trees that grew in this land.

He was so absorbed by the beauty of the land that he didn’t notice that he passed through Beetletun. It was getting dark and he still haven’t arrived at his goal – the coast of the continent. It took him a moment to realize where he was and he was about to continue his journey when he heard a woman’s scream. He focused his will on the terrified sound and began to run towards it, clenching his fist on his scythe.

Grim arrived at the western part of Watchtower Coast and he noticed two dwarves dragging a woman into the water. They did not notice him nor did they hear him running through the beach. Without thinking, Grim dashed towards the three and slashed the blade of his scythe through the arms of the dwarves. Their arms fell off and the woman quickly got up and started running inland but she quickly fell on the ground. Grim, not taking eyes of his adversaries, walked closer to the woman. He gave her a short glance to see if she isn’t harmed and noticed that she was pregnant.

The two dwarves remained motionless. Grim waited for their reaction to the blood gashing from their arms but they just stood there. To him, it seemed an eternity, but everything was finished in a blink of an eye. The two dwarves suddenly turned and lunged themselves towards Grim and the woman. Grim did the same and began his dance of death in midair. The bodies of the two dwarves were cut into pieces and the battle was over. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of waves crashing into the coast.

Grim took a deep breath before his thoughts returned Watchtower Coast and the pregnant woman. He turned to see her sitting on the beach with her eyes set straight on him. “She’s in shock…” thought Grim and put his scythe on his back while he walked slowly towards her. The woman was looking at him, without blinking. “Are you alright?” asked Grim but instead of answering, the woman said unemotionally “You look just like him…”

“Excuse me?” asked Grim. “You must be his son. You have the same look as he had.” She continued while getting up. Grim glared at the woman when he asked “What do you mean?” But before she could answer, she lost balance and Grim moved instantly to hold her up. “Thank you. For now and for saving my life son of Argus. Can you tell me your name?” Grim was so surprised by the woman’s strength in face of such danger that he couldn’t say a word. “What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?” She asked. Grim didn’t answer neither of her questions. “How do you know Argus? Where is he? What happened to him?” He bombarded her with series of questions. “Calm down…” The woman interrupted him “I will explain, but first please, tell me your name.” “My name is Grim Mortbane.”

The woman introduced herself as Serena Hharhuk. She was born in Istan, the same place where Grim was born. She started working as a merchant and travelled the world with a caravan. She knew Argus since last year when they met in Lion’s Arch while he was working as a caravan guard. They fell in love and she got pregnant with him. When that happened, Argus moved with her to Watchtower Coast to live a calm life. They spent their days peacefully, until undead started returning to Watchtower Coast. The thing is, the undead only came in small numbers, five at most. They seemed to roam meaninglessly, but they always came to Serena and Argus’ home, sometimes ignoring other animals in Watchtower Coast. They posed no match to Argus, but he started wondering why the undead keep stalking them. Because they only attacked during the night, Argus made a one day trip to the Temple of the Ages. There he asked the gods for answers. When he returned, Argus began to act strangely. He started drinking a lot and was constantly mumbling something about “the reaper that must keep the balance of power in check”. Serena didn’t know what to do about him, so she asked Argus to write a letter to his son. “He kept talking about his son, yet never mentioned his name. He must have been talking about you.”

After the story about her life with Argus, Serena began to talk about what happened to her today. “For a few days things became quiet and Argus returned to normal, but that was only, how they call it, the silence before the storm. This evening, three dwarves came to our home. Argus found it strange for dwarves to venture so far from Shiverpeak and he took his sword while going to meet them outside. They didn’t say anything – they just attacked Argus. He managed to kill one of them, but fell. The two of them destroyed our home and took me with them. The rest you know.”

