[ IP ] Lava Ruins

`` The Melted Waste'', our Paladin stated with a hard look on his face. 
 
 It was like nothing that I had ever seen before. It seemed like something that the old cleric at Stone Church would describe during his fiery sermons. 
 
 Liquid fire filled every crevice and smoke choked the desolate ruins. 
 
 `` Boy,'' the Paladin turned to me, `` I'll be needing my armor now''. 
 
 I was too enthralled by the sight to dismount my small brown mare and fulfill his request. 
 
 `` Boy!'' he barked, `` it is not safe here. My armor. Now'' 
 
 `` Sir,'' I replied, voice cracking, betraying my youth, `` what is this place?'' 
 
 It was not the Paladin, but the old Druid, who answered. 
 
 `` It was once a city. A shining capital of a great and powerful kingdom''. 
 
 He paused, his face inscrutable beneath his salt and pepper beard. 
 
 `` It was ruled by many a great lord, and then by one who decided to be greater than the rest''. 
 
 `` We do n't have time for tales,'' the Paladin interrupted, drawing his long golden sword to punctuate the point. `` It wo n't be long before the vile things that live her discover us''. 
 
 I dismounted and began unstrapping the large leather sack that contained the Paladin's shining white armor framed with gold. His armor must have been worth a small kingdom. 
 
 The paladins of Dunheim, a kingdom high in the northern mountains, were renown for their extravagance and known even more for their skill at arms. 
 
 `` You see, boy,'' the Druid continued, `` men are never content with what they have. They always want more. Such was true of this last lord''. 
 
 The Paladin looked at the Druid with disdain, letting out a grunt and muttering a curse, he dismounted from his great white charger. 
 
 `` Here,'' he spoke, `` give me that sack''. 
 
 I handed it to him, arms trembling from the great weight of its contents. He took it in one huge fist and carried it a few yards without so much as a grunt of strain. He set it upon the blackened earth and began to remove its contents. 
 
 `` A worker of dark arts offered the lord a great power'', the Druid continued as though he had not been interrupted. 
 
 `` He told the lord, who was still young and foolish -- not much older than you, that he could give him the power to cleanse his land of all injustice and misery''. 
 
 He paused again, his emerald green eyes shimmering in the smoky air. 
 
 `` Of course, the lord agreed, not realizing how strange it was to be offered such a great and magnificent power for nothing. The dark man gave him a small red gem and said,'all you must do is hold this, and speak your desire and your lands will be forever free of the suffering of men'''. 
 
 The Paladin was more than halfway dressed in his shining armor. From somewhere within the smoldering ruins of the keep, a shriek emanated. 
 
 It chilled me to the bone. It was not human. The shriek descended into a long, haunting wail. 
 
 The Druid seemed unconcerned. 
 
 `` The lord took the gem immediately, and thanked the dark man, offering him wealth and riches. The dark man refused, saying that'only seeing your lordship work with such great power is enough for this one'. Then the lord, with dreams of great deeds, held the gem up before his eyes and said,'make my lands free of suffering, make them free from injustice and poverty, let them become empty of envy and greed'. The gem glowed and this city's fate was sealed''. 
 
 The Druid turned and looked me, a deep sadness in his eyes. 
 
 `` The gem did create a land free of all sins and vices, just as the lord wanted. It did so by destroying any and all who might commit those acts. It changed the land so that it could no longer harbor men. Men who are naturally greedy and hateful, but who are also kind and caring. Men who destroy but who also build great things and stand defiant against evils''. 
 
 The Druid seemed to shrink as the last of his tale echoed off the barren rocks. 
 
 The Paladin, now fully garbed, grabbed his sword. `` Come on now, let's retrieve this artifact, its powers are desired by our employers and it is not our place to question their purpose, only their purse''. 
 
 `` How....'' I spoke weakly, `` how do you know all this?'' 
 
 The Druid did not respond for a long time. Then he spoke, so softly that it was almost inaudible, `` because boy, we were all young once. We all have committed acts that we must live with the rest of our lives. It is a curse that we must make decisions knowing so little about how they will turn out.'' 
 
 He paused again. 
 
 `` I only wish that I had known better''.
