Yin-Yang
Most people would kill me if they knew what I did.
Black cloak, black hood, black sword, all of them together making me a terrifying creature swathed in shadow. My black fur only adds to the frightening image, red eyes like those of death Himself, watching the victims bleed upon the dark wood.
I am an executioner.
I have taken the lives of many, both innocent and guilty alike, in the name of Justice, at the call of the Council. The judge's sentence, "Death!" is my call, and my blade rings with both joy and fear. And my heart follows it, for I know it truly when one is guiltless or guilty.
But I keep silent as I do my job, even as the scimitar I wield takes life and soul in one, simple stroke.
No problems, no regrets, just simple obedience.
~~~~
There is a quiet beauty to a well-made sword.
My eyes traveled over the curved length of metal which lay in my tough-padded paws, drinking in every detail of the weapon which I used so often. The blade was dark, purposely scorched by many fires to a swirling black reminiscent of the night sky. The hilt and crossguard were elegantly crafted, both formed of the same obsidian stone.
And in the pommel rested four diamonds, in two pairs of identical shapes. One was black, the other was white... and two smaller ones rested in each of the larger, of the opposite color.
Together, they formed a yin-yang, symbolizing the purpose of the sword. It would take life, but it would restore balance in doing so. It would bring order, peace, and security.
But its cost was death, sometimes of an innocent.
I sighed, flipping up the hood of my cloak, necessary for this task. I had wondered at first what its purpose was, and asked the Council. They had said it was to protect my face from being seen, and my life from those who would be angry at what I did.
I had sensed untruth, however... and assumed that its purpose was to instill fear.
My job now forced the thoughts from my mind, and I sheathed the sword at my belt. No sense in revealing it before I needed to.
I draped the black cloth of my cloak around me, twisting the silver yin-yang at my throat together with a simple click. The black folds enveloped me, covering anything that might have distinguished me from another. And, more to the point, it concealed my blade.
Thoughts surfaced briefly in my mind as to who I would see on the block today, but I quelled them just as quickly as the assembled crowd's roar shook my bones. Whoever it was, they must have done something horrible to draw this big of a mob.
As I stepped into the sunlight, the hundreds went silent, gazing at my cloaked form and burning red eyes with something resembling shock and awe. There was fear and loathing in a few of the faces as well, though there were considerably less of them than others. All of them, however, became irrelevant as I moved towards the block.
The face today was female, sight taken from her by the customary black handkerchief. Her head-fur was long and wild, white strands thrown back over her shoulders in an unpredictable pattern. Odd... women were never brought here to be killed, not unless they had committed some unforgivable atrocity.
The sword shuddered as I did, rattling against its scabbard with the clang of metal on metal. I reversed the sword to point downwards, then planted it into the wood of the platform I stood on.
A red fox came from the same stairs I had, holding a scroll in one hand. He stepped out beside the woman, unfurling the parchment and holding it out at arms' length.
"To be executed today, for the murder of three innocent cubs, is--"
The front line of the crowd launched a volley of mud at both of us, faces contorted with rage at the act about to take place. I swung the scimitar in an arc, flat of the blade catching the barrage full-on. The fur beside me, however, wasn't that lucky.
The scroll ripped under the force of a rock, hitting him in the chest as a mud ball struck him in the eyes. He pawed at his face, dropping the scroll to the wood and running back to where he had come.
I used the parchment to wipe the blade of mud, then dropped it to the ground below, where it was torn apart by the angry crowd.
I held the tip down again, blade angled backwards as I walked towards the woman's motionless form. Raising the blade a few feet, I touched it to her neck, gently, to line it up. A violent shudder shook her entire body, and I flinched backward slightly.
I never got used to that.
Elevating the sword above my head, I let out a slow breath, and brought it down.
At that exact second, a gust of wind happened to blow through the area. The loosely tied blindfold came free, revealing a sleek wolven face contorted in terror, and eyes gleaming a crystalline blue in the cold air.
The sword stopped, edge dug a bare millimeter into her fur-covered skin.
Sakyra.
I let out a shuddering breath, drawing the blade up and out, blood dripping slowly from the tainted edge. How had this happened? Sakyra, my Sakyra, here? Executed at my hand, for a crime I didn't even know?
