Post by Lantlas on May 6, 2006 2:20:54 GMT -5
“Lantlas Anduril.”
A voice interrupted my reflective dreams on when times weren’t so troubled. Of course, why would I want a night to myself without having to think about what an idiot I was, can be, or will be? My steel-toed boots clang against the concrete surface, and I find myself in my old locker room, amazingly restored from its burnt condition. For a locker room of a supposed superstar, it really wasn’t all that impressive. The objective of this room was recluse; a place to be where only a few others would know how to reach me. An escape from the outside world, much like the Elven Path, although it seemed that path was frequently being visited at times when I wasn’t there.
I have a serious case of cottonmouth, so to the corner bathroom I walk. Opening the heavy steel door, I cup my hand under the faucet and take a sip, splashing the rest on my face. Cold, the only way that water ever came through. I glanced up at the mirror, expecting to see my Elven messenger prepping me for another lesson in why I have to be different from everyone else, but all I saw was my reflection. Cold hard stare, for I noticed even my blue eyes told a story of tragedy. What my eyes had seen throughout my life, the pain in which I’d seen many humans live and die, and the hatred that seemed to spawn from those in whom I’d once believed. The idea began to occur to me that maybe, in all likelihood, I wasn’t all that different from them.
Wouldn’t it be so much easier to not remember? That’s where a lot of humans are indeed blessed. Memories and pain tend to fade in time like a sunset on the ocean. Time heals all wounds, they say. Being of Elven descent, one of my apparent blessings was a keen memory, one that will never let me forget anything. No matter what I do, no matter how much I try to convince myself that I’m past these things, in my subconscious they still come back to haunt me. Terry likes to dance through my heart’s memory with a pair of spiked heels, and at the most inconvenient of times, just step on a nerve to bring me back down to the level to which I always seem to return. Then, due to recent discoveries, I get to remember that it was my fault, that it was my own stupidity and deluded logic that brought it upon myself. The greatest pain in my life was created, spawned, and contributed by none other than I, Lantlas Anduril. I was my own worst enemy.
As I opened the door to leave the bathroom, I was face-to-face with a stern expression. There was a man in a military uniform, one who definitely did not appear to be pleased. Stepping to the side to let the door close, I braced myself for a physical attack, the way my Elven side always seemed to get messages across to me. However, the man calmly stood down, and turned away from me. Curious, I walked up to him and tapped his shoulder.
“Father,” I whispered.
“I am not your father,” the man coldly responded. “I am Captain Anduril.” He turned to face me, still with that stern, hard-as-nails expression. “I would not have raised such a son. One who would embrace such a dark destiny, one who would condone such violent and radical actions which those before him have taken. One who knows the way to the live of which he’s always dreamed, but can’t seem to understand the consequence of his decision not to.”
“Yes, you showed me many things, father,” I replied. “You showed me a life where I ended up with the love of my best friend. A little child who jumped up on the bed, ever so eager to go play with his loving father LANE! I’d take him out to see his Uncle Seth, the man who should’ve rightfully hated my guts for stealing the woman he loves, and there he is with Devon Drake. Those two end up having a child, one that for some reason seems to bear the name of the one little girl who will never leave my heart.”
“Lane is an honorable man, and he exists within you,” Captain Anduril stated.
“You would think with such a cozy paradise setting that we’d get the nice storybook ending, right? No, within minutes I find myself standing next to a hospital bed, watching the one I’m supposed to be with die of mysterious causes, leaving me alone with a small child, apparently a lost career, and a best friend about to have the child with my girl’s name. That is the path of Lane, an honorable man, yet a man nonetheless. What I’ve learned from all these lessons and exaggerations is that the setting and the people involved may change, but the ending is always the same… eternal solitude.”
“Always on the negative side of things,” he retorted. “Always looking at the places where it brings the situation to a depressing conclusion. You see death, not that you were loved in return for many years of happiness. You see solitude somehow out of raising a child in your image, who would one day bestow his own children with the same heart and soul you instilled upon him. You see a lost career, but not realizing that what put you in that position was success, great success. You no longer needed to compete, because no one could question that you were the very best. You went out on top instead of dragging your career down the path of attempted comebacks and pathetic twilight day showdowns with kids half your age for fifty bucks a pop. You went out a champion, but you just see an ended career.” My father, or Captain Anduril, began walking away from me.
