Ending to a story I wanted to write...

There was no time to think. "Go, NOW!," roared the elderly dwarf, as he staggered against the elfcarven walls of the ruined crypt. Rin just stared at him, she could not move from the spot she had chosen to die. How had this happened? The ogres were closing in, and would soon overwhelm their small party. Then, somebody grabbed her arm, nearly tearing it out of its socket. She turned her head. It was Keta the warrior, Keta the strong elven princess, who had endured so much abuse from the ogres, and from her own people. Now, Keta pulled her down the hall. Rin stumbled after, down the damp passage to the core, the goal of their quest. This was the place that her teacher has spoken of, the first home of the elves. In the distance, she heard Gehrhelm give the throttling cry of the dwarf clan that had cast him out. Raz was there too. He would know what to do; he was sarcastic and rude, but always had a plan. Rin lost sight of them. They were in the core, a round room full of shadowed carvings of lives long past. "Here it is," shouted Keta, adding earnestly, "do it!" But do what? Rin did not know what she was supposed to do, her teacher had never told her. He hid much about the past, about the magic that cursed her. Oh Goddess! What was she supposed to do? Keta stared at her, "What are you waiting for! They can't hold them for long! Rin!" The girl gasped, then looked up at Keta. On the journey, Rin had grown to love Keta with all her heart. The elf had become her mother, sister, and friend...all the relationships she had never been able to have in her short life. How could she fail her now. Shouts and growls grew closer in the passage. Raz and Gehrhelm were probably... Aah! She could not think about it! Rin suddenly stood up and faced the center of the chamber. There she saw the dead Arcus, the heart of the elven city. Once it had throbbed with magic, wild uncontrolable magic. Like that which resided within her...her curse... Rin knew what she had to do. As Keta fought the ogres as they swarmed into the chamber, Rin hurled the magic out of her heart. It streamed across the distance to the Arcus, then fanned out, flooding the chamber, burning the ogres to ashes. Keta will live, thought Rin, she is an elf...my love...my....

A great distance away, in an ivy covered tower by the sea, an old mage slumped in his favorite chair. He gently touched the burn marks caused by Rin when she had struggled to control the elven magic he had placed in her to save her life. Now he knew...he knew that borrowed life had served a good purpose, had given back to the elves what had been theirs. It was all that could have been done, wasn't it? Yet still he cried for the loss of his most troublesome pupil.