The pale, ghostly figure of a lone moon elven woman shimmered in a shaft of cold magical light, surrounded by oppressive darkness, standing silent vigil over an ancient stone alter, upon which rested a silvery longsword with a glittering white stone in its pummel and six espruar runes ablaze on its blade, the shadowy pool of her eyes never leaving its gleaming blade, even as a shadow passed over it. “You know that you will be waiting there forever,” the shadowy figure’s raspy voice pierced the endless silence. “So, why do you linger?” “My purpose is not fulfilled,” her hollow voice met his challenge, “until the last Morningstar draws its last breath I remain… and until a worthy heir claims me, I wait… for all eternity if needs be.” “We have both been forgotten… and forsaken,” he bemoaned as he turned away to slink back into the shadows, leaving her to her endless watch. “Thus is our lot,” she countered, her haunting voice devoid of the bitterness so thick in his. “It is the nature of my existence and the choice you made willingly… to serve for all time.” “Were you so compliant when you were mine to command… before you had form and voice?” he sneered, the vacant orbs of his eyes roaming over her physical manifestation, his long dead heart remembered what it was to be a living man and feel the heat of desire. “I am as I have always been… as I will always be,” she replied hollowly, although she did raise her shadowy eyes to look upon him; seeing him not as he is now, a shriveled husk of what he had been, but as he was once long ago when he lived in the light… and she was his. But, then she looked back to resume her duty as eternal sentry over the sword, her face as emotionless and cold as it is hauntingly beautiful… the image of elven perfection given form. Stalking back into the shadows, he brooded; the ever gnawing doubts and regrets of his choices in life haunting him now in this eternal existence. What if he had given her form when he was her master? Would he have chosen her over the one that became his wife… and saved himself the heartache of her loss? Would he still have made the choice to serve his house and family in the way he had… sacrificing everything for honor and duty? Yes, he decided… he would have. He knew what he was committing to when he chose the path he had. He knew that it would lead him to this… the endless task to protect and serve… and assure that those who came after him would be safe from the dark secrets that he stood guard over. His own eternal vigil.