“Where are you going,” I asked.
His brisk walk ceased for just a few seconds. His head turned just enough for me to see the corner of his eye. “I have a son who knows the value of life,” he replied. “One day, you will realize the consequence of the path you have chosen.” Before I could respond, he disappeared before my very eyes. “Father!” I screamed uselessly, hoping to get the loving man I once knew to come back, but he didn’t. What if he was right? What if the way I was headed would lead to something far worse than I could’ve ever imagined?
A bright light caused me to shield my eyes, and I fell to the ground. Expecting a loud crash, I was instead tickled by something on the back of my neck. I twitched and reached back to itch it, but I felt a hand there instead. I turned to see a pair of blue eyes, complete with a loving smile staring back at me. The blue sky unfolded around me, and the grass below my elbows stained my jeans. Behind the face of an angel was a lake, surrounded by trees with green leaves and birds chirping. Amidst the lake were families, some with children, walking around on the brick path, hand-in-hand, sharing the little stories of their lives with each other. Some of the small children were taking their first steps and saying their first words. Some were having a picnic, creating memories on which they’d look back many years from now and think of paradise. My gaze returned to the bright face, and I felt nails on the back of my neck yet again.
“Stop that,” I playfully argued.
“Oh, come on Lane,” she teased. “You wouldn’t be smiling so much if you really hated it.”
Lane? That would mean the girl I was laying with would have to be…
“Christine! Lane!” I heard a voice yell. Both of us sitting up to see the approaching source of the call, Seth Sinn quickly ran up and dove on the blanket with us. Tackling me down and pinning me, he then raised his arms victoriously in the air.
“I am the victor over the once-Elven Warrior! I deserve a world championship!”
“You deserve jack shit,” I joked as I shoved him back in his place. The grin not leaving his face, he turned and sat Indian-style before the both of us, visibly excited about something.
“You certainly appear to be in a good mood,” Christine noted.
“How could I not be? This is the greatest day of my life!”
“Really? What happened?” I asked.
“I asked Devon to marry me.”
“Ohmygod!” Christine exclaimed. “What’d she say?”
“She said yes!”
Christine reached forth and hugged Seth tightly. “I’m so happy for you!” Seth didn’t stop smiling as he looked over at me. I nodded and grinned myself, for I could appreciate his well-deserved joy. Christine finally broke the embrace, and returned to my shoulder side. “Have you guys set a date?”
“October 15th,” he gleefully reported as he turned to face me. “I know what that day means to you, and I can only hope to replace the dark memories with some good ones.”
“Actually,” Christine interjected, “we do have some good ones right now.”
“You do?” Seth curiously inquired.
“Well,” she giggled as she snuck a glance over at me, “Lane here is going to be a real father!”
Seth’s face lit up like a Las Vegas hotel. “Lane! I can’t believe it! Finally, you’ll get the chance to correct the bad things from long ago!”
As I held Christine with my right arm, I placed my left on his shoulder. “One thing that was never bad was always having my brother be there for me,” I explained. “I don’t expect things to be any different once this little Lane comes along. Things would’ve never gone this way if you weren’t the best friend a guy could have, and I don’t ever want you to forget that. Friends for life, bro. I mean that.”
“You’re a good man, Lane.”
…
Narenwyn placed her hands on a marble table, concentrating on something very deeply. A loud crash interrupted her thoughts, as Kieran came storming into the room. “Troubles?”
“You don’t even wanna get me started,” Kieran grumbled.
“Yes, please explain.”
“That little human Seth Sinn has returned to his life, and he’s going to foil everything once again!”
“Oh, I don’t think so,” Narenwyn calmly answered.
“What do you mean? Seth Sinn is his best freaking human friend! With him around, he’s not going to embrace his destiny! He’s always stood in the way of that happening!”
“Kieran, calm,” Narenwyn ordered. “Fate has not abandoned you quite so easily.”
“Oh really,” she sarcastically remarked. “A dead doctor and an epiphany wasn’t enough to cure that virus?”
Narenwyn’s gaze shifted to the right a bit. “I always have a contingency plan.”
Someone came in the room, shadowing the back of Kieran. Kieran jolted and turned around, then nearly fell backward through Narenwyn’s table. “You?”
