Chapter
31
Forging Infinity
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Rebecca and I hurried through the stretch of wilderness…
Behind the Recreational Facility. Or so I assumed we were behind the Recreational Facility, regardless of where we were, we were still surrounded by a bunch of imperfect woods.
Rebecca had a quicker stride than I, her grip was tight, and her panting had me worried… I knew she was afraid, but I didn’t know what to feel because after seeing Dr. Harris again I found this peace of mind.
A clearing finally appeared and we hit the branching pavement that lead to the Chapel and Jefferson Building. We took the opposite route that lead towards the Residential Areas.
“Wonder where Oliver is…” I muttered.
“I don’t know, your friend there said he was coming… when’s the last time you saw him?”
“Well… when I was attacked he was there warning the beast not to attack me, and then I found myself in the Medical Facility and Oliver and some other random Myrmidon speaking to me through speakers, I didn’t see their faces.”
I hesitated and tried to clarify my wording more specifically since I spoke so fast, I was confusing myself at the bundled gibberish just ejecting out of my mouth so sporadically, “Supposedly he was going to go to the Council. Something like that. So he could have easily been stalled, and not have any knowledge of the event that just pertained.”
I thought for a second, I completely forgot why he was going to see the Council for; I didn’t even know if he mentioned anything about it in the first place.
“But I honestly forgot anything else he said in the Medical Facility”
She turned around and rolled her eyes, “Come on Sam, these are important things you should be attentively listening to!”
“You want to hear something really strange though?”
“Ha-ha… because what just happened isn’t strange enough? Come on let me hear it.” Rebecca said eagerly.
“He was speaking to the Guardian and it sounded like it understood him, and he understood its growls!”
“That is uh… scary,” she took my hand again and dragged me with her, “Let’s go now.”
There were a bunch of other things they said but I didn’t feel the need to mention them to Rebecca at this time and place. I just felt so disgusting I wanted to get to the townhouse and take a nice hot shower and relax... and then perhaps I’ll mention more about the Myrmidons and Guardians blah, blah, and more blah...
“Sam you can shower in the main bathroom, I’ll go use my mom’s bathroom in her room.” Rebecca said, “The bag with your clothes and stuff are next to my bed in my room. I’ll see you in a bit.”
She hurried along and entered Ms. Malcolm’s room. Obviously Ms. Malcolm wasn’t home yet… I found it highly unusual. I felt worried, not just about her, but about Ms. William too…
That evening I had a dream…
“Outsiders…”
“Soulless Wanderers…”
My heartbeat felt spastic at the sound of those words.
“It’s been awhile since I’ve heard those words before…” I heard somebody mutter, “They were once thought to be archaic, something lost with time’s course onwards to infinity.”
I opened my eyes.
A clear stretch of treeless plains was accompanied by ominous storm clouds wafting over the horizon. The long, knee-high, grass danced with the inconsistent gusts of furious wind, and a light sprinkle started to trickle.
I saw the man standing not too far from me, his back towards me, and he stared ahead to what looked like a cliff edge. I couldn’t see his features; he had this long, black hooded cloak on that covered him from head to toe.
“We’ve sought through these barren fields of abandoned pastures in search of some anarchy that could have caused the folly or some higher knowledge to man’s past,” he turned and faced me, his face covered by a glinting silver mask, “Yet our search has been hopeless, since not a single trace of our origin has been found. Follow.”
He made his way towards the cliff edge, I followed him.
“Where are we?”
He faced me, the silver mask reflecting the many flashes of lightning sparking outwards the stormy sky. I saw myself too… my blurred face.
“Vanguard’s Altar, beautiful isn’t it? Even as the storm embraces it with its nurture. But enough questions, come, we must press on.”
The man knelt before the edge of the cliff and stared below.
There wasn’t much, the steep cliff lead down towards a beachfront made up of dirty ocean sand and murky, thunderous ocean water crashing over the surface.
He pointed down towards a single, ruined, archway, standing solely in the midst of the sand. Could that small heap of ruin be something our ancestors left behind? I couldn’t read his mind, and I wasn’t finding any point to this: or the reason he masks his face, or the reason why my face is blurred… I felt aghast.
“The ocean waters have washed away much bloodshed that’s spilt on that shoreline. Imperfections are wrought to be brought back in the same serene state of mind one came in when we awoke after birth. Innocence… all because the President wishes to forge infinity on the palm of his hand.”
“What are you getting at?”
I had a small hunch he was speaking of The Council President’s job, the one who forges ideology and concepts on how life should be maintained and kept… and even look like: Adorned… was I thinking this, how could this random thought blurt out of my mind as though I knew this? Ideology? Concepts on what? Examples how to run an entire species as he sees fit?
There I went again, thinking faster than my conscious could decipher my own contemplation.
“Mankind has a single falter in its humanistic system… we try to find reason where there’s none. We take a perfect civilization, crafted to endure hardships and follies where many other civilizations have come crashing down over… remove certain alienated rights: and then perfection is reached, and equilibrium has justified the loss. But, then again, there’s a small attribute that can’t be removed… and this attribute is what destroys many: curiosity, because of that single instinctive catalyst many have been put away… and watching that breaks my heart.”
“W-who are you?”
“I’m him; I’m the one who holds all truth in the blackest space in the corridors of my mind, I’m the one that holds to key to allow knowledge, to unlock the doors that detain many from seeing the light: I am him, I’m the President.”
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The Adorned Page 36