The Red Hand

Recollection 1 – The Blood Won’t Wash Off.

*SPLASH* *SMACK* *SPLISH* *SPLOOSH*

On a dark, dimly lit night, a lone girl desperately tried to clean her blade off in the crystal clear water of a nearby stream. There were few stars out, and the moons above, while full, were mostly obscured by the dark clouds above. Whenever the two bright balls managed to peak out and reflect some of the Sun's light down, one could see just how far gone the poor girl was. Madness shone in her eyes, and it was as if she'd completely unraveled mentally as she repeated the same phrase over and over again.

"It won't come off! It won't come off! It won't come off! It won't come off! It won't come off! It won't come off! It won't come off! It won't come off! It won't come off! It won't come off! It won't come off! It won't come off! It won't come off! It won't come off! It won't come off! It won't come off!" Halifax continuously splashed water on her shining blue blade. However, despite what she repeated to herself, it was completely clean of any blemish or dirt.

{The blood! Why won't it come off?!?} (Halifax)

"Please... Go away..." Halifax paused as she stared down at the blade which sat just below the water's surface. The dirty rags she was wearing were soaked and judging by how rough her hands looked, she'd been here for a long time. "It's not my fault... I... No... please... I'm sorry... They made me do it... I'm sorry... So please come off!"

{PLEASE!} (Halifax)

As she continued to scrub her blade of nonexistent blood, Elariel and Gale stood off in the distance, observing the mentally unstable girl from the treeline.

"She's been at this for days..." Elariel's face showed that she wanted to run to Halifax's side, but she held off from doing so. "We may have truly..."

"We did what needed to be done." Gale put his hand on her shoulder to reassure her. "Do not forget what she is, Elariel. A tool, nothing more." He never liked how close the two were and felt that Elariel was allowing her emotions to cloud her judgment.

"But she's my daughter!" Elariel spun around, glaring at him. “How could I do this to her...” Forcing Halifax to spill that much blood wasn't an easy decision, but Elariel had no choice but to acquiesce to Gale's demands.

"She. Is. A. Tool." Gale repeated his previous words with a fake smile. "Besides, you know what she really is, so why are you calling such an existence your child?"

{Don't tell me you've forgotten where she came from?} (Gale)

"But she trusted me!" Elariel exclaimed. "We should have found another way, Gale! This wasn't... This wasn't how we should've dealt with Dibora!"

{All we've done is tramatize the girl! I know that Dibora is dangerous, but I'm sure that we could've waited a few more weeks to come up with an alternative! Hell, I would've incarnated and done it myself if you'd let me!} (Elariel)

"What would you have had us do?" Gale asked. "Halifax is the only Divine weapon with the proven ability to strike down higher beings, and we didn't have enough time to come up with a suitable countermeasure that didn't involve us directly descending!" He wouldn't allow such a thing, not with an alternative so easily accessible. A God coming into the material world was a last resort, and Gale wasn't keen on authorizing such a thing, even at the cost of creating another problem.

{All's well that ends well anyway. Halifax will recover in due time and we've seen that being pushed even this hard didn't cause her to revert, so I see this as a successful operation.} (Gale)

"I know that... I know that, but did you really need to force her to..." Elariel stopped. She knew that the Dark Elves were close to reviving the Dark God Dibora and that they had precious little time to stop it.

"You know well that had we not done what we did, Dibora would've revived and this world would've been plunged into chaos of a level not seen since Vikes nearly killed us all." Gale replied with a scowl. "I simply used a tool for the job it was made for. Nothing more and nothing less." As God of Order, Gale didn't really have a direct sense of or understanding of morals. He only cared for two things, balance and his own survival. The feelings of others only mattered insofar as they were useful to either of these things, and some of the other Gods even questioned his dedication to the former at times. "If its any consolation, nobody outside the Elven Royal Family knows that Halifax was used in this operation, and Diva swore a divine oath that she would not reveal what she did. Halfiax's reputation will be saved, and once she calms down I'm sure that things will go back to normal." He didn't really care what happened to the blade and was honestly hoping that these events would result in her destruction, since he saw her as a threat.

{ARE YOU INSANE?!?} Elariel wanted to smack him but knew that it would do nothing.

