A Bastion of a Man

[Lsuvsfar 255]

Bastion laid down his scythe as he looked around in that dimly lit cave. He reached up, and with his old, wrinkled arms, he wiped the sweat off of his brown. He looked around at the blooming, red crop, examining the work he had already done, and just what he had left to do. Sighing, he turned his back his crop, and made of the exit of the cave. The nether wart could wait for another day. As he left the cave, he emerged onto the snowy landscape the separated he and his home.

 

Halsworthy hadn’t always been cold, but lately it’d been frigid with the world ending and all. Where was everyone now anyways? The boats had already left he imagined. His family, friends, everyone gone. Yet here stood Bastion, alone. The last of a generation. He could still remember Old Riga, the first place he stumbled across when he left his ruined little home in the mountains. The wind and snow now reminded him of it.

 

The wind flung the door open of his house open, and when he stepped inside he had to use all the strength he had left to shut it once more. He took off his wet clothes and swapped them out for a set of dry ones. He then made his way over to the fire. He tossed on another piece of wood, causing the flames to stir up once more and slowly rise higher and higher.

 

He’d been though it all. He’d seen Riga fall, and listened as the Orenians stormed the city and slaughtered indiscriminately. He glanced back towards his window. He thought about years later, when later he’d cut down Orenians in the Goldfields. Then later on, when the snows came once more as he stood in the siege camp, as watch as Johannesburg blew apart. Finally on the field, when the Haensetians had been cut to pieces. He smiled briefly. It must had been some sort of divine justice.

 

Yet through it all, here he stood now. An old man, his beard now grayed and his hands heavy from work and war. Now, in the end, he was alone. He threw a few more logs onto the fire made his way over to his bed, which he’d moved nearby the fireplace. As he sat down on it, he looked at the nearby bookcase. He reached out his hand and wiped the dust off of the spines. He smiled once more, thinking of the days when he read these books to his family. He wondered now where they were. How far had the ships gone by now? Maybe they’d already reached the new land. Bastion fell asleep smiling as he thought of his family.

 

Bastion sat down on a sunny hill, walking stick beside him. The breeze was warm and blowed softly behind him, stirring up the sweet scent of the blooming flowers. He cast out his gaze to the horizon. Beyond the hill, he could see the ocean, and hear the distant sound of the waves crashing against the shoreline. He breathed in and felt a calmness wash over him. He heard the gentle thud of hooves behind him, and turned around. He saw four hooded men ride up on horses, followed closely behind by a fifth man in a black cloak, with a black horse in toe behind him.

 

“Why, it took you long enough to show up, didn’t it?” Bastion asked the five men, as he turned back towards the view. “Just a few more minutes.”

 

So he sat there, letting the clouds blow by and watching the trees sway gently as the grass tickled his hands. Finally, with a sigh, he rose and walked back towards the men and the riderless horse. As he neared the horse realized it was his old friend. He reached out the stroke the horses snout, his hair as black as coal, and pulled out a carrot from his pocket to feed the horse. With one final glance back towards the ocean, Bastion hopped up on his mount, and turned around. Riding off with the hooded men, he didn’t know what path they would take. However, he knew at the end, he’d find his peace.

 

((It's been a fun two years, but valar morghulis))

[OzYmandi 647]

Valar Dohaeris.

Stay safe.

[d0ntc4r3 104]

((I'll miss Bastion :(

[Glocky18 545]

(( :'(

[Chorale__ 2147]

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 any FM and we'll restore it.