Roots - Chapter Twenty Three

Chapter Twenty Three: Side Effects

Air passed through Aldon’s lungs as the water flows through a broken dam. It began slowly, just trickling into his lungs, until it ran deeper and deeper, and before he knew it, Aldon was gasping for breath. He shook beneath his blanket and cast it off in a heap on the floor. His face and chest burned beneath his skin. He swiped at the invisible ants he was sure were crawling across him and rolled out off his cot. The dull thud of his feet hitting the floor and the flames were gone.
Aldon looked around the room, absorbing its every detail in a single gaze. The beds and cots were thrown about and pushed to the back wall, the door was open slightly, the window remained in shadow from the black sky, Took lay still in the rear of the room, and the steady rising and falling of Briar’s breathing lifted and lowered his blanket. Aldon lingered on his mentor sleeping.
Such trials he’s gone through, and here he is with nothing in return.
Aldon sat back on the corner of his cot in silence until his breathing returned to normal. Aldon placed his hand on his chest to feel his heartbeat slow but as soon as he did it picked up faster than before. His hand rubbed across his chest back and forth, fumbling for that which was not there. Aldon looked down slowly until he was sure he was awake. His chest was smooth and flat once again, no longer warped and covered in thick spider webbing scar tissue. His flesh was once again a pale tan with no trace of purple or crimson.
Aldon jumped to his feet and extended his arms like he were holding his balance.
Nothing, not even a twinge.
He swung them around as if he were falling and punched the air a few times for good measure.
“This is great.” He said aloud. “This is fantastic.”
Aldon swung about in a rapid manner, ducking and bobbing from side to side, weaving in and out of attacks and parries. He leapt forward silently until he was face to face with himself. The mirror stared back indifferently as Aldon’s lungs convulsed, sucking in a deep gasp. He was sure his heart skipped a beat. The face looking back at him was as normal as he could imagine. No sunken in cheek or half closed eye, not a single layer of charred flaky skin, peeling off in the rain. Only him. Only what should be.
Tears welled up in Aldon’s eyes as he stared at himself and thanked whoever had done this for him. Instantly his thoughts ran to Garen. “I knew you had it in you, Garenford. You’re too you not to be.” And he walked down the hallway, a bounce in his step, to the den; thanks on his mind for his oldest friend.
* * *
Fading lights flicker in and out, thriving then dying in flashes of color that swim and swirl like fire and ice. Rain pounds down on graves until they float away and off the earth, landing on the moon and forming a smile of tombstones. Necklaces of comets shimmer in the sky among the titans as they pluck us up from our homes to go to the forgotten places. Volcanoes of the ocean erupt in such a positive manner everyone smiles as the ash descends on them in waves of brimstone. Children cast away their parents to the old ones and flourish under the watching eye as not those but them. Falling, falling, falling, failing, into darkness. The clock is ticking.
* * *
“Briar, wake up! Get up now you have to!” Aldon shoved him and threw his covers off. “It’s urgent, Briar, please!” He shook Briar by the shoulders until his eyes began to open. They were bloodshot and weary, old and experienced beyond their years. Slowly they began to widen until he looked about ready to scream. He sat up and gritted his teeth. Aldon noticed a few knots beneath his skin.
“Aldon, what is it?” He said between grunting in pain. His breaths whistled through his teeth as his jaw clenched, veins in his neck jutting out. “Are the bandits back?”
Aldon shook his head and pulled Briar to his feet. Briar followed him hesitantly, wishing his knife was nearby. They padded down the hallway quickly, Aldon’s hands quivering slightly. As soon as they rounded the corner to the den, Aldon stepped aside and lowered his head. Briar waned like a ghost.
“Briar..come closer.” Garen whispered as dead grass rustles in the breeze. His eyes were closed and his skin hard as marble and cold as ice yet still hung off him like cloth. Bags under his eyes drooped to the point of revealing his entire lower eyeballs. Lips like shale and porous as pumice, he laid on the floor with his head against the wall, arms folded across his chest. His cloak lay plastered atop him. Nearby, sat his hat and staff as if waiting for his command. He coughed a few times in his chest and wiped his mouth. Briar sat beside him on his knees. “I don’t have much time, my old friend. Please listen to what I have to say.” He sat in silence as if expecting a retort from Briar. “Good. I see you understand the predicament in its full capacity. You have become wise with age, Briar, yet here you are among fools like I.” He attempted a chuckle as Briar’s lips pressed into a thin line. “I want you to continue as planned, Briar. You must, for all of our sakes. Mortan must not find Aldon. It could prove disastrous to the entire world; be sure you comprehend the incomprehensibly immense nature of your task as impossible as it is. So many lives and futures depend on you remaining strong in the face of evil and daunting within Death’s shadow. You are the only one I could ever trust with him, and Aldon agrees. He and I have already spoken and said our goodbyes.” Briar’s head turned slightly in Aldon’s direction. “But it is as I told him; I am not truly leaving. I shall be with you every step of the way, to guide you through the darkness. Briar, you are the last chance of a doomed nation, and the last of the Spiritblades.” Briar stiffened at this and closed his eyes tightly. “Yes, my friend, they are all gone. Yet you remain. You have a great destiny before you whether you acknowledge it or not, fate is what it is. But not always what shall be.”
Briar shook his head slowly and leaned his forehead to Garen’s. “But why now? Why can’t you help me, you know I can’t do this on my own. Why are you leaving us?” He said angrily and drenched in anguish. Aldon couldn’t bear to look at him.