"You may stay and watch her, but I would advise against approaching her. She probably doesn't want to see you, and it would only make things worse." Gale disappeared with the snap of his fingers, leaving Elariel alone to watch her broken daughter scrub nonexistent blood from her blade.

“Halifax... I'm... I'll...” Elariel couldn't find the right words to say and instead watched her for hours, then days, then weeks, and then months. Halifax needed no food or water to survive, and the magical energy around her sustained whatever needs she did have so it was entirely possilbe that she'd stay like this permanently.

"It won't come off... Mom..." Halifax stopped her usual pattern of scrubbing, her word causing Elariel to flinch. "Mom... Why did you do this to me..." She started to cry, and Elariel, who was still watching from the treeline, held back from rushing to her side. "Why did you make me dirty? Why did you force me to..." She stared at her reflection in the lake water, her eyes long having glazed over. "Am I nothing more than a tool? Was I made for no other reason than to kill people?" She'd been forced to nearly exterminate the Dark Elves, even those who had no connection to the ritual. Those who survived were enslaved, and the fate that awaited them was none none too pleasant. "Was I bad? Is that why... Is that why Mom made me do this?" She slowly stood up, sword in hand, and started walking into the forest. "Did I do something to make her hate me?" She sliced her way through the forest as she continued to ramble nonsense.

Anything that got in her way, be it trees, rocks, or animals were swiftly split in two as she wandered through the woods. Halifax was only semi-lucid at this point, and Elariel was worried that she might enter a nearby settlement and attack innocent townspeople.

"I... I need to do something..." Elariel figured that the best option would be to send Halifax somewhere that she couldn't hurt innocent people. "The Burning Wilds... She can survive there... Even if she's like this... Yeah..." She waved her hand, making Halifax disappear. "Please... My child... Come back to me..." On that day Elariel sent her daughter away, not realizing that by failing to come to her aide when she truly needed it that Enoris' fate would be sealed.

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"Hm?" Halifax stopped, noticing that her surroundings had changed. "Demons?" She sniffed the air before turning and walking in a different direction. The Burning Wilds was little more than an arid, gray wasteland with little in the way of vegetation. All around Halifax came the cries of different Demonic monsters, and the few foolish enough to get close were swiftly turned into a bloody mist as Halifax slashed them. "♫ Demons, Demons, Demons...♫ Where are you?" She started giggling as she skipped along. Even in her impaired state, Halifax could sense the creatures energy signatures, and as she wandered through the Burning Wilds she came across all manner of monsters and other nightmarish creatures. Some were multistory tall goliaths, while others were vast swarms of centipede-like creatures. However, no matter how many came or how strong they were, Halifax quickly and easily chopped them into pieces.

With so many creatures to kill, Halifax didn't lack for something to do. Just as before, days turned to months, which turned to years. Completely out of her mind, Halifax wondered about the Buring Wilds slaughtering anything that came in her path.

"♫ Demons go squish! Demons go smash! I want to bash, bash, bash!♫ " Halifax giggled as she continued her travels throughout the hellish landscape. Nothing had managed to challenge her even slightly, and at this point, it was looking like she would continue her rampage eternally. "Where is the Demons?" She stopped, her blood-soaked sword scraping against the ground. "♫ Demons! Come out! I want to play!♫ " She giggled, her words having a musicale twinge to them.

"You!" A massive black-winged Demon slammed down behind her, causing Halifax to comically fly forward and crash through a tree. "Are you the one who killed so many of my kin?" His deep voice boomed across the dreary landscape. The Demon was several times taller than Halifax, and his build made the small Sword-girl look like little more than a child.

"Oh! A big one!" Halifax giggled as she stood up. "Are you a birdy? Those are nice wings!" She flashed forward, cutting the wings off the Demon, causing purple blood to shoot out everywhere. "Birdy lost its wings... So sad." She faced the Demon with a smile that sent chills down its spine.

"What the hell are you?" His confident attitude had been shattered in an instant and pain surged throughout his body. "A human? No... You have too much power."

{Is she some kind of rogue Demon? But, no, she can't be. I've never felt one with this kind of dark power.} (Big Demon)

"Me?" Halifax cutely pointed to herself before giggling. "♫I'm just a tool! A blood-soaked dirty tool!♫" Her lips curved into a psychotic smile. "Now, die!" With one swipe, she carved the Demon into countless tiny pieces, his blood, and entrails scattering across the dry landscape. "♫A tool is all I am! A tool is all I am! A tool is all I am!♫" She continued on her way, skipping as she sang to herself. For countless years, Halifax wondered the Burning Wilds, culling the Demon population to a degree that the Northern Kingdoms started wondering if something had happened in the Hells.

