Betrayal

"It told me that...only one of us would leave the End....only me it said....and it said Vossi wouldn't make it...that he belonged to it now..." His arm trembling, he shows Kim his right hand. She gasps at the sight, "This purple patch of flesh...among the black....is where I touched the egg...the one the slain dragon left...it changed me....turned me into this...." Tears start to stream down his face, blue against the black, "Vossi...he couldn't handle it...I tried to avoid fighting him...tried to reason with him....but he tried to kill me...I had to...had to..." But Jeff breaks down into sobs in Kim's arms, who did her best to keep him calm through the grief.

No one should have to kill their best friend, but Jeff had little choice.

He was hyperventilating now from the memories and the pain they brought. "He told me....told me as he died...from the arm I had torn off...so much blood...." Kim tried to hush him, "We don't have to go further Jeff. You've told me enough...." Jeff wanted to end this tale. It was the only way, "He told me to...take care of you....to take care of the village...he handed me...his sword...Windstalker....but I....I don't have it now..."

Tears stream down his face, "I failed the village....I killed them all...I...I led them to their deaths..." Kim put her finger over his lips, "I remember that they chose to go....you said you would go alone...but they went with you...they knew the risks and still stood with you...but..." She now had a hard time keeping eye contact.

Realization strikes Jeff, "The village....no...please no..."