Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 246
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Let the Past be Passed
Glimpses of the Past
Part 3: Let the Past be Passed
Suibom deeply breaths in the spring morning air, tasting the sweet aroma of the forest plants that are returning from a dark winter. There is still a slight tinge of coolness to the air, but the sun is warm on his back. He stands before an area of land he knows will yield an amber vein for harvesting, if he can find it.
Divining an active vein of material from the surface of Atys is a skill that enhances over time and use. The nuances of prospecting the land for a source, and then concentrating and drawing energy from the source itself, divining its exact location, is a process that he still analyzes constantly to try and find more efficient, and more yielding, methods. Even though he has been harvesting since he was very young, trying to keep his sister and himself fed and clothed, he often finds new characteristics to how the process works in different environments. Some materials can only be found when the weather and time are aligned just right.
He closes his eyes, cups his hands together and begins to concentrate on the amber vein. He visualizes holding the amber source, connecting with the materials on a mystic level. He moves his hands around the visualized materials making the connection stronger and more corporeal with each movement. Then the image begins to shift. His mind begins to replay more memories like a recording of history skillfully brushed onto the canvas of his closed eyelids. The memories of his time with the Order of the Dragonblades continue. Central to the mental painting is the illustration of a woman; one of the strongest women he has ever met – strength of character, strength of will, strength of conviction. A Matis woman named Jelathnia.
The new mental images begin to break his divined connection with the amber source. The memory portrait of Jelathnia comes into clearer focus, superimposed onto the failing visualization of the amber material which is now crumbling out of his hands. He opens his eyes and casts his hand out; extending his will, and what remains of his visualized connection to the material source, out onto the land. The action that should have revealed half a dozen direct sources to the amber vein only brings forth two. The memory of a smiling Jelathnia remains, brushed into the peripheral edges of his vision.
He grips his pick firmly and kneels down beside the nearest source. The tool rises above his head and the sharp point is forced down powerfully, tearing into the surface. Beautiful fragments of Pha amber soon begin to expose themselves, but Sui is locked into his headspace again and barely notices. With little conscious thought he gathers the fragments and continues to drive the pick into the ground.
Shortly after joining the Dragonblades, he began to forge a friendship with Jelathnia, a High Officer of the guild. Like Sophy, she helped him to see things about the world that he was oblivious to before. She opened his eyes to the energy patterns of Atys. She showed him that everything was linked by an ethereal flow. With her guidance, he learned that, under certain circumstances of weather, time, and location, he could pull exquisite materials from beneath the skin of Atys. They were excellent specimens of the materials he had been finding before, but, previous to her direction, he had only been able to coax common fragments from the ground.
Jelathnia also taught him many other secrets; techniques of combat, of magic, and of crafting. He cherished his time with her and the other Dragonblades. He learned something from each that he came to know. Even with these new friendships, though, he felt a growing sense that he did not belong there. The feeling held over him like a cloudy sky slowly growing into a tumultuous storm. It wasn't that the Dragonblades didn't welcome him or that they treated him differently; the feeling had nothing to do with the Dragonblades and they were an amazing family. Back then he didn't understand why he felt the way he did, he just knew that the feeling was getting stronger on a daily basis. Over time he had less and less interactions with the guild, though he tried to keep his friendship with Jelathnia alive.
Suibom realized recently, after much analyzing of what he could remember of his actions back then, that the reason behind his departure had several germinating roots. The loss of the remaining members of his family tore at him even though he tried to suppress the feelings – his friendship with Jelathnia helped, her presence kept the feeling of total loss at bay... mostly. He felt a growing urgency to find information about his father, who had been all but eradicated from memory by the leaders of his home village. He had come to the mainland with a sense that he was on a mission larger than life and that feeling was quickly trampled under the anxieties of the populace. There was an oppressive, but vastly hollow sense that something significant was supposed to happen. It permeated the air. What was it? War? Pestilence? The return of the Dragon? Jena's wrath raining down from the sky while Ma-Duk fiercely challenged her from the jungles? Something, anything...
But nothing happened. Nothing changed. Nothing more than continued rumors that subtly worked the populace into a tightly wound ball of subconscious apprehension, ready to snap and splay out, like a whip, dangerously in all directions. Guilds constantly fought over outposts – even for outposts that held no tactical advantage for them. Skirmishes and battles raged between homins in the Prime Roots. Where did these rumors come from? What was the precipitate of the waves of agitation and deception that flowed among the people?
