Assignment for my creative writing class: Show someone deciding not to tell something to someone else. Note: This is not a scene from my novel, but this might someday be a scene in the third novel in the trilogy.
Crent double-checked every symbol he had translated, hoping he had made some mistake. He had not. This was Densulak’s lost prophecy: At the end of that final battle, if the Dark God be not victorious, it shall bring about the end of the world. Not unless; the symbol definitely meant if. And he was certain the not was modifying victorious.
He knew Omnimancer Allonna was desperately manipulating every conditional prophecy she could find so the Prince of Light could defeat the Dark God in that battle. He had hoped to find something to help her. Instead, he’d found the end of hope. This prophecy might be conditional, but either outcome was disaster.
What should he tell Allonna? She had spent five hundred years planning to defeat the Dark God. Could he tell her she’d wasted her life? Would she give in to despair? Or would she try to forge a deal with the Dark God?
He shook his head. No, it was better to fight against evil to the last, even if it meant the end of the world. But there was no reason for Allonna to know what would come if she succeeded. He picked up the parchment of Densulak’s prophecy, dropped it on the floor, and ignited it with a fire spell. When nothing but ashes remained, he turned to the tablet on which he had written the translation, and pressed the button that would clear its surface.
Densulak’s lost prophecy was lost once more.