Post by Lantlas on May 17, 2006 23:35:45 GMT -5
“This is one thing you must figure out on your own. You’ve come this far, and you have learned many things. However, some things remain undone. These are things that I, nor anyone else, can tell you.”
…
Kieran’s word echoed through my mind over and over again. Things were more connected than I could’ve ever imagined. I contemplated what reasons my mother would have for trying to kill me, and what involvement she possibly could’ve had with Kieran, not to mention Terry. The fact that my mother knew her made me wonder with whom else she was involved.
Nearing the eve of an epic showdown, the last thing on my mind I wanted was the past. I’ve been trying to get away from it ever since I got to PCW, but it just doesn’t seem to work that way. I realize that there is no longer a path, for no one has walked this journey before. A path was no longer being walked; it was being created.
It was time to walk, far away from the arena. It was time to get away from everything that could provide a distraction. A hundred percent focus needed to be on finding answers, since many things were left unsolved. A warm May night, clear in the skies, had barely any waves coming in from the ocean. The water in the distance was still. A ship horn could be heard off in the distance as it passed by a lighthouse several miles away. The world was asleep; little life stirred outside of a few squirrels in the trees. Walking up to the cliff, ignoring the pang of anguish that rushed through my heart remembering what had happened there, I stepped out near the edge.
It’s amazing the detail you don’t notice when you’re in a hurry and you don’t really stop to observe. There were so many colors, creating such a mystique that goes unnoticed by so many. The distant horizon in a shade of midnight blue meeting the calm, clear waters of the Atlantic was a sight to behold. The cold presence in my hand sent a chill up my arm, and I held it out in front of me. The Elven Emblem, somehow once again in one piece, glittered in the moonlight. Sitting on the edge of the cliff, a sharp corner of the rock pierced the blue denim of my jeans. Shifting to a more comfortable position, a slight breeze came behind me. A few strands of my long blue hair drifted in front of my eyes. The moon was bright enough that I could see the end of the strands where they turned slightly purple.
I pulled the flowing hair behind my ears, and gazed up at the stars one more time. Orion seemed to shine brighter than usual, and I wondered if the stars might’ve been trying to send a message a long time ago. Knowing that the stars I was seeing were ghosts of light that shone thousands of years ago, I couldn’t help but imagine if a similar being with a similar situation sat beneath the light that was shining now. Those who worshipped the stars might’ve prayed to their Gods for guidance through the dark path on which they were walking. Perhaps on the eve of war, a real warrior bled on the ground below him, clinging to life by nothing more than instinct. If the stars could reach down and comfort him, offer some slight aid in spirit, could he live to fight on another day? For love, for honor, for everything? To come home to his wife, possibly his children… To return to the home in which he left to fight for what he believed, putting his life on the line for the crown, territory, or for freedom?
In order to be a true champion, in order to truly earn the name ‘The Elven Warrior’, I had to be the warrior I knew I could be. Going into the biggest battle of his life, I needed to let everything go and fight from the heart as if my life was on the line. The warriors lived by their codes, and so would I. Blood could stain my hands, my clothes, my face, anywhere on my body, and I would keep fighting. The odds could be against me, as they usually are, and I would keep fighting. The title could crash into my face, the Exemplifier could be dropped, and the pin could be counting, but I will not stay down! I will keep fighting until I win the title I’ve fought my way through darkness and tragedy to win, to earn, and to raise in the air, proving everyone who’s ever looked at me and laughed. For everyone who’s ever cracked an elf joke and asked me where the cookies were. For everyone who’s ever made references to the fantasy world from which I do not hail. Reality would be me standing with my arm raised in the air, and forty pounds of gold and leather dangling from my blood-drenched hand!
Instead of the title, at this very moment when the clock struck twelve, my hand clenched the shining Emblem full force. “It’s time to know the truth,” I prophesized out loud. “Show me.” I nearly fell off the edge of the cliff as a bright blue light shone from the middle of the ocean. I heard a rumble, and it almost felt like the land was shaking. The light pointing towards the sky started lowering its aim, and I slowly saw the light blue beacon slow down as it stopped right on me. The Elven Emblem left my hand and floated to the center of the beacon. I held my breath as it started splitting into pieces, and each one of them glowed in the light. The four shards began to spin around the center part, and all at once, they suddenly shot off like rockets into the ocean. A hole in the water formed from where the light shone, and water started spinning around the circle. As it sped up, faster and faster, the wind started to pick up around me. Then like a bomb, a huge wave of air hit me in the face and knocked me to the ground.
