Sunrise Gate

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Brush rushes past me as I run to the nearest vantage point but I quickly fall into a walk as I become far  away enough to be out of earshot. Shadows blend into one another, trees taking on new shapes as they melt together in the setting sun. Light casts away quickly, though, as the canopy above blocks any slivers of sunlight from entering the jungle.

Moonlight filters in, casting a blank white light over the rocks and branches, the jungle becoming sterile in night’s embrace. I walk along the shadows, searching ahead for a way to see through the treelines. A ray of moonlight casts down upon a ledge not far, a short climb up the side of a boulder and I should have the perfect vantage point.

I take my time, however, walking and thinking, my mind turning back to faith and the events at hand. I just don’t understand anymore, Syn. I thought these were the allies you told me to find. The people I could trust and they could trust me. But here I am fighting with them. What have I missed?

I wait for an answer, but one never comes. This is something I will have to find out on my own. We were doing so fine, we were a team. We fought back to back. We found her powers together. We saved a mine together. We killed Sabres together. We fought off an onslaught of Bandits. We defended one another and we walked with one another. For miles and miles and miles.  I try to think of what’s changed in her, but I realize nothing has. I’ve changed. But it’s for the better. I’ve never felt so safe in my life, even when I’m in the most dangerous position I’ve ever faced.

Aaron is just comforting. He understands me. He holds me as if he means it and I feel his heart rate spike when I come close and I know he cares. I glance up through the canopy and see the stars, reminding me of the balcony back at Niizoft, the two of us under the stars with the heavens looking down on us. I think he loves me and I think I feel that way back. But Demi and Athair can’t accept him, and I don’t know why.

My memories flood back to Ebonhawke. To Adam and Lynx and the statue of Hyrmir, the square full of people and my friend from Bard’s. Why did I ever have to meet your son? I ask him, Why did I ever have to change? Why did I poke my head where it shouldn’t have been. I think of what life would be like at this moment had I never investigated Arnith. I would be at home by the fire, falling asleep in the comfort of its embers and the crackle of its burning logs. I can smell its smoke now, such a familiar scent. I can see my armor on the chair, warming by the fire, the picture of my parents on the dresser. I think of how safe we are at Ebonhawke, how alone we are in this world - so disconnected from the troubles of Faith’s Calling.

Maybe the Separatists have it right. Maybe we should abandon the crown and become our own people. We almost are already. We have shed our blood so many times before, protecting supply en route to Faith’s Calling, yet where were the Callers when Ebonhawke has been sieged. Where were they at Sunrise Gate? They weren’t. Why must we spend the lives of our loved ones then? Where does that place us in our world?

But that doesn’t make it okay. That doesn’t allow them to burn our city.

A branch snaps and I rouse from my trance, my thoughts fleeting away as I scan the immediate area for the source of the sound. The shadows mask it, however, my sight constrained to that of the slivers of moonlight shining down through the canopy. I glance about my feet, searching if it was me, but there are no branches around me.

A bush rustles and I snap my gaze to it, specks of dust filtering through the moonlight. “Who’s there?” I ask to the world around me, the silence thrilling, charging the adrenaline rush within. I draw my swords, the long screech of metal on metal resonating in the void all around. Another bush rustles behind me and I back slowly to the rock face, preparing for the worst. “Who is there I said!”