Chapter 32: War Part 23 - Prove it
Vorn stared at Lucy with an almost childlike curiosity, his head tilted slightly, as if studying a strange painting in a museum. The intensity in those calm, weathered eyes made Lucy hesitate.
He had been told this elf was a monster, a war-hardened killer with no equal, but that couldn't be further from what sat across from him now. Vorn didn't radiate malice. He looked peaceful as though the chaos around them didn't exist.
All around them, the battlefield raged. Generals' roars and the thunder of magic echoed across the obsidian plain, where spells split the sky and metal clashed like roaring drums. Yet here, far from the eye of the storm, the two sat in a pocket of eerie quiet, as if the war itself was holding its breath.
Lucy swallowed hard.
'If he's going to kill me anyway... I might as well say it. All of it.'
"I'll explain," Lucy said, his voice hoarse. He paused, unsure how to even begin.
Vorn shifted where he sat, tucking his long arms over his knees, like a child preparing to hear a bedtime tale. It was so disarmingly innocent that Lucy nearly laughed, but the bitter knot in his chest stopped him.
"Go on," Vorn said. His voice was calm, deep, and smooth. His brown eyes, ageless and still, seemed to peer straight into Lucy's soul.
"I'll start at the beginning, if that's alright with you," Lucy spoke slowly, buying time.
Vorn gave a slow nod. "As you wish."
Lucy took a deep breath and looked past Vorn, into the flaming distance. "Before I was drafted into this madness... I was a man of many talents. Before graduating from high school, I got recruited into a high-tech firm. My learning capabilities caught someone's eye, and I ended up working a job most people would kill for."