[indent]Oh, you want me to talk about the journey, huh? It was boring, plain 'n simple. Can I get back to resting now?[/indent] [sub][sub]no the readers demand a story[/sub][/sub] [indent]Oh alright fine. Jeez, as if it wasn't enough to please the voice in my head. Well, immediately after the confrontation between the knight, the shifty dude, myself and the lady, the knight finally spoke.[/indent] [b]“I know not what manner of man you are, but your words ring more reasonable than you would have us believe you are capable of. For now, we must avoid bloodshed. We can discuss our predicament in due time, but such a concentration of sane souls is surely like a beacon to whatever lurks above the valley walls.”[/b] [indent]Just the words I'd been wanting to hear. With my hands raised again, perhaps to thank whatever worthless gods had put me here, I shook my head in exasperation, making the bells attached to my hat dance and jingle again. "Fina-fuckin'-lly, someone else agrees with me in this shithole. Now can we get going? I think if we stay 'round here too long somethin' nasty's gonna jump out of the trees and get us." And get going we did, for a day or two, at least, the only stops made were to rest and relieve ourselves or to eat and hydrate, which I did so thankfully. Rationing out my meagre supplies was doing well, since I was travelling alone and all, but I wouldn't last a week more without fresh stuff. And since the only thing we'd been doing on the journey was talk amongst ourselves, a resupply was hard to come by. I'd been talking to the lady a lot though, she was kinda nice, though I knew she thought of me as a crazy ass for not takin' off my hat or my mask. Truth be told...I didn't really trust anyone here, not even myself, frankly. The Assassin, now he was the one to be scared of, not me. Hearin' his words on bein' bred and trained to be a living weapon...he frightened me on an inner level. I knew I was a soldier or a sword of some kind, that's what I vaguely remember, but having spent your life knowing nothing but killing and death? That's crazy. When he asked the question though...[/indent] [i][color=red]"I spent so much time trying to find a rational explanation for this irrational place, but it seem another approach needs to be considered. I know I killed a lot of people, and even more that I probably don't remember anymore. It makes sense I was thrown here, if it is indeed hell. What about you?"[/color][/i] [indent]Sent chills down my spine, it did. But he had a point: maybe we were sent here for a reason? I'd killed a fair few in my time, I remembered this, but I never did consider that it would be a fair enough reason to send me to the land down under. Besides, as much as the Assassin there wanted to believe we were in hell... "Y'know, somethin' tells me in a place far worse than hell, pal. What sick, twisted mind thinks up a place like this? Where all we have left of our lives are our memories? And, if what we talked about earlier is true, we lose them when we die? Who's just so fucked up in the head to do that to a person?" It just didn't make sense, but I guess things like this never were to make sense anyway. It was stupid thinking about it too, and so I lapsed into silence. Better not to say anything if you didn't have anything good to say, right? Eventually the Knight came to rest under the shade of a large...rib. [sub][sub]is that a joke[/sub][/sub] It's where we all stopped as well. I had a flint and tinder with me, but as much as I wanted to build a fire I decided against it. I didn't know what horrors lay in the mists in this valley, but I sure as hell didn't want to find out by attracting attention, so instead I sat on the cold ground, unsure of what to do. After a while, there began a conversation, started by the knight, of course.[/indent] [b]“I have walked the land for… A long time. I had counted six-hundred turns of the light before I stopped. That was long, long ago. I do not know where I come from, or why I am here, and I guess none of you do either. When I first awakened, I made it to the mountain. I do not remember what I found but there was life and luxury, but something within killed me. When I awoke again, I could not approach the mountain no matter how hard I tried. I was missing something, but I cannot remember what; something physical, maybe a memory made real? Every time I died, I drifted further and further from that place, as though it were punishing me for losing my mind. Whatever lies beyond is where we must head. We cannot do it alone, but I fear we may be missing something important of ourselves… but what that is, I do not know.”[/b] [indent]Interesting. I took a mental note of that, maybe even made a memory out of it or something. I didn't know how things worked here about remembering things that just happened. Maybe those were memories that weren't affected by dying? The new memories we made in this world were definite and distinct, instead of being a liability like our old memories? Bored and without anything to do other than listen, I instead unstrapped my lute from my back and began to pluck [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-6IUdV2dos] a simple, soft tune.