After enough time, certain groups in the North decided to launch an investigation into what was causing the massive drop in monster population that migrated from the Wilds. Expeditions into the hellish area only returned information that something was massacring Demons and Monsters at an unprecedented rate. There were no signs of what said something was, but it was quickly concluded that it was better to leave it in the Wilds rather than risk it turning its attention northward.

"♫Demons, Demons, Demons, De-♫" After nearly sixty years of slaughter, Halifax felt something that gave her pause. "♫Demons?♫" She tilted her head, as she sensed a familiar pretense nearby. In the distance was the sight of a long-finished battle, and what looked like a destroyed caravan that belonged to one of the Demon Race's Churches sat under a withered, dead tree. "Not Demons..." Halifax pouted as she walked over. Something in the old wreckage had reminded her of a past event, though she couldn't quite recall it, and as she sifted through the destroyed and decayed wagons, she came across a single cloak within a half-destroyed box. It had clearly been here for decades, but the magic weaved within was still active, albeit faintly.

Feeling something familiar about the magical power witin, Halifax held up the cloak and dragged it across her sword body. "Argh!" Halifax's head started to spin as her mind was assaulted with memories of carnage, destruction, death, and grief, before the face of a single woman flashed through her mind.

"Diva!" Halifax hissed. "DIVA!" She screamed the name of the one who'd wielded her during the massacre of the Dark Elves, though at this point she couldn't fully remember why she hated the woman. "DIVA! WHERE ARE YOU?!?" Her voice echoed throughout the Burning Wilds, with her fury causing an eruption of power that shot skyward, parting the dense clouds above and allowing the Sun to shine into a place otherwise eternally overcast. "Find, Diva... I must... Find... DIVA!" While she still hadn't returned from her insanity, Halifax had a new objective. Turning North she took off as fast as she could, and for the first time in sixty years, she left the Burning Wilds. A fact that Elariel nor any of the Gods paid any attention to.

Running day and night across the continent, Halifax searched for the one who caused her so much pain. She had no idea where her former wielder lived or if she was even still alive, but that didn't matter to the absolutely furious blade. After countless years of running from town to town, searching for the one she believed was the source of her pain, she finally found who she was looking for.

"DIVA!" Halifax screamed as she entered a small village in the  northern mountains.

"Oh, what the fuck?!?" A young guard who was on duty was surprised to see the ragged, and nearly naked, girl wielding such an impressive sword. "Hey, what's going on?!? Can I-" He didn't even get a chance to speak further as Halifax removed his head cleanly in one strike. "DIVA! I KNOW YOU'RE HERE!" She sensed the magical power of her former wielder within this village, and she was hell-bent on finding her and making her pay. “GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE! DIVA!”

As she slowly walked through the village, people ran in all directions to get away from her, with most fleeing to the 'safety' their houses. "WHERE ARE YOU?!?" Halifax screamed again. "DIVA!"

Following the trail up a small hill, Halifax eventually arrived at a lone cabin where she was certain that her target resided. "DIVA!" As soon as Halifax got to the door, she sliced it open, revealing a withered old woman with gray hair and blue eyes sitting in a rocking chair next to a wooden stove. Two younger men stood off to the side in complete shock, not understanding what was going on or who the sudden intruder was.

"What's this?" The old woman said with a creeky voice. "Are you?" She squinted as she looked at the ragged and frankly psychotic form of Halifax that stood before her. "It is you!" She laughed as she tried to stand up.

"Grandmother, stay back!" One of the young men tried to put himself in between Diva and Halifax but found himself quickly carved into pieces by her blade.

"Ardin!" The other young man cried out for his, now dead, brother.

"DIVA!" Halifax screamed. "I've finally found you!" She cackled psychotically. “I'VE FINALLY FOUND YOU!”

"Dern, get out of here! Use the back door, quickly!" Diva told her Grandson to flee, which he reluctantly did. "Now, why did you go killing Ardin like that?" She sighed. "He was an idiot, but he didn't deserve that kind of death." She wheezed as she coughed. "Though speaking of death... You certainly look like it." She could tell that Halifax was out of her mind and knew exactly what she was here for.