Grim sat on the beach listening to Serena’s story. When he heard about his father’s death, he shed a single tear, but no more. He knew that his father died fighting for what he believed was good. He was an honorary warrior. When Serena finished her story, Grim’s mind instantly focused on the most important thing: “Tell me exactly what Argus told you while he was behaving strangely.” The question surprised Serena, but she quickly realized that Grim is trying to solve why the undead and the dwarves were after her. “He said many things, mostly babble about the undead scourge returning to Tyria. The thing that he repeated constantly was this: “The reaper must guard the balance” and “A flower must die to give life to another”.

Grim pondered on these sentences for a moment, but he was forced to leave this for another time. “They’ve returned. This time there’s more” said Grim. As they got up and gazed on the southern plains, they saw a horde of undead. “Damn! We’re surrounded! I don’t know if I can fight them all…” cursed Grim not taking his eyes from the undead flood coming their way. He looked where Serena was sitting, but she was gone. “Come here! We can hide on that island!” shouted Serena from the water. She was knee deep in water. Grim gave the undead one more look and started running towards the water.

The island was not far away, it was only a 50 meter swim in deep water, but Grim was worried about Serena. In her condition it would be very hard to swim. Without further hesitation he dashed to her and helped her get to the island. When they could finally feel the bottom Grim looked behind him. The undead were amassing before the water, watching them. Their screams and shrieks could probably be heard in Beetletun. Grim helped Serena get up the cliff. There, before them, stood an old temple that seemed abandoned. It was completely made from yellow bricks that were now all covered with vines and moss. The temple seemed to glow in the dark, as if the plants reacted somehow to the moonlight.

Grim and Serena found an entrance and entered carefully inside. The temple’s inside was also glowing, with a single window positioned right above the center of a circle stone slab. The moonlight shone near the slab, slowly approaching it as the moon travelled through the night. “A dead end…” sighed Grim and went outside to see what are the undead doing. What he saw chilled him to the bone, because he realized that they did not escape their chasers. The undead were climbing one another to create a giant tower of corpses. It was almost 50 meters high and still growing taller. He watched in terror as the tower fell to the ground, connecting the beach with the small island.

The impact created a large wave of water that dashed towards the temple. Grim didn’t wait for it to hit. He ran inside the temple. “There is no way out and the undead are coming. I cannot fight them all. I’m sorry.” explained Grim, but Serena seemed distant, she was watching the moonlight. “Every couple of nights, there is a big flash of light coming from this temple. I was curious what it was so I read the inscription here. This seems to be a portal of some sort and it is about to open.” explained Serena. “We must stand on the slab when the moonlight hits it.” “This is our only chance, stand there and I will protect you from the undead.” said Grim. “You must come too!” “I can’t fight them and stand inside the portal at the same time! GO! They’re coming!” shouted Grim and dashed to the exit. Before he got there, a rotten corpse lunged at him with its claws drawn. Grim, surprised by the attack, did the only thing he could – he tackled the beast. The strength of the impact shattered the corpse into dust. Grim took his scythe into his hand and waited for the other ghouls. They did not make him wait.

Three ghouls appeared in the entrance and began to attack Grim. He dodged the first ghoul and slashed his scythe through the two behind it. Before he could turn, two more ghouls appeared. Grim defeated them, but for every ghoul he banished, another took his place. While still fighting, Grim heard Serena’s scream. He totally forgot about the ghoul that he dodged. He ran inside to see a ghoul closing in on Serena. He quickly jumped at him. Then everything around him became white.

A bright light blinded Grim. He fell to the ground and instantly felt the cold snow that broke his fall. He tried to open his eyes, but he felt pain when he tried to open them. He did not hear the undead, the sea, nor Serena. After a moment, he heard an unknown male voice “Are you alright?”. He tried to open his eyes again, but the vision was still blurred. “Close your eyes! You might get blind!” a female voice shouted but he didn’t listen. He knew that his vision would return to him in a moment. “Thanks for your concern, but I’m fine.” Grim answered and then he remembered something “Serena!” he shouted trying to find her. His vision started to return to him due to the adrenaline rush and he saw Serena getting up. A man in blue armor was helping her up. “I’m fine…” she sighed “ the portal must’ve destroyed the ghoul that was attacking me.” she pointed to the pile of dust on the slab covered in snow. Grim took a deep breath and sighed with relief. His thoughts focused on the band of people around them. “Who are you and where are we?” he asked.

