As my possession wears off, and I get up, the ghost disappears. Ruin shakes himself and hops up, bloodied but alive.
Kira, I tell you true, nothing is more enjoyable than travelling with you, Snumatias and Nid-Britt.
Aside from the pleasant company, the wonders that Tamriel reveals to me with each new day are beyond words. Indeed, it is on days like today where I can forget the dark clouds that gather in our wake and focus on the sun shining brightly on the horizon.
You're cheerful today, Ruin!
You asked why I am so cheerful? I will tell you: I have been thinking much on morality of late, and how somehow I have regained mine. In the past, I did many evil deeds, but perhaps the worst lay within my silence against wrongdoing.
The saying goes: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." And even if my own nature within the evil sect I was raised in was questionable, the fact that I remained silent against wrongdoing is not.
I
could have used my influence to stand up to all that was wrong in my society, yet I did not. I am not too sure why. Many suffered as a result of my silence. Yet, had I done something, I might've suffered a similar fate.
You can't expect to fight every injustice that occurs. You aren't super... erm, human.
Maybe so... but that doesn't justify a lack of action where action is due.
Perhaps I could've chosen battles I could win, rather than refusing to fight at all. I cannot help but feel that in remaining silent, I ultimately condoned the cruel actions of my kindred. I wish I had found a way to end the suffering, and yet I did not I suppose that at a base level, I was afraid. Amidst a herd of sheep, the only one that stands out is the black one. I had no desire to stand out.
Why does this make you cheerful?
I would've thought that the reason was obvious. Morality to me became an ambivalent shade of grey, solely because placing myself in moral ambiguity served to justify my lack of action, at least in my mind...
Yet of late, in your company, i have found that suddenly I can see moral dilemmas in the more appropriate shades of black and white: good and evil.
Thus, in order to exist in the world I knew before, I put aside any semblance of good OR evil, any semblance of morality. Now though, by being constantly exposed to situations in which such moral choices are made, I have regained my perspective. To me, the world seems to make more sense when it is defined by black, white, and the shades of grey in between.
What colour are you?
...! I'm not entirely sure, just yet. Though, I'm starting to get an idea. I suppose that now I have established a firmer moral scale, I can begin to determine exactly where I reside on it. I suspect some of your moral shading will rub off on me if I remain in your company: though by my reckoning, that's not a bad thing.
Thank you again for taking the time to listen to my thoughts. I do value your insight, Kira.
With that lengthy plot exposition over, let's continue on!
Hang on, everyone! Kira, I have a hypothetical question that I want to ask you, if you've got time.
...What.
I have time, I guess.
Thankyou, Kira. If a society were to deem one particular object as bad, such as a painting or a statue, for example, does that then make the object 'bad'? In other words, if society says something is so, does that make it so, without any question?
Why all the questions about society? I feel like I am back in school...
Kira, I am an outcast. I can never return home to the society I was raised in. Thus, this is my society now, and I am trying to figure out my place in it. Much of Tamriel seems to be at odds with what I have experienced in the past. And this leaves me quite confused, as I struggle to determine what aspects of the society I knew, and what aspects of the society I now live in, are deemed "right".
In other words, the society I grew up in told me something is wrong, and the society I live in now tells me it is right... Which do I believe?
Be an integral part of the society you live in. Helping it helps you.
Aye, I suppose that if I want the right to live in a society, I should adapt and evolve to suit the trends of the society in question. I suppose that makes sense... if one plans to take the moral "high road", so to speak.
And yet I wonder, not knowing how I was raised, or the circumstances under which I grew up, how valid your opinion is on the topic. How can I put you in a position to view this with a more educated, wizened viewpoint? I would think you would need to know more about my past. I confess that I don't want to tell you everything. As the poets say, "ignorance is bliss", and the less you know the less danger you will be in. But I will say as much as I can without putting you at risk. Sit down, and I will tell you a tale.
I look over and see Snumatias and Nid-Britt already snoring. Well, that's amusing. I suppress a snigger. I was raised in a very small Argonian sect that is unknown to most people, and frowned on by those people who do know of us. Even to our own race we are essentially outcasts. Yet by banding together, like sheep, none could stand up to us. From a very young age i was trained to take life without question. I was taught that death is a part of life. I was trained to revel in blood. To the end that when we reached maturity we could go forth into Tamriel and put our skills to good use in service of our sect.
Yet when the time came, I wished to do no such thing. I wanted to be free to make my own choices, and so I ran from my masters and abandoned my sect. I came to the Imperial City where I hoped to seek out someone who could accept me as a companion and show me the lands of Tamriel.
And so it was that I met you.
Considering your earlier answer, let me turn my initial question on its side... My society calls me a coward and a traitor. Does that make it so?
Here in the Imperial City, the laws work against creatures of my nature, and thus are at odds with the society I was raised in. Thus, if my society calls me traitor, could that mean that one day your society would call me a hero simply for opposing the evil ways of my sect? Or does one become a hero for sticking to the foundations through which one was raised, regardless of present environment?
Your actions are all that matter.
You are saying that society - whichever one I place value in - will forget my past, based on my choices in the future and the present? So if from this point onwards, I were to serve as a hero to Tamriel, then society would perceive me only as a hero? And society would validate that when contrasted against my darkened past? Interesting... most interesting indeed. I will think of this at length. Thankyou once again.
Snumatias and Nid-Britt awaken almost as Ruin finishes. Weird. We leave, and a few Restoration spells later, we're back at fighting spirit. 
Poll
0 (0%)
Author
Topic: Reudh's Oblivion LP - Ruined Tail's Tale (Read 8308 times)