This was originally written as a poem. I have revised the original into an actual poem and am leaving this as a short, short story.
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Take my hand...
My wings are tattered, we'll have to walk.
We will walk through storms of steel and ice.
Through hurricanes of fire and death.
Mountains of bones, rivers of screaming souls.
I cannot protect you, I can only protect myself.
But my sword is shattered and my shield died in the jaws of a demon.
A different demon.
How do you know that you can trust me?
You cannot.
Do you not see the stain on my very soul?
The mark of the Black Lie that I have spoken.
My armor is gone.
Broken along side the oaths I swore.
You cannot trust me.
No one can.
You see this here?
The blood of an innocent.
And here, the blood of the guilty.
Neither washes off.
Why do you cry?
I do not deserve your tears.
Come with me, let us leave Hell together.
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Take my hand...
My wings are tattered, we'll have to walk.
We will walk through storms of steel and ice.
Through hurricanes of fire and death.
Mountains of bones, rivers of screaming souls.
I cannot protect you, I can only protect myself.
But my sword is shattered and my shield died in the jaws of a demon.
A different demon.
How do you know that you can trust me?
You cannot.
Do you not see the stain on my very soul?
The mark of the Black Lie that I have spoken.
My armor is gone.
Broken along side the oaths I swore.
You cannot trust me.
No one can.
You see this here?
The blood of an innocent.
And here, the blood of the guilty.
Neither washes off.
Why do you cry?
I do not deserve your tears.
Come with me, let us leave Hell together.