Sacramento

To South

20 miles

The worn-out sign on Pleasant Grove road stood beside him as Alex gazed upon the unincorporated community sparsely littered with homes and covered with patches of green. The relatively scant housing added to the peaceful feel of Pleasant Grove right along with the grass-covered fields.

In the afternoon sun of a rather hot day for March, the cosiness, coupled with his exhaustion made him lethargic. It was so easy, he could just lay down here, right now, beside the road and it would be all over.

The nightmare that was the night in San Francisco, the constant exhaustion as he tried to get as far away from the place as possible, the lack of money forcing him to walk for hours on end as he was coerced to rely on others’ pity for food.

He didn’t even know how many days it had been since he was saved by that man- Anthony, it was all the same, night, day, just constant walking, trying to remove the haziness in his eyes, as he did the only thing he could do now- run.

The weight in his breast pocket, the badge and Themis, which had miraculously turned small enough to fit in there. Well, at least that saved him from the questions that would’ve followed by having to carry a longsword of all things while looking homeless. And with it now weighing almost as light as the Enforcer badge, the burden of carrying it was almost non-existent now.

He shook his head off, now was no time for other thoughts, he needed to continue moving.

Why, though? Why keep going now?

Because he needed to-

Needed to what? Hadn’t he done more than enough? He just wanted to rest damn it. He just wanted to sleep and just continue sleeping. Yeah, maybe he wouldn’t ever wake up and this won’t be the reality.

Stop that train of thought, other.

What is that to you, you don’t even bother answering any of my questions even when it is obvious you know them?

Your thoughts are turning suicidal, other. You die, we die.

Of fucking course. He had almost hoped for something kind to come out this time around. God damn it, he was tired of walking and walking for no other reason than being as far away from his home as possible. From the saviour, he had left to die, from the people he had killed.

Drip…Drip…Drip

Alex startled at the sound of something wet hitting the road. He looked around to find the source of it but to no avail.

Look at your face, other.

His face? Why?

After a moment of silence which had him figure that he wouldn’t be getting an answer any time soon, Alex looked at his face in the puddle somewhat ahead of him.

Oh, he was crying.

Why was he crying?

He had never cried. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He was not like others, he never cried, even as a baby, at least from what he knew. He didn’t deserve emotions like that, which allowed for relieving one’s burdens.

But, it was appropriate for an occasion such as this. Yeah. It probably was.

Sleep, other. You are doing no one any favours like this.

Suddenly a sudden haze overtook him, of tiredness he didn’t know of. Something in his brain urged him to sleep, wind stroking his hair tenderly, as a mother would to her child, Alex’s eyes started closing of their own volition.

Yeah, sleep sounded fine now. Maybe this would all end when he woke up.

And so, his thoughts never once leaving the thought that he was now able to cry and what it meant for him, Alex finally gave in and slept. Tears streaming down his face the whole time.

Of all my memories before I met her, the one when I met you stands out the most.

Amongst the haze of faces that could never be distinguished by me, you sat on a bench all by yourself, lost in your own world. Alone.

Mom and dad had left that day, another one of their business trips. I was bored, alone. I never had any friends, always found other kids to be too weird. They laughed without any reason to laugh, they played and ran and fell for no reason.

When I saw you then, at the same bench you sat on every day, the closest thing I could liken you to were the angels in the church mom and dad went to whenever they stayed for more than a month.

I was feeling a little curious that day, so I approached you.

I asked of you, “What is the reason you sit here every day?”

You didn’t laugh at me, a child questioning you about the purpose that guided you, you didn’t tell me to go play with the other children, to forget about why you did what you did and just do it.

You smiled, one full of emotions I could never grasp, and in a voice so enchanting I could swear it was magic, you spoke, “I sit here to look at the vast sky that never ends, to look at the falcons that soar above and beyond, to look at life that never stops, to look at the colours that paint this picture. I sit here, Alex, as a watcher, pondering upon what could’ve been. I sit here, as a dreamer, wishing endlessly of a fake dream.”

Your words were ever so enthralling, with a hint of poetry in them, enchanting me to a state of wonder I never truly knew. Perhaps that is why I never asked how you knew my name, even though we had just met, perhaps just another mystery of yours.

