Chapter 3 – Remnants of the Past
While making small talk as they
continue traveling the ashen wasteland, Lucus feels as if he should bring up
what Silva said before, but in a way that isn’t direct.
“How was your life before you joined
the order?” Lucus asks.
“Harsh. My parents worked with them
and expected me to be one and when I did, they didn’t let up. They always kept
pushing me to work harder while never acknowledging anything I did as an
accomplishment. Everything was already done by other people and in a better way
than I did., so I always had to do more and try to be more than everyone else.”
“That’s terrible. A parent should
never do that to their child.”
“Other people had the same problem,
so I had people to relate to even if they didn’t really care about me. Everyone
had their sob story about how they got to be in such a prestigious order. We
didn’t even do much because there weren’t many people who wanted to fight
against us. There were very few who wanted humanity to be enslaved by their sins,
but better to be safe than sorry.”
“Did you know the two lovers who
you protected?”
“I got to know them well. A bit too
well. The girl was pretty, but she had an attitude and an ego for being chosen
to help save humanity from its sins. The boy. Whew was he a looker. Definitely
the best looking guy I’ve ever seen. He was also the nicest. We were close-friends
and were together even when we were supposed to be separate.”
“Sounds like you wanted to be in his
girl’s position.”
“Yes-I mean kind of. We were just
friends.”
“Close friends.”
“No, I meant just friends. Can we
not talk about it anymore? It’s making me sad remember those few good memories”
“Alright, I understand. Do you know
why their sacrifice failed?”
“Didn’t I answer this before? I don’t
know at all.”
“Okay. Do you know what happened to
the two lovers?”
“Turned to ash. An acceptable sacrifice
to God makes the lovers burn like the sun with their flames dancing around and
burning the earth free from sin or at least that’s what I heard.”
“These sacrifices happen once the
last pair of lovers die, right?”
“That’s right. Their fire is taken,
and the next lovers are prepared to be able to receive it.”
“How did the cycle even start?”
“From what I can remember from what
I was taught, humanity was so sinful that God offered us a way to be free from
one vice at a time if we showed that there was still such a thing as true love
among us. That’s when a couple, who perfectly loved each other, showed God
their love. This was pleasing and acceptable to God, so he freed us from a vice
and the world was at peace for a time until the lovers died. To regain and keep
the peace, this cycle of presenting true love was started.”
“Wow. I didn’t know that. The world
seems like the was in the times before the sacrifice minus the ash.”
“What if it was? We don’t know. I
don’t even remember it being mentioned. Maybe it’s the reason why the order and
tradition were so emphasized and protected.”
“I guess you’re right. Also, it sounds
like your life was nothing but boredom and stress.”
“It was, and it’s funny how I don’t
miss it. Despite being stuck in this armor with two missing legs and my burned
body, I prefer this life free from the order and everyone in it.”
“…”
“What about you?”
“I don’t know. I was thinking about whether or not I like it more. I miss having enough food and water. Having my
face back to normal would be good too, but it doesn’t look too different from
what it was before. Here, take a look.”
Lucus takes off his mask and shows
his face to Silva who’s surprised to see a decent face damaged by fire. Her imagination
sees an image of the boy he once was.
“You look better than most I can tell
you that.”
“What about you?”
“Nah, you don’t want to see my ugly
face. My sins have done some bad damage to it.”
“I won’t judge harshly. I didn’t
judge you harshly when we first met, right? So why would I insult or lie to
you?”
“…Okay, but I warned you.”
Silva shows her face to Lucus. It
has a few holes in it that show her teeth through it. She struggles to look at
him while he is looking at her and puts her mask on.
“You don’t look bad.”
“That’s not much of a compliment.”
“I can see the pretty girl you were
and still are.”
“O-oh shut it! That’s a lie.”
“I’m not lying. It’s what I can see
and imagine.”
“Your imagination is making you see
things that don’t exist.”
“Well, when we turn the world back
to normal, then I’ll see if my imagination was right.”
“Okay. Wait, why do you want to see
my real face for?”
“Uh, no reason. I’m just curious.”
