Awakening

by Hayden Pearton

Chapter XIX: True Awakening

  In which a new story begins...

  The glade. Everything always leads back here. This place... this meeting point... I cannot escape from its pull. I am bound to its soil, shackled to the land itself. It was here, all that time ago, that everything began. The bond, the link between us, this is its birthplace... its origin.

  Overhead, thousands of stars shine feebly, apathetic to the problems of this tiny, insignificant world. The scent of the grass, the soft bubbling sounds from the brook... this place is peaceful and perfect. I no longer fear the darkness. I no longer fear the Beast. This is my mind, and I am its master.

  “This place is peaceful.”

  Who is it? Who is the intruder who can read my thoughts? Of course, there is no need to look. There is only one person who can enter this place freely, because this place belongs to her as well. Alza, clothed in white and wearing a small smile, is walking towards me. She has... changed... since I first met her. More confident, more open and more beautiful.

  “I do not know what will happen from now on, but, while I have this chance... I- I wanted to say... Thank you, Barsch La Tergan, for protecting me...”

  I want to tell her so many things... what she has done for me... what she has helped me to realise, but the words will not come. Even in this place, even in our place, my words cannot reach her.

  “Now, I think it's about time we returned... to where we belong...” she whispers, slowly fading. I reach out to her, but before I can cross the distance between us, she is gone.

  “So this is where you go? Interesting.”

  Another familiar voice. Another familiar face. Terra, still clad in his earthly robe, has entered the glade.

  “You have done a great thing, Barsch La Tergan. Very, very few of your kind will ever have the honour of saving an entire world... but you have been chosen for greatness... for glory. Today, you took your first step on a path that will lead to your destiny, a great and terrible destiny. The road ahead is long and shrouded in darkness, but, at its end, you will find your true happiness. However, I am getting ahead of myself. For now, rest, for you have earned a small peace... and you will need all of your strength for what is to come...”

  Another message of thanks, another ominous warning... and another sudden disappearance. This place, this glade, is my centre, and it will never fade. But for now, it's time to awaken... and face the world once more...