“When are you coming back to Langnet’s road, Fa? I miss you.”
Darkness evaporates into a familiar endless tunnel of purple eyes twists around my senses. So, Watcher, you come to me even if I have no desire to return?
“You make me sound like a weird ex-partner. The thing is, I am not ‘coming back’ to you. I never left. I am always there, always watching. The road is not meant to be. It is not meant to exist. Therefore, by you going through it, you have done something that should be impossible. So now I wait and watch. I torment and eventually end you. You are a message to others.”
You know people who are on death row are sometimes sent to walk Langnet’s road as punishment, right? That is how I got there. While I did choose to step through, as you said, it was others that pushed me toward the entrance. Without them, I did not even know that place existed. Perhaps I should have spent more time reading and less time killing…
“Oh, that reminds me. I have become quite fond of watching you but this whole determination thing? We can’t be having that. You deciding to move forward and accept the past so you can be a good person in the future? My curse is not meant to be some form of therapy, it is a curse. A cruel, evil curse. This whole ‘I will become redeemed’ arc shit that’s going on? No.”
What do you want? Are you going to remove the curse so I become a killer again?
“While not a terrible idea – it would be interesting to turn the curse off and on again so you kill and then immediately regret it – curses are a little fickle. There are rules to these things and I cannot just undo redo curses.”
Aren’t you a god or something?
“What? You think I have tea with Fael and all of those beings? Unfortunately, no. I am but a monster who was born from the anger of nature itself. I was created to not kill, but destroy any human that would dare enter the world for I have something that makes me truly the ultimate killer.”
A terrible sense of humor?
“Aha, no. It is deeper than that. While I could say ‘intelligence’, that is only partially true. I am smarter than you. I am stronger than you. I am not bound to a big brain and little else. You couldn’t kill a monster with your bare hands, and even if someone could, it would be one in a billion and that person would have to dedicate their lives to fighting. A monster that just existed would have the absolute advantage most of the time. No, you have weapons and maps and guides. You have gadgets and can find weak points. You even have the deadliest thing of all – revenge. Your kind seeks revenge.”
Revenge? Not love or friendship? Not remorse or kindness? Not ingenuity or passion?
“No. Revenge. Think about it, what single emotion drives everything else? Let’s paint a picture. A person kills a wolf, skins it, butchers it, and eats it. What do the other wolves do? They continue to live, unperturbed. The wolves who were part of that one's pack might be angry – they might try and track down the person and attack them but there is a limit. They cannot travel too far and they must rest, hunt, and eat. Now let’s say a human is killed by a wolf. All of a sudden, that wolf is a man killer. People far and wide will come to mercilessly hunt it down. No matter how far it goes, chances are it will die. Its killer might not even know who the wolf killed. It is the principle of it.”
I suppose that makes sense, but what is the point of telling me this-
“Let’s look at wars – the greatest breakthroughs that occur come from them. Langnet’s road itself came from planes at war. There was a terrible war, and in order to get the upper hand, a small group of people figured out how to tunnel through the very world itself. They would leap out, attack, and then disappear back into the tunnels. Soon, they became a sprawling network and eventually, every tunnel was combined to make a large, simple road system.”
Interesting, but still, I am confused as to why you are telling me this.
“Don’t you understand? It was because of revenge. Wars create endless cycles of revenge. People are pushed together and fight. One person dies. That side must take revenge. They kill one of the other soldiers. The other side must take revenge. Rinse and repeat. Forge new and powerful methods of killing to get your revenge. Revenge, revenge, revenge, revenge, revenge and revenge. What more is humanity good for? By Wol’zarath, are you not here because people are taking revenge on you for killing others? Love? Animals have that. Friendship? Passion? Ingenuity? Monsters have all of that. We just don’t seek revenge as you do. Well, we didn’t. Kill a monster and every monster in the world won’t start hunting you down. Until now. That is what I have. Revenge. That is what makes me truly deadly, Fa. And I will have it.”
The eyes… move. They twist and turn. Spin and with a loud pop, pull apart to reveal… darkness. Faint, gentle rays of light slowly warm my cold face. A gentle caressing of a cloud runs down my back and legs. My body feels tingly and light, while my head is thrumming with pain. I blink – through misty eyes black ivy surrounds me. Dreg ivy. I am back. The Watcher… it wants revenge, huh? Revenge for me breaking nature, huh? Well… this leads me to quite an interesting situation. I am not meant to be here right now. I have effectively broken reality by using Langnet’s road, and owing to that, the Watcher seeks revenge on me. So, if I live my life to its absolute fullest and help each and every person I come across. If I am genuinely happy and a force for good until I die – that will be truly torturous for it. If I became a beacon for good, that would be absolutely deplorable. The only way to torment this creature is by living a good and just life, huh? Funnily enough, this curse has helped me then, for that is all I want to do now. I don’t want to kill anymore – I just want to be good. Excellent, my convictions shall stand. I try to get up and… the vines are holding me down. I blink a few more times. Malz is standing over me with Savra in his hands. She does not have a single scratch on her.
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“Good morning, Fa Fumerunner. I do appreciate you knocking yourself out like that. Really saved me the hassle.”
