The Greatest Revenge

The Greatest Revenge

            When I awoke, it was abrupt, as though somebody had splashed ice cold water on me. I stared into the night, and my eyes slowly adjusted. I saw a pale face, surrounded by a dark cloak. It was a face much like a human’s, but with far more beauty, and far more terribleness, than a human face could muster.

            It reached out its hand, and a sense of calm washed over me. I reached out, grabbed its hand, and suddenly was standing on the edge of an abyss. I could feel it staring into me, into my being, into my very soul. I could feel it ripping me apart piece by piece, dissecting me so that it could see how I worked. Then, I felt its satisfaction.

            I looked around me. There were pale figures, all featureless, moving towards the edge of the abyss. Then, they would attempt to cross. Some would make it, and then would be either consumed by fire or by light.

            However, the majority would fade into the abyss. They would fall and slowly fade from sight. That was when the being next to me spoke. “The bad go to the flame, and the good go to the light. However, the worst go to the abyss.”

            I found myself almost unable to speak, but I finally gathered up the courage. “Who are the worst?”

            “The worst are the nameless, those who don’t leave a mark on the world, good or bad. The bad at least influence the world in some way, and often cause a contingency of good to happen from their actions.

            “However, the nameless accomplish nothing. They leave nothing, no legacy, not a single thing. You see, if you truly hate somebody, you shouldn’t kill them, burn their house down, or target their family. That martyrs them. All you need to do is allow them to fade. Allow them to fade off into the darkness, into the Aether, out of people’s memories and hearts. That is the greatest revenge anybody can hope to achieve.

            “It is the greatest revenge for one simple reason. It is the greatest revenge because if you leave no 

mark on the world, your existence was meaningless. It did nothing, accomplished nothing. You have no legacy to speak of. Is that not a fate worse than death?”

            And then I understood.