Chapter 59 - Ensandmanned Princess: Forever Resist, Kara!
Weeks passed before I returned to this. I wanted to abandon it, leave the three of them sleeping in bliss. I would go on to write children’s stories where drama did not rule over everything. The characters would be bright-eyed fools, and nothing too bad happened to them. I wanted to protect that innocence JJ championed. For that, I would need to fix what I broke inside Kara, what I fractured by trying to be something I always wished I was in secret. Maybe a part of life is meant to be disappointment, so that we sought completion through reproduction, channeling hopes and dreams into the children when they are but sponges.
No. I would never let that happen to someone created by me. I would never… It already happened with Rebecca. She split her mind because she saw mine. In her mind, that was the only thing she could do to connect to me, to try to help me. And for that, I spat in her face and shunned her. Not literally.
I shook the thoughts away. This was not about Rebecca anymore. This was about Kara, and Lila, and Tarne. I only wanted happiness for them. That meant having to let go, again. As much as this was journaling to me, a diary of a troubled mind, it was nothing of the sort to them. Having Tarne, forced on by my attempted suicide within the untethered space, gave Lila a new look at life she missed out on by living in fear of abuse and anger at those who hurt her. For Kara, it was a new connection after losing her husband of many lives. Not to mention what sort of new start this provided the refurbished soul of the monster Akier Vilamones Moredo.
I was once again the problem.
“Fyntn?” I asked the air, materializing in the library. A gash of amber opened to a swirling space which looked like the surface of a lake in the middle of the night on a clear day. The waves fractured the stillness of the stars, rippling the veil. “It’s time.”
“I’m glad you didn’t try to do it by yourself,” he said. “And that you finally mustered the nerve for it. I should warn you. Kara’s mind is unlike Lila’s or Tarne’s. The woman’s been in thousands of different worlds. She met all sorts of beings, big and small. You have to be ready for just about anything.”
“I understand,” I said. “Doesn’t stop me being afraid though. Could she really have the power to trap me inside?”
“I don’t quite know,” Fyntn said. “Her Nth Goni is royalty, constantly under strict protection. I wish we could just find him, and get all the answers there, but we will just need to step lightly within.”
“We?” I asked. “You’re going in?”
“I have to,” Fyntn replied. “I have to hold the bridge between you and her open. A simple creationism spell will not work here. Let’s not waste any time. You’re low on it already.” He held out a three-fingered hand to me. I grabbed hold as he jumped into the air, dragging me behind him with no effort. When I opened my eyes again, we stood between two gashes in the air. The surrounding space was darkness, shifting like oil on water with gradients of darkness.
“Where is this?”
“Pocket dimension,” he said. “I made one between her mind and your spot in creationism of the virgin existence. Off you pop. I’ll keep these open to pull you out.” I stepped over to the amber gash on my right. “The other one.” I walked over to the other amber gash into a swirling field of stars, and hesitated. Fyntn was there to help me out by pushing me through with a foot so I did not have to make a conscious choice.
I expected a wild mess of worlds all chaotically blazing around the ivy, lighting green corridors between gems and the old version of Rahin tearing them to shreds. Instead, I was welcomed in the darkness by a well-lit table, where Kara sat, just as young as the first time I interacted with her before Lila. She motioned to an empty chair at the table without a word. I stepped forward, but hesitated at the chair.
“Sit, Jack.” She said, finally. “Sit so we can get this shit over with.”
“What are we getting over with?”
“You really think of me so lowly not to know exactly what this is?” Kara said, while I took a seat. “You’re here for a memory of mine. A memory that you need from me so that I don’t remember that Tarne is Akier. I’m here to defend my claim to the memory.” I sighed.
“I was expecting something more…”
“Chaotic?” Kara asked. “I’ve mastered my mind above all, but here is a small taste of what you were expecting.” The room lightened up to show walls as if a glass tank in the middle of a vast ocean. I looked back just in time as a giant swimming maw inhaled us. I twitched. Inside the creature, the moments of her life exploded like screens on the living membrane. We traveled safely in our little glass box into the depths of the creature, and through it as green viscera coated the glass accompanied by orange slush.
The box next ventured into a green corridor, where the Infinity Void appeared in full view, dazzling in the distance of a giant cavern of glowing gemstones, clumped together, and floating loose. In the corner of my eye, I saw a shimmering red and black series of scales, but did not have a second to turn as the sharp teeth of the jaw impacted the box. The thud they made reverberated in the small enclosure, shivering my whole body.
“Stop,” I said. Kara waved a hand as the room returned to darkness.
“Had enough?”
“Yes,” I said. “I don’t have a lot of time.”
