| |
|
Part 23c: Monsters and fables
===========================================================
Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Dworkin (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
With the food in a large carryall that the kid behind the counter is nearly sure the man never had when he came in, Aaron of Amber exits the diner, and starts to walk.
...
Back in the ruined city, the crowd have dispersed, but they soon
reappear from their hiding places when Aaron calls out that he has
returned.
There are more of them now, but the additional ones seem in worse shape
than those Aaron had seen earlier. Obviously the sicker ones had
been in hiding, while the healthy individuals ("healthy" being a purely
relative term here) had come out to speak to the stranger. There
are more children about too, pale as ghosts from too little sunlight,
and so thin that they look as if they will snap in half if they move
too quickly.
Everywhere Aaron looks he sees burned and disfigured features.
Behind him a child's voice whispers, "Who is it?"
Another replies, "I think it's the Gov'ment Man. Or maybe Santy Clause. Perhaps he knows where Mom is."
The spokesman from earlier shuffles forward, and disbelief and relief
war across his ravaged features, "You... you came back." Suddenly
there are tears, white trails running through the dirt on his face.
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Aaron
-----------------------------------------------------------
Restraining a sad sigh, the one-eyed Protector nodded.
"Yes, I did."
He gently handed the carryall to the weeping man and lowered his arms.
"There's quite a bit of food in there, but distribute it carefully. I
can't say how long it will last you, so ration it out as if you'll
never get more of it."
Turning around, Aaron proceeded towards the glowing, nuclear lake.
Something can be done about this. Arianne spoke up in his head.
When he was of a slight distance from both the group and the lake, Aaron stopped.
"I agree, but I am slow to act. I am concerned about my reflections
upon reality. Each action I do causes a ripple, that affects me later
on. Consider my daughter and grandchildren, and the feelings of Jack
and Cyan as we last remember them."
He felt Arianne nod.
"You are right to pause, but surely you could do something to ease their current suffering?"
Inside him, something growled. It wasn't his stomach. It was something distant, old. Ancient and powerful. Aaron ignored it.
"I could, but what would that do us? Manipulations of the Pattern on a
grand scale only make marks that can be found by others." Aaron shook
his head with another sigh.
"Yet, I find no other way around my past errors in judgement. Perhaps this will reflect upon me in a more positive light."
Falling to his knees, Aaron placed his palms down upon them and began to concentrate.
Cleanse this place, this small part of this reality. In this act, I
wish to learn the depth of my ability and the strength of my control.
Casting himself into the Pattern, he felt for the wash of radiation
that flooded the area around him. He also knew that its stronger amount
didn't extend as far back as where he had first come in.
So, he would shrink it. Shrink it until there was nothing left. Not even the radiated lake would exist when he was done.
And he was cautious. The purge would even encompass the sickened people nearby.
Well, there was little he could do about that.
He concentrated.
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Dworkin (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Aaron works his will on the land, and there are minor changes. An
hour's concentration brings some straggly weeds up from the cracks in
the blasted ground around his hand. A second hour, and there is a
mouse running across the glass nearby. It has five legs, and
vestigial traces of a sixth...
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Aaron
-----------------------------------------------------------
After a few hours, Aaron opened his eyes. Sweat had bloomed all over
him, and his ribs were acting up, though they weren't as bad as they
had been feeling.
Rising off of aching legs, Aaron took a deep breath of the catastrophic atmosphere.
"This disgusts me. It is beyond my current power to alter this Shadow
as my relatives are fabled to do. I know my limitations, and I have
felt them today."
He turned, and gazed out across the waste, towards where he had left
the refugees. Pausing, he raised a hand to his beard and scratched in
thought.
"However, I believe there are other things we can do."
With a new fervor, Aaron made his way back to the group.
He had a proposition for them.
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Dworkin (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
They are still there when he returns, dividing the food between
themselves. The sick and young were first in line, and there is
no shortage of volunteers to hand out the supplies, so now even the
healthier ones are getting a share...
"A cheeseburger! A real cheeseburger!"
"Oh man! Mustard! If it's a dream, nobody better wake me up."
"These are the best noodles I ever ate!"
The air is full of sudden laughter, as somebody opens a can of soda and
it explodes in their face. Nobody laughs louder than the "victim".
