(Scars do not appear to be cause of death –shock ... - Bad Request

picked at her hair again, tugging on a lone strand. "The ritual gave you what
you wanted, but ..."
"But..."
"The ritual gave you what you wanted, but great were the costs... the
casting of shadows, the quiet, violent deaths of the mind, and the
pain-taking emptiness... these things, a-dangerous were are in such a fragile
vessel, no matter how strong a mortal man. Regret them and the ritual do I."
"Casting of Shadows?"
"Ungrateful shades... but ungrateful without cause? The shades... they hate
you, Nameless One, for they are fathered by you, your children, once
forsaken, they will never forgive. They will do everything they can to destroy
the parent... such is the way of children."
The shadows... the words chilled me to the bone. My eyes scanned the
maze, watching for a flicker of darkness or the flutter of a shade, like the
hem of a robe. "How do I father shades... these shadows?"
And then I felt them, writhing in the corners of existence, wedged in a sliver
between being and nonbeing. For a moment they clawed along the walls of
existence, hungry for vengeance. The hate poured off of them in waves, and
as they welled up from the lightless depths of Ravel's maze, it seemed as if a
tide of hatred was rolling in to swallow me up. My throat seized, my hands
went to my dagger, but suddenly lost the strength to grip it. The thrumming
of the Art, so often like the resonance of a glass struck with a spoon, was
suddenly silent.
And as quickly as they came, they disappeared back into nothing.
"You cast shadows on existence, Nameless One. With every death, a shadow
arises fresh from the fields of your flesh. They a-wander for a time, but
always they a-return, looking to murder their parent. Such is the way of
many offspring..." Ravel pursed her lips in disapproval, then suddenly poked
me in the chest with a talon. "...and thankless young men such as yourself."
I shivered, and the strength returned to my muscles, "Then what do you
mean by the quiet, violent death of the mind?"
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