Eternal
You’re not wasting any more time with Lena or stretching this out any longer than you have to. You begin to leave.
“Uncle Shadow where are you going?” Tulla asks.
“Home. And I suggest that’s where you go. Tell your mother if she’s got any sense of self preservation left she’ll get you and herself out of here too.”
“But aren’t you staying to help us fight the bad men?” Tulla asks, not fully understanding the situation.
“No, I’m not. (sigh) I’m sorry Tulla, but even if you don’t realize it yet you’ve been dealt a bad hand in life. If your mother doesn’t flee soon like I think she won’t then I can only tell you one last thing.”
You put your hand on Tulla’s shoulder and look her in the eyes.
“When the bad men come, you HIDE. Find a safe place and hide, and then run when you’re able. Even if you see or hear them doing bad things to your mother you continue to run or hide. They won’t show mercy and they will do bad things to you as well. If you want to survive, you will listen to me.”
It’s a cold hard truth and Tulla just stares at you with the rain continuing to pour down on the pair of you. You think she’s probably more upset that you’re leaving than anything else you’ve told her. You can’t do anything for her though except hope that she absorbs your advice.
As you start to leave, you briefly consider taking Tulla with you, but you dismiss the idea. You already “took in” one young girl in trouble and you can see how that turned out. You’re no parental figure and you’re not responsible for Tulla either.
Your journey back home is an uneventful one. When you finally arrive you immediately head to the garden.
“I’m back Talia. For good this time, as I don’t believe I’ll be making many more trips topside.”
The silence continues to question you.
“Why? Well because I’m done with it all that’s why. I mean I tried to relive the thrill of battle and that only has a temporary effect on my good mood, eventually it just gets boring. I’ve explored most of lands and found nothing of interest save for hostile people and unfriendly terrain. I’ve helped those in need and it only serves to either make their situations worse or prolong the inevitable. What’s the point of it all? I’ve come to realize that down here with you is where I belong and it’s where I shall stay for the rest of my life. However long that happens to be.”
After telling all this to Talia, you feel like a great weight has been lifted off of you. It feels good to no longer have to worry about anyone other than yourself again. You excuse yourself to Talia and head off to your bedroom to get some much-needed sleep…
“While I appreciate that you finally had the common sense to abandon a hopeless cause I’m a little concerned by your return to a hermit life style.” Dendrin remarks.
“Yeah, well I would think by now that you’d know I don’t really care about your opinions on my life.”
“But you can still be so much more, or at least you could still be destined for greater things. I see that, how come you don’t?”
“Maybe I don’t want to be destined for such things even if they are true? Maybe I’m happy just spending the rest of my life here? What difference does it make? Besides I’m sure my so-called destiny would only serve to benefit you in some way so that’s not exactly a motivator either. And if you don’t like what I’m doing or you no longer find that I provide you with the amusement that your own pathetic existence so desperately craves then you can fucking leave me alone.”
“Very well Eternal. I can see I should waste no more time with you. My only regret is I did not see your inadequacies sooner. Perhaps I should’ve picked someone more motivated. Oh well. Time to move on.”
And with that, you never hear from Dendrin ever again. You also never go to the surface again.
Years pass as they always do. You more or less keep yourself occupied by writing in your journal and speaking with Talia. It’s not much stimuli, but don’t seem to mind it at first. In time though you begin to get a little more detached from reality. You begin adding new people to speak with, such as arguing with Cyrus on a regular basis about how his tactics will not work against an Empire encampment or laughing at Murk on his latest tale of how he’s failed to woo Bianca.
In other words, you practically go mad. One moment you’re fully aware of your surroundings and living in the present, the next you’re living in the past again. You’ve created your own reality and aren’t leaving it anytime soon.
You continue like this for a few more decades until you eventually die as the mad hermit you are, and like most mad hermits, you leave no lasting presence in the world.
“Uncle Shadow where are you going?” Tulla asks.
“Home. And I suggest that’s where you go. Tell your mother if she’s got any sense of self preservation left she’ll get you and herself out of here too.”
“But aren’t you staying to help us fight the bad men?” Tulla asks, not fully understanding the situation.
“No, I’m not. (sigh) I’m sorry Tulla, but even if you don’t realize it yet you’ve been dealt a bad hand in life. If your mother doesn’t flee soon like I think she won’t then I can only tell you one last thing.”
You put your hand on Tulla’s shoulder and look her in the eyes.
“When the bad men come, you HIDE. Find a safe place and hide, and then run when you’re able. Even if you see or hear them doing bad things to your mother you continue to run or hide. They won’t show mercy and they will do bad things to you as well. If you want to survive, you will listen to me.”
It’s a cold hard truth and Tulla just stares at you with the rain continuing to pour down on the pair of you. You think she’s probably more upset that you’re leaving than anything else you’ve told her. You can’t do anything for her though except hope that she absorbs your advice.
As you start to leave, you briefly consider taking Tulla with you, but you dismiss the idea. You already “took in” one young girl in trouble and you can see how that turned out. You’re no parental figure and you’re not responsible for Tulla either.
Your journey back home is an uneventful one. When you finally arrive you immediately head to the garden.
“I’m back Talia. For good this time, as I don’t believe I’ll be making many more trips topside.”
The silence continues to question you.
“Why? Well because I’m done with it all that’s why. I mean I tried to relive the thrill of battle and that only has a temporary effect on my good mood, eventually it just gets boring. I’ve explored most of lands and found nothing of interest save for hostile people and unfriendly terrain. I’ve helped those in need and it only serves to either make their situations worse or prolong the inevitable. What’s the point of it all? I’ve come to realize that down here with you is where I belong and it’s where I shall stay for the rest of my life. However long that happens to be.”
After telling all this to Talia, you feel like a great weight has been lifted off of you. It feels good to no longer have to worry about anyone other than yourself again. You excuse yourself to Talia and head off to your bedroom to get some much-needed sleep…
“While I appreciate that you finally had the common sense to abandon a hopeless cause I’m a little concerned by your return to a hermit life style.” Dendrin remarks.
“Yeah, well I would think by now that you’d know I don’t really care about your opinions on my life.”
“But you can still be so much more, or at least you could still be destined for greater things. I see that, how come you don’t?”
“Maybe I don’t want to be destined for such things even if they are true? Maybe I’m happy just spending the rest of my life here? What difference does it make? Besides I’m sure my so-called destiny would only serve to benefit you in some way so that’s not exactly a motivator either. And if you don’t like what I’m doing or you no longer find that I provide you with the amusement that your own pathetic existence so desperately craves then you can fucking leave me alone.”
“Very well Eternal. I can see I should waste no more time with you. My only regret is I did not see your inadequacies sooner. Perhaps I should’ve picked someone more motivated. Oh well. Time to move on.”
And with that, you never hear from Dendrin ever again. You also never go to the surface again.
Years pass as they always do. You more or less keep yourself occupied by writing in your journal and speaking with Talia. It’s not much stimuli, but don’t seem to mind it at first. In time though you begin to get a little more detached from reality. You begin adding new people to speak with, such as arguing with Cyrus on a regular basis about how his tactics will not work against an Empire encampment or laughing at Murk on his latest tale of how he’s failed to woo Bianca.
In other words, you practically go mad. One moment you’re fully aware of your surroundings and living in the present, the next you’re living in the past again. You’ve created your own reality and aren’t leaving it anytime soon.
You continue like this for a few more decades until you eventually die as the mad hermit you are, and like most mad hermits, you leave no lasting presence in the world.
