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Savior
Chapter 5: Atonement

I feel like I'm underwater.

For those needing clarification, me and my friend are deep underground, in a bizarre network of tunnels. It's pitch-black down here, except for some rays of light piercing in from the outside world, lighting up the sand in a deep blue hue. More ruins are scattered about the area, almost reminding me of trees. The whole thing is rather unsettling, and I'd very much like to get the hell out of here.

My partner and I walk silently through the tunnels, navigating from one spot of light to the next. After what we saw during our last vision, neither of us are really in a talking mood.

War... Even in my head the word sounds strange and wrong. Is this why everything is so desolate and abandoned? Why we seem to be the only two people around? How could this happen? Well, I know the answer to that one. The people got greedy. They all wanted the ribbons, the magical source of power, for themselves. And the result? This. Every last broken down temple and tower and bridge and whatever is all because of them. It's their fault. So why do we have to pay the price...?

Why do you think we're here?

The question comes from my friend. I've been so deep in my thoughts that I almost forgot about him, walking diligently next to me.

I certainly wasn't expecting a question like that, though. What do you mean? You know why we're here.

That's not what I meant! I stumble a little at his outburst. I've never heard him so agitated before. He seems to calm himself, then starts again. I mean, why are we here? In this damn desert? I'm about to answer, but he's not done. I mean, we both just woke up here without a single clue as to who we are or what we're supposed to do. So what is it? What do we have to do?

We have to climb the mountain, remember?

Apparently that was a bad thing to say, because he gets even angrier. The mountain! What's that stupid mountain ever done for us, huh? He snaps, and I actually stop in shock as he rails on. And what about those white robes? All they've ever done is mess with our heads! Why can't they do all this?! It's their fault this place is so messed up! What do they even expect from us?! Do they want us to fix all this? Atone for what they did? Why should we? How would we? Maybe we should stop!

I'm not liking where this is going, but I have no idea what to say.

Yeah...yeah, maybe we should stop. He repeats. I'm actually a little scared; he sounds almost deranged. Just give it all up and let someone else take care of this. Why should we? We don't owe them-

Enough.

STOP! The word explodes from somewhere deep within me as I rush toward him. More than anything, right now I want to hit him, nice and hard, to knock him back to his senses. But since I have no arms, I'll just have to improvise.

Bracing myself, I lean as far back as I can, then in one powerful motion I swing my head forward. For one split-second I can see his surprised face before my forehead smashes into his. The force is so great it actually knocks him back almost ten feet, and immediately I crumple to the ground, landing on my knees as waves of pain hammer into my skull. Ugh... that hurts! I feel like I've just been used to hammer a nail, and for a brief second I feel like my head is splitting open. But it's just my imagination; eventually the pain subsides. I snap my head up to see what happened to him, and he's still lying on the ground, moaning in pain. I rush over to him and look down at him, filled with worry.

Sorry. I didn't know what else to do. I explain rather pathetically. He opens his eyes and stares at me, his expression unreadable. I can feel dread start to flow within me. What if he's angry at me? I certainly would be. What if he doesn't want to be my partner anymore? I can't do this alone...

After a harrowing couple of minutes, he finally speaks up. Did I get a little carried away?

The feeling of dread begins to lessen, replaced by sheer relief. Kind of, yeah.

He slowly gets to his feet. Sorry, I just... I'm just so frustrated. I guess I really needed to vent.

I can understand that.

He just stares at me for a minute or two (I'm pretty sure he's thinking) before talking again. So, what do you think we should do? I don't really know how to respond to that, so I ponder it a bit before responding. When I do speak, I choose my words slowly and carefully.

I'll confess that I've been worried about all of this for a while, too. I don't know why we're here, or who we were before all of this. I don't even know if we existed. But, well, we're here now, right? And since we're here, it only makes sense that we keep on going forward. I mean, if we don't then that's just time we're wasting. Besides, we've come so far already. We've seen and been through so much together, and our story's not even done yet. If we give up here, then all that we've done just stops mattering. What's the point?

My buddy listens to me intently, soaking in all that I have to say. When I've finished, he doesn't respond right away. Instead, he turns and walks away from me a few paces, giving himself a little room to think, and I let him. Eventually, after what seems like an agonizingly long time, he speaks.

...I don't want that.

His reply is so quiet I can just barely pick it up. Before I can ask him to repeat himself, he turns and looks me straight in the eyes. I can sense nothing but raw determination and resolve in his gaze, and just by looking at him I can feel my own resolve galvanizing.

I don't want it to not matter. I want it to be remembered. He speaks with conviction. There's not a speck of doubt in that voice. I want to be remembered.

I nod, and for the umpteenth time pride begins to swell inside of me. It seems like so long ago that he was just a hyperactive little guy. But now... he's become so much more, and in such a short time. The youthful naivete in his eyes is gone, replaced by a confident maturity. I am proud to call him my friend.

No, my brother.

I couldn't have said it better myself. I reply, awe and admiration shining within my voice. Let's go... brother.

--------

It was like we were underwater.

I'm not kidding. Everything looked so similar; the dark caves, the way the light shone through the darkness, the seaweed-like ribbons, the animal-like ribbon creatures (jellyfish, I think they're called?) If I hadn't known better, I'd have sworn the two of us had fallen into some underwater tunnel, swimming ever diligently toward the next chamber.

