The Blood Iron Wolf

Their faces fade from my memory, slipping between my fingers, away from my grasp. Am I so powerless? Or am I unconsciously loosening my grip around what I once held so precious? Each day, it seems, the life that I know was not so long ago becomes ever more dream-like, and in its place, are only whispers. Insidious whispers. Whispers of things to come. The horrors that wait so patiently as evil brews in the east, and the moon quakes, preparing to split open. The sunrise upon the horizon, so fondly looked upon, I realize, is an oncoming wildfire. The full moon, an ominous, predatory eye upon all the world. We will be swept clean, so say the whispers. I don’t know what to make of them. I…fear them, but they cannot be ignored. I haven’t the strength to shut them out. The night before, in the throes of my dreams, the whispers brought to me a name. Sothal. Even now it echoes in my mind, incessant, like a bard’s sweet melody. It is a name unfamiliar to me, and all efforts to gain further knowledge have been met only with failure. This…Sothal, are they perhaps the source of these whispers that foretell catastrophe? The whispers insist he is the only hope for this world. What of the gods, I find myself asking? I have prayed, fervently, but there is only silence. If this disastrous future is truth, why do they not act? Where are their champions? Their clerics and paladins? The things this Sothal asks of me…the price of their aid is steep; my heart urges me to keep faith in the gods, but my mind is struck with fear and uncertainty. There must be blood. That is what the whispers say. Blood…and flesh. Only then will this Sothal grant me the strength needed to repel the evils that approach on the tides of coming days. …I am of House Wolfram. I am sworn by my name and family to strike down that which would stalk the darkness to prey upon those who walk in the light. And…if I must become a wolf among the night to destroy the night…then damned my soul will be. My friends, forgive me. I fear before my work is done I will be a changed man. Perhaps a lesser man than the one whom you knew. I do this for you. Your faces and names become more distant, but above all, my love for you is clutched tightest to me. I will hold it. I will die upon it, before it leaves me. We, all of us, strove to do good in this world. I pray, though the road before me may be fought with sin, that you will be able to see the truth of my actions. I will save this world that you all treasured so, even at the cost of my mind and soul. It is my duty. Yes. My duty. What is one man’s life, when scaled against the whole of the world? I will sleep tonight, and dream, I think. I will listen to these whispers, and do what deeds need done. I will beseech this Sothal, and seek his strength. My course is set. Whatever may become of me, let it come. My friends, my companions… …T’lia…my love… Goodbye.