The question bothered Sui, but he didn't have time to think much about it back then. The time that he was away from the Dragonblades was spent hunting down information about his father. At first he thought it would be a simple matter, he traveled to south Yrkanis where the city officials did the majority of their business. He started with the Yrkanis guild registry. Varo Antodera, the Guild Clerk, was busy with paperwork and dealing with other homins. He took a moment to address Sui, but there was apparently no record of his father. Saniero Giurelli, the Yrkanis Guild Magistrate, somehow looked down upon him even though Giurelli was a shorter homin. Sui soon realized that this self-absorbed homin would have nothing to do with anyone who did not lead a guild – a typical aristocratic government official.
He began to approach other city officials trying to find information. Liccio Chialdo, the City Welcomer, did not recognize the name of his father, Petr Antioni, nor did the description match anyone he could remember. Chialdo was able to point him to several other officials that might be able to help, though.
Sui quickly found a pattern to the people he talked to. The officials of lower status didn't have any information about his father. High ranked officials were too self-important and self-absorbed to look at someone of his social standing, let alone discuss some missing homin that didn't seem to have ever existed.
He started to talk with other city fixtures as well, vending homins who have been in the marketplaces forever. Some of which who's side job, he had discovered, was to take mental note of everything that happened around them so they can maybe make a profit off of the information in the future. He had visited the armor and weapon dealers in both north and south Yrkanis, as well as some of the suppliers and trainers. Nothing. No sign of his father at all.
One evening, after being constantly rebuffed by those he sought help from, he walked aimlessly through Yrkanis, feeling dejected and defeated. Thunderclouds gathered overhead and lightning started to illuminate the darkening city, warping the faces of each homin he passed. Rain began to fall heavily into his face. A feeling of unease descended upon him as though it was carried by the storm. It was a claustrophobic feeling. He felt like the shadows had eyes and the eyes were watching him, multiplying and getting closer, shifting in the strobing flashes of lightning. He had to get off the street, had to get somewhere that he could relax and calm his nerves. The hair on the back of his neck rose defiantly against the cascades of water that were now flowing from his head, sending a shiver throughout his body. He was almost as far south as you could get in Yrkanis, approaching the seedier parts of the business district. There was a building nearby that he knew would get him out of the rain and bring some warmth to his flesh.
He lumbered through the door, the weight of depression on his shoulders now heavier than the water that saturated his clothes – heavy enough to push away the paranoia that started to infiltrate his mind. He scanned the inside of the tavern quickly to get his bearings. He had never entered this building before and wasn't sure what to expect. There were few other homins occupying the building that night and he was relieved to see that none of them payed him any notice when he entered. He found a spot where the bar countertop connected to the wall, away from other homins and obscured by shadows. He didn't feel like sharing his space with anyone that night. He sat on the barstool and held his head in his hands trying to clear his mind.
“Ey, lad. Can I get you something to warm your bones?” The bartender was standing before him, wiping off a mug. Sui looked up, he hadn't noticed the man walk over. He was nondescript and plainly dressed. The kind of person that could stand in the middle of a crowd and not be noticed by anyone. By the look in his eyes, though, Sui knew that this man had no problems commanding attention when he wanted it.
“I... I just want to sit here for a while, thanks.” Sui said, sheepishly. It was not a habit of his to venture into taverns and he usually passed when offered alcohol. He didn't quite know what else to do here.
“Aye, 's fine with me.” The bartender looked at the mug, making sure it was clean.
“Maybe you can help me,” Sui began to venture, but the bartender stepped closer and cut him off.
“Boy, I know who you are and what you're wanting to ask me.” He said, looking Sui in the eye. There was a look on his face that Sui couldn't quite decipher. “Someone making the kind of commotion you've made in the last few weeks doesn't go unnoticed. Let me give you a little advice, lad. Sometimes, when a someone goes making a big ruckus and starts to get noticed by the wrong sorts, that someone sometimes disappears... permanently if you're catching my drift.” At that moment Sui realized that the look on the bartender's face was conveying that an individual's life had very little meaning in some circumstances.
Then the bartender broke into massive smile and said, incongruously cheerfully, “Not that that has anything to do with you, lad. Just a bit of free advice is all.” Chuckling to himself, the bartender started pouring liquid into the mug. Sui just sat there, completely nonplussed.
