Finding the Will

Tarkus sat in a corner of the Respite by himself, he would often find himself sitting in this exact corner on these winter nights. A drink sat in front of him, sitting idly on the table in front of him. The last few years in his life has been rough, and it had almost broken him. Currently his mindset was not present but the past, thinking back to the moment where it had started.

Every time he thinks back to that moment, Tarkus blames himself for not being fast enough to get Violet to the nearest hospital or clinic. He was not fast enough, his mind went blank at that moment and he did not know what to do, his military training and his mercenary life did not prepare him for the sight he saw. When he saw Violet in the condition she was in, and his mind goes back to that night, he always blames himself.

The memory of sitting in the clinic, waiting to hear any good news about Violet and the child he wanted to help raise, even if it was not his child. When the doctor came out and told Tarkus that the child was lost, that was when his heart was broken, that his world started to shatter.

The next memory that hits him, is when they visited Earth for a short time to spread the ashes of the child. When he looks back at that moment, that is when he realised the woman, he loved was growing distanced. For a time, it seemed they were going to be fine and make it out of this sad time together, however one day she just left and have not contacted him since.

That sent Tarkus down a dark path of drinking and doing nothing but working. For a time, his moral compass was broken during that period, taking any job that paid well, eventually when this darker period of Tarkus’ life was coming to an end he took a job protecting a merchant’s ship. This is when he got kidnapped by pirates during this job, a turian pirate recognising his facial markings and family name, hoping they could gain something from ransoming Tarkus back to his family.

If it was not for some random chance that this ship belonged to a former pirate under the employ of Redrock, and that the ship was landed on Aite. He was probably going to antagonize the pirates until one of them killed him, and he was going to accept that death. He was just ready for the cold embrace of death to take him, and allow him to join the spirits. A fate he was ready for, due to the fact he had no support for himself, he knew his friends were doing their own thing and he could not allow himself to show himself to his friends in this weaken state of mind.

With Tarkus going over the all the past events that led to his life being broken, he downs the full drink sitting in front of him. He stares at the empty glass and he knows that drinking will not fix anything, but being reunited with a good friend or friends, this might be his chance to get back on a better path for his life. To allow himself to live and carry on.