The unknown adventurers helped Grim and Serena with their wounds and began their story. It seemed that Grim and Serena were somehow transported to Shiverpeak mountains. The four adventurers had a vision that two people will appear in that spot during a night and they decided to wait there. It was a strange bunch. The biggest of them all was Raphael Blackheart. His armor was silvery blue and always properly polished. He was a warrior scribe that travelled all over Tyria in search of wisdom and adventures. During his journey, he bumped into Tanius Purestrike and Rhei Darkheart. Tanius was a ranger, who seeks out animals from all of Tyria and trains them for the Zaishen. He was wearing clothes made mostly form plants, leaves and bark. Rhei was a dervish woman with long blond hair and deep blue eyes that seemed to have seen thousands of sunsets. She was very mysterious, even for a dervish. She never explained her motifs why she was traveling with Tanius. The fourth in the party was Tamujyn Khan – a small Canthan male. He seemed as if he couldn’t hurt a fly, but his eyes were the eyes of a killer. He was the loudest of them all, always telling jokes and making everyone laugh. He dressed in red leather clothes with throwing knives attached to his legs and arms. He joined the rest saying they were good company and made him laugh.

“You need to rest here for the night. We’ll stand on guard.” explained Raphael. “and you milady must be extra careful.” he winked to Serena. She smiled “Thank you for your concern.” “I only hope that the undead don’t know where we ended up.” said Grim with a low voice. He really hoped he could rest after the fierce battle. “We will know earlier when someone will come.” explained Tanius. “You can rest for now. We’ll stand guard.”

The night was calm for everyone but Grim. He dreamt that the undead are cutting Serena’s unborn baby into pieces inside her womb. He couldn’t do anything but watch. When the undead finally stopped, they disappeared, and he felt that his body was about to explode. When it did, he didn’t wake up. He felt as his body disappeared and could only hear a voice, as if coming from very far away: “The reaper must guard the balance! The flower must die to give life to another!” These words echoed inside his head for what seemed like an eternity when he was finally awaken by Serena’s scream. When he got up, he instantly felt that something is wrong. Rhei and Tamujyn were standing near the entrance, looking into the wilderness. Raphael was holding Serena who was giving birth. Tanius was nowhere to be seen.

“He’s back” said Rhei and she moved from the entrance. Tanius entered the chamber with a white wolf. “They’re coming. We’ll never stand a chance.” he explained. “An army of dwarves and undead. They are lead by a man in a black coat.” All of them looked at one another in silence that was soon interrupted by Serena’s scream. Tanius quickly stepped to her and joined Raphael in soothing her pain. Rhei and Tamujyn watched for a moment, then they all heard a horrible shriek. “They’re already here…” sighed Grim “You stay here. I will try to keep them out of here. Escape as soon as Serena gives birth!” he shouted and stepped out of the temple.

He stopped a few meters from the entrance. The cold morning wind chilled him to the bone, yet he felt as if he was on fire. In front of him was a horde of undead: ghouls, skeletons, corpses of humans, charr, norn, dwarves and asurans. Leading the horde, riding a bone dragon, was a man dressed in a black coat. He raised his arm and the horde stopped. Grim could only see that the man was grinning showing yellow teeth. The man in black then ordered the horde to attack. At the same time, Grim dashed towards him and began his dance of death.

The undead were trying to enter the temple, but Grim’s scythe reached every undead that tried to pass him. Body parts, stale blood, and corpses were stacking in front of the entrance to the temple, slowly blocking the way inside. “Well Argus… It seems you were right… A warrior must sometimes fight alone…” Grim thought and then he heard his father’s voice: “The reaper must guard the balance!” Grim then realized what his words meant. At that moment, he stopped his dance of death and the ghouls instantly killed him.

