[Kaun]

Originally Posted by Dr Bwaa

Your job sounds... unpleasant.

Ehh it pays well.

Anyway.

I played around with it some more and added some bits. Still not sure I'm happy but hey.

Marigolds (3rd Edit)

Spoiler

The power that smell holds over one's memory baffles me at times. I stand here on the battlefield surrounded by swirling ash and the blood of the fallen but all it takes is the slightest hint of marigold on the breeze and I am taken back to a time without care. I am taken to a time when I was only a handful of seasons old, kneeling in elder Turan’s tent watching the Minotaur's gnarled old hands work the mortar and pestle.

“It is all about balance, Verdus, that is my point…”

He stopped mid sentence and studied the contents of the bowl with a discerning eye. After a moment he added a pinch of dried marigold which I didn't recognise at the time, then set to it with the pestle again.

“You must distance yourself from ideals such as good and evil, boy. They are merely constructs of idle minds! Pretty words, granted the illusion of true meaning.”

At this he set the mortar down before him and stoked the work fire that occupied the middle of the tent.

“Good and evil are nought but words. Powerful words true, but words none the less. Many have and will take up the banner of these ideals, they will shed blood and die for them, but when the sun sets these words are little more then a cup that will hold no water, useless and empty.”

To empahsize the point Elder Turan snorted quietly while carefully setting his mixture to heat in a cobalt pot atop the flame.

“You are to be a watcher, Verdus. It lurks in your eyes like a waiting hunter, you must lift yourself above such trivial words and perceive the entire picture.”

His hand gestured to encompass the entire tent.

“Life requires opposition, it thrives on it! Opposition drives us onwards where otherwise we may fall pray to idleness, it breeds strength and determination.”

The steam that eminated from the simmering mixture sat thick in the air and fogged my mind; It seemed that the elder forget my presence momentairly as he poked the fire with a willow stick.

“We must watch for the absence, the hungrey void that is ever lurking on the edge of perception. It commands foul creatures without name and wants nothing more then an end.”

With these words the old Minotaur fell silent, he seemed mesmerized by the dancing flames, reading meanings in the fire that I was blind too. His battle-scared features relaxed for a moment and it was as though the years slid from his face like water off the side of a tent. The silence stretched painfully long and although fearfull of disturbing him i pushed for a conclusion to his tale.

“An end to what master?”

I watched his eye's sharpen as the burden of years returned.

“An end to everything.”

Although I did not realise it at the time with those four words my future was set.

An uncaring reality barges back in and I realize that I am staring at a wild marigold bush being licked by the creeping flames. To my right a figure approaches through the billowing smoke and as I turn, the wind catches a dried up flower bud from the bush and casts it free. The payload of seeds contained within the bud are spirited away from the destruction by the wind; at least there is hope something may spawn from this mess.

With a disheartened snort I heft my weapon and shield.

here is a small follow up.

Spoiler

The smell of ash.

The sword comes in fast and bites deep. This Dragonkin is not like the others, she is undisciplined but there is a fire in her. Her crimson scales match the roaring flames that surround us. I drop back and heft my shield, testing my arm; she changes her stance and then huffs tendrils of smoke.

“Why do you bring this pointless war to us Dragonkin?”

The words sound empty as they leave my mouth. She replies eye's ablaze and voice of venom

“It is you who brought this WAR ON US!”

Words like ghosts return from the past …*

...you must lift yourself above such trivial words and perceive the entire picture.

Powerful words from an old bull who’s body lays cooling not 30ft from where we stand.

The moment is gone.

The Dragonkin charges.

There are probably spelling and grammatical mistakes there in spades but my spell check and I arn't getting along at the moment so...

....sorry! .