I went back to Langnet road’s entrance after the week was done, only for the door to be… locked? No, not locked. There is no lock on these doors. Jammed. No matter how much effort I put into it, I could not open the door. Maybe I should bring Fa back and let him open the door? Wait… where is the knife? It is not in my bags, or supplies, or equipment, or belt – it is nowhere to be seen. How could this be? Who would take it? I turn and run. I must have forgotten it – I return to the barracks and search my room. Nothing. It is completely empty, outside of the bed and an unlocked and cleared chest. I find a guard and explain the situation. The guard leads me to a captain and I explain once more. We search my room to reveal nothing. We return to the entrance and… it is completely jammed. More guards are directed over to the entrance and we try to ram it open. We use crowbars. Nothing works. The more we work, the more it feels like this door is not being jammed – something from the inside is holding it closed. Maybe a rock fell? No, such a thing cannot happen. I… I cannot see any futures where a rock fell, or one where we can open the door, or one in general. Nothing more than a faint smudge. I am… myself once more. How? I know not. The plane has blessed me with the potential for a new, fresh life. The captain shouts some orders and then turns to me, perplexed and fearful.
“Gan, in the existence of Langnet’s road, this has never happened.”
“So… what can we do? I want to return but… I can’t. I don’t have the knife; I don’t have the visions beyond a slight shimmer of potential. What… can I do? How can I help?”
“I… I don’t know. Gan, I have given orders for guards to tell the other planes what’s happened here. We will wait for a response. If one of them is open, we will have to send you through to see what is going on.”
“Has there been a change in the roads before? If I recall… well, never mind. I heard some things in the road but that could have all been lies. Insanity. Existentialism incarnates.”
The captain raises an eyebrow before their stern, calculated face returns. “Yes, at first, the road was open and free to use. Anyone could walk it but then, one day, people started reporting that there were monsters inside. There shouldn’t be monsters inside the road because they are all born in the places outside of the planes. Yet the reports continued. Eventually, people started disappearing. Monsters poured out and there was a great battle, a battle that brought the planes together and formed an alliance. We sent armies into the road at first, but none returned. We then sent a few great warriors, and they made it through. Every week, they would do a march in order to kill off the monsters inside. The death march, it was called. Then, they started going insane. Cursed. So we sent in criminals who were strong enough to defeat monsters by themselves, as they were monsters in human skin themselves. Thus, Deathrows march was created.”
I nod along, surprisingly, this does line up with what the Watcher said. So… that was not a complete lie. I don’t know what is truthful and what is a lie at this point. Everything could be twisted – by Wol’zarath, I could still be walking the road, hallucinating this whole experience. This could be one long future used to torture my psyche, yet it feels so real. Real in a different manner to what I’ve experienced before.
“So, when last something changed, there was a great war. But the doors have never been closed like this?”
“No, if anything, chaining the doors close was one of humanity's main tasks.”
Ah, that explains the chains on every door.
“So… what does this mean?”
“Well, the dreg knife is no longer in your possession and the doors are locked. Your curse is beginning to fade. These things have never happened before. Dreg weapons don’t just leave, they stick. They will always stay with their owners. This is… different.”
I have never heard a captain so… worried before. Their voice shakes with uncertainty, it is like they are second-guessing every word as it comes out, and every thought as it pops into their mind.
“Gan, enough waiting. Please, return to your room. Stay there until we get word from the others, then we will figure out what the next steps are.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Yes Sir!”
The captain nods and walks away. I return to my room and sit down on the bed. The knife. Savra. It’s gone and so are my visions. My torment. The feeling that something was trying to claw out from my very consciousness. The only possible explanation is that somehow, Fa left me in another body. With Savra, he returned to Langnet’s road and did… something. Something that left the road inaccessible. If that is true, every door to Langnet’s road will be unopenable. All I need to do is wait a few weeks and then we shall see.
A few weeks pass. I am awoken by someone knocking at my door. A guard opens it and hands me a letter. The guard leaves me and I carefully peel off the seal and reveal a short-handwritten message.
