That One Time I Went on a Quest

We All Have Lost (2/2)

We walk, Haylis lighting up one of the blue-flamed torches and taking it along. Within seconds of entering the tunnel all sounds fade, all but the incessant seeping of water from the walls. It's so very warm down here, and deathly still.

Haylis loops her arm through mine and leans close. 'I've not been this deep before. So quiet.'

She's shivering ever so slightly. 'Are you scared?' I ask.

'Aren't you?'

'It's just dark and uncomfortable.'

'You know, you're a little different,' she declares. 'You're supposed to be scared of everything.'

I open my mouth then close it without a word, because she's right. For some reason this humid black tunnel, dripping with probably poisonous water and silent as a grave, hasn't left a particularly deep impression. Not thinking about it at all, actually; the dominate thought inside my head right now is that of Kathanhiel kneeling in molten metal and clutching Kaishen to her chest. Will Oon'Shei be the same, I wonder?

He would. That's what it's like to lose someone you love.

'I wouldn't know.'

'Wouldn't know what?' Haylis asks.

I shake my head. This topic doesn't make for titillating conversation.

The tunnel turns out to be extremely short; judging by the minimal luminescence, it must've been abandoned due to the lack of deposits. After a sharp turn we spot Oon'Shei at the end of the tunnel, down on his knees, with his hands placed flat upon the rock before him and his back turned. Around him, like the fingers of a withered talon, stands three obelisks carved out of glittering ore. They curve inward at the tip, reaching the height of his head,

'He's singing to the stone,' Haylis explains, whispering even though he couldn't hear us anyway. 'I don't really understand the meaning but it has to do with returning what belongs to the earth.'

I hope that I've managed to keep the subtle panic out of my voice, but one can never be sure. 'What do the obelisks mean? What do they do? Why are they here? Did he make them? He did, didn't he?'

'Something to do with the giving and taking of life, I think,' Haylis hesitates. 'They're like gravestones, except they're meant to be broken apart after mourning.'

Oon'Shei turns around and sees us. His shoulders heave in surprise, but after a moment's consideration he raises a boulder of a hand and waves. 'He thanks us for coming, and wonders if we want to join him in prayer,' Haylis says. 'It would be very rude to refuse.'

As much as I hate approaching or even looking at those obelisks, Oon'Shang deserves better. Haylis and I walk forward and put our hands against the wall; it feels slick yet inexplicably warm, like the skin of some hibernating beast.

'He asks if you saw how she died,' Haylis says quietly.

I could've given a more tactful answer if there was time to think about it...no who am I kidding, I wouldn't know the meaning of tact. That word is silly anyway; Oon'Shang died because of me and no amount of apologies or subtle manoeuvring could change that. Might as well tell it like it is.

'She withstood the fire of six Apex candidates for an entire day, and saved my life.'

As Haylis conveys that with the silent bells, Oon'Shei's arms begin to tremble. A low growl permeates through the rock and into my bones as my teeth begin to vibrate their way out of my gums. He's screaming. Oon'Shei is screaming, and the earth screams with him.

'He asks...he asks....' Haylis looks dismayed. 'He asks whether your life was worth saving.'

I've been here before, haven't I? Drowned in doubt, making the assumption of my own worthlessness before I've even attempted to answer the question that made me deprecate myself. This time, however, the feeling of self-loathing passes quickly. Oon'Shang didn't make the sacrifice just so I can feel sorry for myself for a few more days.

'It was,' I reply. 'Because of her I was able to bring Kathanhiel back to Iborus, even though...I wasn't exactly myself at the time. That's something, isn't it?'

Why do you have to end with a question?! It is something.

Oon'Shei reaches out, and for a terrifying moment I thought he was going to hit me – which wouldn't end well for every single one of my bones – but instead he merely pats me on the back. Staggering, my head encounters the rock face at a reasonable speed as to raise a massive lump.

Haylis laughs softly. 'He says he saw you on that day, carrying Kathanhiel and the sword of Ush'Ra, walking toward our walls. He says he gleaned in you no evil, only righteousness.'

What an odd thing to say. 'I...I never thought I was evil, to be honest with you.'

For the next ten minutes we stand in silence, with our hands against the stone – silence from only my perspective, of course; Oon'Shei never stopped singing, and as his voice pass into the stone and in turn into my bones, comes wayward tears. I look over and see the same in Haylis' eyes. Did the stone pass into us his sorrow, or did it well up from within?

At the conclusion of our vigil, Oon'Shei bids us stand back. With solemn care he wraps his hands around each of the obelisks and breaks them with the sheer strength of his grip. As the glittering rock fall in powdery rain, a chilling wind runs through the tunnel, carrying away ephemeral voices.

Fear, anger, love...the winds of the mountains have carried them away, never to return – Rutherford said that. Rutherford didn't know what he was talking about.