by C. W. Trisef
“What have I done?” he said softly to himself, burying his face in his hands. “Ivan, the Guardian, Princess Alana and all her people, even Lye—all dead. And for what?” he asked, taking the Oracle from his pocket. “This? How can this be worth so much pain—so much loss?” He rolled the sphere from one hand to the other, then back and forth several times. It seemed such a small thing; it all felt so trivial. But, at the same time, the Oracle was breathtaking, awe-inspiring, and intriguing. And now it housed the first element of six: the earth element. Catching the rays of the waning sun, the soil shined with purity. Ret studied the pure element, noticing its true beauty and full majesty.
“So that’s it, huh?” Ana remarked as she and Paige approached Ret from behind. “We did all that for a piece of poop?” The girls inspected the element for the first time while Ret smiled at Ana’s playful humor. He knew her intent was to lighten his spirits. She had a knack for sensing other people’s moods.
“It’s tragic about all those people,” Paige observed in a somber tone, sitting down and scooting close to Ret on the crate. “My heart aches for what happened back there.” Ret was pleased to hear someone else express his similar sorrows. Paige’s words helped ease his burden and soothe his extreme pain. “We were worried you might not make it,” she said, resting her head on Ret’s shoulder.
“A part of me wishes I hadn’t,” Ret admitted. “Why did I survive when no one else did?”
“Well,” Ana said loudly, trying to shake Ret from his woes, “what’s done is done. There’s no turning back now. You did everything you could, right?” She sat down at Ret’s other side and supportively put her arm around his back.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Ret concluded, adding Ana’s encouraging words to what Alana and Lionel had already told him.
He held out the Oracle for all to see, with the earth element sparkling in the setting sun. “One element down,” said Ret, “five to go.” There, at the rear of the yacht, the three of them sat, talking and reminiscing—together—all the way back home.