With that accomplished, she turned to two hooded figures standing behind her and gave a curt nod. In the silence of mutual consent, the figures made a gesture with their hands and vanished from the tower with a flick of their cloaks. The young woman paused for a moment, the Orb still within her hand, her dark eyes caught by the ruby sunrise made bloody by numerous wars over the years.
"Farewell, old friend." She said softly, then willed herself from the ancient tower that she had come to love, never to return.
* * *
Judging from the ravaged wound in his stomach though, Ash figured that he probably had not long to live. Maybe it was just as well for he was mightily tired of fighting all the time. Ever since that renagade Adept, Glennas, decided that he'd rather be evil than good, times had not been exactly peaceful. Of all the creatures he could use for his fighting forces, Glennas had to use trolls, werewolves and all manner of foul creatures that would reduce a grown man to tears. Losses had been great and the Darkness that started when Glennas had summoned his evil minions now crept ever so steadily over the land of Arthenia.
Ash felt his vision dim but he didn't want to go. Not just yet. Not until he had seen his last sunrise. The sun rose in all its majestic glory, red from blood shed in the past night. Then suddenly, as if a second sun followed in its wake, a brilliance of lights lit up the sky with colours of every hue, named and unnamed.
As Ash breathed his last, he imagined he saw three shooting stars streak across the sky.
"What a beautiful day." He muttered happily to himself as his world became dark and sank into oblivion.