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[Thrax]

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It was done.

Betrayal. Fury. Merciless retribution.

Thrax knew it would be coming. He had warned his sister of his vision, tampering with his own god's plans, perhaps even helping to thwart them.

Why, he asked himself? It didn't make sense.

All his life, in service to his dark god, his aim was to aid him in the destruction of Light, the Virtues, as it was called in this realm. The opportunity was there... forces of Light, each claiming to have the right slant on the Virtues, stood ready to do battle, to slaughter one another in the name of righteousness, while his god goaded them on. He had advised his sister to find a way to forestall the war, to stop it before it started, lest she be consumed in the day of wrath along with her enemies.

So far, silence. He waited out the day doing menial things at home since he did not want to be chastised and humiliated publicly. A calm swept over him... like that of a doomed man who looks death squarely in the face, helpless and vulnerable, and simply sighs, waiting for it to take him.

He decided to offer a sacrifice. It was an easy task finding a wandering band of brigands in the forest. They passed through daily, looking for loot and trouble. He killed all but one, taking him bound and gagged to the Rectory roof where he made an oblation of blood.

Placing the bloody knife on the abattoir, he knelt down and prayed.

"Og'Garoth, I call upon thee,

I have disobeyed. For my own selfish reasons, I betrayed you. You know this, yet you do not act. I accept my punishment, to its full extent. Let thy hand fall upon me; hold back no longer, I beg thee."

He felt the wind pick up and heard a clap of thunder in the distance. The air was cool, then hot, damp, then dry. The trees began to sway.

He heard the voice, but this time, there was no pain associated with it.

"You defied me. Your insubordination has not gone unnoticed, as it shall not go unpunished. Before I render judgment, tell me, why did you do this? What made you risk damnation at my hands?"

He waited a moment, then replied silently, knowing it was truth, but the worst possible reply...

"I did it, my lord... for love."

The pain he had expected earlier, now greatly intensified, rushed over him like a tidal wave. He fell to the ground, gasping for air, arms flailing... bleeding from his eyes, nose, ears and mouth. His clothing vanished in a burst of flame as his flesh, in incandescent strips, began sloughing off his writhing body to melt in sizzling pools on the floor all around him.

His screams reverberated throughout the forest below making birds take wing, sending animals scurrying for cover.

Another clap of thunder, swirling clouds, a pall of smoke atop the Rectory, and the mantle of silence fell once again upon the now deserted barony of Thraxstadt.