But even when the melody of your words had bewitched me, I saw the conflict in your eyes, one of sadness and longing, and I wondered, “But why alone, why do you watch the world alone?”

“Do you know why people symbolise the moon to be more lonely than the sun, Alex?”

You had asked, your eyes crinkling as if you had found the question amusing, “Even when it is surrounded by stars and the sun by none?”

I had shaken my head, intrigued,

“It is because even amongst the endless night sky, there is no one truly like it. That is my path Alex, full of regrets and pain, bereft of a companion. Of my only purpose, the one that defines me-”

And then, under the afternoon sun, in a meeting between my contrasting innocence and your harsh reality, you told me of your dream, the one you had told no one about, “Of tranquillity.”

The tranquillity that we both sought.

The night was dark, ominous, starlit. Under the clear sky of Pleasant Grove, the atmosphere was peaceful.

At least it was, until-

“AHHHHH”

-Alex woke up screaming.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Gasping he looked at his still shaking hands as the reality of what had happened came crashing down on him.

He had had a dream.

For most, this would’ve been a common occurrence, even though people had dreamless periods of sleep, they were rather rare. For him?

This was a-

Miracle.

Yes, a miracle seemed apt. It was a wonderful occasion really, he had been able to cry and dream, both in a single day. A small smile worked up on his face, littered with mud and dirt, maybe this all wasn’t completely bad after all.

And yet, the smile died, the dream was not simple. It was a narrative, a story that was narrated by, apparently enough-

You.

Yes, him.

“Do you have any idea what it was?”

Yes, I do, other.

“Care to share it with me?”

It is a memory.

“A memory?”

Yes, your memory, other.

His memory? But that was impossible, he had no recollection of the event, nor the stranger, he had interacted with and he was pretty sure he had no form of memory loss. Probably.

That only left things like his mind suppressing his memories, particularly the traumatic ones or some wizard doing an obliviation spell were both amusing and unlikely.

But, he looked at his hand, still charred from the fight that happened a few days ago.

The sword in his breast pocket, Themis, had never felt so heavy.

Alex gulped, was it possible that someone had altered his memories?

If there were people who could control fire, altering memories was not such a foregone conclusion. He needed answers, but the question was how?

I don’t have all the answers, other, I recommend finding someone with powers similar to the fire-wielder.

Yeah, that was a reasonable plan. Except he didn’t fucking know where to start, did he now?

Well, he wasn’t going to get any more sleep, perhaps he should take a stroll? Hmm. Maybe that would help. Also, it wasn’t like he had an option.

Pushing himself to his feet, Alex stood up and took off on a stroll.

The night was cold, contrasting the pleasant afternoon that had been cast over the streets of Pleasant Grove before he had fallen asleep.

Alex rubbed his hands upon themselves, it was pretty damn chilly here. He should probably leave by tomorrow, the night here seemed almost unsurvivable. And yeah, talking about unsurvivable, he needed to get some food and soon. His stomach was pretty damn empty.

In a moment of nostalgia, Alex reminisced about the days before shit had hit a ceiling, before his birthday when everything was normal.

Or perhaps, even before, when Emily was still there, a hand to hold on to save himself from drowning in the pitless ocean.

His eyes reflected a sense of longing, of sadness, yeah, maybe that would’ve been bett-

“I am out of this business, I didn’t sign up for no child trafficking. Give me my share and I am out.”

Several voices followed the loud proclamation, seemingly originating from the shed slightly behind him.

First of all, did these guys have no tact? What sorta people discuss criminal dealings this loudly? And secondly, child trafficking? What in the actual fuck?

He should probably go in there just to check upon these people, he had a mystical sword after all. Orrrrr he could just take a u-turn, report this to the police and escape from a possibly violent situation.

Well, this was not the perfect time for a hero complex.

Meh, what was the worse that could happen?

As stealthily as he could manage, Alex turned around and walked closer to the shed. There was a window there, nice.

Or not, it was closed, damn. These guys had a remnant of common sense. Wonderful.

Do not underestimate your opponents, other.

Yeah, his charred hands were a great reminder of that. Pressing his ear to the wall, Alex tried to listen to their conversation-

Thump

Alex winced, that guy was not getting up anytime soon.