„It is done…” whispered Grim with his dying breath while calmly slumping onto the chaotic battlefield. He couldn’t hear the calls of his companions nor the sounds of the battle around him. He was just left there, in front of the temple, in the frozen wastes of Shiverpeak mountains…

Grim opened his eyes. He saw the clouded sky and the snow falling on his face. He didn’t feel the cold wind howling between the frozen Shiverpeak. His body moved on his own, slowly getting up. Everything slowly returned to him – his battle with the undead horde, how they ripped him to shreds, how his companions inside the temple called his name before he finally fell. His head and body turned and positioned itself in front of the man in black. He grinned maniacally and said in a demonic voice: “It would be a waste to lose such a fine warrior. You fought well, but no one can win against such odds. Now, your friends will wither away like picked flowers…”

Maybe it was his words, maybe it was the way he said them, or maybe it was the child’s cry that caused it – that we will never know. Everything happened in few seconds, yet for Grim it felt like a few minutes have past. He recalled his father’s words: “The reaper must guard the balance.” Argus meant him, Grim – he is the reaper, the Grim Reaper, the harvester of souls. “A flower must die to give life to another…” His life had to be forfeit in order for his “twin” to be born. Serena was born in Istan like Grim’s mother. She met Argus and had a child with him. The same set of genes, the same pair of souls joined together once again. It is Grim’s time to step out of this world, make room for new heroes, for the new generation, for new flowers. This last task is upon him and he will not fight alone. His father was right in one thing – that every warrior must be strong to beat the odds on his own. Argus didn’t took one thing into consideration – sometimes, the odds are too big for one warrior.

“…will now kill your friends and the child. Then you will bring me his…” Grim almost didn’t notice that the man in black was talking. He calmly answered “No…” The man in black paused, surprised by the sudden interruption “What did you say?” “I said: no…” answered Grim, still calm and focused. He slowly raised his arm and felt as if the gods granted him inhuman strength. His scythe, as if called by his hand, flew to it, slashing the undead along the way. When the scythe arrived in his hand, he jumped to the temple entrance performing a deadly somersault, cutting some undead into pieces. When he landed next to the bodies blocking his path, he raised his hand and absorbed the life force of the bodies. The way was clear and Grim turned inside and gazed at his companions. “FOR VICTORY!” he shouted and began his dance of death, cutting the undead. Everyone took his lead and joined the fight. Rhei and Raphael joined Grim and began to disembowel the undead one by one. Tamujyn began running all around the battlefield, confusing the undead, making them miss his friends and clearing the way for Tanius and who stood in the entrance firing deadly arrows at the inhuman undead. His wolf guarded the entrance from any undead that decided to get near Serena.

The battle continued for 15 more minutes, when finally there were no more undead left. All were defeated except one, the man in black. He decided to call upon his last hope of victory. He used his power to transfer his will into all the corpses and created a giant demonic skeleton. “I’LL CRUSH YOU!” he screamed in his demonic voice and tried to destroy the temple, but Rhei was faster and she cut his arm off. The demon tried to attack with his second arm, but that one was shattered by Raphael’s strong attack. The demon then tried to change his soul into a ball of energy. He shot it towards the temple, but Tanius and Tamujyn cast protection spells on Grim, who destroyed the blast and with a final slash shattered the abomination into dust.

The battle was over. The snowstorm ended and the sun emerged to shine on the victors. Tired, but happy, they all cheered. Serena emerged from the temple carrying her son and everyone gathered near her, asking if she’s alright. “I shall name him Grim… It is a good name, don’t you think?” Serena addressed Grim but he was gone. No one noticed when he left, not even leading a trail in the snow. He didn’t want them to see his final moments as the necromantic spell of the man in black lost its power.

Alone, on the top of the highest mountain in Shiverpeak lies the body of a man with a scythe in his hand. After suffering a long life of trials and battles, he died protecting the future generation. He could finally rest, knowing that there is someone who will take his place as a hero of Tyria.