The figure held a small glass figurine in its hand. Placing it on the table in front of Narenwyn, she nodded in approval. “Thank you for bringing that to me.”
The figure removed the hood shadowing the identity. Terry cracked up, and without hesitating, smashed the emblem on the table to bits. “Not a problem,” she carelessly replied as she left the room just as quickly with Kieran still speechless.
“But, but…” Kieran stuttered.
“I do have my connections.”
Kieran held up a tiny shard of the broken emblem in front of her. “Where do we go from here?”
“I think you know exactly what to do.”
…
With my arms around Christine's stomach, my face glowing like a child on Christmas, I couldn't help but coo over the recent news that had been delivered. “I can’t believe I’m going to be a father,” I repeated for the fifth time.
Christine held my hands as they embraced her. “You’re going to make a wonderful father, Lane. I’ve never doubted it.”
“I sure am happy for Seth,” I continued. “For him to find happiness with a girl who’s never known the meaning of the word, that’s really something special.”
“He deserves to be happy,” she agreed. “I always knew he would be.”
“What exactly happened with you two?”
Her grip on my hands eased, and she stepped away from me. “I told you not to bring that up,” she muttered.
“I’m sorry,” I replied, apologetically. “I just really wanted to know.”
Christine was shaking, and she wrapped her arms around herself as she sank to the floor in the corner. “I can’t believe I hurt him like that,” she cried. “He loved me so much.”
I kneeled in the corner with her, and held her head to my chest. “You can’t change the past. Everything that was meant to happen, did. I once heard that someone is only old when regrets take the place of their dreams.” I pulled her chin up and wiped the tears from her eyes, placing a hand on her stomach. “I’d say we have a wonderful dream right there.”
“You’re right,” she sobbed. “Not all who are brought into this world are so lucky.”
“Not all have such a beautiful and loving mother,” I complimented as she blushed.
“And not all are so blessed to have such a good man as a father,” she replied. “In fact, these days, not many are so blessed.”
“That’s a damn shame,” I whispered, as my attention shifted to the other side of the room. Under a wooden table, I could’ve sworn I saw two little feet run by. Crawling towards the table, I was eye-level with a tuft of blonde hair. I dropped to my stomach and reached under the table, pulling two little legs towards me. A giggle and a playful scream tickled my eardrum with joy, and I saw my Emerald, my first angel, lying there. I picked her up and wrapped my arms around her. “I love you, Emerald,” I whispered in her ear.
“I love you too, Vati,” she replied.
I felt a hand on my shoulder, shaking me. “Lane!”
I shook my head, and then saw there was nothing but my arms wrapped around air. Christine was looking down upon me, and she knelt next to me. “Very soon, you will no longer need to pretend.”
It was true. In less than a year, a little child of my very own would become my most important reason for living. This really was worth giving up my immortality.
…
Seth Sinn crashed out of a locker room, and Christine quickly tried to chase after him. He snapped away her attempt to restrain him. "Whore," he muttered.
"Seth, I swear it's not true!"
Seth turned around with an angry glare. "Right, you mean to tell me that Lantlas hasn't always had a thing for you? You just couldn't resist, could you? What was so tempting about that blue-haired freak anyway?”
“Seth, you have to believe me,” Christine pleaded, “it wasn’t Lantlas! He would never betray you like that!”
“No one else would do something like that just to fuck with my career,” Seth snapped.
“Is that all you’re worried about, your career?”
“It appears I can’t be worried about my fucking wife anymore!”
…
“Do you see what you were missing?” A stern voice once again interrupted my dream. Again in my old locker room and no longer in the comfort of paradise, I once again saw Captain Anduril before me. “When you focus on the negative aspect of things, of course the future is going to look dark. Now, however, you see what living and loving as a human can be like. That eternal solitude of which you always fear is no longer an issue, and the Elven destiny that’s been proclaimed will no longer be relevant to your life. No longer will you feel different from everyone else, and no longer will you have to emotionally bleed as you have.”
