Elementals II: Prophecies (DISCONTINUED)

~ Chapter 22 ~

Year: 3205
Mars

Breeze:
There is this instant and sharp pain that immediately wakes me up. I have never felt anything like it, but it's strong enough to wake me up from my feverish sleep. I see Aqú doing something on my arm before I notice his knife on a rock...all covered in blood. I'm starting to piece things together: pain, blood, knife. I look down at Aqú and immediately jolt my arm towards me. "Wow, easy, I'm not done yet." He answers. I don't know why I'm so distrusting of him, but it might have to do with what I see next...the hand that's missing from my arm.

"What have you done?" I ask him as I look at my arm who only has a stump where my hand used to be. "What the hell have you done? Did you seriously cut off my hand? How do you suppose I defend myself?" I yell out at him. I want to attack him, but I feel too weak to do anything. It must be the amount of blood-loss, and I'm still feeling feverish. "Oh, I knew this was coming, the rage and hate." He mutters in his usual tone as he grabs his knife as if to clean my blood off it. "What did you think would happen? Of course I am going to be angry with you when you cut off my damn hand!" I yell even more.

I'm so filled with emotions that I don't know what to make of any of it. I'm just boiling with raging emotions. "Well, when you have had some time to digest all of this, you'll learn that I did this to save your life. At any time, you're allowed to say 'thank you'." Aqú says. "Oh, spare me the comeback. You cut off a hand!" I tell him once more as I try to threaten him by getting up, but I turn dizzy quickly and sit down again. "Yes, I am very aware of what I did, Breeze. I did what I had to do because you were so feverish that I was losing you. I had to do something to keep you alive, because you actually have to be alive to be of any use for the prophecy..."

That's the first time I hear the use of that word. "Prophecy?" I ask. Aqú realizes that he's said the word before I repeat it, but me saying it leaves an extra set of stress on him. I can see him cursing himself for mentioning it. "So, you cut my arm off because of some prophecy? What good is a prophecy if it involves sacrificing my hand? I'm not going to be capable of defending myself with one hand. On top of that, I'm on a planet where I'm the alien. How does that fit into the big puzzle?" I ask him, angrier now than I think I've ever been. It feels like I've been kept in the dark about something.

"Oh, well, I'm sure this wasn't really set in stone, but keeping you alive was. Besides, it's not a big deal. This can be fixed, you dead, not so much." He answers trying to salvage his credibility, but he's doing it poorly in my mind. "No, it can't! In all human history, losing a limb is permanent. We don't grow limbs back like we grew our teeth back as kids. If it's gone, it's gone for good." I'm starting to feel sicker than before. It's probably some after-effects from this involuntary amputation. Aqú brings a few rags and sits down in front of me to finish his work.

"Well, here on Mars, there is a way to grow limbs back. There is always a risk of course, but most times it works. With you the risk might be even higher than what it would've been with me, but you would be dead if I didn't do this." He says as he binds my stump. It's strange not having my hand there anymore. "You can hate me all you want, if that's what you need to deal with it, fine. A lot of people have hated me and I've survived. You hating me is just a piece of cake." His tone is somewhat graver than I have heard it before.

I'm not over my rage, but I'm in control of it. I'm calm enough to start asking the questions that are now plaguing my mind. "What is this prophecy?" I ask. He looks up at me. I can see that he doesn't really want to say anything about it, but I give him a glare that almost forces him to open his mouth. "This prophecy...you know, they originally originate from a person of character making a statement that peace will come." He starts. "This war between our planets started out with curiosity, developed into jealousy and misunderstandings and then tuned into a conflict." He goes on as I see him thinking it through. This hits some kind of nerve in him.