The portal had placed in her in an ancient tomb of some kind or the entrance to some kind of tomb maybe? She’d look about and find herself surrounded by the corpses of many failures and her features softened before she’d turn forward. All of their gazes were staring at what was an allotment of ‘cards’ she figured. She’d walk forward to these tablets that sat near some slots. She’d look between them. The story that she saw was simple but maybe there was more to the puzzle than that. There were only so many combinations that could be… Right?

The first allotment was easy and she was gifted with the scenes in her memories thanks to the librarian’s efforts. The story told her of a young boy that had failed his parents. Failed at his namesake. So he gave it up. Something she understood; not everyone was someone that could be anything. But the story and the puzzle didn’t stop. A new allotment of tablets appeared as though by thin air and the slots changed about.

A failed fight. A torn soul. A lost friend. A lost family.

She knew these and would slowly slot them in, the first was right, the second found it’s home after a failure or two. Making her shudder as she could feel something tug away from her. She understood what was going on here and what had happened to those that failed. They had lost everything to this puzzle and she’d slowly sort it out. This was the story of the last wolfenstein. A true tail of sorrow.

She’d slowly piece things together. He had lost his family, he had lost his only friend. It had destroyed his soul and it had brought destruction to him. He had lost to the world in the only fight that seemed to matter. She understood that since she too had lost a lot; gone through a lot and she’d stare at the information presented to her.

It was so easy to understand. There was a pause and slowly the tablets faded away from her. She’d blink as they were replaced once more with more information. More situations and every one of them seemed to be telling a similar story. Her expression softened further as she saw that he had just kept trying.

She’d adjust the story again; feeling it out and trying to see the pain he went through. It was as though the tablets seemed to understand her. They seemed to stop trying to trick her with backwards things and just were trying to tell her the suffering their makers went through.

He had tried so hard. Tried so often and given his all just to fail time and time again in a world filled to the brim with darkness. Something she was familiar with. She’d flinch a little bit seeing that he too held a curse but unlike hers it wasn’t something he was born with. It was something forced on him…

It was the painful experience of having your soul corrode within you; the demonic nature of the world turned into a literal demon within Sebastian's chest. She’d pause as the name registered to her; it was that of what the tome had spoken about. She’d frown and continue to sort the stories. Flinching as sometimes she got it wrong but the siphon didn’t seem as bad. Was that what happened to- No. Concentrate. Focus on the story. It’d tell itself.

He had given everything to this demon; his soul, his lifeforce. In an effort to fight against the darkness he became steeped in it. Cackling mad he let it consume him in every way. He stopped being kind; something lucretia often felt like she was too kind. Something different perhaps? He had kept with his same equipment to which Lucretia often was replacing hers with newer ones. He never learned to be flexible, he was rigid in his ways. She knew that not everyone was the same.

She understood the pain in front of her and she’d continue forward, slowly reaching a conclusion that Sebastian failed where she had succeeded. His story was one to teach those past him but there would never be one past him. The story that unfolded in front of her left her speechless.

Something that she didn’t know about the wolfensteins and why they were extinct. Why they never came to be again in the same strength or same passion. They had all died; wiped out all to the very bitter end in sacrifice to eternity in hopes of purifying the wrongs of the world. The puzzle kept a hold of her and her breath slowly eased out. She’d arrange the story again; finding the failures less and less.

Her eyes widened as she was greeted with a horrible visage of Sebastian. A monster of a man that had given himself up to the darkness in an effort to fight it. But where he had sworn to protect he had caved in and it hurt in every way. She saw the blood and the ruin that he had brought upon himself and the others that he knew.

She’d sit there for a moment, processing what she saw in front of her. The tablets were patient and she’d contemplate her own life. She hadn’t given in had she? She had always wanted to fight but the very essence of battle was what kept her strong and she had… She never gave up on the fight. She had accepted what she was born into. But unlike sebastian she had it a bit easier. She had dealt with this as a natural occurrence and eventually could come to terms with it on her own.

His demonic nature had made it impossible to do so and she’d sit there reflecting on that. The last assortment of tablets sat in front of her. Three of them. The three things he had sacrificed in order. The first thing that she placed? It was family. Nothing tingled. The next thing had been himself; nothing tingled. The last thing?

She stared at the item in front of her, the last hole of which would complete this story and it hurt to stare at. She had solved everything but it didn’t sit well with her. How such a legend had gone through such an awful time. She’d reach out to the spot, placing her hand in the groove. Not once had a tablet sat here. Not once had someone gotten this far. Or if they had it had been so long that the times they succeeded were so few it would be hard to ascertain that.

She’d exhale slowly and lift the tablet. Placing it there and letting the story finish. He had sacrificed the rest of his family at the end. The last being his sister. Someone that shared a similar name to her. He sacrificed his being to the demon in utter compliance to it’s wishes. She could understand giving yourself to a higher power but it was so rare to see hunters fall this badly. She’d grit her teeth as she held onto that tablet. The tomb seemed to twist and then Lucretia would smash it on the ground with a roar of anger.

”WE ARE BETTER THAN THAT. WE DON’T GIVE UP ON THE WORLD.”

The silence that followed was deafening and the tomb seemed to accept this. The tablets faded away one by one and lucretia was left standing amidst the corpses of her failed brothers or sisters. But even that seemed to fade away…

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