Anachronism, following "An Apology"

[Elyk]

((please refer to Apology one of my older topics first if you have not read it yet, otherwise enjoy.))


A frozen mountain, harsh winds, white ground, white sky.... the sort of disorienting combination of discomfort and blindness that made Elyk think he'd had too much to drink. Fortunately for him, his habbits were in line, just not the weather. He'd been climbing this mountain for days, after a dream in which he saw familiar faces calling him from atop its peak.

Now if anything were calling to him, Elyk sure as hell wouldn't realize it, not over the howl of the winds. The cold was what really ate him up. It was fresh and invigorating at first, now it felt like the apocalypse were coming in an hour or so, and had to prepare the earth for its own demise via ice.

Another arm up. A push off of the stone with his left foot, grabbing the next rock with his right arm that protuded ever so slightly before him. He could feel the strength in his arms increasing. His hood was down, and face revealed to the public... that being nobody but himself and those in his imagination. He had not seen a single human in months, only images in his head of people from his past, oddly enough instructing him. It was either a nightmare or a blessing, Elyk was not sure which. Having boarded his boat in the fall and setting sail for this shore without a word good bye to almost nobody besides Garet, Akai, and Seishiro, Elyk now wondered how they were, what they were doing, if they even still survived in the chaos that had seemed to consume everyone and everything in 'civilization'.

Another arm up. A push off with his foot, yeah he was definately getting somewhere, the air was growing thinner, harder to breathe.

Elyk vividly remembered before leaving.... "Alfitaria on its knees, its own death at hand, Ryoku the enemies of old joining forces with their former enemies to form a stronger union to rise up from the ruins of their own failures and stamp out their enemies with supreme efficiency. Didn't happen that way... organization, time, planning... all against them. Failures again and again". Elyk was used to this by now. He stood no chance against Denadros. He couldn't take down Felwor, he couldn't stand up to Jiritsu, he couldn't fight back against Norkia, all he could do was climb this mountain in the search for the answer he was seeking, to a question he hadn't even asked.

And with a final grip, he felt the edge of peak at his finger tips. He pulled himself over the edge, and peered down into a canyon that seemingly headed towards the heart of the mountain itself. He sat with his back to the wall letting his feet dangle over the edge of the mountain he had just conquered. Elyk let out a sigh of relief, took a deep breath and stood again, beginning to stretch. He peered down the canyon as far as his eyes could see, something about it was forboding. He wasn't nervous or worried that evils await him, he just felt secure that something was prepared, waiting to happen. Something that could be life changing for better or worse.

Nonetheless, he reached around back of himself, pulling loose the golden knife he had stolen back on the mainland. Perfectly light and balanced, like a feather in his hand, Elyk twirled the gekiretsu ikazuchi between his fingers. In his other hand? A faithful dagger he'd kept with him for ages now.

Elyk ventured slowly into the canyon, and could almost instantly feel a climate change upon him. It was noticeably warmer. An unknown source lured him in further down the canyon, enticing his nerves to travel in farther.

[Elyk]

"Elyk what are you thinking about?"
"I'm thinking about the treasure at the end of the hunt sir."
"Why?"
"Because...... the hunt is my purpose"
"Then thinking about the treasure means pondering the end of your own existance"
"I suppose so"
"If you reach the treasure, what purpose do you have left?"
".... none"
"that's right.... the end of your little game is coming Elyk"
"Fuck off..."

another step forward and Elyk's conversation ended short, he slipped and fell on the ice and began to slide downwards. It echoed in his head, "the end of your little game is coming Elyk".

It was as if he's just been told that his own suicidal subconcious seeked the end of his own existance. If his treasure was at the end of this canyon, then in fact so was his own end apparently. The Elyk known by all would cease to exist. He regained his footing eventually as the ice subsided with the warmth.

Further down he traveled. A dim light overhead shined in lighting his path, just barely. He could feel it getting warmer, he began to sweat lightly. It was a welcoming warmth. The world outside of this cave was a frozen waste land for a good hundred miles until one reached the ocean. Even so Irendi had not list its appeal, Elyk still felt welcome on this barren continent without the taint of the outside world and the hatred and littany of the evil ones who plagued it, including himself. He took solace in the fact that his disappearance from the mainland meant both peace for those he troubled, and for himself. It means little though, when you know in your heart that the world is headed towards chaos no matter what, always getting worse, heading in a downward spiral. The wars never ended there. From New Banian to Argo to Vorgardia, and across continents said to exist but never uncovered, hatred ruled over reason. Greed overcame logic. In the end logic still defeated all.. because logic only dictated that a utopia could not exist because of the human nature. In the end the algorithm of war dictated all. Elyk had seen so many, participated in so much endless killing and fleed from the scenes of so many murders. If there was a heaven, the gatekeeper would surely bar Elyk's entrance. If there was a hell, Elyk would be welcomed into the higher ranks of it. Maybe that was something to be proud of. Maybe not. Elyk couldn't tell anymore what pride even meant? Self recognition for accomplishments? What defined accomplishing something beyond the realm of medial tasks and nameless assignments dominating each and every day? Was the killing of an enemy an accomplishment? Subjective. All enslaved to frame of reference. For the victim, the accomplishment would have been avoiding death, and perhaps even dealing it back to the attacker. To them, there was no accomplishment, and whereever their soul rested surely it thought itself a failure of sorts.

