This is part of a multi-post. Please be sure you've read from "The Fade" before continuing. 

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The following story was pieced together somewhere near the end of the Dragon Age, 9:45, sometimes under the name "The Beaitiful Arl of West Hills" which would be later added to the ending of A Compendium of Stories in the Dragon Age. Possibly a companion piece to the Tale of the Grey One, its origins thus place it within the realm of possibility that Arl Sehun is the true hero of the Well of Emerald Waters, a legend and certainly a place thought lost to our times. The tale presented here is a romantic one, with some contemporary critics claiming it wasn't exactly like this. One, a noted warrior of the greatsword (possibly one of the Three Adventurers), recalls sitting in a tavern with both the author and the two subjects with many giggles happening on each side. This claim itself, however, does not lend itself to pure authenticity, leading us to say our readers should decide for themselves. 

(The parchment begins, as so many old copies half-disintegrated with age, in the middle) 

... and thus they met again, the hunted and the hunter, two comrades in arms huddled in each other's embrace. Kyungsoo wept for the terrible magic that had maimed Sehun's body. The boy could hardly walk, let alone think rationally about what he insisted on doing. Was that why? Was that why he did it? 

"I never meant for you to do this, my love," said Kyungsoo to the boy. 

They shared a moment, two lone souls in the midst of all chaos. 

"I know. But I love you." 

The music soared, that great undercurrent of magic produced from the deeps. So few creatures alive have found themselves in the Veil and lived to tell about it. Yet here sat these two, falling in love in that most upside down of planes. 

"You don't know what will happen if you drink from that cup," said Kyungsoo. 

"No. But I do know the wishes of your heart. Kyungsoo, I can make you well again."

Their companions cried to witness it, an act so tragic, so noble, so beautiful. This boy with all his life in front of him, giving it away for the most greyish of men. Was Kyungsoo's heart ever really in it? they asked themselves. Was it not a farce, a ploy and a lure? Watching them like this made you want to believe in every little dash of love. 

Then the villain of the party mumbled, that despicable brother of the great mage himself. 

"Is... Is there room for me in this too, please?" 

Sehun stared him down with soulful eyes. "You tricked me," he told the maleficar. "You tried to kill me, so many times." 

Kyungsoo held his hand. "Don't save him. He doesn't deserve it."

But Sehun shook his head. He turned to Minseok who had been so noble, who had already determined that he would take the sacfivice, not only for Kyungsoo who was a stranger to him, but for his vile brother as well. If this noble mage still thought Xiumin had an ounce worth saving, then Sehun trusted him.

"No, I will forgive him. I will save them all." 

And so he walked upon water and took of the cup and drank it. The cold hit him like ice, like fractured shards tearing down his throat. He coughed and fell and began to drown. A body held him back, pulled him into safety beside the shallow of the well. 

"Sehun, what have you done?" asked the one who was slowly turning less grey. His eyes were sad, hooded, mournful unto death. "How can I live now, knowing everything you gave up?" 

As he lay there dying, the mages stood over his body, endeavoring to heal him, but they could not. Still at death's door, the Veil around them dissolved, some say because the magic of the well was spent, some say out of compassion, that even magic so foul knew when it had met its match. But it could not do anything for Sehun, that beautiful young arl. 

You know, there is no grave for him now known. Why? Because it is said, he never died. Kyungsoo took his body away to a dark place, trading up the disease of his youth and all his knowledge and wisdom for a cure which would save his beloved. So many think the tale of the grey one was not a story about Kyungsoo at all, but of the young and beautiful Arl of West Hills. 

Was this ending not your cup of tea? Try a different one! Or go ahead and skip to the EPILOGUE