Suddenly, my father’s hand struck me across the face! The vision began to fade, as did my understanding of what was going on. I saw an elbow crash down into my face, and I shielded myself. “You son of a bitch!” Seth? What was he doing? What the hell was going on? Reality soon returned to me, as did the blood dripping from my nose, and I crashed to the floor of my temporary locker room. Seth Sinn’s black boots were in front of my face, and one of them cracked me in the shoulder. Turning to my back, I looked up at him and saw his furious rage written all over his face. “Seth,” I choked out, “what are you doing?”
“Just because you have a child in the past that died, you think you can replace it with one from my wife, huh? After all I’ve done for you? You sick, twisted son-of-a-bitch! I should kill you!”
Was he viewing my dreams or something? I’d conversed with Christine in person maybe all of twice, certainly never had intimate relations with her. Someone was definitely jumping to paranoid conclusions. “Seth, I did nothing with Christine.”
“You liar! I’ll kill you for this! I will!” Security guards rushed in before he could attack again and pulled him away. “I’ll get you for this, Lantlas!”
A medical aid tugged on my arm as the security guards escorted Seth far away from me. “Are you all right,” she asked.
I pulled my arm away and pushed myself to my feet. “I’m fine.”
Before she could offer any more assistance, I took off running towards Seth’s locker room. Within seconds, I saw an open door, things thrown everywhere, and a very frightened young lady shaking in a chair. She saw me, and quickly ran and hugged me. “Lantlas! What did he do to you?”
I easily pushed her away, and looked her dead in the eye. “What’s going on,” I demanded.
“Someone told him that the baby wasn’t his,” she cried. “He now believes that it’s yours.”
Eerily trying to forget the dream from which I’d just woken up, I hid my emotions by continuing to ask questions. “Is this true, that it isn’t yours?”
“Of course it isn’t, Lantlas! I love Seth, and I’ve never been with anyone else!”
“Okay, okay, just calm down. We’ll get this figured out.” As I eased her back into her chair and tried helping her breathe, I noticed among the scattered items were some shards of glass. Picking one of them up, I couldn’t help but notice how familiar it appeared. “Christine,” I inquired, curiously.
“Yes?”
“What did Seth break before he left?”
“Nothing, he stormed out of the room before he had the chance.”
Searching the floor, I found another piece of the broken item, and saw the word “Elven” inscribed on the glass.
The Elven emblem. It appears that Ace was not the one at fault here after all.
A voice interrupted my reflective dreams on when times weren’t so troubled. Of course, why would I want a night to myself without having to think about what an idiot I was, can be, or will be? My steel-toed boots clang against the concrete surface, and I find myself in my old locker room, amazingly restored from its burnt condition. For a locker room of a supposed superstar, it really wasn’t all that impressive. The objective of this room was recluse; a place to be where only a few others would know how to reach me. An escape from the outside world, much like the Elven Path, although it seemed that path was frequently being visited at times when I wasn’t there.
I have a serious case of cottonmouth, so to the corner bathroom I walk. Opening the heavy steel door, I cup my hand under the faucet and take a sip, splashing the rest on my face. Cold, the only way that water ever came through. I glanced up at the mirror, expecting to see my Elven messenger prepping me for another lesson in why I have to be different from everyone else, but all I saw was my reflection. Cold hard stare, for I noticed even my blue eyes told a story of tragedy. What my eyes had seen throughout my life, the pain in which I’d seen many humans live and die, and the hatred that seemed to spawn from those in whom I’d once believed. The idea began to occur to me that maybe, in all likelihood, I wasn’t all that different from them.
Wouldn’t it be so much easier to not remember? That’s where a lot of humans are indeed blessed. Memories and pain tend to fade in time like a sunset on the ocean. Time heals all wounds, they say. Being of Elven descent, one of my apparent blessings was a keen memory, one that will never let me forget anything. No matter what I do, no matter how much I try to convince myself that I’m past these things, in my subconscious they still come back to haunt me. Terry likes to dance through my heart’s memory with a pair of spiked heels, and at the most inconvenient of times, just step on a nerve to bring me back down to the level to which I always seem to return. Then, due to recent discoveries, I get to remember that it was my fault, that it was my own stupidity and deluded logic that brought it upon myself. The greatest pain in my life was created, spawned, and contributed by none other than I, Lantlas Anduril. I was my own worst enemy.