“Ah, thought yeh had told him tat, lad’s gettin worked up on nothin.”

Now, that was a strange ass accent. One which probably belonged to citizens of Scotland or Ireland. He couldn’t really tell.

“Yeah, well, there were complications. We needed full co-operation to pull this off.”

“Yeh yeh, it be fine till we gonna get tat money as yeh said.”

“Mhm. It was not easy getting one of them, we will be set for a decade or so.”

Oh? Now wasn’t this interesting, the emphasis on them was quite the same one as by the fire chicken. Curious. Very curious.

Alex had heard enough by now, grasping the now fully sized Themis in his hand, which was full sized by now, don’t ask him how, he moved in front of the door and readied himself for the confrontation.

Bam

Alex barged in, breaking the rather flimsy door, and came face to face with-

Two knives, pointed straight at his face, the only reason he wasn’t beheaded by now was because of Themis, blocking the path of the knives. He didn’t have a shred of idea how his hands had moved that fast. Neither did he care to.

“Thought yeh wer smart, eh kid? Yeh didn fool no one here.”

Well, perhaps the situation was still salvageable, “I mean no harm mister, just came to ask a few questions.”

“Your sword tells a different tale, you are one of them, aren’t you? Came to take here, have you?”

Ah, well he tried at least. No matter. Pushing Themis with all his force, he disengaged from the stalemate. Peace was never an option, to begin with.

Heaving the sword over his shoulder, he let the sword of justice flow.

There is something poetic about violence.

Themis crashed against the unprepared men, catching them off guard.

Something fascinating about the way blood is spilt.

They tried their best, moving as fast as they could to avoid the sword.

A forbidden beauty,

And they succeeded too, partially at least. Blood spilt from the gashes they had been dealt by the sword.

An enthralling crudeness.

Their apparent relief was short-lived, however, as Themis expanded in size, not once stopping its momentum.

One I could not look away from.

There were no last words spoken, no flashes of memories. One moment they were alive, the next-

Even when the whole world around me burned.

-dead.

It made his stomach quelch, the killing. He swallowed the vomit arising in his mouth, this was not the time.

Themis had once again shrunk to its previous size, and Alex was once again lost in his thoughts, particularly regarding the guy who was knocked unconscious before the confrontation. Meh, he’d let him be. That guy didn’t even want to be a part of the child trafficking.

Wait. Human trafficking. Alex snapped out of his thoughts and scoured the room, there seemed to be some turbulence from behind the boxes to his far right.

Moving quickly, blood still splattered across his clothes, Alex began to shift the boxes and soon enough, his eyes found another pair of eyes. Ivory Black met Sky Blue and Alex looked at a girl, of fair complexion and blonde hair, hunched with her knees pressing against her chest, with eyes that held no small amount of fear.

She was bound in ropes, so Alex once again took out Themis, but before he could start to remove her out her bindings, he heard her whimpering. Looking at her once again, Alex realised the problem. The blood.

She had probably watched him kill those guys, and seeing him wielding the same weapon he had used to kill, was probably more than a little frightening.

No matter, he had a job to do. Misunderstandings could be cleared up later. Probably.

He carefully brought the now full sized sword to her arms, and cut the ropes open.

This time, when he brought the sword to cut open the article gagging her, her eyes were disbelieving as if she hadn’t even hoped of a positive outcome. He wondered what had caused her to be like this.

Ripping the cloth apart, he put the now shrunken Themis in his pocket and stood up.

When he looked down at her again, still in the same position except the ropes that had been binding her, her mouth open in a stupified expression, he could not help but smile. It had cost him almost nothing, except lost time to come here, neither had he gained anything from coming here, but in doing so he had saved her.

Saved her from a far worse reality.

Seeing her still in the same state, he offered his hand, “Do not be afraid. I am here for you now.”

She seemingly shook out of her stupor and looked at his hand, confusedly at first. But then she looked at his smile, one that seemed befitting of an angel and all semblance of hesitation left here.

Taking up his hand, she smiled too. One full of hope and wonder.

As she stood up, and looked at the face of the one that had saved her, she vowed that she would him to the pits of the hell he had saved her from.

And a pact was made-

Between a knight and her liege.

Between a girl and her saviour.