"It's a very long story, are you sure?" Lady Diana asked. Olivia nodded feverishly. In this whole mess of new things, Kim was one thing that felt so familiar to her. Kim was the only thing she felt connected to. Lady Diana took in a breath.
"All right, but I suppose we should start from the very beginning, yes?" Diana said, and not waiting for an answer, jumped into the story.
--
It began with Kim's mother, a young elvish princess named Noel. She was pure, a white light in Elven Grove. She was even revered by men, and was courted by many. However, a light so pure is easy to taint. Among the dullness of her kin, and the darkness of the world, her light was a beacon to evil. The demon king Asmodeus found her wandering outside the city walls. It was easy to trick her, to tempt her into him, to make her fall deeply in love with him.
It was even easier to hide among the elves, they were pure and naive. Too stupid to notice Asmodeus's scheming. He gained the kingdom's trust, and courted Noel, and when he proposed marriage, she didn't hesitate to accept. They married under the great oak in the middle of Elven Grove. That tree was said to be the very first erected by the Goddess, the very first beacon of her light. To marry under it meant good luck, meant solidity in that love. The Goddess would not give her blessing that day.
They were married for five years before trying for a baby. A great war was going on, and Noel didn't want her child born into it. On their fifth year, however, the war was ending and a Hero was dying. Asmodeus saw this as the perfect time to impregnate his wife and bring a new evil into the world.
They made love under the tree, and precisely three months from then, they returned. Asmodeus proclaimed that he wanted to spend eternity with her and their child, that he believed this baby would change the world. Noel agreed, but did not understand the King's hidden meaning.
On the fifth month of her pregnancy, Noel returned once more, but alone. She had been getting sick lately, and felt her baby would be stillborn. She prayed to the Goddess, asking for her blessing, and without Asmodeus's darkness hiding her, she received it. The Goddess gave the child a great destiny, and a powerful gift. However, she did not remove the darkness from Kim's unborn soul.
The day of Kim's birth was eventful. The Hero before her died that day while Noel was in labor. The princess was brought beneath the Ancient Oak, and, traditionally, was left to give birth alone. Asmodeus appeared, claiming he only wanted to comfort his wife and see the birth of his child. Trusting him, Noel beckoned him into the sacred circle protecting her. He sat next to her, and ripped Kim from Noel's belly. The loss of her soul was felt almost as heavily as the loss of the Hero of Old. Asmodeus took that baby, and the blood of Kim's mother tainted the land.
The Goddess was so offended at this evil, so angry at the elves for allowing Asmodeus into her grove, that she shut the rest of the world out and had her brother, The Horned God, kill them all. The loss of their light brought hope and faith to Asmodeus, that his scheming would work. That his plan to darken this realm would be fulfilled.
Asmodeus thought that Kim would be his tool against the mortal realm, that she would carry out his wishes without question. And for eighteen years, she did. She became the nightmares of children, the worry of parents, and the dark omen to all races. For eighteen years, she reeked havoc on the world. She slaughtered a thousand men, brought famine to the dwarves, and disease to the orcs. She made the dragons infertile, trifling with their ability to breed. Asmodeus believed thoroughly that he had gotten his way, that he had beaten the God and Goddess.
However, on her eighteenth birthday, Kim had come across one of those ancient trees in an ancient Orcish city. Beneath it, sat an orc man. He was praying to the tree in hushed whispers, and Kim believed he hadn't noticed her. She moved to kill him, bringing her ebony blade down on him. He was swift to dodge her, blocking her attack with his own sword. Kim blinked.
"Who are you?" She asked. He was familiar, she felt connected to him even if she did not know him.
"I am Joun, the Hero of Old before yourself." He replied.
"I am no hero, Joun." Kim spat at him, "I have brought famine, disease, and death to this world. My father is Asmodeus, a demon king from the depths of Hell. I do not save people, I will not save people." Joun laughed at her, and knocked her weapon from her hand. He picked it up and took his seat in front of the tree, patting the spot next to him. Kim refused.
"Sit, Kim. Do not make me remove your legs." Joun said sternly. With no other choice, or weapon, Kim took a seat next to him.
"I do not doubt that you have made a mess of things, siding with evil." Joun sighed, "But I guess that isn't your fault. Darkness is all you know. If your father hadn't taken you from your mother, you would've been brought up good." He paused, "Granted, a little dull and too trusting."
"So it is better for me to have been evil?" Kim asked.
"To have been born evil, maybe." Joun replied, "But the Goddess gave you her blessing. Gave you my soul and the souls of many others before me. She gave you the power of all of the Heroes of Old. You will save this world whether you want it or not."
"But my father wants to destroy it."
"As do all things that are lost in darkness." Joun said, "But you are not. I know with every death you cause, you question if it is worth it. If a world without the good is a world you want at all. I know with every lost child, every dying parent, that you want to stop your father."
"I am loyal to Asmodeus. It doesn't matter what I want." Kim said. Joun sighed and stared up at the white oak.
"It matters a great deal, Kim. It could determine what happens to all of us." Joun looked to her, "There is time to change what has been done. You can save this world. You can make right what you've done."
"I can't betray my father."
"In matters concerning your destiny, loyalty to your blood doesn't matter. We are more connected to each other than Asmodeus and you will ever be."
"I don't even know you."
"Oh, but you do. We are connected at the soul. Joined together by the Goddess. We are like brother and sister." They sat for awhile in silence, Kim taking in all of the new things she'd learned, meditating underneath the tree. She didn't know what to do, she was of course conflicted. She spent eighteen years doing everything her father wanted, only to be told that wasn't who she was meant to be at all. That fate had different things planned for her. Kim stared up at the tree, and then back to Joun.
"Where do I begin?" She asked. Joun stood and smiled, gesturing for Kim to follow. They stood before the tree, and Joun took Kim's hand in his.
"You pledge your loyalty in blood and spirit to the God and Goddess." Joun cut into Kim's hand, and then into his own. With his thumb, he covered Kim's entire hand with her blood, and his own. "Place your hand against the tree, be sure to leave a visible mark." Kim did as he said, laying her palm flat against the bark of the tree.
"What do I say?" Kim asked. She felt there would be something verbal.
"Nothing. They know your intent." Joun said. Kim kept her hand on that tree until she had felt she'd bleed out. She thought about every wrong doing she'd ever done, every person she'd ever killed, and promised to avenge them. She promised to right her wrongs, and to save the world she was destroying. Kim's mark was so deep, it appeared on every white oak dotted across the land. It became the world's beacon, the world's salvation.
Kim was born again under that tree, not as evil, but as something good. Something she was always meant to be.
A hero.