As I opened the door to leave the bathroom, I was face-to-face with a stern expression. There was a man in a military uniform, one who definitely did not appear to be pleased. Stepping to the side to let the door close, I braced myself for a physical attack, the way my Elven side always seemed to get messages across to me. However, the man calmly stood down, and turned away from me. Curious, I walked up to him and tapped his shoulder.
“Father,” I whispered.
“I am not your father,” the man coldly responded. “I am Captain Anduril.” He turned to face me, still with that stern, hard-as-nails expression. “I would not have raised such a son. One who would embrace such a dark destiny, one who would condone such violent and radical actions which those before him have taken. One who knows the way to the live of which he’s always dreamed, but can’t seem to understand the consequence of his decision not to.”
“Yes, you showed me many things, father,” I replied. “You showed me a life where I ended up with the love of my best friend. A little child who jumped up on the bed, ever so eager to go play with his loving father LANE! I’d take him out to see his Uncle Seth, the man who should’ve rightfully hated my guts for stealing the woman he loves, and there he is with Devon Drake. Those two end up having a child, one that for some reason seems to bear the name of the one little girl who will never leave my heart.”
“Lane is an honorable man, and he exists within you,” Captain Anduril stated.
“You would think with such a cozy paradise setting that we’d get the nice storybook ending, right? No, within minutes I find myself standing next to a hospital bed, watching the one I’m supposed to be with die of mysterious causes, leaving me alone with a small child, apparently a lost career, and a best friend about to have the child with my girl’s name. That is the path of Lane, an honorable man, yet a man nonetheless. What I’ve learned from all these lessons and exaggerations is that the setting and the people involved may change, but the ending is always the same… eternal solitude.”
“Always on the negative side of things,” he retorted. “Always looking at the places where it brings the situation to a depressing conclusion. You see death, not that you were loved in return for many years of happiness. You see solitude somehow out of raising a child in your image, who would one day bestow his own children with the same heart and soul you instilled upon him. You see a lost career, but not realizing that what put you in that position was success, great success. You no longer needed to compete, because no one could question that you were the very best. You went out on top instead of dragging your career down the path of attempted comebacks and pathetic twilight day showdowns with kids half your age for fifty bucks a pop. You went out a champion, but you just see an ended career.” My father, or Captain Anduril, began walking away from me.
“Where are you going,” I asked.
His brisk walk ceased for just a few seconds. His head turned just enough for me to see the corner of his eye. “I have a son who knows the value of life,” he replied. “One day, you will realize the consequence of the path you have chosen.” Before I could respond, he disappeared before my very eyes. “Father!” I screamed uselessly, hoping to get the loving man I once knew to come back, but he didn’t. What if he was right? What if the way I was headed would lead to something far worse than I could’ve ever imagined?
A bright light caused me to shield my eyes, and I fell to the ground. Expecting a loud crash, I was instead tickled by something on the back of my neck. I twitched and reached back to itch it, but I felt a hand there instead. I turned to see a pair of blue eyes, complete with a loving smile staring back at me. The blue sky unfolded around me, and the grass below my elbows stained my jeans. Behind the face of an angel was a lake, surrounded by trees with green leaves and birds chirping. Amidst the lake were families, some with children, walking around on the brick path, hand-in-hand, sharing the little stories of their lives with each other. Some of the small children were taking their first steps and saying their first words. Some were having a picnic, creating memories on which they’d look back many years from now and think of paradise. My gaze returned to the bright face, and I felt nails on the back of my neck yet again.
“Stop that,” I playfully argued.
“Oh, come on Lane,” she teased. “You wouldn’t be smiling so much if you really hated it.”
Lane? That would mean the girl I was laying with would have to be…
“Christine! Lane!” I heard a voice yell. Both of us sitting up to see the approaching source of the call, Seth Sinn quickly ran up and dove on the blanket with us. Tackling me down and pinning me, he then raised his arms victoriously in the air.
“I am the victor over the once-Elven Warrior! I deserve a world championship!”
“You deserve jack shit,” I joked as I shoved him back in his place. The grin not leaving his face, he turned and sat Indian-style before the both of us, visibly excited about something.
“You certainly appear to be in a good mood,” Christine noted.
“How could I not be? This is the greatest day of my life!”
“Really? What happened?” I asked.
“I asked Devon to marry me.”
“Ohmygod!” Christine exclaimed. “What’d she say?”
