*
In yet another place and time, a man sat cross-legged atop a spire made of rock. At first, he appeared to be sleeping, but his chest was moving too irregularly, and if one drew close, they would hear his chant.
“Darkness begets light. Fear begets hope. Despair begets courage. Winter begets spring. Death begets life. All is one, and one is all. Balance is ordered chaos. Chaos consumes order. Order stifles creation. Creation makes ideals. Ideals cause wars. Wars bring suffering. Suffering creates pain. Pain is balanced by joy, and joy brings forth balance. All is one, and one is all.”
“I'm surprised, I didn't think I would find you here.”
The man sitting on the spire did not look up as he said, “I always come here when I am uncertain.”
The newcomer had arrived on a gust of wind, which had carried her there from a distant sea. She took a moment to study the man sitting on the spire, noting the dark rings under his eyes, which had not been there when last they had met.
“Brother.” There was no response.
“Terra.” The man on the spire looked up at his sister, at Ion. Although her features were serene, like the surface of a clear lake, he knew that she was just as worried as he. “Why are you uncertain?”
Standing up, Terra let the spire of earth crumble away. He did not need it, but he liked the feeling of having something solid beneath him. Floating in mid-air may have been fine for Ion, but his place had always been on the ground, and he felt uneasy at having to stay airborne. “Ion, have you ever wondered... if we are doing the wrong thing? By waking Barsch, we have directly interfered with both his fate, and the fate of this planet... Maybe we should have left things as they were... as fate intended...”
Ion was not surprised to hear the words, as she had once thought the same. However, between the two of them, Terra had always been the one who had been so sure of their decision. To hear him speak like this was disturbing.
“So you believe that we should have done nothing, and watched as our brother did as he pleased? If we do not stop him, those humans down there will be defenceless. We were their gods once, and we abandoned them! We owe it to them, this chance to change their fate...”
“I know... I know, but we swore an oath, that we would never directly interfere with their lives again. Even if it was just manipulating a few tiny details, we still changed things. If... if He was still himself...”
Ion's expression softened as she glided closer to her worried brother. Placing a hand on his broad back, she said, as calmly as she could manage, “If our brother was still... himself... then you know that he would have been the first to do something. Remember when we were first told to leave the humans alone? That was the first time I'd ever seen him get angry... truly angry. He fought the hardest too, even when it was hopeless. He loved the humans more than anyone, and I know that he would have done whatever it took to ensure that they were safe.”
It was always hard to talk about Him, their beloved brother who had gone mad and sworn to rid the world of every last human. Whenever his name was mentioned, it brought back so many memories: memories of happiness and sorrow, of peaceful days and blood-soaked fights.
“But he's not that man anymore! Our brother is gone... gone forever. And if he is still in there somewhere, if a small part of him remains...”
“He would ask us to protect the humans, even if we had to cut him down to do so...” It was a hard thing to say, but Ion knew it had to be said.
“And what if we fail? What if we chose the wrong person? What if Barsch isn't the one we were looking for!”
It was another thought that had crossed Ion's mind more than once. If they had been wrong, then they lost. There were no second chances. “We just have to believe in him. We chose him because of who he is, not what he is. You know as well as I do, that there was no one else.”
“Born from death. Descended from greatness. Bearer of the Beast. Those were the markers. Those were the words that led us to him... But I'm worried. We've seen what lies in his heart... the rage that takes him... can we really entrust him with the fate of the world, when he can't even control himself?” Terra said, rising.
He had seen many things over the millennia. He had seen unbelievable cruelty, and miraculous compassion. However, nothing had ever shaken him as much as the sight of Barsch, wielding that screaming sword, cut down beast after beast without hesitation. He could still see the mad smile he had worn, as their blood washed over him. In sending him to confront the madman, had they created a new one? The thought was too horrible to bear.
“I trust him. And so should you. He's managed to contain the violence so far, so I want to believe that he will hold it in until the end,” said Ion, staring off into the distance. Out there, somewhere, was their last hope.
“And afterwards? If he loses to it then?”
“Then we will grant him mercy... and deliver him unto his mother.” There was no anger in her words, only compassion. Terra knew that she would feel no guilt afterwards… she truly would believe that she was acting out of mercy.
Ion's words had a sense of finality, so Terra reformed the rock spire and began his chant once more, while his sister vanished in a flurry of cooling rain.
Awakening Page 170