What is shall always be

I see the chains around my wrist. I hear the train rumbling. I think to myself that this might as well be death but my mind keeps coming back to this vague thought. I can make it. Everyone thrown into Hammer's Fall is never heard from again. But me... I am different. I can do this. I jangle the chains around my wrist and the coachmen notices, he laughs, shouldering his shotgun before he says something about me meeting my death. I tell him he’s wrong and I grin. He’ll see me again when I make it out. That’s the deal, I remember that now, they throw you in and if you escape you come back a legend.

Time shuffles. I see my make shift sword that is little more than a broken bit of scrap metal. I’m skewering a giant roach. Too easy I think to myself. I’ve made friends now, an ogre and some orc. We’re crushing our way through the place, killing bugs, destroying skeletons. We’ve barely taken a hit and we’ve already found some decent salvage. I remind myself not to get overconfident, yet I cannot help but feel exulted. A small part of me feels different, like I am special and the world will recognize that soon enough.

Time shuffles once more, I am in gang now, we’ve carved out a decent sections to live in. We’ve food, booze, weapons, muscle. I’m not the boss but I didn’t want to lead anyways, I’m figuring things out, figuring out how I am going to plunder deeper, get to the more dangerous areas. We’ve made a few trips, lost a few of the gang but that was to be expected. After all they weren’t special like me. Once we go deep enough, we’ll find the truly amazing treasures.

Then time shuffles and I am looking down at my own chest. I’ve been impaled, a death knight was down here, its sword impaled me through the chest. I parried its first strike but it was too fast, too strong, sending me on the back foot and then impaling me. Time is frozen, I refuse to believe this is the end and yet I feel so terribly cold. The sword pulls from my flesh and I try to raise my blade, to continue fighting, I am special and I can survive anything. I crumble to the ground and the last I see is the death knight stepping over me without concern. He goes after the rest of the gang.

. . .

Shuffle.

I watch as my sword plunges into his chest, he screams, he was trying to run but I was relentless. I see my rotted decayed hand holding the blade. Dimly, I recognize this man. He was apart of my gang, I once called him brother. He does not recognize my maggot eaten face. I pull my sword out and stab him again and again until he crumbles to the ground. I am helpless to stop. I watch myself kill him. Some dim part of me struggles to hold onto the memory of his face, his name, remember him. Yet I feel my mind slipping away.

Time shuffles...

I see the chains around my wrist. I hear the train rumbling. I manage to recall now that this is just a memory. I know now that I am not special. I am in hell. I watch my sword plunge into the roach, into my chest, into my next victim. Time shuffles and I see the chains around my wrists. I am trapped in hell. My body shuffles along, bloodied sword in hand. I watch and remember and that is all I can do.