“Okay, then how about you tell me
all about your past since I’ve been talking about mine.”
“I don’t know.”
“Come on. I even showed you my
face.”
“What would you like to know about
a blacksmith’s family? Nothing but work and play here and there.”
“Is that it? There has to be more.”
“Nope. The rest is personal
details I’d rather not talk about.”
“Alright. If you say so.”
“Huh. Do you see that up ahead?”
“Yeah. It’s really dark and I could’ve
sworn it was still the morning. Is it fog?”
“I can’t tell any time of day in this
grey world. It doesn’t look like there’s a way around, so we have to be careful.”
“You’re right. It could be another
demon up to no good.”
Lucus and Silva ready their weapons
as they enter the dark fog. As they enter it, they see they’re in a dark town
with signs of a struggle with cut marks and arrows on the buildings, ground,
and piles of clothes.
Silva examines the clothes and
says, “There was a fight here and dozens of people died. When people die nowadays,
their body turns to ashes.”
“I know. I’ve seen it happen
before.”
The two then hear what sounds like whispers
in the fog. They cautiously walk forward as they hear different sounds.
Lucus hears, “Stay back.”
“Be careful.”
“What are you doing?”
“Don’t do that.”
“Stay close.”
“Don’t talk to anyone.”
“We have to move.”
Silva hears, “I’ve missed you.”
“They can’t separate us.”
“Why don’t we run away?”
“I love you.”
“They don’t know anything.”
“Why don’t you do more?”
“You’ve failed. Again.”
Both hear different things coming
from different voices in different directions. These are voices they recognize
and hearing them brings back memories that they try to block out as they look
around the foggy town for the source. That is when they see shadow figures
approach them. They perceive different figures that look different to them.
Lucus sees two headless figures while Silva sees two imposing figures, one that
brings back feelings of love, and the other being figures in armor. Slicing the
figures apart only intensifies the feelings they felt.
“What were those two figures?”
Lucus asks.
“Two? I killed more than two,”
Silva says.
“This fog is doing something to us.
We have to get out or stop the source soon.”
“Let’s hurry and find an exit first.
I can’t think straight here.”
“Yeah, let’s do that.”
Lucus and Silva go back the way
they came only to find themselves in a different part of town.
“What? This doesn’t look anything
like what we passed when we first came here,” Lucus says.
They keep walking around and find
themselves walking in loops.
“The fog is making us loop around.
We have to destroy the source if we want to get out,” Silva says.
“That’s fine with me. These voices
and fog are getting me aggravated,” Lucus says.
While going around, the voices intensify
along with the feelings they bring. Lucus and Silva begin feeling sad as their
faults are brought up by their memories. They come across more shadow figures
they avoid to not intensify the feelings they feel.
“I told you before, I’m sorry. How many
times do I need to say it before I’m forgiven?” Lucus asks.
“What are you talking about?” Silva
asks.
“Huh? It’s nothing. I’m just talking
to myself. Are these voices bringing up bad memories for you?”
“Yeah.”
“Hang in there and don’t let them
get to you. Remember what I said about being positive.”
“I am. Thank you for the advice. I
don’t know how I can deal with this without them.”
“Don’t mention it.”
What Lucus fails to tell Silva is
that his feelings of sadness intensify to despair when his feelings made him
apologize. The two keep searching the town as they struggle to find the source of
the fog. Eventually, they come across a real dark figure that runs away when
they near it. Lucus tries to catch it with his arm chain but misses.
“That was it!” Lucus says as they
run after it.
They run after the figure, but they
lose it after a short chase. Silva falls to her knees and struggles to get up
under the weight of the past reminding her of her sins.
Lucus tries to help her up as he
says, “Come on, Silva. It couldn’t have run far.”
“I’m sorry we can’t be together. I
tried everything I could. It’s not meant to be,” Silva says in a delusion.
“What? Snap out of it!”
“I want to be with you. I’ll do
everything I can.”
“Silva!”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Lucus. I don’t
think I can keep going.”
“Of course you can. If a well
trained assassin like you can’t continue, what makes you think a blacksmith
can?”
“I barely even fought anyone. I got
my butt kicked more than anything.”
