Abridge Known.

101^st of Hunter’s Moon, 719

I had thought that my training with the church had lifted me above my criminal upbringing.  Now that I am a fugitive, I have returned to those treacherous ways all too quickly.  Today I have lied, and I have stolen.  We are all fruit that is never very far from the tree.

I fear I must write more of what happened that night in Jofridus’ chambers.  Perhaps a stronger man than I will someday read these words, and he must hear the truth.  I mourn the veil of denial that used to cloak me in its comforting warmth.

After he murdered Reika, Jofridus turned to me with a fervor I had never seen before burning in his eyes.  I was stunned into silence, a shame I carry still.  Reika deserved a better eulogy than that. 

My world was slowly shifting under my feet, I felt as if I could not stand.  My face was wet with tears, and yet a smoldering anger was welling up inside of me.  Jofridus could see it in my face, and he made a move to step between me and Reika’s crumpled body. 

Let her go, he said, let her go and join me.  You can fight for Avacyn for a millennia, for eternity, he said.  He peeled back his vestments to reveal a twisted metal yoke that had burned its way into the flesh around his neck and chest.  I have one for you, he said, all you have to do is take it.  Take it and live forever.

Living for an eternity suddenly seemed like a damnable chore.

No words could find their way across my lips.  I simply turned my back on him.  He shouted for his guards, and declared me heretic.  He said he had proof that I had been worshipping demons underneath the cathedral.  It was this final act of betrayal that left no doubt in my mind that the man I had thought of as my father all these years – the man that had pulled me from the dirt and gave me this life – that man was dead.  In his place was this thing in front of me. 

I realized that there could be no proving my case in Thraben.  The cathedral that I had been named after would be a prison if I was to stay.  I had no choice but to run.  And run is what I have done these past days. 

If there is an Avacyn, may she guide me to justice.

Raben