Legacies of light

-Break-

Φ I still remember those days, when an epidemic ran through our village. It would make the infected suffer in extreme agony, while their brain started to swell. It was a slow, painful death as they lost control over their bodily functions. Every single day people were dropping like flies, the population of the village halved. Brothers lost their sisters, wife’s lost their husbands, and I lost my parents.

Eventually, it was decided to put all the sick to death to stop the infection and end their suffering, but I opposed it with all my might. Even as a kid, I stood in opposition to everyone, saying there still might be a way to save everyone. I keep saying that we can’t just dispose of all these lives like this; it was just a pipe dream. I knew there was no way to save all those people, yet I kept opposing the decision to buy time, because I didn’t want the last words my parents would say to me to be: it hurts Buloke.

It was a selfish desire that gave false hope to people who were grieving, but I thought if I had enough time, my parents would be able to tell me they loved me once again, but it was pointless, because their disease had progressed to the point where they couldn’t even recognise me let alone talk.

But relentlessly, I kept sneaking into their room and talking to them every day until I would be able to cause them to say something. The stress of reality crashing down on me, the fact that I had to keep this secret, made me extremely stressed, until I collapsed during one-day dinner.

When I awoke later that day, Oren was by my bedside.

“Buloke, how are you doing.”

“I am fine. I was just a little tired.”

“Buloke, while I was checking on the sick, I noticed some things out of place by your parent’s side, plus testimonies that people have been seeing someone walking around at night.”

I started panicking. Did he find out?

“Did you sneak into the sick bay to see your parents, yes or no.”

“Yes.”

“For how long have you been doing this?”

“For the last four months.”

“Do you understand what you have done. You could have been contagious through all your interactions with the other villagers, and cost us more lives.”

“I am sorry.”

“Buloke, until further notice, you will stay locked in your house until I can say that you aren’t infected. I will send someone to bring you food. Use this time to reflect on your actions and pray that you’re fine.”

So as Oren said, I spent the next day locked in my house, and eventually, someone came to bring me my food. It was the village chief Sequoia.

“Chief, what are you doing here.”

“Oh, when I heard about the situation from Oren, I decided to bring the food to you myself, and I brought some flowers so if you get bored, we can make crowns out of them.”

Then after I finished eating, Sequoia and I spend our time making flower crowns.

“Chief, should you be here right now? Your daughter Maple is only six months, don’t you think you should be with her.”

“Right now Maple is asleep, and since we can’t risk people finding out about what you did, only me and Oren know why you are in here, so we decide to keep this between us.”

After telling me this, he nonchalantly returns to making flower crowns. He keeps talking to me throughout this.

“How have you been doing.”

“Fine, I have been able to get lots of sleep.”

“That’s good to hear. I haven’t been able to get any lately, work has been intense; trying to void everyone’s worries, and Maple has been energetic. I don’t know where she gets it from me, and Deae are quieter people.”

Hearing this, I can’t handle it anymore and say, “Why aren’t you angry at me? What I did put the lives of everyone in the village at stake, especially your daughter. I could have gotten her infected.”

Putting the flower down, he says, “I am not mad, because I understand. I can’t tell you how badly I want to see my wife. I want her to hold our daughter, and calm my nerves about being the chief again. I want her to smile and be her normal happy self again, but she can’t. All she does now is stare into nothingness, having lost all control of her bodily functions, slowly dying.

I understand how hard it is to look into the face of someone you love and realise that they’re no longer in there, and I can guarantee you that everyone in this village can understand that as well. So, I don’t fault you for doing what I wish I could do. The only real difference between you and me is that I have forced myself to accept it for the good of everyone else, since that is what it means to be the chief, which is why I want to kill all the infected and bring their suffering to an end.”

“But how can you accept it so easily, the way my parents smile, the way they hug me every night, the food that they cook, and all the fun we had. I can’t just throw it away, if there is even a small chance they may come through, so what am I supposed to do, chief? How am I supposed to accept that.”

“Most people don’t know this, but every time I get sad discouraged or have to make a complicated decision, my wife used to make my flower crowns. They were pretty like her and raised my spirit. So, whenever I make them, all I can think about are all my memories of my wife, which made me realise she is still her amazing self to me and so many others. I don’t think I will ever fully get over what has happened to my wife, but I can share how amazing she is with everyone and my daughter till I die, which helps if only a little bit. It helps me accept everything and move forward, since if my wife is no longer her amazing self, I won’t let what she meant to me fade.”

“Do you think the same will apply to my parents?”

“Yes, it will. I believe we can apply that to everyone who is sick. All we have to do is make sure no one is forgotten, so Buloke tells me about your parents.”

We talked every single day about the people we loved until I was set free, and when I was, I stopped opposing the execution decision, and in almost no time it was carried out, the sick were put to death and buried, on that day I saw everyone cry from the tiniest children to the most prominent warriors.

But after the burial, I went out of my way to gather everyone up, and we all decided to share stories of those we lost.

Some amazing.

“My father became a warrior at the age of seven.”

Some funny.

“Even at thirty-eight, my wife was scared of the dark.”

Some strange.

“My daughter used to name every one of her teeth, and she would talk to each of them.”

And some sad.

“The first time my wife held Maple, she cried her eyes out, though that was the last time she held her as well.”