Warmth. overcoming now. Taunting and addictive, Elyk was drawn into a wider section, where the top narrowed off so tightly that no light made it down from the sky above. That did not make it dark. In the center, a hot spring, bubbling and churning with mountain water. Elyk collapsed to his knees before it. In the center, a rock... the rock was engulfed in flames. It was a physical impossibility, what sort of magic engulfed a stone in flames and maintained it so? especially on such a high altitude, and in here no less, who would have set the fire, how would it have kept going/ Elyk didn't care, he crawled into the bowl of aquatic pleasure and warmth and felt a spell come over him. All his pains and aches disappeared, his scars and scratches faded away, his load felt so much lighter. He dipped his head under, long reddish hair that covered his face was now a darker browner tint, soaked with water, covering his face entirely. He stretched out his legs and stared up towards the tiny piece of sky above he could see.

Hours went by, day turned to night. Stars appeared above head. All irrelevant. For the time being there was no world outside of this spring. It was uninterrupted paradise until a voice behind him echoed...

"Hello Elyk, what brings you here?"
Elyk looked behind him. A man in a black trench coat, dark hair... dark skin... eyes covered by shades stood behind him.
"Who... are you?" Elyk began to ask.
"I am Alir of the Raj House."
"That doesn't mean much to me sir.... I have never heard of the house of Raj"

[Elyk]

Alir stood tall above Elyk now, leaning over the edge of the pool.
"Well.. you should know all about me Elyk-san".
"And why is that?"
"Because you and I are one in the same."

-Silence-

That little hideaway in the mountain was dead silent for what seemed like ages, Elyk stared into the empty shades of Alir, searching for the expressionless eyes, finally breaking the silence with, "That's absurd, what the hell do you take me as?"

"Absurd? Why absurd? Do you remember your beginnings, where you came from? why?"

"... I.. umm.. no."

"As far back as you can remember, some little blue elf ninja calling himself Clowd happened to come across your pitiful state, and before you knew it, you were creating havoc wherever you went. I unleashed you, and I am solely responsible for the damage you have caused to countless people."

Elyk's eyes widened with fear, what if this man was right? Elyk was a mistake? A disaster gone wrong?

Alir grinned, "Yes that's right."

The glass thoughts of Elyk-san shattered before him. He had only "thought" that question in his mind.. he did not just ask it aloud, Alir read his thoughts?

"Correct again, Elyk-kun. I can read your thoughts as if they were my own. I told you, you and I are the same person really. The dark arts of the desert, a demon calling himself Zuo.. all of it.. and you are the product my Elyk-chan. I thought, by leaving you on that continent before I disappeared into nothingness forever, I thought perhaps that would allow you to assimilate into society like the rest. You just can't seem to do that. THree times now I have watched you flee into the mountains, flee into the forests, into the deserts, whereever the fuck you go when you disappear, even to places I could not watch you... only to come back and fail again. Your aspirations of dominance though, I shall admit, most likely came from me. I conditioned you I suppose to be the way you are. But even so... your failures do little more than shame my name... If I am of course the likeness in which you are fashioned."

Elyk held his head low, everything this man said sounded to true. It cut deep into his soul and made him feel as thought an ogre sat upon his tombstone. He could not say a word. What was there to say? If he was fashioned after this Alir from sort of bizarre desert ritual, then he was now facing his origin. And this meant.. he was also at his end.

Alir laughed, "Yes that's right Elyk. You've completed your task. Although I have no fucking clue what it was, you've completed it. Fate says its time for you to disappear now, they don't want you causing anymore damage."

Elyk's eyes peered up slowly at Alir, his teeth gritted, and his veins overflowing with rage. He spoke before Alir could start talking again. "I'm a victim.. you are a bastard. I am on a journey... a pilgrimage in this winter covered land... and you're going to end it for me because fate tells you to? I don't even pretend to understand what sort of mission you're on. All I have to say... is.. I have lived my entire life following my own law, never the laws of others. I have chosen my own path, I have fought my own battle and won my own personal victories, no matter how many times I lost friends and allies. I don't believe that any force dictates what path I take next, Mr. Raj, but hear me now.. I'm going to make god damn sure that its not you..."

A dagger from under the water... apparently Alir had been too intent on listenting, not enough on observation. It came quickly, headed towards his heart. With a wave of his, Alir stopped it in mid air and smiled politely. "That was a mistake"

A scream, the sound of tearing flesh. Elyk levitated in the air above the pool in which he rested, Alir grinning maliciously as he operated on his limbs whilst levitating him above the ground. Blood across the canyon floor. The pool turned red. The ninja gear cracked, Elyk's bones cracked.

Death. The final sound of his lungs... deflating under the crush, the last exhale and the eventual limpness, Elyk was dropped to the ground, never to move again. Alir removed his shades and wiped them clean on his coat, replaced them above his nose and headed towards the foot of the mountain, on his way back towards civilization.