Lin

[ThatGuy_777 220]

“Home...”

Repeated Guyden aloud, the word hitting him hard soon after ingesting the herbs. Finding himself in an echo of the world he had always known. His vision steers west, over the daunting cliffs and setting upon a glow barely cresting its peak. As if the Sun of dawn was stuck in a slumber. Hesitant, but positively determined, he sets off towards the light. Heading around the mountains that obscured its blissful rays.

Everything did not seem quite right. As if it were a dream still residing in reality. Dark clouds draped the sky in its entirety, still and artificial, like a simple ceiling. Trees swayed in sync with the curling of flower petals, their methodical movements barely perceptible. That which was farthest away would seemingly drift about, only to align itself again when drawing closer.

Gradually before him, a figure emerged floating in the air. A pale-blue glow about them as their gaunt features materialized, seemingly identical to himself from when he was still a child. Dirty, battered, and horrified, the ghost of his past appeared to be on the verge of tears.

“You... you made so many promises... To reunite with your maln and haelun, to avenge those you couldn’t save, to bring about balance everywhere…WHAT HAPPENED!?”

Wails the ghost of regret, the tears cascading down its bruised and bloodied visage forming a steady stream. It wavers excessively in the air, the rattle of the chains dangling from its limbs haunting, like a blaring siren. His expression takes on a more pallid and grim tone as he walks towards the child.

“You SWORE to survive so you could someday fulfill your goals and dreams! You SWORE to never stop trying. Y-you SWORE… to…”

Wading ankle-deep into the gushing stream of tears, now comparable to that of a river, he outstretches his arms around the child’s form carefully. Embracing it in a hug despite being supposedly incorporeal. Gradually, the tears cease their downpour.

“…W-why have you given up everything we worked for…?”

“I could never forsake that which made me who I am, truly. I still fully intend to strive for each and every one of them, no matter how absurd people insist they may be.”

He replies in a tender voice, stepping out of the now self-sufficient river.

“But if we are to succeed, we must be patient. As of currently, we could hardly attempt any of them, let alone pull them off. The only things we can do until then is prepare and wait for the right opportunity.”

Turning on his heel, he follows the river west, downstream. Leaving the ghost idly float there for a while before abruptly twisting in on itself, like it were a wet rag, causing its form to trickle into the water. Permeating the current with a mesmerizing turquoise shimmer.

As he walked along the river’s edge, he could see images drifting through it. Memories, fond and painful alike, simply at the whim of the water. Glancing south, a column of light could be seen erupting from a canopy of colossal trees. Illuminating all of the world around. Feeling a sudden rush of heat, he turns to the source, scanning over a land of intense infernos, billowing smoke, and ashen corpses. Within its center sat a horrifying giant, at sinister smirk plastered upon its face as it glared back. The pairs of emerald eyes identical.

“Bwahahahahaha! Look at you, a pathetic, revolting, husk of a Mali’ame. You’re no different from the undead!”

Boomed the abomination across the landscape. Its voice warping together with those of the numerous arrogant faces frothing and fading across its scaly skin like blisters. Its grotesque stomach heaved and sagged with every breath it took, expelling constant clouds of smoke.

“How can you condemn the same things you’re guilty of? Hahahahaha- no wonder we look so hideous- inside and out! And you ask yourself why they chose the easy way out…”

Without so much as acknowledging the demon’s presence, he saunters away from the water’s edge. Going towards the pillar of light off in the distance. The behemoth grows irritated, grappling its curved horns out of frustration.

“Well, well, well, you can’t even manage words to argue, you pathetic HEATHEN! Bah! What does a ruthless, lying, lousy scumbag such as yourself think he can actually contribute to the world- HUH!? WELL YOU BLOCKHEAD!?”

Once again receiving no response, the demon rises to its clawed feet, absolutely enraged. Letting out a blood-curdling roar, revealing its fanged-teeth and forked-tongue, it bounds towards Guyden. Wheezing furiously with each stride, leaving turbulent flames in its wake. Before it could even make it to the river however, its whole body collapsed to the ground. The smoldering and soot-stained earth becoming reinvigorated with life. The fires snuffed out one-by-one, down to the last ember.

“Quell my rage… for such emotion will only lead us to ruin. Indeed, we’ve made many mistakes, but from those we learned much. Idly fuming achieves nothing. That time should be invested in benefiting all, however we can.”

He whispers aloud, pressing the palms of his hands firmly against his chest. The defiant screaming of the demon fade into silence, its body quickly returning to nature once more. Grass, flowers, and trees alike flourishing atop its remains- now but a hill in a lush meadow. Gradually, as he neared his goal, the trees grew closer and closer together.

“If you’re so adamant about sacrificing everything for your faith, then why do you still draw breath? What if you’re simply preaching your own ideals and using belief as a guise? How can you know you’re truly enacting the Aspects will?”

Craning his neck slowly to the left, his eyes were greeted to another morphed version of himself. Much older in appearance, its face was crafted into a bare willow tree, its bark like seared flesh and branches like mangled limbs. Though it was clearly troubled, it expressed only pity in its voice, echoing across the hills as if one.

Weary and unsettled, he attempts to cautiously carry on past the watchful willow. Shortly thereafter however, its stoic face appeared on a cluster of daffodils ahead of him, staring expectantly.

“How can you always speak with such certainty?

Hastening his pace, the faces transfer to a bundle of bushes.

“What if you make the same mistakes… just under differing circumstances?”

Passing them by without so much as a comment again, it appears on a pair of nearly identical birch trees.

“Who’s to say that you couldn’t have corrected problems you deemed insolvable?”

Sprouting up from the soil as he tries to jog ahead, a healthier willow tree blocks his path, bearing that same face.

