Scarlet Blood

[Harm]

The water on my hands is colored in red,

This nausea is tainted by iron and the blood,

And the weight on my shoulder never forgotten.

How far have I come to raise my blade against man and not those who bleed purple? How many mistakes of my own make have I built on my path, to now walk this road of crimson paint? Questions pound against my head from those eyes you gave me, and there my answer I uttered: of my duty and of my servitude, not to myself or to the Warden, but to my family and land. Yet my convictions escaped your ears; your wrath was made to be heard, and from there I departed.

Was it just? Was it worth it? Was it... right?

I would wish for it to be so, my dear friend.

Years of sympathy have taken us here, of past mistakes forgiven and now the last branch finally broken. How much ire can a single being carry before its back finally snaps? How many decades can you endure, in this road of cowardice and foolishness? You sacrificed so much— you gave your day and night for this nation, and yet here I am with your life in my hands. And here I rest with crimson on my face, staring back at the moments we made, severed by my own blade.

I hope your family may continue living on,

This time without you by their side.

And sleep knowing that...

"I would do it again."

---

Reporters, journalists and writers rush to the streets of the Grove, papers are published with the nascent night,
headlines paint the boards of Gloomlight and birds carry on their message to merchants of farther lands.

"The Treasurer of Gloomlight Grove Edwyn Meeksworth has been executed by the Captain Nix Bargiel!"