Virelda and the Greater Being

"What are you but like a plague upon this land? You are leeches to this world. Vermin that feeds upon the Earth without giving back to it all which it deserves", he frowned and looked deeply in her eyes.

"I pity the day we decided to return to this planet. I thought, but mostly hoped, that five hundred years would change the pitiful  human race. That in five hundred years you would realize where you stumbled and that you would rise from the dirt in which you lay. But I was wrong". He stopped and turned his face slowly away from Virelda. His shoulders dropped downwards as if all the hope that supported him had now vanished.

"The Black Mist is a mistake of my forefathers and not my own", said Virelda. She struggled to think what to say in return and her emotions took over.

"Why are you so despiteful of our people?", she yelled, "We do not deserve names and insult from you!" Virelda stopped and cleared a tear rolling down her cheek. 

"Aren't you the ones to have abandoned this land when all seemed lost?", she continued while crying, "aren't you the same people that almost destroyed our lands? What gives you the right to say that we are pitiful, when all I see in your eyes is that same pity?". 

The greater being now turned back to her. He moved closer to Virelda and pulled up his hand to put on her shoulder. Virelda was not looking towards him, but from the edges of her eyes she could see him. She thought he had repented, and that the arm he moved was to comfort her crying. But the greater being did not pat her on the shoulder. He lifted his arm to her neck and pulled tight around her throat as if to choke her.

Virelda gasped for air. The greater being lifted her up from the ground from her neck. The ease with which he did this resounded through Virelda's oxygen deprived brain. If these beings held such strength, there is not much hope for the safety of my people, she thought. 

The greater being grunted some words over his shoulder to the lesser ones and then turned to Virelda. The lesser ones walked away with a fast pace. 

"It is to be said that the only ones that shall live are those that can survive the harsh truth of life and this Universe. It is only the strong that live and endure. And the weak shall perish amongst the worms of the Earth". 

Virelda was now desperately twitching her body from side to side trying to grasp for air. 

What a fool I am. To hope that these men from the skies would listen. Reckless. That is what Kripp used to tell me, Virelda thought as she struggled.

Kripp. The name echoed through Virelda like the bellowing sound of the ships that came from the heavens.

Kripp would never give up so easily. Then she remembered. From her pocket she slid out the silver charm he had given her back at the Forgotten Inn. 'Sharp like the wind', he had told her, 'and sharp like your tongue'.

She punctured the silver knife through the great being's arm without hesitation. Blue blood came gushing out. He screamed with pain and dropped Virelda to the floor. The lesser beings heard his calls and Virelda could see them rushing towards her from two fields of dirt away.

"Wake up, hurry!", someone whispered in her ear. Virelda felt a clutch of fingers drag her up from her feet. And then they were gone. Like the wind, as far away and as fast as her feet could take her. Far from the greater being that now swore in unheard tones to his lessers.