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[img]https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/28af0aaf-4226-4356-92d4-5cbfe16bed42/ddlj6zo-da5dfb8b-44f8-46c3-84da-ab2ed94ad7de.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzI4YWYwYWFmLTQyMjYtNDM1Ni05MmQ0LTVjYmZlMTZiZWQ0MlwvZGRsajZ6by1kYTVkZmI4Yi00NGY4LTQ2YzMtODRkYS1hYjJlZDk0YWQ3ZGUuanBnIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.1psa7C6zecFoz4zf62c8JMJ44enFKPqyMxw5WPwtlHk[/img]
[h1][color=lightgoldenrodyellow][b][u]Conviction[/u][/b][/color][/h1]
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYf-QgpZXaA&t=1414s&ab_channel=SoulCandle](Mood Music)[/url]
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Auriel looked down somberly at the injured and dying fighter. She didn't flick her eyes between Cole, Fer, and Marcino even as she listened. None of them were wrong on the matter... Rayla deserved many things, but it wasn't her place to make the final decision despite having voiced her own opinions already. She believed Rayla needed to die, but now that she was standing before the bleeding warrior, everything felt wrong to simply execute the defenseless woman. She clutched the shaft of her spear till her knuckles were white. Then when she heard Fer suggest that Auriel could ease the pain for her passing, Auriel took a deep breath. A faint glow enveloped her hand, and she held it out toward Rayla. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow][b]"This wont heal her wounds, but it should dull the pain..."[/b][/color]

Auriel lowered her hand after she delivered the magic, then turned her back on Rayla and the heroes. She began to make her way out of the chamber, [color=lightgoldenrodyellow][b]"This isn't my decision to make. You must decide her fate as Heroes of this world... I'll wait for you outside..."[/b][/color]

The angel made her way through the cave. She had committed the windy pathways to memory on her way in, so she didn't struggle with getting back outside. The bloodshed was so unnecessary... They should have been using this time to prepare the helpless folk for the impending wave. Fortifying villages... Training militias... Supplying the poor... Auriel knew that this mission given to them by the throne was purely to benefit the heroes and make them stronger, but she just couldn't help but feel that the time was improperly used overall. Maybe things could have been done differently if the heroes spread out and handled more tasks concurrently... That was how things had always gone in previous heroic eras. But then again... Auriel wouldn't have had the joy of adventuring with both the Sword and the Shield. She was conflicted, perhaps more than ever.

Regardless... With the first wave so close now, it didn't matter how things were handled. Their next goal was set, and they didn't have the time to bicker and rebuild a plan of action. They were committed now, and Auriel had to be ready for the fallout of their decisions.
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