The sword shook in my palm as a memory flashed, unbidden, through my mind.
~~~~
"Where are we going, Vey'ra? We've been walking for a while... even if I do love the setting."
Trees rose up to unreachable heights around us, with pine needles and new-fallen leaves littering the ground on which we walked. My hand was around Sakyra's, and a smile was splitting my muzzle as I pulled her on.
"Not much longer, it will be worth it, you'll see."
Ahead of us were the same trees as always, but the sky seemed to be getting closer and closer as we walked on. At last, the trees thinned, and a second forest loomed beneath us.
"'My eyes gazed upon a sea of endless green, occasionally punctuated by the grey of a dead tree'..."
Sakyra gazed in wonder for a moment before continuing, picking up where I had left off.
"...'And leaves rustled slowly in the wind, creating a sound almost like a soft sigh of contentment'."
She flew into my arms as I hugged her tightly, and she looked up at me in amazement.
"You knew... my favorite author, my favorite book, and it's all here!"
I smiled widely, releasing her as I walked towards the cliff edge. There was a feature I had yet to show her, one which I knew she would most likely love.
"There's more. 'I stood on a rock ledge, jutting out slightly from the mountain's sides. Around it, the stone dropped straight down as if cut by the finest blade'."
She gasped as I gestured to the edge of the cliff, and then saw the rock ledge which I had just described... literally right out of the book. Walking out onto it, she could probably see the entire valley...
"Dear god, Vey'ra, thank you..."
I smiled, putting my arms around her, and looked out into the clouds.
~~~~
The memory faded, and I was left with the vision of her terrified face. Her eyes were wild still, flickering from one fur to another until they finally settled on me. I braced myself for the inevitable terror of realization, but none came.
Quite the opposite: she relaxed.
My mind was in turmoil, she knew what I did. She knew that, since I had turned twenty-one, this had been my job. And she knew, even now, ten years later, that I still bore the executioner's blade. Why would she relax? For that matter, how could she?
I could see her mouthing words through her shaking muzzle, striking me to the core as I realized that all she recognized was my face. Her eyes were blurred with tears, and she must not have seen my blade.
"I knew you would come."
My duty and my will conflicted now as they never had before, like the twin diamonds in the pommel of my sword. But I remembered... each diamond had an irregularity.
Anomalies were possible, then. But which side was it better to make the sacrifice; for light, or for dark?
My sword quavered again, and I turned to look at it with new eyes. Could I truly carry out the task I was meant to? Would I?
My hand raised the blade higher once more, above my head, with the pommel resting on my skull. I was conflicted, torn apart by my feelings and my other bonds. Yet in the end, the choice was clearer than the dividing line between in yin-yang pommel.
Ten full years of service to the Council, ten years of watching heads drop to the ground, had numbed me to the very depths of my tainted heart. The time spent killing had brainwashed me, so that even when I swung the blade down I still did not realize the implications. And even as the inches closed between blade and neck, even as Sakyra's eyes widened beyond their limits in sheer terror, I did not stop.
Flesh and fur parted smoothly beneath the blackened steel, and blood flowed as if from a stream onto the wooden platform. Every nerve screamed at me to draw back, but I pressed down still, until the last sliver of skin was sliced in two.
Her white-furred, red-stained head fell to the ground.
Cheers erupted from the crowd as my blade rested on the block, the once-silent mass becoming a hive of chaos and constant motion. Sakyra's body twitched once, violently, before falling to the wood. Yet, that drew only more cheers.
I dropped to my knees with the sword holding me up, blade tainted with my beloved's blood. Agony split my mind in half, and the blade dropped from my hands to rest on the bloodied wood.
"How...? How could I have just done that...?
I held my head between black-gloved paws, trying to stop the pain. I couldn't move, couldn't think, couldn't breathe...
But then a single idea entered my head, almost of its own accord.
"Love conquers all."
I pulled my dagger from its sheath, and glanced briefly over the silvery sheen which seemed to coat its length. My ticket to heaven, right here, in my paws.
The tip scratched against my cloak as I brought it to my chest, and then punched through in one smooth motion. The blade sank into my heart, severing not only the veins, but my very life.
And through the pain, the unendurable agony, all I did was smile.
"United once more."