“Mm…what if all you have wrought has been for naught? Dare I say… what if you’ve only sown seeds of discord within all thy hold dear? …What if failure is all that awaits thee?”

“Yes…such questions are quite frightening…but to live in fear of what has yet to be discovered is no way to live at all.”

He approaches the tree of doubt, extending a hand on to it.

“Furthermore, to act with only uncertainty is to never reach our full potential.”

Using his other hand to hold his chain necklace aloft, the vines entangling it seemingly wrapping over themselves like snakes perpetually.

“Nothing is truly foolproof, and therefore we must go off our own judgement. We must be logical and aware, as well as possess an earnest belief and heart. That way, by being true to our self and our faith, we can hold no regrets.”

Immediately upon retracting his hand, the tree becomes a normal weeping willow. He slips his necklace back on, clasping his hands together as he observed the tree for a little longer...

Continuing on, the beacon of light just ahead, he soon found himself under the cover of innumerable timeless trees, all of which seemed to be growing ever taller. Hearing swift movements amidst the underbrush, he looked around frantically to no avail. The shadows never allowing themselves to be in direct line of sight.

As a rough cliff-face rose out of the horizon, he noticed that yet another imitation of himself hailed from atop its peak. Alarmingly normal unlike each previous incarnation. It wasn’t until he approached the sheer mass of molded earth that the doppelganger decided to open its eyes, revealing two completely white orbs. They observed him with an apparent dissatisfaction, faintly illuminating as fog streamed from their depths.

“You fear losing all you hold dear, being sentenced to a life without friends or family forevermore~”

Bellows the reflection elegantly, the winds heeding their every word. He begins to climb the cliff using the clefts in the rock, unresponsive to the reflection.

“Yet by the rules you adhere, you know full well that all is destined to eventually return- at its core~”

A permeating chill seizes the air as an oppressive gale sweeps the trees of their leaves. He grits his teeth as the cold winds whips against his face.

“Whomever it is that must go, steel thyself for it. For if you only tarry with the burden you’re bound to carry, you’ll only cause scales to tip~”

Finally claiming the plateau, he manages to lift his head just high enough to see what secrets lay atop it…
Corpses. Pale, littering a snow covered scene like dolls. All of whom he recognized. Some were civilians, a few among them but only children, others were fellow Sirame, and even several Drui lay scattered about. The life in their eyes long since missing. In the distance, past the toppled, bare bodies of ancient trees, was Linandria. Crumbled, decayed, and encased for all time in a glacier of ice.

“Lo, gaze upon that which thou cherished, that thou revered, that thou loved~”

Then he noticed the source of the light…
Piercing yellow eyes, as bright as suns, staring directly into his own. Pleadingly, longingly, as though they were waiting still. Their lifeless body collapsed on the blanket of snow as it ran red with their own blood.
His eyes widen, a combination of utter disbelief, sorrow, and terror gripping them mercilessly. The shock winds him, causing him to convulse for a brief moment. His whole body feeling as though it were being crushed thousands of leagues under the sea.
Tears begin to well up in his eyes.

“No, do not simply weep over what has perished, for all that they have endeavored, wherever they’re above~”

An immense pain shoots through his left hand, as if being stabbed by hundreds of needles, causing his hold to slip. He braces himself as he begins to drop, a sickening snap reverberating through his ears as he is sent tumbling helplessly. The whole world around him, the earth, the heavens, even life itself, all of it shatters into an avalanche of dissipating snowflakes. Time around him seemingly averting its eyes to take in the surreal sight… Finally, as the last snowflakes fade away, and nothing but the lonely void is left, a loud thud jolts him back to reality, his body haphazardly plopped upon the dirt.

Dazed and badly wounded, Guyden simply laid on the ground until a nearby growling roused him from his stupor. Slowly sitting-up with a pained expression, he gauges his condition. Sore, bruised, and bloody all across his body, his left arm and right leg bent unnaturally. Surveying his setting, the shadows surrounded him with ravenous intent, revealing themselves clearly now as wolves. Letting out a violent cough, his body faintly quivers as he manages to rise to his feet. With no time to spare, he plants himself up against the cliff once more, ascending it yet again. Wincing in pain with each awkward movement, he narrowly avoids the maw of a wolf, snarling angrily at being deprived of its prey.

Visually trembling from pure exhaustion and pain, he groans as he hoists himself onto the clifftop. Flopping on the grass as he struggles to catch his breath, panting heavily.
The snow and ice no more, the dense canopy and thicket thriving with green. The reflection of himself now but a vague transparent image as it overlooked the dead.

“Stay strong, live a proud and prosperous life, for none whom you so deeply cared would wish thee woe for long.”

Standing up after great effort, he does not reply initially. Merely gazing at the bodies through strained, slightly teary eyes. Finally he turns to face his counterpart, speaking with a profound gentleness, as though anything else would cause the being to come undone.

“Yes…I’m prepared to accept such loss should it occur. For when it happens, there will be a time to mourn, but afterwards…”

He pauses, glancing ever so slightly to the left so to stare at the radiant yellow eyes one more time.

“I shall trek forward with a smile. In honor of them.”

“Ayla...”
Within the blink of an eye, the doppelganger, along with the corpses, similarly vanish. He lets out a long, relieved sigh, looking straight ahead.

“Now, home.”
Guyden limps ahead. Radiating with a fresh air of contentment.

 

Spoiler

((Lesson learned: trying to spice up a task by rolling isn't a good idea. You'll just end up with 1's))

 

[ChaoticallyCheshire 637]

Moved to The Great Library. It shall be sorted into the appropriate category shortly. If you feel this is a mistake, please contact myself or a fellow fm