The spokesman, his face still wet with tears, and a slice of pizza in a
plastic tray in one hand, turns as Aaron approaches. "We can
never thank you for this, Stranger, but we will remember you.
What's your name?"
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Aaron
-----------------------------------------------------------
He had long since returned Ilse to her sheath, and she seemed satisfied
with the plan he had outlined to her. He did, as well, but the
specifics would need to be worked out.
Aaron was satisfied to see that the refugees were not only enjoying
what he had brought them, but also that they had distributed it
effectively.
If the leader agreed with his plan, then they would need strength for the journey.
"I am Aaron." he answered, as the leader gave question. "And this will not be the last thing you remember of me."
Raising his hand, he placed it upon the man's shoulder and gently pressured him to step a slight distance from the group.
"I have been thinking of your situation here. I might be able to help
you and your friends and family on an even greater level, but only if
you and yours would allow it."
Turning, he faced the man and looked him in the eyes with the only one he had left.
"I have the ability to take you and yours away from this place. Not
merely to another piece of scorched earth, but to a realm where you
could learn to help yourselves. First, however, I can take you, all of
you, somewhere where you can be healed by the best doctors and
technology I can find."
Stepping back, Aaron considered the man.
"I assume that you lead this shunned group? Believe me, honestly
believe, that I can take you away from this sad place, and give you the
first steps towards truly living. You may discuss it if you must. I
will wait right here, for however long it takes."
"Do you understand?" he asked, his one eyed gaze intent and understanding.
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Dworkin (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
"I understand, Aaron. The radio told us we was to stay put, and
wait for the Gov'ment Man, but that was two years back, and we heard
nothing since." the man straightens up, and Aaron realises, with a
slight shock, that this old man is only in his mid-thirties, or perhaps forty at most.
"Right now I figure you're a more certain bet than he is. If you
know a place where we can go, we'll gladly follow you. Truth be
told, we'd most likely have moved long ago, but we thought there was
only desert out there."
"I'll tell them to eat well, then get their stuff together, which shouldn't take long."
He starts to shuffle away, then stops, "Some of us are a bit slow and
sick. Just want you to be clear that I'm not prepared to leave
any behind."
As he goes to tell the rest that Aaron knows a place they can move to, Ilse whispers in the Amber man's head, "You just learned an important lesson, Aaron. Sometimes force isn't the answer. Instead of trying to bend things to your will,
sometimes it's better to let yourself bend and use a more subtle
approach to the problem."
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Aaron
-----------------------------------------------------------
Quietly, Aaron laughed, though he almost felt like laughing louder.
"You feel like Cyan." he said, for her thoughts did feel like Cyan's actions and words. It was an interesting, and also somewhat saddening feeling to him.
Moving on, he followed the man to his group and patiently waited while he explained the situation.
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Dworkin (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
The food doesn't last long, but the elation it produces lasts longer.
Word soon spreads that Aaron is going to take them to a better place to
live. People move away to collect their few belongings together,
young and old alike. There are no holdouts... nobody wants to
stay behind this time. All have seen how the world was before it
was broken, and they want that better life back again.
Two hours later, all are ready to leave, weak and sickly though they are...
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Aaron
-----------------------------------------------------------
Take them slowly. I remember the image of the
place where you wished to take them, that technological realm with that
grand hospital.
Gazing back at the collected individuals, Aaron was surprised at how
many of them there were. Yet his disgust at their conditions gave him a
greater purpose, and he turned and slowly began to walk.
"I will travel slowly, but I do not believe it will take us long to get
to our first destination." he told their leader. "Also, if I may, what
is your name?"
The reality I am taking them to will not be as busy as that previous
place, but will have significant medical facilities nonetheless. I
would like them to be healed of their sicknesses as swiftly as
possible, so high technology will be necessarry. he told Arianne.
And slowly, carefully, he began to walk.
Quietly, he began to carve a path. To the first place they, and he too, could be healed of their ills and scars.
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Dworkin (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
"My name," replies the man, "is... is... Jack Anders. Sorry, been a while since anybody called me anything but Mayor."
In that moment, Aaron's gaze seems to pierce the beard, the dirt, the burns and scars and he sees the face beneath. It is Jack, or a Shadow of him. And in a lurching twist, more of Aaron's memories fall into place...