“She said yes!”
Christine reached forth and hugged Seth tightly. “I’m so happy for you!” Seth didn’t stop smiling as he looked over at me. I nodded and grinned myself, for I could appreciate his well-deserved joy. Christine finally broke the embrace, and returned to my shoulder side. “Have you guys set a date?”
“October 15th,” he gleefully reported as he turned to face me. “I know what that day means to you, and I can only hope to replace the dark memories with some good ones.”
“Actually,” Christine interjected, “we do have some good ones right now.”
“You do?” Seth curiously inquired.
“Well,” she giggled as she snuck a glance over at me, “Lane here is going to be a real father!”
Seth’s face lit up like a Las Vegas hotel. “Lane! I can’t believe it! Finally, you’ll get the chance to correct the bad things from long ago!”
As I held Christine with my right arm, I placed my left on his shoulder. “One thing that was never bad was always having my brother be there for me,” I explained. “I don’t expect things to be any different once this little Lane comes along. Things would’ve never gone this way if you weren’t the best friend a guy could have, and I don’t ever want you to forget that. Friends for life, bro. I mean that.”
“You’re a good man, Lane.”
…
Narenwyn placed her hands on a marble table, concentrating on something very deeply. A loud crash interrupted her thoughts, as Kieran came storming into the room. “Troubles?”
“You don’t even wanna get me started,” Kieran grumbled.
“Yes, please explain.”
“That little human Seth Sinn has returned to his life, and he’s going to foil everything once again!”
“Oh, I don’t think so,” Narenwyn calmly answered.
“What do you mean? Seth Sinn is his best freaking human friend! With him around, he’s not going to embrace his destiny! He’s always stood in the way of that happening!”
“Kieran, calm,” Narenwyn ordered. “Fate has not abandoned you quite so easily.”
“Oh really,” she sarcastically remarked. “A dead doctor and an epiphany wasn’t enough to cure that virus?”
Narenwyn’s gaze shifted to the right a bit. “I always have a contingency plan.”
Someone came in the room, shadowing the back of Kieran. Kieran jolted and turned around, then nearly fell backward through Narenwyn’s table. “You?”
The figure held a small glass figurine in its hand. Placing it on the table in front of Narenwyn, she nodded in approval. “Thank you for bringing that to me.”
The figure removed the hood shadowing the identity. Terry cracked up, and without hesitating, smashed the emblem on the table to bits. “Not a problem,” she carelessly replied as she left the room just as quickly with Kieran still speechless.
“But, but…” Kieran stuttered.
“I do have my connections.”
Kieran held up a tiny shard of the broken emblem in front of her. “Where do we go from here?”
“I think you know exactly what to do.”
…
With my arms around Christine's stomach, my face glowing like a child on Christmas, I couldn't help but coo over the recent news that had been delivered. “I can’t believe I’m going to be a father,” I repeated for the fifth time.
Christine held my hands as they embraced her. “You’re going to make a wonderful father, Lane. I’ve never doubted it.”
“I sure am happy for Seth,” I continued. “For him to find happiness with a girl who’s never known the meaning of the word, that’s really something special.”
“He deserves to be happy,” she agreed. “I always knew he would be.”
“What exactly happened with you two?”
Her grip on my hands eased, and she stepped away from me. “I told you not to bring that up,” she muttered.
“I’m sorry,” I replied, apologetically. “I just really wanted to know.”
Christine was shaking, and she wrapped her arms around herself as she sank to the floor in the corner. “I can’t believe I hurt him like that,” she cried. “He loved me so much.”
I kneeled in the corner with her, and held her head to my chest. “You can’t change the past. Everything that was meant to happen, did. I once heard that someone is only old when regrets take the place of their dreams.” I pulled her chin up and wiped the tears from her eyes, placing a hand on her stomach. “I’d say we have a wonderful dream right there.”
“You’re right,” she sobbed. “Not all who are brought into this world are so lucky.”
“Not all have such a beautiful and loving mother,” I complimented as she blushed.
“And not all are so blessed to have such a good man as a father,” she replied. “In fact, these days, not many are so blessed.”
