Powerless Chapter 17 part 1

Chapter 17
Powerless

“Where is he?” Brad’s voice was sad and heavy, but it came on Kelly like whispers of the ghost winds. She shook her head in sorrow, answering him as well as herself, for the same question echoed in her mind.

She was in a state were everything around her seemed unreal, washed away like an old oil painting, as if she was in a dream were the absence of logic, was the only logic. But one thing she was aware of, the countless faces of the curious villagers that converged around the battle scene, to see what caused that thunderous sound. She could feel their happiness that their leader defeated the foul demon; she could feel their relief that he left their village, but none of them felt the agony of his twisted fate, nor the sorrow in her fragile heart.

A bead of tear dropped on the ground. The cracked ground that witnessed a clash of swords, which came from the very opposite ends of the world, yet both were wielded in a battle of doubt.

Kelly stood were she witnessed it all, she didn’t move from where she stood with her voice could not even call his name, to call him back when she watched him walk away, when she could hear the screams of pain deafening her ears. Yet she just stood there, powerless.

“What happened here Kelly?” Brad’s voice carried the traces of pain he felt inside him, “Are you hurt anywhere?”

She bled beyond flesh, but she shook her head.

Brad clenched his fist tight. The hurt and helplessness he felt, slowly turned into suppressed anger. A lost anger with no well to dwell its burning rage, exploding inside the walls of confusion and empty blames, until its flames burn only its host.

The scars the ground bore from the fierce battle, the hushed voices of the villagers retelling the tainted blood that have been shed by the sword of light, somehow, they called upon an old yet vivid memory. Even though few years have passed, it felt like a lifetime away.

“Keep him safe for me.” A soft plea from the dark depths of the past rang in Brad’s ears. A broken promise to the innocent heart.

Brad snapped back, as if he will find Lisa standing there with her sad little smile, and long red hair flapping over her shoulders, just like the day when he last saw her. But nothing was there, she was gone, and only the pain and emptiness were left behind.

He felt the weight of the past closing in on his chest till he almost suffocated. A dark past he is powerless to change, an overwhelming present he is powerless to stop, and a murky future he is powerless to reach.

“Kelly, lets go ho-” There was no home for them there, “Let’s go away from here.” He nodded to Ellan, who wrapped his arms around Kelly protectively, and reluctantly pushed her away from the scene and the scratching stares of the villagers.

“There was nothing more you could do, Kelly” Said Ellan trying to ease up her pain.

Nothing more to do? Thought Kelly. There was nothing I could do.

Kelly did not want to move from there at first, unable to resist the call from the despair in that spot. But she knew he was nowhere near, to hear her call of despair. She could not find him this time.

“Kelly, we must go now, there is nothing to do here.”

There is always nothing to do…

Kelly finally budged reluctantly, a small step after the other, away from there. He would have never heard her, even if she screamed on the top of her voice, yet her soul screamed anyway.

Ellan walked beside her, supporting her with his arms as always, and her head resting on his shoulder. He rested his head on Kelly’s red hair, feeling its satin touch against his.

He tightened his arms around her, as if he was trying to protect her from her own feelings. Only as if, he never had been able to protect her from anything. He had always been that powerless to protect anything of value.

Ellan bit his lower lip…

Powerless, it was a feeling that never for once gave him any peace. His past never failed to remind him that it will never be erased. That the ghost of his fallen brother will always haunt him, reminding him how powerless he was, and how powerless he is.

No matter how many times Ellan screamed in his dreams for him, screamed as loud as he could till he felt his lungs tearing, screamed for his brother to abandon him for doom, to flee with his life, to leave him to rot. After all, the powerless were never meant to survive.

But then, his brother was just as powerless as Ellan was. He was powerless to leave the fate of his brother to the dire claws of that beast, powerless to turn his back to the love he had for his brother, and just walk away.

And such was Eldor, Ellan brother’s friend, who despite the hate he held for Ellan for being the reason of his best friend’s demise, did not waste one second of hesitation before taking a mortal arrow instead of Ellan. Powerless he was, to let the reason his friend died for bravely, be wasted away.

