Price of Life

Nelaryn knew what they had to do. With each step they took thought the green, their pain grew deeper, clutching at their bones and seizing their heart. With each breath they felt as though the world pressed heavier down on them and they wondered despairingly if they'd make it at all. They had been walking for days, getting weaker and weaker with each passing moment. Their burden lay heavy on their shoulders but they would not give up. They could not.

Slowly the air grew hazy and cold around them and the path ahead seemed to fall away into darkness. With joy Nelaryn realised they were close. They had to be, else all be lost.

"Travel to Mount Fryndal, my liege. Save yourself. Save us all."

The words echoed in their ears, a task, a promise, a burden. Countless lives depended on them being able to take that next step.

Nelaryn attempted to stele themselves and press forward only to have their legs give out beneath them. With a cry of pain they crumpled to the floor, feeling the coarse dirt grate against their skin. For several long moments they could do nothing but gasp for breath and listen to the frantic beating of their pleading heart. They were weak. Too weak. Had they failed? Around them the silence lay heavy, heavier than it had been a moment before and Nelaryn realised not all was lost.

"Spirit..." their voice was quiet, pained, and it was quickly stolen away by the breeze. Slowly they attempted to push up and off the ground arms shaking with the effort, "Spirit!" despite the struggle it took Nelaryn forced power into their words. Their voice echoed around the empty space and when they were met with silence once again they feared the only ears the words fell on was their own. But then there was movement, and the breath of a sound.

"your highness... You have traveled far to get here. What is it that you want?"

Despite their pain and effort it took Nelaryn got to their feet to face the empty air with dignity and respect, "your help, if you would please give it."

When the spirit next spoke it seemed almost amused, "help? How do you think I can help?"

This was the moment Nelaryn had been dreading, the truth they had been trying to ignore. The world, their world, their home would have to be left behind if they had any hope of life. "I hear you guard a passage," they called, "to another realm, another life. Where I might be saved. Where I may take my curse and lay it to rest. Where if I go my people will be safe."

There was a long pause and Nelaryn felt the air shift around them and a shiver run down their spine.

"yes..." the voice breathed, "I have seen this curse, only once before. In someone not unlike yourself. They too came to me for help."

"and did you help them?" Nelaryn asked, breath catching.

"no."

Nelaryn nearly collapsed with despair, they only thing keeping them up was the flare of anger that rose with it "why not?!" they cried, pain lancing through their throat.

"because they were not willing to give up what they needed to. The cost was greater still than that of their life, and of everything else destroyed along with them"

"What is the cost!?" Nelaryn demanded, "I'll do anything, anything for my people! Anything! I would die a thousand deaths, it would be worth it still."

This time Nelaryn did hear a laugh, and suddenly the smoke twisted around them. It moved and condensed, taking form a few feet in front of them. When it finally settled a being stood their, identical to Nelaryn in every way except for the eyes. The eyes were empty impassive. It was like there was nothing inside them. The sight made Nelaryn tremble.

"anything?" the spirit smiled but it could not reach those soulless eyes, "including leaving your family, leaving your people? You are your fathers only heir. You will no be able to return. What will your people do then?"

Nelaryn paused, they hadn't known this would be a cost. They thought after getting the curse lifted they would return to their people, a hero. And take their place on the throne, "if I stay... I will destroy them."

"you may, you may not."

Nelaryn paused, glancing over their shoulder, back down the path they had taken. Had they known they might never return, would have been able to leave? It didn't matter, it didn't chance anything. "I accept that. What is the cost. What do I need to sacrifice?"

The spirit paused only a moment before answer, "your soul."

Nelaryn's eyes widened and they shook their head, "no, that cannot be!"

"It is so. Your body may leave this world but your soul is forever tied to it."

"but... what will I be without my soul! I will be nothing, I will not be human!"

"but you will be alive in the new world that you seek. And your people will be alive in the one you left behind," at this the spirits head tilted slightly, as if they were examining Nelaryn. Their face held no emotion.

Nelaryn took a step back, falling to the ground once again. They put a hand to their chest, feeling the pain that was their being. The pain that seemed to be infused with every cell of their body. It weighed them, it killed them. And it was going to kill everything around them too. Death or death an impossible option. But alive without life, the idea terrified them more than oblivion. Almost more than abandoning those they had sworn to protect. But they had a duty, to their kingdom, to their world. It was a price that they simply had to pay. A prince they would pay gladly, "I accept your terms. Take me to the new world. I give you my soul."