“Don’t think about that. Just think
positively.”
“I just realized that some of the clothes
we found have daggers and swords in them. That means that there were people who
killed themselves because of how they felt. Maybe I should…”
“Don’t think about that!”
“But no one believes in me. No one
likes me.”
“I believe in you and I like you.
We’re friends, remember, so get up! I’ll help you.”
“Okay. Okay.”
Lucus helps Silva up as they
continue searching for the real dark figure. They eventually come across it and
manage to corner it in an alley. The dark figure is a demon that has dark fog
coming out of its head that makes it look like it has horns. Dark fog is also
coming out of its eyes and mouth. Its arms are thick and protecting its heart
while its legs are thin. Lucus slashes the thick arms of the demon and gets his
sword stuck in it while Silva sticks her arm blade into the demon’s head and
gets it stuck. The demon releases more fog to overpower them with their
feelings to try to defend itself.
“This isn’t working,” Lucus says, “We
have to get its heart.”
“Let’s get it then,” Silva responds
as she takes her blade out of the demon’s head.
Lucus stabs the demon’s head and
pins it down and uses his arm chain to restrain its legs while Silva reaches
into it as she tries to pull out its heart. She manages to grab onto it and
begins to pull out the heart, but it only makes the demon pour out more dark
fog.
“It all happened in the past!”
Lucus says as he fights his guilt and the voices, “This is the present and I’m
going to make up for what I did!”
“I’m going to fix my mistakes!”
Silva says as she’s strengthened by what Lucus said, “Together, we’re going to
undo all our mistakes!”
Silva pulls out the demon’s heart
and with it, the demon’s body turns to ash and disperses into the ground along
with all the dark fog. Silva begins to cry along with Lucus who holds in his
tears as he hugs Silva to comfort her. She hugs him back as the sadness exits
her body.
Lucus then takes Silva’s hands then
says, “To avoid that from ever happening again, we have to be honest with one
another and get our past off our backs. This might not be the best time, but we
have the time to do it, okay?”
“I understand.”
“Then tell me. Was it you who
started all this?”
“…”
“Silva tell me the truth. You being
close friends with the boy who was supposed to be true lovers with his girl.
The relationship you had together did something to the sacrifice, didn’t it?”
“…”
“Silva. You can be honest with me.
I won’t hate you.”
“Fine. I did it. I spoiled the sacrifice
of true love. I made him fall in love with me and that’s why the sacrifice of
true love didn’t work. I made God burn the entire world to ashes! Okay?! I’m a
monster…”
“No, you’re not. You’re trying to
make things right. If you weren’t, then you would be an evil person. Do you
understand?”
“Yes, but I don’t completely
believe you.”
“Okay, how about this then? The
worst thing I did that has been haunting me was that I killed my parents. We were
on the run because my parents had a bounty on their heads. They never told me
why and they told me never to ask because they were so paranoid that someone
would hear and rat them out to someone. We traveled from town to town and never
got to settle down because they were scared that someone would eventually claim
the bounty on their heads. Their fears were realized when a group of bounty hunters
tried to knock down our doors. They told me to escape, but I hated them so much
that I killed them as they were blocking the door. The bounty hunters celebrated
what I did and gave me enough to survive on, but I didn’t feel accomplished,
relieved, or happy. I just felt sad.”
“Lucus…”
“That’s why I can never clean my
blade. That’s why it’s always broken. This is why I always try to be positive.
I can’t make up for my mistakes and what I’ve done if I always dwell on the
past.”
“I get it.”
“Well? Do you get it now? You’re
not a monster. Even the worst mistakes, the worst sins, can’t make you into a
demon. You’re a flawed person just like me and we’re going to set things right.
You ready?”
“…I’m ready.”
“Okay then. Let’s go.”
Before they go, Silva hugs Lucus
then says, “Thank you, Lucus. For everything.”
“Heh, don’t mention it.”
They embrace each other for a
little while before heading out again with the weight of their past feeling
significantly lighter.
Here's another song from Red's amazing new album that I think ya'll should listen to. I was going to post one on the previous post, but I forgot.
