"You were the one

I wanted most to stay.

But time could not

be kept at bay.

The more it goes,

the more it's gone

the more it takes away."

-Lang Leav

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Regret was a terrible thing. A monstrous thing that devoured even the strongest of warriors from the inside. No one was immune to its effects. From the mornings that ease and the evenings that crawl, it was a hungry beast that was never satisfied, not unless it has done its part in turning one into a husk of their former self.

For a time, things seemed to be going back to normal. Harald and Kari had left Kattegat to return to their home, to Tamdrup. Their warriors were glad to be reunited with their families and the two were glad to return to the place that had brought them such happiness.

It was as if they had returned to their past, the part of their lives when they felt invincible. For a while, they felt like it. Only as time went on did their scars begin to reveal themselves bit by bit until they were forced to surrender.

It was not the lack of love that had made the distance grow between them. Rather, it was the fact that they could not bear the rot that they felt growing within them to spread and destroy the one person they loved the most in this world.

It was for the best, they said. Time would fix everything, they said. Things will get better, they said.

How wrong they were.