Insanity Undone

[Quibby]

It is said that insanity waits for some, and that it creeps up on others. In the end, none can really say which was more fitting when discussing the fate of Tren Kadavere, Tren Reaver. All that can be said for sure is insanity finally caught him, and became his undoing.

 

Fal Dara. As Tren entered the gates, his eyes began searching for signs of other Darkfriends, but above all, a nice alley. Night was falling, and Tren did not have the money to pay for a room for the night. Glancing at his tattered and filthy self, he chuckled and said to himself, "What self-respecting innkeeper would let me stay, anyway?"

 

Tren wasn't surprised when he didn't see any of the signs he had been taught. He did, though, find a suitable alley. Its most attractive feature was several alleys branching off from it, boltholes for extra safety. Safe? You?! You're joking, I'm sure. You'll never be safe. You'll never have to worry about being safe again. The suddenness of the dark voice took Tren's knees from beneath him with the shock. To his eyes, the world started shifting around him, changing color and shape as he watched. Get out of my head! I'm not insane!

 

I beg to differ... The voice said with something that sounded like amusement. As Tren curled up at the mouth of the alley, covering his head with his hands, the voice continued. You were damned from the moment you first touched saidin. It was inevitable. Two years you held back, resisted. No more, Tren Kadavere. Even as Tren shook his head in disbelief and anger, he knew it was true. He could feel it happening, as if he was losing control of himself. "But... you're not... real. You're new..."

 

Am I? With his last shreds of control, he looked up to see his three companions once again. Each looked at him with an odd mix of disgust and sadistic glee. They spoke as one as their shapes twisted and melted away. "I've always been here, Tren Kadavere. It was you who failed to know it for truth." Oh, Light, no! No! The bundle that had been Tren Kadavere, Tren Reaver, fell back into nothingness, still able to see, but unable to do anything.

 

One of the town guards noticed a man curled up at the mouth of one of the alleys near the city gates. As he approached, he cautiously said, "Are you all right, sir?" The shape shifted, then turned to look at him. The guard took a step back in shock. The plain face that stared back at him was twisted into a grotesque mask, and the eyes appeared at once both dead and alight with some unholy fire. Tears traced lines through the dirt and grime covering the man's skin. Even a Shienaran can still see something that freezes him like a bird staring at a snake. When he finally found his voice, all he could do was cry for help. His cries became more frantic when the madman drew a rusty stiletto from his belt and began crawling towards him.

 

The bundle of thought and emotion that had been Tren fought desparately to hold on, to fight back, but he knew that he had lost. If only he could gain control for a little bit... Strength formed from desparation hurled Tren into control for a brief moment. I've always fought it. I fought the insanity to protect others, to protect myself. I'll fail in one to succeed in the other... I... will... not... fail...

 

The madman paused, and another rush of tears came to his eyes. The guard could only watch in puzzled curiosity as the madman lifted his blade again. Suddenly, the madman let out a cry as if his soul were being stripped from his body... and he plunged the rusty weapon into his right eye.

 

Among the mad curses echoing through the dying mind, a few rational thought gathered themselves.

I did it...

 

I'm free...

 

Light, forgive me... if it's right that i should be...

 

I'm free...

 

As guards arrived at the scene, they saw their comrade in arms looking in shock at the body of a man with a rusted knife of some sort jutting from his eye socket. The odd thing about it all was the man's face. Rather than agony or insanity, there was an expression of peace. As if some heavy burden had been lifted by his death.

 

It was thus that Tren Reaver died- with regret and sorrow for his gravest mistake ever. Tren Reaver, Tren Kadavere- an outcast son of nobility, a burnt-out channeler seeking revenge, a madman. May the Light illuminate his way, and may his troubled soul never again walk the earth...