Jack beating his face to a pulp.
Jack lost somewhere.
Jack humiliating him.
Jack saving them all from the flames.
Jack imprisoned.
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Aaron
-----------------------------------------------------------
It all slid into place, and Aaron took all of his strength to hold his composure as his memories came surging back.
"Nice to meet you, Jack." Aaron said over his shoulder.
For the first time in years, Aaron felt Arianne slide her shield over
his mind and helped him collect the memories into place. Moments later,
he remembered everything, and the subtle influence of Arianne had
disappeared.
"We won't be long." he said, and new purpose caused him to focus intently upon their destination.
Jack... what happened to you? Do your reflections live on, even if
you are dead? What could have happened to you for your shadow to be
reflected at me in such a fashion?
Aaron wasn't exactly sure how reflections of yourself worked, but if
his grandchildren were any example, they were the reflections of your
actions and the things that happened to you, at least in some small
fashion.
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Dworkin (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Aaron starts to walk, though to him it is more like a stroll because
the people he is leading are tired and sick. Still, any movement
is movement, and movement is all it takes for him to work his will on
Shadow.
For a while things don't change, except the nature of the ruins.
The buildings have been destroyed still, and lay in ruins, but fire has
done the work here and not the fury of a nuclear blast. There are
more people, healthier than those who follow him, but many of these
choose to join the strange procession too. Aaron's following
grows, and the stronger ones help the weaker to keep up.
He stops every hour or so, for a few minutes rest, and to make sure everybody is still there, then continues on his way.
By the time they see the first tree, there are upwards of one thousand
people following Aaron. He stops at the tree, although there
isn't a break due just yet, because everybody wants to see it, and
touch it. It's little more than a twig with a few leaves on it,
but it lives here amid the rubble.
Aaron feels somebody tugging at the fingers of his right hand and looks
down to see a child, a girl of perhaps five or six, looking back at him
with a gap-toothed smile. "Are we there yet, Mister?"
He shakes his head and resumes walking, but the child keeps hold of his
finger, and in the end he is forced to let her walk beside him, holding
his hand.
The greenery spreads, and grows healthier as the hours pass, tree-lined
streets and buildings in better condition, open parks with grass and
flowers, all overgrown from neglect, and now birdsong too.
Towards sunset, with the refugees almost dropping from exhaustion,
Aaron takes a detour. He needs to travel faster, but he can't
expect these people to walk faster. Instead he has something else
in mind...
The railroad depot is overgrown with weeds, and long disused, but the
trains are still there, and the tracks are intact. By chance
there is a train of box cars, and a loco that's fuelled and ready to
go. One of the stronger refugees even knows how to drive it.
They clamber into the box cars, and Aaron stands in the loco with the
newly appointed engineer. With a squealing protest of machinery,
the train pulls out. Not fast, but better than walking, and it
allows the survivors to rest while Aaron works his magic on the world...
...
Morning finds the train looking very different, and moving at over one
hundred miles an hour as it hovers above a strip of metal that serves
as a rail in these parts. Ahead, across the desert, the towers of
a city can be seen, reaching up above the clouds and glowing with
lights. A living city then...
The cab door slides open behind Aaron. "Are we there yet?"
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Aaron
-----------------------------------------------------------
Head half-hanging out of an open viewport, Aaron slid the window closed at the sound of the opening door.
Turning with a small smile, he crouched and gestured for the young girl to come to him.
After retrieving her, he turned and pointed out to the city on the horizon. It grew closer as the train sped on.
"Yes." he said. "We're almost there."
Patting the engineer on the shoulder, he relaxed his hold on reality,
for they had reached the proper world and he knew the train would do
the rest.
Lowering the girl back to the floor as he passed through the door and
took the first car in view, he raised his eye to the people who sat
within.
"We're almost there!" he said, raising his voice. "Pass the message on."
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Dworkin (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
The city is vast. Towers of glass and metal, lit from within,
rising up into the pale dawn sky. There are vehicles up there
too, glowing boxes and spheres and disks, and something that looks like
a cloud, but which darts this way and that, in a most uncloudlike
fashion, as the train passes beneath it.
The train itself gradually climbs a long incline, supported only by the
force which holds it above the single rail, and the rail itself rests
on gossamer thin struts which arc out from the buildings to each side.
