*
Barsch, pondering the re-mech’s strange behaviour but deciding that it was beyond his comprehension, finally made his way to Kingston. The old man was sleeping peacefully, though the dried tear marks running down his face spoke of a tormented sleep. Barsch was loathe to wake the hermit, but Alza was right, the sooner they left the better. Gently, Barsch woke the aged traveller. For an instant, the old man’s face was a mask of confusion, and then his dream faded and was replaced by cold-hard reality. With a great many groans and sighs, Kingston got to his feet.
Muttering about how a man of his age should be allowed to sleep in, he wandered over to the water. When he got there, he was met by Alza, who had just finished. He paused and gave her a strange stare, before shaking himself out of it and continuing past her. However, as he drank from the refreshing spring, Barsch caught him staring at her more than once.
After gathering the last of their belongings, the still sleepy group set off. They travelled at a conservative pace, as hurrying along in a desert would only bring exhaustion and death all the sooner. With Alza taking the lead position, and Maloch bringing up the rear, Barsch found himself walking alongside Kingston.
Mustering up the courage to ask what was surely a foolish line of questions, he said, “Kingston, I need your advice on something.”
Immediately Kingston turned to him -without losing his stride- and said, “I would be happy to help m’boy. Now what is it that bothers you?”
Barsch struggled to find the words to explain himself, without coming across as hysterical or nonsensical. Eventually, he settled on, “Well... you see... last night I had a rather strange dream. I know that this will probably sound crazy to you, but you and Alza were in it and... and it wasn’t like anything I’ve ever had before. There were these people, only... they weren’t really people at all. They were more like gods trying to look like ordinary people. And... and they told us about how the universe began, and how they had looked after humanity for aeons, and how they were giving us a second chance to redeem ourselves. Their names were-
“Ion and Terra.”
The old man, who had been listening with a fading smile on his face, nodded once, confirming Barsch’s hopes and fears.
“So it was real?” Another nod. “I can’t believe it… I mean, I think I met Terra while I was walking through the desert, but I think part of me believed that he was a hallucination. To think that I lived on this planet for sixteen years and never once heard anything about them… Have you ever heard of them?”
“Yes, although it was a very long time ago. My mentor would sometimes mention them in passing: The Avatars, the physical manifestations of our planet’s will. At the time I believed that he was merely theorizing, but now I think that he had figured out something that no one else had. He was convinced that our planet was alive, and since it was alive, it must have a will of its own. He theorized that our continued efforts to pollute and destroy our world would cause that will to take action. And what would that planetary will… that world conscience, think when it saw us running away instead of trying to fix things.”
“I guess that makes sense…” replied Barsch, more confused than ever, “I did see Terra treat the world as if he was a part of it.”
Barsch thought for a moment before asking, “Kingston… do you think that Ion and Terra are gods?” Barsch shuddered at his own question, thinking of all the prayers he had said in his life going to someone like Terra.
“Yes, and no. I believe that our ancestors saw them as such, and I can see why. But I do not believe that they are gods. As for why I think so… I don’t think I could explain it in words that you would understand. Sorry.”
“It’s okay, I think I understand. But if they are a part of the planet’s will, then surely their names should be more well-known? I mean, we once worshipped them as gods… how could we have forgotten them?”
“Many things have been forgotten over the centuries, things have disappeared from our collective knowledge without us even realising. Think about the ancient cultures we know of. They all had their gods, sometimes thousands of them at once. I can understand how two names could have been lost to time and decay. And besides, something tells me that the Avatars are not fond of people knowing that they exist. They left humanity so that they would not overly influence our development, and I believe that even now they are following that tenet.”
They walked in silence for a few more minutes as Barsch tried to process everything he had heard. It was all too much to take in. A few days ago he had been trying to escape a doomed city, and now he had been charged by pseudo-gods to find and stop a madman trying to destroy the world. A part of him longed for the days when he had simply had to focus on finding Kingston’s medicine. Another part of him had an even greater longing for those relatively peaceful days he had spent with his father. Life had not been easy, but it had been simple. Find food, find drinkable water, flee from the pollution, repeat. No gods, no Avatars, no weight of the world on his young shoulders.
“What do you think we should do about our… task?” he asked, eventually.
Kingston did not answer for several long minutes, his eyes staring off into the distance… towards where the sun would set later that day.
“I don’t know m’boy. For now, we are a long way from home and we only have one direction we can take. But if I see a way for you to get back to the Station… However, if there is truly no alternative… then I could not think of anyone more suited to stop a genocidal madman. You, Alza and even Maloch have accomplished things that I never thought possible. If anyone can save our world, it would be you.” There was a touch of pride in Kingston’s voice, but it was edged with worry.
His spirits lifted, Barsch allowed himself to be caught up in the old man’s bravado. He knew that Kingston was simply trying to make him feel better, but at that time it was what he needed to hear.
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