“You have all the time in the world,” she said. “You’re not leaving until we clear this up. I am not going to forget Akier Vil Moredo, or what he did. I will not forget that Tarne is the refurbished Akier. I will not give you what you want from me. What I’m curious about is what you will say to get me to let you out of here. I take it you’ve disabled James’ replica?”
“Yes,” I said. “You made James into the Keir AI? What happened to him? Did he die suddenly? Did someone kill him?”
“I did,” Kara said. I shook my head in disbelief. “I see you don’t believe me. Let me show you.” She waved a hand to turn the darkness to the scene of her holding a dagger up against James Denizen’s throat. Both looked beaten and worn out. James was bleeding from his left eye socket, missing an eye, and Kara’s left arm was missing.
“Do it,” James said. “This doesn’t end unless you kill me! DO IT!” He grit his teeth as blood tears ran together with the rain where they stood. Kara was crying equally, breathing hard from what looked like a difficult fight.
“I’ll love you forever, James, my denizen,” Kara said, in the scene, as she slid her blade over his neck to a flow of blood looking dark green in the light around them. Kara held him up as the blood rolled out, and his mouth opened in shock. She hugged him with the arm remaining as both fell to their knees, Kara embracing him from behind, sobbing into his back with the blade that killed him still in her hand. She wound up the blade to stab through both of them toward herself, but another figure stepped up to hold her hand back.
“Don’t! Let me die!” Kara screamed into the rain of the clearing. “I couldn’t save him. I couldn’t…” She struggled against the man’s grip, but he only snapped her wrist to let the shortsword go.
“Your story isn’t over,” he said. “It all comes together in the end. Trust me.”
Kara crumpled up in the soaked ground for a moment before letting out a guttural scream of pain and sadness that reverberated in the forest. The scene cut to black at the table in the darkness. I was confused, but ran some possible scenarios of someone turning James against her. Could it have been…?
“Yes, Jack,” Kara said. “That was Akier’s doing. He tried to kill my son, and then he made me kill the love of my life, and you’re still here to make a case for him. I’m supposed to forget that and raise him in Tarne’s body as MY CHILD!? YOU WANT ME TO LOVE THAT MURDERER?! THAT MONSTER?!” I shivered at the burst of volume in the glass box.
“I just want to give Tarne a chance,” I said.
“THERE IS NO TARNE!” Kara responded, then tried to calm herself, but twitched at the leveled expression. “YOU WERE HER! THEN YOU LEFT! NOW IT’S JUST AKIER!” The voice was getting louder, shaking the glass and reverberating wildly in my ears. I tapped my hand on my shoulder for Fyntn to save me. A hand reached my shoulder from behind.
“I have to go,” I said.
“OH NO YOU DON’T!” Kara said, shrinking the glass box to just the table and us. I could no longer feel the hand on my back. I tapped my shoulder again, but nothing happened. “You think Fyntn can beat me? Think again. He’s just a lame little Goni. I have one of those, too.”
“Fyntn?” I asked while looking around the confined space. An amber gash opened up on Kara’s body. I knew that was all that he could muster, but I had to take it. I reached out toward her, with the kindest feeling I could. The second my finger touched that starcast surface, I was back to my reality, past the untethered space where I entered. I heard Fyntn sigh, and also sighed before leaving to get work started. I had to keep trying.
break
The next day, I hesitated about going in. What could I say to her? She dropped a heavy realization on me about James. Having thought that he died a normal death, this one hurt. Could Tarne be held responsible for it? There was no way. She was a child, no longer remembering things because of the time reset. I did a horrible job of keeping that one secret from them, and so threw the happy trio into chaos again. There had to be a way to get Kara to give up the memory of that moment. I had to try again.
I entered the library again, remembering that I separated the three princesses into three rooms. I missed their voices, not screaming at me. Fyntn was at my side again, and shifted us into the portal-based vestibule without a word. I had no idea how he could convey such emotion with those strange eyes, but I knew how he felt.
“I’m ready,” I said. His hand pushed me into the portal again, this time arriving in the middle of the forest. The green encapsulated all vision, with tree trunks layering vertical dark lines over the verdant environment. I looked around for something different, but found nothing that stood out. I could walk, but there was no direction or destination to go toward that made sense. I was stuck with the decision of what to do.
“KARA!” I called out at the top of my lungs. The sound reverberated a little bit, but ultimately got absorbed into the tree trunks. “KARA, I JUST WANT TO TALK!” I scanned all the directions of the endless green. I would feel at peace here, if only there was a little cottage and a clearing where I could unwind.
“I know what you want from me,” a whisper flew beside my ear on a slight breeze, before a gale of air slammed up against my body, knocking me up against a tree. “You want a memory. You want me to forget. You want me to live in ignorance, to raise a monster.”