Dear Gan Galeweaver,
Every plane has reported that their entrances to Langnet’s road are all blocked.
All the captains have been called to an emergency meeting. A war with monsters might be afoot.
While the road being blocked is strange, the strangest thing of all is that not a single monster has been sighted. They have all just disappeared. They are creatures native to this world, so either something is killing them all off, or they have gone somewhere and are doing something we cannot explain.
You have been reinstated as Guard number 3812.
You are to stay in the plane of potential and guard the gate. If an entrance opens, you will be taken to it and will be the first to enter and report what is inside.
Your crime has been dropped for now. One misstep and you will be thrown in prison or executed.
Regards,
Captain of Potential
Now it is confirmed. The roads are all blocked. So, there is surveillance on every door and if one opens, I am back to walking the cursed road. But that aside – I am a guard again? I am free? One misstep and I am going to be sent to prison? Please, I will never misstep again. This is an incredible second chance I have been given. I… I do not deserve this but… there is the potential that I could truly be free. I am free. I am free! Free from the curses, from the watcher, from the road, from Fa Fumerunner and that damned Savra. Free from my torture. Finally.
What does this mean? What is the future of the world? Could Fa have somehow saved us all by striking a deal with the Watcher somehow – No, that can't be. There is something brewing but fuck it, I am free. But what if – by Gan’la, I am free. Let me enjoy my life for once.
I am free, I am free, I am free!
How could I do anything but cry.
Hours pass until I manage to calm down. My cheeks hurt from smiling too much – I never thought air would taste so sweet! I never thought being told to go back to work would feel so good. All my worries have been washed away, but I know there is something coming. I lie down and go back to sleep; I have a long day ahead of me. Darkness washes over my consciousness and sleep takes its gentle hold.
I am… fire. A black flame; burning darkness with a purple center. I rise and my vision expands. I can see a large perfectly straight black cross raised high into the air. I cannot see what is below or above, but I can see what is blocking the doors – roots of a massive, endless tree cover the entrance, wrapping around the metal… road. Langnet’s road.
“Watcher, now you understand.”
“Yes Watcher, I do. Nature screams for help, so we must help it.”
“Indeed. It seems she wants to help you. It was hard to see what you were doing at that time-”
“I returned bodies to where they belong before becoming Dreg. I fed her, so she wishes to feed me.”
“Ah…” the voice is slightly annoyed, “I see. How irritating but alas, that shall not happen again.”
“Indeed, it shall not. Say, Watcher, you already rule the world through Dreg. Why do you need me?”
“Simple, I am vengeance. I am relentless. I am everything humanity is – everything humanity truly is but there is one thing I am not, and that is good. When I cursed you, I realised that you are the missing piece to my puzzle. You cannot be evil. You have been broken down so much that your ability to commit evil deeds has been ground to dust.”
“…yes.”
“So, you are the perfect final piece. I can do so much, but without a reason, it will mean nothing. Without kindling, the flame will die before its even begins. Without a path and oxygen, even the brightest flame will fade. You are that path. That oxygen. That kindling.”
“My role is to… guide you?”
“Yes. Think about it this way, my dear Watcher. Look at the world and the people who come here. Tell me who is worthy of torment. Tell me who is worthy of death.”
“…I cannot kill – we cannot kill, and yet I can see the flaws of the world so clearly, for I was instrumental in creating them. I am an unforgivable entity, so I can spot another. Everything is corrupt, so I would say everyone deserves torment. A short torment that shatters the glass box they created. Fear so strong that it pulls everyone together, strong or weak. A bond so palpable that… that everyone can experience the statue's bliss. I suppose once people run out of excuses, they will have no choice but to change.”
“And what about you?”
“I want bloodshed. But blood does taste best when it is flowing fast. Torment is the way to achieve that.”
“Vengeance, goodness, and bloodshed. We are complete. We are the perfect weapon to break humanity's bones for what they have done. Do we have a deal?”
“Deal.”
“Deal.”
https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FtijBGeo.png [https://i.imgur.com/tijBGeo.png]