Of course, even a healthy dose of growing up couldn't stop my brother from enjoying himself. I spent quite some time watching him flow through the seaweed-like ribbons, rising to the top of each one before gliding down to the next one. I especially enjoyed watching him play with the jellyfish. From one to the next he would bounce gleefully, and the jellyfish would lend him their energy, causing him to shine like a miniature sun, his long scarf trailing off into the air behind him as he soared. For the time being, we forgot our long, arduous journey and simply enjoyed ourselves like children playing in the spring.

I wonder if I was like that as a child...

--------

The vast, open chamber gave way to a caved-in tunnel with a broken floor, and as we plunged deeper in, we were met with a familiar sound...

ClickclickclickclickBAM...clickclickclickclickBAM...

Hang on.... My friend started, his voice tinged with worry. I recognize that sound... from that factory!

I nodded grimly. Seems we can't escape the past, huh?

I still hated that sound. Just listening to it reminded me of that infernal tower. The eternal grinding, the howling wind, the vortex of sand blustering about tirelessly... It all came screaming back to me. In spite of myself, I could feel a familiar sense of dread permeating through me.

Forcing it aside, I continued onward through the tunnel. Fortunately, it wasn't very long, and soon it deposited us back into another, more well-lit chamber. I saw a kite creature spotting lazily through the air, and the familiar sight calmed me. We just had to keep going. Keep going, and everything would be fine.

For about thirty seconds...

It lunged out of the sand at astonishing speed, so quickly it seemed to appear from no where. My mind couldn't even comprehend what was happening. All I knew was that something huge, something fearsome, had just erupted from the ground and devoured the kite creature before my horrified eyes. My friend let out an anguished cry, but I barely heard it. My mind had finally processed what I was seeing. It was colossal, easily as long as the average building was tall. It had a serpentine body, long, sharp blade-like wings, and a single glowing red eye.

It was one of them. One of the weapons that had brought this land to ruin. But... it couldn't be. That war had to have been ages ago! How could one of these... these... monstrosities still exist?

It turned its eye toward us – did it see us?! - and then-

/death grief pain gone gone all gone fire burning burning hate anger darkness what's happening no no no no no no fire burning burning hate anger darkness no no no no no no why why why it hurts screams don't leave me please save me don't let me die ashes everywhere shriek falling pain where are you what's wrong screaming screaming world ending hurts hurts hurts flame everywhere choking slipping away going dark still hurts why does it hurt please just end why is this happening pain pain pain no no no no no NO NO NO/

Wake up! Wake up! Please! WAKE UP!

A blood-curdling scream. Eyes shoot open. Sitting up straight. Screaming, still screaming. Where am I? What's happening? Screaming screaming screaming is that my voice still screaming screaming screaming screaming -

ENOUGH! Pain erupts through my head as I snap backward and hit the ground. For a few minutes I lie there, a dull, throbbing pain echoing from my head to the rest of my body. Mostly just my head. Slowly, I allow my eyes to open. The tunnel. I'm still in the tunnel. The machine is gone. I don't know where. I can feel myself breathing deep, heavy breaths, and my chest hurts so I try to breathe lighter, but I'm still too freaked out. Oh God... what happened?

Are you okay? A familiar voice ripples over my shoulder. I turn to look at my companion once more, and he stares back at me in wide-eyed shock and fear. Slowly, as if he's afraid I'll attack him, he inches forward toward me. Are you okay? He repeats.

My breathing has mostly stabilized, but that absolute dread – and those images – still remain, permanently burned into my mind. I don't know. I manage to get out. My head still hurts.

Not so much fun when you're on the receiving end, huh? He snarks, but I can tell he's just trying to alleviate the mood, so I force myself to laugh. Geez, what happened to you?

I saw things... horrible things. Please... I don't want to think about them anymore.

I can tell he doesn't fully understand – how could he? - but he nods anyway. Okay, let's just keep going. Can you walk?

Yeah, I think so.

At that, he starts to walk off, and I linger briefly before following him. For the first time, he's the one in the lead.

--------

The white-robed ancient and I stand side by side once again. It turns its head and looks down at me, and I in turn look up at it. Even we're both doing nothing, it still watches me for a while, almost as if it's studying me. Then, it faces forward once more and lets out a cry...

The ruined city appears once more, the horrid machines flying over it and continuing to destroy all in their sight. The fog near the ground lifts, revealing countless white-robed... corpses. These are no proud warriors or scholars or inventors. Now they are all the same. Every single one lies on the ground, lifeless. Slowly, the horrific tableau moves to the right, away from the destruction and death. As time passes, large mounds of sand begin to pile up, burying the cities and bodies. Soon, all traces of this once-thriving utopia are gone, lost to the desert. Stars continue to ignite in the sky, each one followed by ten more, until the vision stops moving upon a tall hill. Before my eyes, miniscule specks of light trickle down from the heavens toward the earth, and where the sky and land meet, a brilliant light begins to shine. I can make out a form being crafted within the light, and when the light dissipates, it leaves behind a figure, one that I can only stare at in disbelief.

A figure with a blood red cloak.