Are we drifting away? Drifting powerless along with the stream of our own fate, in our narrow river, thrashing our hands at the sky, trying desperately to hold on the wisps of lights that will never tell take us to shore, nor tell us when is this river going to end? Only one fact in the light that it will turn to darkness. We will drown.

“Ellan,” Called Brad softly when they were finally in front of, “I will go for a walk now.”

Ellan did not need but one glance on Brad’s face to know that he is lying.  “You are going to see the Mentor?”

“I have some issues that need clearing.”

*****
The sun blazing fiercely over the broad stretches of the desert. The yellow sand with it still riddles, which touched the sky at the edge of the horizon. A desolate desert, a dismal lifeless sea of hard sand. Yet some how, beautiful and proud, strong and unchallengeable, and everlasting.

His heavy strides, disturbing the waves on the sand, his grey hair flapping defiantly against the blowing wind, and his gleaming silver eyes mocking the endless distance with their keenness…And sadness that dared the sands to lift.

Rion bore the cruelty of the desert for hours, walking aimlessly through its span. Not caring where to go, or what he is running from. He just seeked the loneliness of the desert, the sense of humility it gives you over its endless spans. He paid no heed for that blazing sun, nor that scorching wind, his veins were burning for he almost drained all the Dark matter in his blood during the fight, but he just walked through the desert, with the weight of his sword over his back.

Rion’s pace quickened.

Where the sky touched the land, a great black granite mountain was rising from the sea of sands like a mighty giant. Rion quickened his stride even more, till he was running at his full speed toward it, as if that mountain was his destination all along. And with every step closer, the mountain showed more of its beauty to Rion. Its lofty height of the mountain that almost pierced the sun with its sharp black edges.

Rion suddenly had the urge to reach its high peak, to join the sun, and touch its light. That that mountain’s peak will be high enough to save him from drowning. Maybe up there, he will be able to see the end of his sea. His still sea.

“That is a long way up!” Said Rion from under the mountain.

*****
Brad stepped into the Mentor’s house. Though unlike the last time, his stepped inside in hesitation, as if uncertain what he will find inside. He wasn’t at all mad or stormy like the last time, but rather nervous and if possible, shy.

“Please come in, Brad.” Said the Mentor cheerfully.

Brad walked toward the Mentor with a shaky smile; he noticed Xaun standing near the window, But some how he felt him a stranger, and only nodded slightly in greeting.

“So, what sweet wind brought you here?” Said the Mentor pleasantly.

“I don’t even begin to know why I am here,” Said Brad, “I know that I am not here to ask you what you have done to Rion,” The Mentor’s eye brows raised up, “I know you are just like the rest of us, you do what you think you must do, and you cant change that as much as anyone else…But Rion is gone, and I don’t know if he will-“

“For a friend, you don’t know him at all,” Interrupted Xaun in a low mocking voice, “are you that blind?”

“What do you mean by this?” Brad turned to face Xaun with an aggressive Clinched fist.

“He won’t return you think?” Inquired Xaun provocatively mocking him, and smiled as the blood rushed in Brad’s veins, “Do you think that he will be gone for good, just after meeting someone stronger than him? For knowing that he might be defeated again? Nonsense, the will I felt pressing against my sword, is not of such weakness. The resolve that shook the very land from beneath me will not bend that easily. That will, and that resolve, which I vowed to guard with my own life, may sway, but will never break.”

Brad’s face was blank in utter surprise. His fist was still in the air, but lost all meaning of being there. The resonance of Xaun’s words was vibrating through his flesh. Did he really miss read his friend? Did Rion really still hold the fragments of what he once was?

“But you are not here for this,” Stated the Mentor simply, “You came here for a question,” Brad’s eyes turned to him, and his fist laid flat beside him, “though it is obvious over your face, perhaps it is best for you to speak it.”

Brad took a long moment of silence, as if to search for this question in his deepest mind, but the truth was, the question was right in front of him, as it always have been.

“Why can’t I save him?”