The hassle? His tone… there is something about it that is off. Different. Angry. Vengeful. He runs a finger along Savra’s side.
“You see, this knife – ‘Savra’ you call it – well, I know the maker quite well. That would be me. I made the blade. I then gave it to a friend who prettied it up and sold it. Well, he would have sold it, if not for it being stolen over his dead body. The death you caused.”
I try to struggle and speak back but the ivy holds fast.
“Each and every slice of this blade cut twice. Once on your target and the other on my soul. When I saw the first murder, I knew it was from my blade. What could I do but wait. I am old and frail. In a fight, you would win every time. But in my house? I am the master here. In my vines, you are but a child.”
I stop struggling and listen. He is right, there is nothing I can do. For now.
“You think those fucking stupid killers could have normally caught me? No. I let them. I knew what was happening before they even thought it was a possibility. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time? No, I was in the right place at the right time. I waited. I waited so FUCKING LONG for you to come back. I endured so much but my body getting tortured is nothing compared to my soul. A single strike of this blade with ill intentions caused me more pain than every finger and toenail being torn off. So, I waited. Finally, there you were. I had a chance to kill you but the potential of you getting out – well, that was on your side. I truly must be tortured once again by this place.”
He sighs and starts pacing up and down.
“Not only did you kill a close friend of mine, but also slowly cut my soul to shreds. I could not even think about making another blade! This one was a masterpiece. It was designed to aid butchers with even the toughest of hides. It was meant to help create a world of good! Now that I am old, I realise that Dregs and fame are worthless to me. Legacy is all I strive for. For a better world I create, but for my friends, family, and people, I now bleed. You destroyed everything I ever wanted. You killed without a second thought. You used my creation with your own murderous intent.”
His face is completely red. His eyes are staring daggers and each word stabs deep.
“And now you said you’ve been cursed to change? You try to act good? You dare think that there is anything that you could do? There is no redemption. I have seen the light of a million smiles. I have seen the blinding beauty of communities saved through my creations. I have seen the shine of love bursting through the seams of society. Compared to that, how can you serve anything but darkness? I know you. I have known you for a long time.”
His voice is thick with deadly intent.
“You serve evil. You are worse than any monster. Your attempt at being good spits in the eyes of each and every soul in this world. Finally, I can have my revenge. Do not think this will be simple and easy. I will not kill you, for that would make me and you the same. No, I am going to use this blade to coat you in Dreg. I will keep you alive as a statue. You will never move again. You will never speak your lies again. You will stand, watching and unable to act. I will feed you tasteless gruel. You will stay there until all your senses degrade and leave you. You will stand until your eyes are that of a dead fish. Then, I shall free you. You shall wonder this world as a broken husk. My revenge has never been clearer.”
He leans close, staring deep into my soul. His eyes are… purple. He smirks. A voice claws and whispers in my mind.
“Now this is revenge.”
The ivy twists around my body. The calm, gentle leaves now hard, cold, and coarse. I cannot move. Ivy snakes around my torso and then hardens. It is hard to breathe. It wraps around my face. It hardens. Savra’s tip bursts through the hardened ivy, dangerously close to my eye. Then the other. Two slits allow me to see but a section of a room. There is no colour here, just blackness with a single ray of sunlight. My hand is wrenched open and something is placed in it. Then my hand is forced into a fist, holding something. I can do nothing but stand.
I… I was so close. Everything was so clear. I cannot stay in the past – I cannot let my mind return to what it was. I must move on. Eventually, I will return to Langnet’s road, it is only a matter of time. A form enters my field of view – it is Malz. He looks up at me and laughs. He lifts a tube and pushes it into my mouth. Lukewarm tasteless food is pushed through it. It has the texture of mush. Water is then run through it, gently enough so I don’t choke. I really am a statue now, huh?
Malz sits down in front of me and watches.
“You know, I could get used to this.”
Damn dreg. Struggling is useless but… wait, this whole suit of armor is made from ivy. It must still be somewhat alive. Somewhat malleable. There is potential here, no matter how small it is. A potential that I can move. I push against the ivy gently. Nothing. I push harder. Nothing. I push with all my might. Nothing.
Days pass.
Nothing.
Weeks pass.
Nothing.
Time passes.
Nothing. Wait. No. Something. Something. There is something. I am forgetting everything and something alike. What is something? What is everything? What am I? I am a statue, nothing more nothing less. I am a statue. Something tickles. I swat it away. Good, no more tickling. I must go. I walk. Weird plants get in my way. I swat. They don’t come back. Good. I walk. I walk. I walk. Black thing has line in it. I push line. Bigger box. I walk. There is thing. Thing that is not black and white. Thing that is fleshy and now red. Waving hands. I walk. Thing is small. Thing touches me. I push thing away. I walk. Thing speaks loudly. Don’t know what thing says. White thing with smaller black thingies. I push. I walk.
Green. Brown. Red. Yellow. Colour. Vibrancy. Light. Sounds. Tears. I… I am a statue. I… I am a thing. I… I am Fa. Fa? That sounds stupid. What am I? Maybe I will find it in this colorful place. I like the colours, they are pretty. Makes my mind feel fuzzy.
I walk.