From his place, Aaron can see in through some of the lit windows as he
is carried past them. The flashing scenes become clearer as the
train slows, but some of them still make no sense to him.
A family sitting around a table, watching a disembodied head which revolves above the centre of it...
A man-sized mantis creature stalking across a room, attended by several blue spheres...
A woman presenting a box to a hovering green tetrahedron, which takes it with whiplike tentacles...
Two men running on a treadmill while a different disembodied head speaks to them...
Finally the train comes to a halt. End of the line. It is a
station of sorts, but different from anything the passengers have ever
seen. It is located high upon the top of an inverted pyramidal
structure, and there are people here that only vaguelly fit the
definition of people.
They are all shapes and sizes and colours, and some have no true shape
at all, being nothing more than collections of flickering forms which
fade in and out of view, seemingly at random, as they move...
As Aaron leads the passengers off the train, he is approached by a
seven foot tall creature, vaguely humanoid, but with grey skin and
bulbous black eyes, clad in a loose coverall of a silver
material. It bows to him, "Welcome to Star City, do you need assistance? These people seem unwell, as do you." The creature's lips move, but the voice comes from a box attached to its belt.
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Aaron
-----------------------------------------------------------
He was used to things like this.
Glancing this way and that, he took his passengers into view and made
sure all were assembled in a proper fashion. He didn't want any of
them, especially the younger ones, running off where they migh get hurt.
Exhaling, Aaron nodded to the being before him.
"Yes. A good majority of us are ill, or have sustained significant
injuries. A great amount of my group are poisoned from severe
radiation, and require treatment."
Looking up to the being, he gestured to the people gathered behind and around him.
"Do you know of a hospital nearby? Or any place at all with medical
facilities? Most of my group can't be rushed around, due to their
fatigue."
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Dworkin (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
The creature blinks twice and inclines its head to one side, I
have summoned medical aid, and a decontamination unit. I doubt
that they present a danger to others, as radiation of that level would
certainly have killed them, but it is better to be sure."
It lifts a tube-like device from its belt, causing some of the nearer
refugees to shuffle back a pace or two, but all that happens is a
sphere of light projects from the end, with smaller spheres within it,
all orbiting around the central point.
"Good." a nod of the head, and the device is put away.
A swarm of vehicles, looking like silver beads, drops out of the sky,
followed by a larger box-like one. All of them land near the
train, and a creature that's man-sized, but nearly as broad as Aaron is
tall, walks towards the Amber man. Its reddish skin is armoured
with plates of bone inlaid with strips of polished metal and ornamental
stones. It wears a white garment that covers it from neck to toe,
but as it moves, the outline of more plates can be seen pushing against
the fabric.
It raises an eight fingered hand and points towards the box vehicle,
which has now assumed the form of a short tunnel, open at each end.
"Are you in charge of these people? I need them to go through
the decon unit there, and my techs will meet them and assess their
condition at the other end. Don't worry, we'll take care of them." His voice, issuing from the box at his waist, is identical to that of the other creature.
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Aaron
-----------------------------------------------------------
"I understand." Aaron responded, and turned as he gestured for Jack to come.
As the man reached him, Aaron gave him instructions to pass on to the
rest of the group. He knew that they trusted Jack more so than he, but
with this many people, it would happen faster if Aaron had help.
So as Jack told some people the situation, Aaron began instructing
others. Soon, they were on their way to the unit, with both Aaron and
Jack doing their best to keep them calm and neatly filed.
Turning, he spoke to the white-suited being.
"I thank you for your assistance. We really did need the help."
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Dworkin (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
"It is my job. With the war going on we get many refugees
coming here each day. And now the Western Hegemony has
started using bioweapons and tailored plagues, I expect that the
numbers will rise."
The creature shrugs, a movement like the folding of a mountain range, "We will treat them and move them to a safe location in the Sarpellan system, to start a new life."
"It is only a matter of time before this world is made sterile."
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Aaron
-----------------------------------------------------------
The mention of war, of death and destruction echoing even across this
reality brought a new relocation of memory back to Aaron. There was
much destruction going on amidst the realms between Amber and Chaos.
"You'll have to pardon me when I ask this," he says. "But do you know
why this war was started? Has the... Western Hegemony always been this
aggressive?"