Through sharing all these stories, I learned how many different people were living in the same place as me. We were able to get past our troubles and grow closer together. We looked out for each other, and soon this village turned into my family. I was able to love everyone in this village as much as I loved my mother and father. I wanted to protect them, so I became a warrior, one who could fight any physical danger and keep everyone safe, and it continued like that until the day the outsiders arrived.

Little by little, they have been worming their way into the hearts of everyone. At this point, I am convinced that no one but me can see the danger these two pose. Regardless of if they’re currently good people, they could completely change, and if we let them go without knowing for a hundred percent if they know how to leave or enter, we could just be giving a key for anyone in the world to find out about us.

I can’t make that happen. I must protect everyone here, so I must remove the issues. I don’t care if I disgrace or dishonour myself; my family is the most crucial thing to me. So, both Orb and Cole have to die.

-Break-

As I start to awake, I can feel my body moving and hear the words.

“One, two, one, two.”

Realising the voice I heard was Orb, I opened my eyes and took hold of the situation. Orb, whose hair is bright red, is carrying me. I then try to move my arms and legs, but the right side doesn’t move, giving me a searing pain; they are broken.

“Stop moving around. You’re making it harder to carry you.”

With all my strength, I push Orb away, falling onto the ground.

“What are you doing.”

“I tried to kill you, so I refuse to be helped by you, SO LEAVE ME HERE!”

A roar rings through the forest.

He then rushes towards me, gets to my back, covers my mouth, and says, “I am going to need you to shut up, atlas eaters are roaming around here, so don’t make any noise.”

I then hear an eater walk around the forest very close to where we both are. After some time, it leaves, and Orb takes his hand off my mouth. Orb then tries to pick me up again, but after pushing him, I say, “Did you not hear me.”

His hair turns red, and then he hits me in my broken leg and arm. “Let’s get this straight as you are right now, you have no way to refuse me, if you feel like dying bite off your tongue, but you’re the leader of all the dissenters to Cole and me being here, so if you die here, I am sure that we would become full-fledged members of the village, so unless you want that to happen shut your fucking mouth and let me carry you.”

Ruminating over his words for a minute, I decide that he if doesn’t want to kill me, I can at least use this to get close enough to the village. So begrudgingly, I let Orb pick me up, and then we go on.

As we continue to walk, Orb’s hair keeps shifting from a dark red to a light red, so I tell him, “Can’t you stop that? Your hair is an obvious signal to where our position is.”

“No, I can’t. My hair changes colour due to my emotions, so it doesn’t just turn off.”

“So, what emotion causes this hair colour.”

“Anger”

“So, what are you waiting for? I am completely helpless, and at your mercy, so you can get your revenge all you as you could even critically injure me.”

As his head becomes even redder, Orb tells me, “Two things, first, I don’t want to become the kind of person who can only deal with his anger by taking it out on others, and let me tell you, this has been an intense training session on self-control.

Second punishment and reform come hand in hand. Trying to reform someone without punishment is unfair, and trying to punish someone whom you know won’t reform is a pointless effort, so due to the fact you see nothing wrong with your actions, there is no point, and from a certain perspective, I can see how your actions were justified.”

“There is no reason for what I did, I just wanted to kill you.”

Orb then gives me a belittling look. “Do you think I was born yesterday? You must not know your reputation.”

“What are you talking about.”

Taking a breath, Orb says, “Throughout the last eight months I have spent in your village, I haven’t heard a single bad thing about you, which was strange to me since you have been a very open piece of shit to me, but no matter whom I asked Willow, Sequoia, Pine, they could only say good things about you, and that your behaviour since I got here was weird.

Due to all this, I suspect you did all this because you're worried for the safety of the village and all the people within it. All it could take is me telling one person on the outside how to get into your village, and your peaceful lives will all crumble. Of course, there is a chance I wouldn’t, but no sane person would bet the lives of all his loved ones on an opportunity, so I understand why you did this.”

“You say all this, but your hair has only been getting redder while you talk.”

“Because you not only tried to kill me, but pushed me down a cliff, so of course I am mad, and not only that but the more I think about it, the madder I get. Your plan was full of holes. You didn’t put much thought into killing me. If you’re going to go through with it, at least plan my death out a bit better, but the worse part of it all, is that when I see you had a legitimate reason to kill me, I get even angrier because I have no one to blame, SO THIS WHOLE SITUATION IS MAKING ME MAD!”

What is wrong with him? Then a thought occurred to me “How did you survive falling down the cliff with no injuries? I am sturdier than you and still broke bones.”

“I had no idea. When I awoke, the right side of my body was on the ground, and there was frozen blood all around me, but I had no injuries, so I picked up your body and started walking, but maybe wolfie protected me.”

“What’s a wolfie, is that what you call the other prisoner.”

“Huh, I have told everyone my story in the village. How do you not know by word of mouth.”

“I avoided all information about you.”

“I thought you were suspicious of me because you didn’t trust me, but you didn’t even bother to learn anything about me.”

“What’s the point of learning about a person you plan to kill.”

“You see, that mentality is why you have spent the last eight months in fear while everyone else has been enjoying my presence, so let me spin you the tale of my life.”

“I would rather you not.”

“Too bad it isn’t like you can go anywhere, and this will help me calm down, so bear with it.”

So, Orb begins to tell me everything about his life from the beginning to now.