"Diva!" Halifax screamed again. "I'll fucking kill you! I'll fucking kill you for what you did!"

"Ah yes..." Diva smiled as she recalled her adventure with Halifax. "It was so much fun slaughtering all those fools. To think that I'd be blessed to carry a Divine Blade on a mission from the Gods!" She wheezed as she tried to laugh. "You were an excellent blade, Halifax. The best I've ever used, and you sliced through flesh like a dream!"

"You... You made me..." Halifax gripped the side of her head in pain as memories flooded back to her. "We... I killed... So many..."

"Yes, you did!" Diva laughed. "And I had fun doing it! It was the best time of my life!"

"Fun..." Halifax said as she still held the side of her head, pointing her blade at Diva with her other hand. "So many... The blood..."

{My... Head...) Halifax's head felt like it was about to burst as it was flooded with more and more memories.

"A glorious sacrifice to Lord Korex!" Diva smiled. “I couldn't be happier to give him such an amazing gift!” She was one of the Blood Lord's finest killers and was picked by Gale and the other Gods preciously because she had no problem with the kind of killing required. "Why, if these old bones could still manage it, I'd go into town, grab some nice young man, and-" Her words stopped as Halifax drove her blade into Diva's stomach.

"You psychotic bastard!" Halifax growled as she pulled her blade out of Diva, letting her fall to the floor. “How dare you! How fucking DARE you!”

"Ack!" Diva coughed up blood as she fell to the floor and started bleeding out. "Funny, and here I was worried that I'd die peacefully at home." She smiled, overjoyed that she would be murdered. "But here you came to deliver me to Lord Korex." She laughed and wheezed. "I suppose, in the end, you really are nothing more than a tool of the Gods." She cackled as she slowly died.

"A tool..." Halifax said as she stared at the now-dead woman. "Is that all I really am?" She looked around the half-destroyed cabin, her eyes locking on a wardrobe in the back. With her sanity restored for the first time in nearly seventy years, she felt the need to change out of her, by this point, nearly gone rags.

"I wonder if she has anything that would fit me?" Halifax opened the wardrobe and sifted through the countless dresses and cloaks before stumbling on a black bag that was sealed with preservation magic. Cracking it open was easy enough, and the article of clothing sealed within was a brown trench coat, one that she knew well.

"So you kept it... After all this time..." Halifax set it aside before going through the rest of the house and pilfering whatever clothing she could find.

{I suppose it makes sense that that psychopath would never want to part with the clothing she wore during her greatest blood-letting...} (Halifax)

“She really was fucking crazy...” Halifax sighed as she continued to rifle through the house, before eventually putting on an eclectic outfit with a tunic, woolen pants, and ragged shoes. She looked like a vagabond, and with her hair a complete mess, she figured that going anywhere would be tough.

"I don't even know how long I was out of it." Halifax said as she threw on the trench coat. "But I suppose that doesn't really matter at the end of the day." She fixed the collar before grabbing her blade and setting it at her side. There were no belt loops, so she used magic to make one, and as she stepped outside, there was a large gathering of villagers waiting for her.

"Y-You!" Dern pointed at her, his entire body shaking. "W-Where's Nana?!?"

"Dead." Halifax said coldly, as she walked toward the crowd, who parted as she approached.

"Dead?!? W-Where do you think you're going?!?" Dern yelled at Halifax as she walked past. “You... You killed Nana!”

"Where am I going?" Halifax stopped, repeating the man's question back to him as she thought of an answer. "I'm... I'm going to find the truth."

"T-Truth?" Dern had no idea what she was talking about, and frankly, neither did Halifax.

"The truth... The truth of what I am.” Halifax answered. “Am I just a tool... Or something more?" She continued, walking away from the shouting crowd. "I never batted an eye when M-" She shook her head, no longer able to call someone like Elariel her mother. "When Elariel told me that I had a new wielder... But now... Now I want to see what it's like to choose for myself."

{Are people even worthy to wield me? Should I even let them?} Halifax continued thinking. {And are the Gods... Are they even worth serving? Just... I need to see this world for myself... I need... I need to decide on my own what the future has in-store for me.}

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