Echoes of past actions? Perhaps my actions and the actions of the
group somehow affected even this reality? Or perhaps even stronger
people have been affecting Amber and Chaos, to reflect it here? I
wonder.
He would have to inform Jack, this world's Jack, that he and his group would be off to find a better place to live.
And Aaron had to get on the move, but not before he was taken care of.
He wouldn't do anyone any good if he wandered through unknown Shadow
and got himself injured even worse than he was.
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Dworkin (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Ah... an amnesia case. That was a particularly
unpleasant viral agent, but easy to eradicate once we knew of it.
Still, seven billion amnesiacs out of a world population, at that time,
of sixty five billion... " the creature gazes at Aaron thoughtfully, then continues, "The
Western Hegemony and the Six Nations Alliance have been at each other's
throats for decades now, with occasional escalations. They are
each as hostile and beligerent as the other. This is just the
latest in a long chain of wars. Many of us here feel that this
will be the last. They have even shattered the moon, how long
before the planet follows?"
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Aaron
-----------------------------------------------------------
Viral amnesia? Interesting. I wonder if anyone developed a viral insanity as well, Aaron thought to himself. That would have explained San Anyn and the
foul "magic" that had spread through his version of it. Although in his
personal case, it had been from a magical source...
Bowing slightly, Aaron acknowleged the being. "Thank you for your assistance. My fellows and I are beyond being in your debt."
Turning, he made his way to Jack and informed the man of the current
plans. Having accomplished that task, he too made his way with the
remainder of the group, to be checked out and given medical attention.
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Dworkin (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Aaron finds himself being treated my a man who looks pretty human,
apart from the slight green tint to his skin, and the unnerving habit
he has of swivelling his head through 180&#deg; to talk to Aaron
even when his back is turned.
His voice though comes from one of the familiar boxes, "Most
of your injuries are treatable, I think, once we get you out of the
powered suit. The eye, though, looks a little tricky"
"I can take a tissue sample and request that the MedCentral clone you a
new one, then in about one hundred days they graft it in. You'll
have your normal vision back within a year."
Even with the flat voice from the box, no intonation or emphasis, this man sounds unfeasibly cheerful, "Now, if you could take off the armour?"
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Aaron
-----------------------------------------------------------
After a rough clearing of his throat, Aaron sighed.
"This armor cannot be removed. I will deal with the consequences." he said, and the sigh came after the statement.
However, he left it at that. He, then, would deal with the damage that he had recieved from his grandchildren.
Aaron felt that it would serve as a reminder to be cautious.
The eye, though... could he wait that long?
He needed to rest, that was true. Perhaps a hundred days of waiting for a cloned eye would serve his remaining injuries well.
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Dworkin (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
The decontamination unit rises into the sky, its work done, and one by
one the ambulances follow suit, each taking two or three of Aaron's
refugees with it.
The man treating Aaron looks at him reprovingly, not liking his seeming
refusal to remove his armour, and for the first time Aaron notes that
his eyes blink horizontally.
"Well... we should be going too. The sooner we get you
processed, and your new eye growing, the sooner I can be back here
saving more of the people of Yarth."
"Though I think time is running out for all of us now."
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Aaron
-----------------------------------------------------------
With a nod, Aaron agreed and moved into the ambulance proper.
As he waited, his thoughts were upon the last comment the being had made.
"Perhaps time is running out," he said, more to himself than anyone.
He thought of Cyan, Jack, Kalika, Berd, Hunter...
Grimacing, Aaron shook his head. Soon enough, he would continue on.
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Dworkin (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
There is no sensation of movement after the door closes, and the only
sounds ar those of Aaron's oddly conformed physician moving about and
snapping various devices in and out of clips and fastenings upon the
walls. Nor is there a driver, as far as Aaron can tell, and he is
pretty certain that the compartment he is in fills the entire ambulance.
Yet when the door slides open, the view outside is not of the same
place where Aaron had entered the pod. Instead he finds himself
stepping onto a broad field of stone, tesselated in soothing shades of
lilac and pale green. A pattern of circles and lines is subtly
marked on the stone in slightly brighter shades of the same two
colours. As Aaron looks around he realises that the colours in
this pattern are blinking, trading places once every two seconds,
making it stand out from the background.