Garen smiled faintly and his head lolled to the side, facing Briar. “ This is your story, Briar, not mine. This is my ending in one tale, and the beginning of a new chapter. I told you there would be side effects.” Garen smiled and seemed to sink into Briar’s arms.
All sound faded away as soon as Garen did. It was like their room had been illuminated by a single candle and it had just gone out. Briar’s head dropped low over Garen’s body and shook in silence. Aldon opened the door to the rain and stepped outside, letting it wash away his every sense until he felt nothing. He had forced himself to come to terms with Garen’s death in their conversation, where Aldon learned of what was to come.
Briar will train you, have no worry of that. He may seem unreachable on the outside, but you must remember he has suffered much in his life. Be patient and know you are doing him some good.
It seemed funny the way Garen could say exactly what Aldon was thinking and seem to understand how it felt more than he did.
But be aware of the danger you will face. Mortan is unlike any before him. He craves the darkness that destroys others and wields it against the might of the world. It is he, who watches for you and who has destroyed those whom mean most to you; and all to force you into his allegiance. He may tempt your heart with its most inner desires, but bringing Muren back cannot happen. Do not heed the darkness within, shun it with your mind and follow the pure energies of your spirit. That cannot be tainted. And never forget your friends for they are your true strength. Follow these guidelines and they shall carry you to the ends of the earth.
Aldon remembered what it was like to have friends. Fleeting thoughts of Denrir and Glenn flashed through his mind then drifted away as if forgotten. He often wondered what had happened to them; if they had escaped or died within Town. He knew they had not survived if they stayed for they did not come to see him nor did he see them in the march. Garen had mentioned something about the caravan stopping somewhere near Hromen and renaming themselves Remnants.
Seems appropriate enough I suppose. Just as we here are remnants of what was. Aldon glanced through the open doorway over to the pale Briar who sat hunched over Garen, performing the funeral rites for his oldest friend. He smeared candle wax across the old man’s brow and drew lines down his own cheeks as if he had been crying. He motioned for Aldon to come closer then made a dot on either side of Aldon’s mouth and on his eyelids.
“Sit.”
Aldon sat on the other side of Garen and crossed his legs. Briar closed his eyes and began to chant quietly, whispering for none to hear. Aldon did the same and prayed Garen’s soul would find rest in the Overworld while his body kept balance in the Underworld. He asked for guidance and for Garen to hold to his last vow.
I shall be with you every step of the way, to guide you through the darkness.
Aldon felt as if chains had strapped themselves to his arms and legs when he and Briar stood. Without a word, they lifted Garen and laid him beside Took in the largest bed, placing a sheet over his still form. Aldon leaned against the door frame and let the guilt wash over him in silence. Briar seemed to share the sentiment.
“You know it’s not your fault. No one could have stopped him from healing you. He knew what he was doing and what it would cost him.”
“Great, thanks for telling me he marched to his death to save me.” The reply was a cold shot, a low blow to Briar and Aldon regretted saying it immediately. But it was too late to take it back now, the damage was done.
“I’m going to bury him.” Briar said emotionlessly and brushed past Aldon without seeing him. His footsteps faded down the hall and out the door. Aldon kicked at the wall and cursed.
“How could I say something like that? I lost Muren and he lost Garenford.” He paused a moment. “Or should I just call him Garen? Either way we both lost our homes and families. Only difference is he handled my mourning far better.” Aldon grimaced and lowered his head. “I’m so stupid!” He trumped down the hall and opened the door.
Instantly the rain stung his face with rock sized tears. The sky was a deep navy like a bruise with lavender bordering its outskirts. The clouds were as thick and dreary as ever with an ashier appearance than usual. Aldon inhaled slowly to calm himself and almost gagged on the rancid odor the ground seemed to emit. It was like rotted meat marinated in soured milk had rained from the sky over night and soaked into the soil. Everywhere Aldon turned showed sign of decay. The trees were blackened and hung limp and leafless. The grass was gray and shriveled as winter approached furiously. The sweet lullaby of the singsong birds and chitter-chatter of woodland creatures were lost to him, they had been vacant for so long. Aldon looked to Briar who was atop the bluffs nearby digging determinedly with an old, warped shovel. His clothes hung off him soaking wet and briefly reminded him of Garen’s scarecrow form. Aldon rummaged through the backroom and reemerged with another trowel.
Together they dug in silence, neither looking at the other, for hours until they were satisfied with their labor. Two rectangular graves, dug a few feet from each other stared back at them. One was as long as the two of them nearly combined and the other as if for a child. In a slow funeral procession, Aldon and Briar carried the deceased wrapped in their respective sheet and slowly lowered them into the burial sites.
Briar dug his fingers in the wall of the grave for drier soil and held it aloft. He closed his eyes and his lips moved as if mumbling, then sifted the grainy dirt through his fingertips over Garen and Took.
“You deserve better.”
One by one they cast soil over them until the mounds were complete and the bodies secure from the flooding. A sense of finality settled in with the stormfront with every lightning strike and resounding thunder.
Garen is dead, he’s not coming back.
A spark of light, and a clapping boom.
We’re on our own, he’s not coming back.
An attempt at radiance and the clouds snuff it with a cry.
Can we do this without him, he’s not coming back.
Aldon and Briar walked slowly back to the fort and stared at the graves. Aldon lost his tranquil thought as he took everything with a shuddering breath. Briar noticed and clasped his shoulder.
“It’s going to be okay. I know you didn’t mean what you said earlier.”
Aldon’s cheeks stung but not from the weather. “I’m sorry. So much has changed, I feel I don’t know who I am anymore.”
Briar smiled sadly and nodded. “Maybe you never did.”