Serys awoke with a start. Someone stood over her holding what looked like a rock. Serys immediately pulled her knife and warned the shadowy figure back. The large man started to say something, but Serys wasn't interested in whatever this man had to say - clearly he was only here to take advantage of her, and she would have no part of it. "Get away from me, you pervert, or I'll be sure you never go after a woman again."
Never taking her eye off the man, she mounted her loyal steed, and made for the road, leaving waking townsfolk to sort out the man in question.
Naple made good time after getting a few hours rest, and the rest of the morning went without any further incident. Serys suddenly felt a sense of excitement, as the road started going up a series of small hills, then down into a dark gully. She was close, very close. Then she saw another figure ahead of her, also on a horse. She eyed the individual warily from a distance; she didn't know if this man would turn out to be friend or foe, but she knew one thing: she was tired of being attacked by men and monsters. So she kept her distance, riding far enough behind so that she hoped he wouldn't notice her.
The woodland grew very dark. The air smelled of moss and mushrooms, and had a somewhat stale, earthy quality to it that Serys had never encountered before. She held a little tighter to Naple, but they continued onward. Finally they rounded a bend, and saw the stranger standing in the middle of the road, wearing a dark hood, sword drawn.
Acting on reflex, Serys spurred Naple, rushing the man - who was clearly up to no good, throwing her knife with expert skill. The knife hit its target, and the man crumpled to the ground, blood spilling out around him.
"SERYS, STOP," a voice boomed from all around her. She couldn't tell if it was in her head, or coming from somewhere external to her. But one thing she knew - it was the same voice that had spoken to her before she left on this oddysey.
"Who's there?" she asked bravely, in a tone that she hoped conveyed she was no one to be trifled with.
A light shone down on a small pile of rocks. The rocks shuffled, sliding apart, a hand coming up from beneath them. A rotting corpse of a man arose from the rocks, wearing glittering armor, his skin half rotting off of his bones. "I am the last knight to enter Blenshire. And I am also the spirit of the guardian of the blade of Avytir."
"Blenshire - so I'm here?" Serys dismounted her steed, walking toward the rotting corpse-spirit man, hungering for answers to all of her questions. "I have travelled far, and faced many dangers to come here on my noble quest."
"There is nothing noble about your quest, Serys. We have been watching you, and you have failed miserably."
Serys looked confused. "I have ridden my steed for sevaral days, fought off an attack from an orc, a dragon, and aided villagers who had been attacked by the dragon, then fended off a scoundrel who wanted to get intimate with me, and the latest one, this villain." She pointed disdainfully to the body she now pulled her knife from. The hood hiding the man's face fell back, and she gasped - it was Prince Borsun, his face unnaturally white from the blood draining from his body.
"SERYS, HEAR US NOW." There was no question this was a command, and one that she best heed if she wanted to continue breathing herself. "The Orc at the Inn was the Inn's owner, beloved by all who knew her, who was having an asthsma attack. You attacked her without a clue, leaving her winded and unable to reach her medicine in time. She was trying to ask for your help but couldn't talk because of the athsma attack, and she died because of your carelessness, leaving three children homeless."
"What...?" Serys said in a voice that was barely a croak. She had no idea, but before she could explain, the voice continued.
"The dragon you encountered did not cause that fire. In fact, it was incapable of creating that fire. It was not a fire-breathing dragon as you presumed. It was a water-breathing dragon from the highlands of Narth. It was trying to help the man - the dragon's faithful owner - to put the fire out when you attacked it, killing the dragon and preventing it from helping its owner, who died beneath its weight when you dropped it from the sky."
"I... I'm so sorry, I didn't know...." Serys said weakly, her voice sounded small and distant. Then she offered, "I helped the villagers who were there though."
The voice continued. "Those villagers were the ones who started the fire, out of their fear and hatred of things they don't understand. You aided the very people who were responsible for the fire, after you had finished the job they had started by killing both the dragon and its owner - who had never hurt anyone and simply wanted to live peacably."
Serys words failed her. She simply stood quietly.
"Where is your conviction now? The conviction that nearly killed your loyal and faithful horse, pushing it onward beyond what any reasponable person would expect from such a fine steed?"
"The man who attacked me back at that farm..."
