Only Shadows Left Behind

[Tk4522 295]

 

[!] Night fell upon an unnamed wooden vessel. The crescent moon hung in the sky cold and apathetic towards the evens that would occur beneath her gaze. A lone figure stood looking out across the vast emptiness of the open ocean, its current like waves of ink in an endless bottle. A light breeze blew through his blonde hair as its emerald eyes stared vacantly forward.  Within an instant, the man found himself falling to meet the frigid, inhospitable embrace of the ocean he had stared out at just moments before. He could only watch helplessly from the grasp of the currents as he was dragged away from the deck upon which he once stood. He briefly extended his arm, splaying his fingers as if to reach out for any assistance, however none would be rendered unto him. Brawly treaded through the void like dark of the ocean until his strength failed him. He once again drifted beneath the surface for a moment. What seemed to be his final breath seemed to leave him as a trail of murky bubbles. Brawly Scath closed his eyes as a smile crept across his face. It seemed to him that his time had come, however what was to greet him was more of the same… an endless void spanned before him. His senses were distant from him as the endless abyss seemed all the more all-encompassing. He might have expected to see the faces of friends and family long passed but this was not the case. There was nothing and would be nothing.

 

This was until a thin tendril of light extended downward toward him. It provided little comfort but was a welcome within the features vacuum. He raised his arm to see if he could possibly reach to reach the luster that had pierced the black. As he did so, Brawly felt all that he was falling away from him. His experiences floated by him as he was drawn toward this ethereal glow. His past lay before him and he watched on as it played out before him as he was lifted upward. He smiled as he looked upon the moment, he had first met Ezra… Such days of youthful ignorance had become foreign to him however, revisiting the moment brought him some semblance of happiness. In the next, he held the lifeless body of his mother and at this he wept bitter tears that seemed to hang around him before gradually fading. Next came the birth of his first son, Yerro. Brawly looked on with pride as the ruby eyes of his son stared back at him before he attempted to make contact via his outreached hand. However, no matter how far he reached, he could not touch his son. One by one memories played out before him until the darkness had completely dispelled.

Before him lay a field of ankle height green grass with a singular tree not far from where he stood. Brawly began to move towards it, slowly and cautiously. Each step yielded no sensation to him He could seen a trail of trampled grass behind him where his now shoeless feet had made contact, yet there was no physical feedback. Brawly eventually reached the lone tree and took shelter beneath its branches. The shade they provided was a light muddled black, far different from the void he had exited not moments before. It was unoppressive and welcoming.

Brawly’s eyes fell upon three figures that stood before him, all of which he recognized immediately. Before him stood his brother Cillo, His mother Lilly, and his son Keetzo. Each of them extended their arms toward him as if to offer their embrace and to this Brawly halted his advance. His face grew confused and worried as his eyes darted around frantically. He grew more panicked as he looked about, frantically searching for something his scene lacked. He looked once again to the three that poised to meet him in their embrace.

 

• Brawly 
• Cillo 
• Lilly 
• Keetzo

 

“W-where’s Ezra?”

 

Lilly shook her head “She’s no’ ‘ere, fawn.”

Brawly looked dissatisfied with this answer but before he could say anything, Cillo placed his had on Brawly’s shoulder.

 

“She’s safe n’ sound. Don’t ya worry yer lil’ head.”

 

Keetzo looked to Brawly as well. “Yub momo ez fine. Ef zhee wuznedd Mi would nub bhee ztandyng heur zo kalmlee.”

 

Brawly shook his nead “Nonnah ya ‘ave anwser’d mah question.” He balls his fists against his thighs “Wer tha’ ‘ell es mah woife? An’ ya better start makin’ sence soon er Ah’ll…”

 

He is cut off by his brother who shakes his head to this “Brawly, Et s’hould beh obvious where yer ar’ and why she ain’t ‘ere.”

 

Brawly is only able to give a look of abject disappointment. He brushes Cillo’s hand aside as he again looks to the three. “Ah had hoped… Ah’d com’ere an’ see her by mah side er at tha’ very least, onlahy uh litl’ ways behind me.” He breaths a sigh. 

 

Lilly chucked at this “Come on, wev’ been waitin’ fer ya fer ages.” She extended a hand to him “Don worray ets awfully peaceful ‘ere… Ya don havta worray ‘bout anythin’ anaymor.”

 

Brawly slumped his shoulders “Ah don’ care.” He speaks with a mildly defeated tone “This place would beh comparable toah dump without tha woman Ah lov.” He pauses for a moment as he meets his mother’s gaze. “Es et too late t’ go back? Es ther’ still time ta return?” 

 

Lilly would sigh before she spoke an answer to his query. “Wel… ef ya wan, thers always ah way back.”

 

Lilly stepped aside to reveal a door that appeared to be carved from the very wood of the tree. A knob protruded from its surface. Its round gilded surface shimmered slightly in the gleam that streaked through the branches above. Its smooth surface was interrupted by a keyhole that seemed to burrow into its bulbous surface.

Brawly would take a step towards this newly revealed portent before he was stopped by his mother.

 

“Ya kno, ef ya do take t’is... ther ain’t anay backin’ out.” She turns her gaze to Cillo who nods in agreeance with his mother’s statement.

 

“An’ ther’ll beh a poice ta pay, no doupt… Tha’s ‘ow these thin’s work.” Cillo adds

 

Brawly continues his march towards the door. This time he does not relent. He reaches the door without any further obstruction. He gingerly reaches out his and to the knob, only to find it doesn’t turn.

 

A voice sounds from behind him as Keetzo speaks up “Et duz nub upeen zo eyzilee. Lat haz dub mayke da dezizun wit uh kleer mynd..." The orc pauses his statement "Da kee ez uhrund latz nek. Et alweyz hauz bheen.”

 

Brawly takes the key into his right hand. It was bound to his neck by a length of white thread. He slides the key into the lock and twists. Proceeding this, the door falls away, reviling another void that seems to lie beneath the tree itself. Brawly stairs at the abyss that spans before him, just as he had while on the ship before he turns to the three, their gaze meeting for a final time. Brawly hugs each of them as a farewell. Lilly is the last to be embraced and as Brawly pulls away from her she smiles to him.

 

“Oi’m so proud uv tha’ man ya grew up ta be.”

 

With that, Brawly stepped through the door and embraced oblivion once again. 

 

The dark of the void lasted only a fleeting moment as Brawly awakened on a shoreline near the domain of Vortice He began to violently wretch, gasping for air as he expelled water from his lungs. After catching his beath, Brawly stood and turned his gaze to the city where it had all begun but the port no longer held meaning to him. The wind blew past him in the direction of his home, Rozania. He returned to the city, alone for the first time in a long while. There was no welcome for the aged veteran as he passed through the quite streets like a specter.

He was home... but was it really home without Ezra... without their children...

Edited October 25, 2021 by Tk4522

[TreeSmoothie 4893]

Spoiler

Awesome writing! I like the color coding👌