"All of Ascalon is haunted. Ascalon City is the heart of the Foefire and is overrun with ghosts. There is a reason the legions have never conquered it," said Dougal.
"Yet, you went there. And came out alive," said the general.
"I was young," said Dougal, "and stupid." He looked at Riona, but the other human's face was as unexpressive as a stone.
"And yet, you are alive," said Almorra.
"No," said Dougal, "I am sorry, but I am not interested in returning to Ascalon City."
The charr general, leader of the Vigil, blinked, and her ears flattened. "You agreed to come here."
"I agreed to listen to your proposal," said Dougal. "I did that. Now I am saying no, because you are chasing a madman's dream, and I will not be part of it. I'd like to go now." Dougal stood up, hefting his small pack over his shoulder. Killeen and Riona also stood up, but more slowly.
Another silence, and Dougal could almost feel the tension gathering in the room. Finally, General Soulkeeper stood up and said, "Of course. I'd like you to think about it, but I will respect your decision. If you could wait outside for a moment, I'd like to speak with Crusader Riona."
Dougal looked at Riona and raised an eyebrow, but the other human kept her eyes fixed on the general. Dougal and Killeen left the room, the hylek Naugatl opening the door to escort them back to the waiting area. As he closed the door to the meeting room behind him, Dougal caught Almorra's rising voice: "You mean you never told him what we wanted…" Then the door closed and muffled the angry voice of the charr general.
In the waiting area, Dougal sat down and looked at his hands. Killeen remained standing.
"I'm not afraid," started Dougal. "I want you to know that-"
"I'm going," said Killeen.
Dougal looked up and saw the sincerity in the sylvari's face. "Killeen, you don't know-"
"No, I don't," she said, "but I want to find out. I think what they're doing is for the best. For humans. For charr. For everyone."
Dougal shook his head, but Killeen pressed on. "Your races are fortunate. You've been here forever. My people have been here twenty-five years and have never known a world where the Elder Dragons were not present, gnawing at the corners of our lands, bringing us zombies and abominations and all forms of twisted creatures in their wake. My people are here for a reason-I think the dragons are that reason-and if I can do anything to help the other races put aside their squabbles and turn to the greater danger, I will do it."
"Killeen," said Dougal, "even the charr legions give Ascalon City a wide berth. It is a city filled with ghosts."
"Necromancer," reminded the sylvari, smiling, "that argument is not going to have a lot of traction."
"You don't stand a chance without me," said Dougal, standing up and looking down on her smiling green face.
"You should lead us, then," said Killeen. She shook her head at some private joke, then reached up and touched his forehead. "You humans. You think too much up here." She moved her hand down, resting on his chest, her fingers grazing the locket that hung around his neck. "You should be thinking from here as well."
Dougal's face darkened. Blushing, he turned away from her. He took a deep breath and said, "Killeen…"
The door opened and Riona entered. Her face was flushed as well, though in her case from barely contained anger. Dougal could imagine how unpleasant it must be to be chewed out by a charr, especially a superior who is a charr.
"She'd like to talk to you again," she said. "Come with me."
"I think I'll stay here," said Killeen. "You two may need a moment." Riona left the room without even seeming to have heard her.
In the hallway, Riona turned to him, angry. "Dougal Keane. What happened to you?"
"Riona, I really don't want to…" Dougal started, still shaken from Killeen's words.
But Riona would not be denied. "You used to take chances. You used to always talk about that big strike, that ultimate prize, that great treasure. The chance to prove to the world that you could beat it."
"I took that big chance. And in taking that chance we betrayed you," said Dougal.
"But you lost it," said Riona, ignoring him. "Whatever happened in Ascalon City. You lost more than the rest of our platoon. You lost your will. You lost your bravery. You started running and haven't stopped."
"Are you done?" said Dougal, fixing her with a glare as sharp and angry as her own.
Riona's mouth became a thin line. "Yes. I think we are."
"Fine," Dougal said. "Now bring me to your general."
A minute later, once Riona had left the chamber and closed the door behind her, Dougal said calmly, "Now, are you going to yell at me?"
"No," said General Soulkeeper, standing in front of the fire, staring into its depths as if looking for an answer. "Instead I want to tell you a story. I understand you left Ebonhawke five years ago, and you have not been back."
"I thought there was nothing for me there," said Dougal.
"I was part of the siege of Ebonhawke as well," said Almorra. "We may have hunted each other, or stared at each other across the battlements. My warband and your patrol."
Dougal said nothing but nodded. Almorra looked up from the fire to Dougal, and her gaze drilled into the human.
Her next words were heavy with emotion and memory. "I was there. Four years ago, when Kralkatorrik, the Crystal Dragon, awoke. I was in the Dragonbrand."
Dougal felt slightly ill. "I-I didn't know anyone survived that."
Soulkeeper grunted. "I served as a legionnaire in the Blood Legion at the time. Our centurion was in charge of interdicting enemy supplies and was overseeing the scores of our finest warbands stationed there. I was on patrol with my own warband in eastern Ascalon when the Crystal Dragon stirred.
"I felt it first rather than heard it. The creature's coming warped everything around it, and the vibrations reached me through the air, not as a low thunder but a strange feeling that reached into my bones and made every bit of my fur stand on end.
"Harthog Soulslasher, my second-in-command, saw it before the rest of us, coming over the edge of the mountains behind us, flying in from the north like an angry sun come to Tyria to scorch us all. Harthog was one of the bravest charr I'd ever known, but I saw his eyes bulge with terror as he raised his arm to point at the dragon.
"The others turned to see what could terrify such a charr as Soulslasher, but I reached out and grabbed my friend by the shoulders to shake the fear from him. As I did, I saw the changes start to take him.
"His eyes began to glow an unearthly purple, and his muzzle shrank back into his face, becoming like the soft but toothy maw of a giant leech. His fur became transparent as his armor sloughed off his thinning shoulders and his arms transformed into flailing, shard-like claws. The skin peeled back from his face, and his lips and nose and eyelids shriveled up and fell away.
"And then he turned into living glass, crystallizing in an instant before my eyes into his twisted form. And at my back, I could feel a pressure, like a great hand was pressing down on the entire world as the dragon passed overhead.
"Despite the fact the dragon soared hundreds of feet above us, its passage turned the land beneath the path of its flight black and transformed the plants into crystalline monstrosities. At the same time, the screams from the rest of my warband tore at my ears.
"I drew my blade just before the creature that had been Soulslasher attacked, his splintered claws reaching for me as he screeched in horror at what he had become and the hunger that now drove him to drool at the thought of devouring me alive. I don't know what spared me from sharing his fate. Every other member of our warband succumbed to it. I was standing no more than a foot from Harthog, and he and the others were warped beyond recognition, yet I was spared.
"I slew the thing that had been Soulslasher then, but after I tore out his throat, his body kept coming at me. I had to shatter him into pieces to finally put him down. Then I turned, in the deafening silence after the dragon's passage, and saw the rest of my warband trying to kill each other, each twisted in a unique and horrible way.