He can see it now, the circles form a wide ring, and almost every
circle is occupied by one of the ambulance pods. There is a
constant movement of these vehicles, arriving and departing, and no
circle is empty for long. Yet the whole operation flows smoothly,
as if governed by a single mind.
From each circle a straight line runs to the centre of the area, and a
wider straight line runs from there to a nearby mountain. People
are using these lines as clearly-defined pathways across the field to
the mountain, which gleams with a myriad shards of ice in the morning
sun.
There are no buildings in sight.
Aaron's companion speaks to him then, "Go to the hospital, follow the others. The ambulance cannot leave while you are so close to it." he points towards the mountain, "That way."
The Amber man scans the side of the peak for any sign of this hospital, or any other building for that matter...
Suddenly he staggers back a pace.
Not ice shards. Windows. The hospital building is not on the mountain. The "mountain" is the building!
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Aaron
-----------------------------------------------------------
"That's... quite an amazing structure. I'd certainly like to see the inside of it." Aaron said upon his realization.
"I agree! It must have taken them quite a long time to accomplish such a feat."
Beginning his walk to what must be the hospital, Aaron followed the path towards the mountain.
Around him, refugees were doing the same. He spotted most of the group
that he had helped, but they were but a few in the throng of what must
have now been thousands. It didn't look like alot, what with each group
of people spaced by the arrival and departure of their seperate
ambulances, but Aaron knew it must have been taking the assistants and
doctors quite a grand effort to shuttle this many people.
He felt himself slightly honored to witness such a sight, and at the same time, felt himself unworthy of that honor.
With a sigh, Aaron moved on.
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Dworkin (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Aaron finally reaches the entrance of the hospital, a bank of glass
doors that open and close as soon as anybody steps close to them.
Jack is waiting there, and shuffles across to meet him, "You're the
last of us. Everybody else went in already. I just wanted
to see you, it's a big place and I might not get another chance.
I just wanted to thank you, is all. I'm not sure where we are, or
quite how we got here, but we won't forget what you done for us."
"These... er... people," he glances towards where something strides by
resembling a bundle of sticks loosely tied together with yellow rags,
"they're going to make sure we get food and medicine, and then they're
going to take us someplace that's good for us to live.
===========================================================
Re: Part 23c - Monsters and Fables by Aaron
-----------------------------------------------------------
"There's no need to thank me." Aaron responded with a smile, which looked odd upon his scarred face.
"Well, I will say that I certainly hope you and yours are able to lead a better life from now on." And that I'll be fighting to make sure you do. he said, in unspoken thought.
Aaron was about to continue on into the mountain proper, he did after
all, wish to see the remainder of it. And they said they would assist
him with his eye and his other, minor injuries.
Yet... something stopped him.
He had lost his eye for a reason, and he had discovered other things
because he had lost his eye. Aaron knew that he had grown harder,
gained the ability to sacrifice to an almost abhorrent extent, yet he
also knew that he had learned when it was best to let things lie rather
than force them.
If he repaired his eye, he would essentially lose the consequence of
his actions. By maintaining his injury and letting it heal on its own
(and he knew he was no slouch when it came to healing from injury), he
would always remember that sacrifice was necessarry.
Yet he would also remember the time when he could have gotten it repaired, and had forgone it.
Because of that, he would remember the people he had helped save.
"Jack," he said to the man who still stood somewhat beside him, "it was
more than a pleasure meeting you. You may not know it, but you have
helped me remember my purpose."
Looking to him, he gave the man another, sad smile.
"Thank you."
And then he turned back around, moved out through the entrance to the mountain hospital, and began to walk.
Perhaps these beings could have helped him, fixed his injuries, even
gotten him further on his way. Somehow though, Aaron felt that his path
was to be traveled alone... until he reached his destination.
Aaron didn't have anything to prove.
He just... had the feeling that he needed to find Jack and Cyan.
Something inside told him that they weren't only alive, but they were in serious trouble.
And, deep down, the reason behind his solid, furrowed gaze was a constant, dark thudding in his spirit.
Time was running out, and he needed to be there when the battle lines were crossed.
Cyan, Jack... you might not want me anymore, but I'm coming anyway.
===========================================================
|
|