The bartender plopped the mug down in front of him, somehow managing to keep the sloshing liquid inside from splashing all over the countertop. “This one is on the house, lad. It will help calm your nerves.
“I don't know nothing of the person you are seeking. I've never heard the name or seen the face you've described to so many others. Nor, in my time working this city, have I heard reference of such a person. I'm sorry.”
Sui listed to the bartender and watched the mug in front of him, as if it were some alien object he wasn't sure what to do with. Everything seemed to be covered in a surreal mist.
“Well, drink up boy. I'll be highly offended if you let some of my best go to waste.”
Sui took a swig of the liquid, not sure what to expect. It was very strong but had a subtle, sweet undercurrent of honey. That first taste caused him to shiver reflexively, but the aftertaste captured him. He thought, on any other night the heady taste of this drink might turn him off, but tonight it fit and he embraced the flavor. Sui took another swig and let the liquid ease down his throat, savoring it as it rolled off his tongue.
“There you go, lad. You'll be feeling better in no time. Let me tell you a story while you finish that mug up, and I'll pour another, a gift from me to you.” Sui nodded and took another swig. “Sometimes,” The bartender started, “Folks come to this city and decide they want to disappear. They want to be erased from history for whatever reason – sometimes this, sometimes that. Sometimes they are trying to hide from someone or something, and sometimes they just want a fresh start on a life they feel they shipwrecked. Whatever their reasons are, with enough dappers in their pocket they can make it happen.”
The bartender placed another mug down in front of him. He looked down at the mug in his hands and realized, to his surprise, that it was completely empty. He exchanged the two mugs and continued drinking. The bartender continued his story.
“The thing is, you see, these people don't want to be found. They've left their old life behind and they don't want any memory of it. They just want to move on and be left alone.
“Not that I'm saying anything particular about your situation, mind you. I really couldn't tell you the difference between yourself and that guy down there, for instance.” He said, pointing out in a general direction. Sui followed a line from the bartender's pointing finger out into the building, but didn't see anyone specific at the end of the line. He thought he saw himself in the reflection of an ornamental shield though, it looked back at him and smiled. He began to notice that the liquid he was drinking was making him feel strange, but good. A smile formed on his own face when he saw the reflection for no other reason that it felt good to smile. The bartender was making quite a bit of sense.
“I'm just saying that,” The bartender continued “like those people, you should also move on, lad. Life is too short to be chasing ghosts. You need to make the most of the now. Live life now for the future, boy. Let the past be passed.”
He finished the mug he was working on and ordered another. The bartender was completely right. Sui has been such a fool, wasting so much time. I mean, look around, life was wonderful! Sui would have to ponder this more, over another couple of mugs.
“Live life now!” He said quietly to the mug, grinning stupidly. “Live for the future!”
And then he passed out.
Live life now. Live for the future. The words rung out in Sui's head, reverberating past the memories and into the present. There was something about those words. Something... He realized it was suddenly becoming difficult to breathe.
When learning to harvest, there is one rule that is hammered into every homin's head over and over... The surface of Atys is very reactive and the friction and kinetic power of digging into the ground creates an instability that, if left unattended, usually results in one of three outcomes. The first outcome is expected; the source will be dissipate into nothing, destroyed by its own pressure. Outcomes two and three can end the life of a careless digger. Either the kinetic energy is dangerously stored, multiplied by feeding on itself and then dangerously released in a violent explosion, or it is reflected off itself and the particles of the ground until it begins to release a noxious, deadly gas. The rule is: “Never let your mind wander”.
His mind had not only been wandering, it had taken a small vacation into the memories that kept bombarding him. It now dawned on him that he was standing in the middle of a gas cloud that was beginning to eat away at his flesh as well as his lungs. All he could do was run, run until he collapsed.
After a few moments of writhing in agony, he regained enough composure to invoke a quick incantation that drew energy from around him and infused it into himself, healing the wounds that were inflicted by the gas cloud. He sat down, unnerved by the stupid mistake and knowing that he could not start digging again without risking his life, he let the memories take over once again. He knew that what was being unlocked in his head at this moment was crucial to the origin of his mind being as fractured as it now was. He needed to remember this.
To be continued...
Last edited by suib0m : February 23rd, 2009 at 04:34 PM.
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June 9th, 2005, 04:27 AM
Linear Mode