“He’s not a monster anymore!” I argued. “Someone killed him! Someone defeated him! Akier Vil Moredo is dead! He died, and he got consumed by the Rahin! After all the chaos and memories were gone from him.” Though he did prepare for it with void amalgams that Fyntn helped me destroy.
“HE IS STILL HERE!” Kara burst out, showing up as a thicket of trees in the shape of her head. An arm of branches appeared out of nowhere to point at her head. “HE IS ALIVE IN MY SUFFERING!”
“But that’s not who Tarne is,” I said. “She’s not him. She’s not even related to him. She is a product of me and Lila, and the freedom of creationism. It’s my fault that…” I did not want to even mention his name. Kara was already lost in her own mind as is. I had to try something.
“Akier is gone,” I said. “What was left of him, a ghost, lacking memories of the things he had done, is inside Tarne. That’s my fault! So, hurt me. Do anything you like to me, but DON’T TAKE IT OUT ON HER! DON’T MAKE HER OUT TO BE THE ENEMY! I DID THIS! I’M THE ENEMY IN ALL THIS!” The branches swirled around me, beating up my body into a pulp. Even if this accomplished nothing, Kara could vent a bit in her mind. Before I was entirely liquid from the wailing forest, Fyntn pulled me out from the grasp of the branches.
“What’s the point of that?” He asked.
“I had to try something,” I replied. “This is going to be a process, I’m afraid. I will keep trying.”
“Ok.”
“I have to go,” I said. “Thanks for your help.”
Fyntn only nodded sadly, and skipped up into a portal above him. I clenched my fist, remembering the lashing of the forest against my skin, and grit my teeth. That was the pain Kara felt all the time, just beyond the surface. I had to find a way to help her.
break
I came back the next day, with a morning that started off late. With the little amount of time I had, I should not have even bothered trying, but the likelihood of coming back outside of this timeframe was low. With the Thanksgiving weekend coming up, I would be away for four days. Maybe they would give me a chance to think up a way to get Kara to listen. For now, I wanted to speak to her, rather than get beat up.
I entered the library to have Fyntn waiting there for me. We said nothing, only nodded at each other. He pulled me into the vestibule for Kara’s mind.
“Good luck,” he said.
“Thanks,” I replied, and jumped into the portal leading to Kara’s mind. This time, I was welcomed by the scorching red light of an active volcano. I stood on the lava, and felt my legs melting for a moment before I ran over to the side and assured myself they were not melting. Above, at the volcano mouth, four strings bound a person to the middle. It felt like an execution in the most brutal and crazy way. The planet itself would rise to melt you to nothing. All the while you’d hang there roasting, unable to do anything to even speed up the process.
I squinted my eyes at the person bound by the ropes, and nearly had a heart attack. It was Rebecca. No, this was Kara messing with me. Nevertheless, I had a deep urge to help her. I sure missed my creationism, but decided to climb up to the ropes. The design was so that even if freed from three ropes, the person would fall bound to the last strand long enough to hit the lava surface. The solution was simple enough. Two ropes had to be cut at the same time, leaving the person close to the wall of the volcano, and safe from the lava.
“I’m coming, Rebecca!” I shouted, already halfway up the wall. I may not have had creationism, but my delusions were in full swing. Believing that I could ascend that wall, pushed me upward with the hot air. When I was on the top ledge, Rebecca struggled on the lines.
“Stay still!” I shouted over. “I’m climbing over!” She looked at me, then continued struggling against the ropes. I could not wait until she stopped.
“Don’t!” She shouted. I paused, already halfway to her. “She’ll kill me! She said she will kill me if you try to rescue me!” Damn Kara. It was a clearly a trap.
“We’ve gone through worse!” I shouted over.
“What?!” She shouted. “I don’t even know who you are!”
I felt a dagger in my heart. That hurt more than anything. It even hurt reading it back over when editing. Kara designed it that way. Rebecca, who helped me, saying she knew nothing of who I was. It was a great strike Kara managed. I kept climbing over to the girl, and undid two ropes at the same time. The remaining ropes had us much closer to the wall. We could swing over and grab it, but the lava underneath us bubbled up slowly. I looked into it as Kara’s face appeared. I sighed, but hugged Rebecca while I could. The girl turned into a body pillow, dropping me into the mouth of the angry Kara lava face. Before I made contact, Fyntn pulled me out, still clutching a strange body pillow with an anime version of Rebecca on it.
“I’ll think up some other ways to talk to her over thanksgiving,” I said.
Fyntn said nothing, only grimaced. I grimaced, too. It was looking increasingly impossible that I would be able to talk sense into Kara about forgetting. I couldn’t give up, for Tarne’s sake. I left the library dejected, ruining my mood for the day.
Comments
Post a Comment