"Was another man from the village," the voice interrupted. "He had knocked out one of the real villains, who you had helped in your ignorance. The man he knocked out was about to rape you and he saved you from that ordeal and most likely death. He was trying to warn you about the evil men you had fallen in with, and help you escape, when you pulled your knife on him and ran, leaving him to be beaten to death by the real villains."
"That's not fair, I didn't know," Serys got defensive.
"SILENCE," the voice commanded. "If you're going to jump to conclusions and run head in with a weapon, you don't deserve the blessed sword. For surely you would ignorantly kill any good you run across, foolishly helping evil prosper in your foolish assumptions."
"But I only desire to help and protect people," Serys said loudly, finding her voice. "It's all I ever wanted, to protect the weak and defend the defenceless."
"You wanted glory, and fame, and to be revered by people. It's true you would have tried to help people, but you are not motivated by notions nearly so noble as you claim. You wish you were a boy, so you could flex your muscles, be heard and feel powerful. And in flexing those muscles, you would destroy all good things around you."
Serys' mind raced, looking for a response, for something to say - anything.
The corpse spirit pointed to Prince Borsun. "He saw the evil you had done, and drew his sword to protect this sacred ground.
"Typical man," Serys muttered. "I suppose you consider him a "noble" man," she said bitterly.
"Your true colors are revealed, you self-absorved whore. You took Borsun's life for trying to do the right thing when he didn't want to, when he would rather have run. He had no such 'lofty' goals as you. He simply wanted to be loved, to build a family. You wanted the glory of protecting a kingdom, your family, not because you're noble, but because you bitterly want to lord your power over others. You were so worried you weren't heard by others, that you didn't listen, and missed opportunity after opportunity to be a noble woman worthy of the blessings of this land. But you failed."
The spectre corpse pointed to Borsun, and the bloody corpse arose from the ground, lifeless eyes opening to stare the long hollow death-stare of the departed, looking right through Serys. The voice continued. "This one did the right thing. This one helped every individual he came across on his journey here, even at his own peril. He had no 'noble mission' to 'protect the land'... he was simply a man with a broken heart and dreams that had been crushed long ago, but who did the right thing despite himself and at great personal cost, even his own life."
The spectre glared at Serys with its own dead eyes, searching her soul. "You are found lacking, Serys. You indeed behaved like a man like you always wanted to be - a very vain and foolishly selfish man. So your end should be befitting of such a horrible person. And Borsun, who secretly longed to be a princess like yourself, to be loved by a handsome prince, and to bare his children and make a happy home... he shall have your life and live it better than you ever could have, ready to listen to others, and to make sacrifices for others... to live with gratitude and care. So now you shall switch places, and Serys you will rot. forever protecting this hallowed ground. And Borsun shall have your life, and elevate it to what it aways should have been."
Serys was about to protest, but found she didn't have a voice. Her essence suddenly exited her body, and it stood empty behind her. Then she saw Borsun's essence jump out of his corpse.... he was beautiful, not at all what Serys thought he was. His spirit entered Serys' body, even as Serys' spirit entered Borsun's standing corpse. She felt strange...being an animated rotting corpse wasn't something her mind was prepared for....but all of this was of her own making.
Borsun gasped, once again in a living body - that of a beautiful princess. "What happened" Borsun asked, confused.
The being turned to Borsun, dismissive of corpse Serys. "You have ended your quest successfully, and you are no longer Borsun, but the new Serys. You will take over her life, carry her memories and live with the compassion and love that you suffered to hide as a man. You are a princess now. Go, live well, and bring love to all you meet, as I know you will."
Borsun looked at his delicate arms in wonder, everything was different. He was shorter. He was female - he realized with joy that he wouldn't have to hide any more, He could be his true self. Tears of gratitude flowed down his - no, her, she realized - face. "Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. But what of the real Serys? I would not take this body at the cost of her suffering."
The spectre nodded approvingly. "Spoken with true kindness. I promise you Serys will not suffer, and she will have the noble purpose she always sought, protecting his hallowed ground and the secrets hit holds."
Borsun - now Princess Serys - smiled with relief. "Thank you. Thank you for your mercy and kindness."
"Now go," the voice commanded.
The new Princess Serys obeyed, mounting her loyal steed Naple. and riding off to he future. A pining prince no more; now an elated princess grateful to share her love with the world. On her way home, she met a strong, handsome prince, who took immediate interest in her. Together they would marry, have many chidren, and build a loving home and peaceful kingdom.
And the new princess would live happily ever after.