“That’s a damn shame,” I whispered, as my attention shifted to the other side of the room. Under a wooden table, I could’ve sworn I saw two little feet run by. Crawling towards the table, I was eye-level with a tuft of blonde hair. I dropped to my stomach and reached under the table, pulling two little legs towards me. A giggle and a playful scream tickled my eardrum with joy, and I saw my Emerald, my first angel, lying there. I picked her up and wrapped my arms around her. “I love you, Emerald,” I whispered in her ear.
“I love you too, Vati,” she replied.
I felt a hand on my shoulder, shaking me. “Lane!”
I shook my head, and then saw there was nothing but my arms wrapped around air. Christine was looking down upon me, and she knelt next to me. “Very soon, you will no longer need to pretend.”
It was true. In less than a year, a little child of my very own would become my most important reason for living. This really was worth giving up my immortality.
…
Seth Sinn crashed out of a locker room, and Christine quickly tried to chase after him. He snapped away her attempt to restrain him. "Whore," he muttered.
"Seth, I swear it's not true!"
Seth turned around with an angry glare. "Right, you mean to tell me that Lantlas hasn't always had a thing for you? You just couldn't resist, could you? What was so tempting about that blue-haired freak anyway?”
“Seth, you have to believe me,” Christine pleaded, “it wasn’t Lantlas! He would never betray you like that!”
“No one else would do something like that just to fuck with my career,” Seth snapped.
“Is that all you’re worried about, your career?”
“It appears I can’t be worried about my fucking wife anymore!”
…
“Do you see what you were missing?” A stern voice once again interrupted my dream. Again in my old locker room and no longer in the comfort of paradise, I once again saw Captain Anduril before me. “When you focus on the negative aspect of things, of course the future is going to look dark. Now, however, you see what living and loving as a human can be like. That eternal solitude of which you always fear is no longer an issue, and the Elven destiny that’s been proclaimed will no longer be relevant to your life. No longer will you feel different from everyone else, and no longer will you have to emotionally bleed as you have.”
Suddenly, my father’s hand struck me across the face! The vision began to fade, as did my understanding of what was going on. I saw an elbow crash down into my face, and I shielded myself. “You son of a bitch!” Seth? What was he doing? What the hell was going on? Reality soon returned to me, as did the blood dripping from my nose, and I crashed to the floor of my temporary locker room. Seth Sinn’s black boots were in front of my face, and one of them cracked me in the shoulder. Turning to my back, I looked up at him and saw his furious rage written all over his face. “Seth,” I choked out, “what are you doing?”
“Just because you have a child in the past that died, you think you can replace it with one from my wife, huh? After all I’ve done for you? You sick, twisted son-of-a-bitch! I should kill you!”
Was he viewing my dreams or something? I’d conversed with Christine in person maybe all of twice, certainly never had intimate relations with her. Someone was definitely jumping to paranoid conclusions. “Seth, I did nothing with Christine.”
“You liar! I’ll kill you for this! I will!” Security guards rushed in before he could attack again and pulled him away. “I’ll get you for this, Lantlas!”
A medical aid tugged on my arm as the security guards escorted Seth far away from me. “Are you all right,” she asked.
I pulled my arm away and pushed myself to my feet. “I’m fine.”
Before she could offer any more assistance, I took off running towards Seth’s locker room. Within seconds, I saw an open door, things thrown everywhere, and a very frightened young lady shaking in a chair. She saw me, and quickly ran and hugged me. “Lantlas! What did he do to you?”
I easily pushed her away, and looked her dead in the eye. “What’s going on,” I demanded.
“Someone told him that the baby wasn’t his,” she cried. “He now believes that it’s yours.”
Eerily trying to forget the dream from which I’d just woken up, I hid my emotions by continuing to ask questions. “Is this true, that it isn’t yours?”
“Of course it isn’t, Lantlas! I love Seth, and I’ve never been with anyone else!”
“Okay, okay, just calm down. We’ll get this figured out.” As I eased her back into her chair and tried helping her breathe, I noticed among the scattered items were some shards of glass. Picking one of them up, I couldn’t help but notice how familiar it appeared. “Christine,” I inquired, curiously.
“Yes?”
“What did Seth break before he left?”
“Nothing, he stormed out of the room before he had the chance.”
Searching the floor, I found another piece of the broken item, and saw the word “Elven” inscribed on the glass.
The Elven emblem. It appears that Ace was not the one at fault here after all.