*****
The pointed coarse rocks were like knives under his hands, but he held on tight. The black stones where slippery under his feet, but he kept on pushing up. The wind was determined to weigh him down, but his will defied it up. His will to reach the top was sharper than the mountain’s might. But what for? What will be waiting for him there? He had no clue of that. All he knew was that it was his will, and his will alone, to go up that mountain. That not even logic was an impurity within that will.

His body dangled from one hand, swaying freely over the overwhelming height. Rion looked down, where the land was only a hazy and unreal sight, and its touch was a mere memory. He shrugged, and then pushed his body up for whole four feet, with his left hand outstretched to hold on the next groove. Pebbles rumbled down, as his body swaying for balance, and his finger’s almost lost their grip over the cutting stones. But he gripped it tight with his right hand as well and such balancing himself.

Over the last hour of climbing, it became a lot more challenging task reaching the top. The distance between grooves became great, and salient rocks became rare. Rion raised his eyes up, the rocks were slippery and without any grooves. There was no way for him up from there, though the grooves continued around the mountain.

Rion cautiously began feeling his way around the corner to the left, in hope of finding another facilitated route to the summit from there. He tried to be as light as he could be, for the pointy rocks wont cut his feet deep, nor the rocks to let go of him. Until he found it.

A wide groove lead him to a great cleavage on the side of the mountain. Though from his side, there still no route up. But from the other side of the cleavage, the climb was to be greatly facilitated. But with that cleavage as wide as forty feet with, and no way around for it, it was impossible to reach. The only logical way was to go down the mountain, and try and find a different way up…But logic was something he left behind him.

Rion calculated the distance of the jump one last time, for the slightest blemish in his concentration, would mean nothing but death. Step by step, he raised his feet till they were just on bar with his chest. As if he was just crouching on the ground, though only with the gravity on the wrong end. He glanced one more time on the groove.

“Forty feet away, and two feet down,” Whispered Rion under his breath.

His body lunged into the air with his back to the distant land, arcing gracefully with his silver hair swaying delicately behind him. He was free of everything and anything at that moment. As if he was flying away, out of reach. That even the ground held no grip over his soul. His body twisted in the air and span, to face the groove with both of his hands outstretched ready to grip it, to return back to reality.

Why can’t I just let go? A finger slip, and it will all end…everything.

And that stray thought, was all it took for him to miss. Rion gasped, his fingers slipped over the groove, and his body started free falling into the void.

Rion thrashed his hands feverishly, trying desperately to get a hold on anything. But the ground’s call on his body was very heavy. The air he felt free within, was letting him go toward darkness. He felt fear, harsh and edged fear that slashed his insides, the greatest fear of all, the one fear he thought long abandoned, the fear for his life.

Rion spun in the air, throwing his body closer to the knifed rocks. Blood gashed out of his hands, while trying desperately to hold on those pointy rocks with that accelerating speed. But his blood was cheap, he could not slow his body one bit. It was impossible.

Fear rose to an epic inside Rion, till all he could hear above the whooshing sound of the wind in his ears, was the drumming of his heart. He really was going to die; the edge of that fact was sharp, and swinging down on him.

Rion clawed on the hard rocks with his adamant claws, the screeching sound on the rocks rose as if the mountain was screaming in terrible agony as his claws tore into it. Heat started rising from Rion’s claws from the friction, while his body seemed not to slow down, but he held on tight, the pain became unbearable till he felt his fingers tearing off, but he pushed his claws in deeper.

He screamed till the spans heard his voice from the pain, but the pain that matches life is vain. All he could do was to hold on tight, and close his eyes, in hope that he will be able to open them again.

The harsh wind turned to a breeze, the drumming sound in his ears begun calming down, a sense of relief descended upon him. His body finally halted. Blood was trickling down from his thrashed fingers, falling down along with pebbles and beads of his sweat, but he was not. He clawed through stones for his life, and it felt good.

Why is it that I wanted to live for?

That was an answer that Rion was convinced he would find at the summit. And so, he started to climb back up, despite his injuries, and despite his pain…it was waiting for him at the top, but he couldn’t wait any longer…
*****