[/url] Something I remembered from my life. Something...decidedly warm, though soft, slow, but it reminded me of home. Of love, life, peace and tranquility. Of...warm blankets and the sun shining in through the window in the morning, and other warm and fuzzy feelings like that. It fit, kinda, and maybe I did want to cheer these guys up. No smiles, no feelings, no nothing? That wasn't her at all. My sweet daughter. Tender as a flower and a smile as sweet as honey. This tune was....important to her, I thought. It felt that way, but I just couldn't remember. Then the lady spoke.[/indent] [color=green]"I don't think this place has an explanation. It just is. It is not hell, it is not heaven - 'sides, you heard what he said, the mountain has beasts, too -, it is just a place where all lost things end up, perhaps, and either disappear or become something else when they forget who they were before, or manage to find themselves again against all odds. In any case, it is our home now - there is no further down, and there is no way back to our old lives. I don't think we've all been to the mountain. I was not really heading towards it when I met you lot, just trying to find drinkable water. And even if we would all eventually wander towards it, then there should always be a first time for ending up here, in this world. One before deaths. I admit, there is little I know of this place, aside of things I simply know. It feels like I have been here for a long time, but I don't know how long, or even whether I have died here before."[/color] [indent]"Well maybe you'd remember if you died? Like our friend mister Knight here, didn't you say you remembered when you died? I sure would. I'd never go out without a fight and that's no lie. Well, anyway, I sure as hell don't remember dying myself, I just remember waking up in this weird-ass place, then spotting mister Knight here in the distance and following him for a while. Then all you guys showed up and here we are now, a happy little party of sorts." I sighed. Truth be told I was far from happy, though I was trying to lighten the mood with my music. This place was the pits. There wasn't any...feeling to it at all. Just a whole lot of nothin', and trust me, a whole lotta nothin' is really scary in a place like this. You're expectin' things to jump out at you from the shadows, you're expectin' to get attacked and eaten or mauled or ripped to shreds or whatever, not...lost, confused and alone, trapped in a nightmare world with nowhere to go except forward, not knowing where that would take you. It was a frightening concept, one I didn't entertain that well in my head. I was...scared, yeah. As much as I hated to admit it, I was scared. Here I was, possibly the most normal person in this ragtag bunch of misfits (don't let the lady tell you otherwise), and everyone else wasn't scared, so why was I the only one that felt fear? Didn't anything else in this gods-forsaken world scare anyone else here? Were they used to it? Were they mad? I didn't know. This whole place was foreign, these people foreign too. Ugh. What was I getting myself into? Maybe I should've just...laid down back in that field of obelisks, waited to die until I lost everything. Then maybe I would've just...shut down, not cared, maybe died the final death I needed to escape this god awful place, this...this madhouse. I felt a tear trickling down my cheek, which prompted me to reach up and wipe it away, but my finger crumpled into my mask. Silly me. I took it off and laid it on my knee. My face wasn't exactly a picture of handsomeness, it was rough and tumble, something you'd expect on a man my age. Weary, tired, aging, possibly going mad, but above all just...done with it all. My only determination now was to go home, to get back to my family, to say 'screw you' to this whole thing. Maybe it was why I was still alive and not lying dead somewhere back there. Maybe it was why I was with these guys, cause they sure were the only things I had here besides the clothes on my back and the gear I carried. Maybe I was with them so I didn't feel so...alone.[/indent] [sub][sub]just give up you won't get home not now not in a million years[/sub][/sub] [indent]... Ah to hell with it. Voice in my head? Fuck you, fuck off. I don't know why I'm here or whether I can go home, but whatever it is, I'll keep my goddamn memories of my family and my songs. You can go fuck off to wherever crazy head voices go. Me? I think I'll sing a song.[/indent] [hider=Don't like it? Tough luck, cause here I go.] [center]Flock of birds Hovering above Just a flock of birds It's how you think of love And I always Look up to the sky Pray before the dawn 'Cause they fly always Sometimes they arrive Sometimes they are gone They fly on Flock of birds Hovering above Into smoke I'm turned And rise following them up Still I always Look up to the sky Pray before the dawn 'Cause they fly away One minute they arrive, Next you know they're gone They fly on Fly on So fly on Ride through Maybe one day I'll fly next to you Fly on, ride through Maybe one day I can fly with you Fly on Fly on Fly on[/center] [sub][sub]this is the song O by Coldplay, if anyone's wondering. yes i know it doesn't fit the time period, shush i wanted to make a feels post[/sub][/sub] [/hider]