I watched the scenery change, and I recognized the location. The house in which I saw my father watch Narenwyn walk out of his life. I was on the ground, crumbled like he was, and the sting in my heart was almost exactly what I felt the night Terry did what she did. It came together as I realized I was in my father’s body right after this event had taken place. Without my brain telling me to do anything, I rose to my feet. My hands found their way to a wooden bookshelf, and they pulled a leaflet from the very top. The dust was so thick that it created a mini-sandstorm when I blew it off from the top. The words on the cover were written in a language I did not recognize. When my hands paged to a section, I still didn’t recognize the words, or the characters for that matter, but for some reason I could hear the translation in my head.
“The Elven race can not so easily be overcome through physical anguish as it can through emotional trauma. He who possesses the Elven Emblem can choose to be reborn, given a chance to begin a new life. The desire arises to leave all that we know behind and begin a new path with a new spirit, a new life, a new name. Proceed with caution.”
The page got closer to my head and flashed like the Emblem had earlier in the presence of Kieran and Narenwyn. The scenery changed to a war zone. I could hear explosions and gunfire in the background, and some soldiers were retreating for cover. “Anduril!” I heard a voice scream. “There’s a baby here!” One of the soldiers ran to some brush where another was kneeling. The running soldier removed his helmet, and I recognized him as Jeremiah Anduril, my human father. A trickle of blood running from the side of his head, he wiped it on his camouflage jacket and reached for the baby. An infant, wrapped in a blue towel, opened his baby blue eyes and looked into Jeremiah’s for the first time. I could see Jeremiah’s heart melting, and he grabbed his radio.
“I need cover; I’ve found an infant out here. I’m taking it to base.”
Jeremiah gently held the infant in his arms and took off running. A helicopter soon landed and pulled him inside. When they returned to the base, Sharon Anduril, my human mother, was there waiting for him. “Dear Lord, Jeremiah! You found a baby?”
Jeremiah walked inside the base, reaching his office, then sat on a soft chair inside. Cradling the child in his arms, he noticed a small piece of paper attached to the towel in which he was wrapped. “Sweetheart, please grab that piece of paper,” he requested.
Sharon reached for it and unfolded it. “Lantlas,” she read.
“What else does it say?”
“Nothing, that’s it. His name must be Lantlas.”
“I’ve never heard that name before,” Jeremiah stated.
Sharon stood and hugged her husband’s head. “Does it really matter,” she whispered. “I know the one thing you’ve always wanted is a child, and in less than one day, he already has a father who will watch out for him and protect him.”
Some papers were slid under the door, and Sharon walked over to pick them up. “Adoption papers,” Sharon mused. “This means he really is ours.”
Without hesitation, Jeremiah wrote in black ink under ‘child’s name’: “Lantlas Anduril.” Looking back at his new adopted son, his eyebrows raised a bit, as if noticing something odd. “Sharon,” he called.
“What is it, Jeremy?”
“Is it just me, or are his eyebrows blue?”
As Sharon and Jeremiah stared into the face of their new child, the vision began to fade from my sight. The scenery changed once again to an open room, completely white. A voice that sounded much like my own echoed throughout the room.
“Lantlas, now you know where you came from, why you’ve never been able to find your true birth parents,” the voice explained.
“I thought Narenwyn and Eldarin were my parents,” I responded.
“Lantlas, Narenwyn was not your mother, she was your wife. Eldarin was not your father, it was you. Through the Elven Emblem, you chose to be reborn, replaced somewhere in the world, where you could escape everything that had plagued your existence since your conception many thousands of years ago. Your real birth parents, well… Their whereabouts are unknown, but this is not unusual among the Elven race.”
“If the rebirth was to escape my past, how did it find me?”
“Narenwyn was blessed with the gift of foresight and she knew where you would end up. Through some manipulation, she convinced the spirits of both your parents that she was your true mother. Because you were given no recollection of your past life in your rebirth, you wouldn’t have known the difference. The only thing that carried over was that you knew you were of the Elven race.”
“Is that why the situations between Eldarin… I mean me… and Narenwyn was so very similar to that of Terry and me?”
“Terry L. Sonada was manipulated by Narenwyn as well. The young human girl has a good heart, but when it comes to fighting off her demons, she has no will power whatsoever. The perfect target for vengeance against the one who left himself completely open for it.”
“Vengeance? I don’t understand. What did Eldarin… I mean… What did I do to deserve vengeance?”
“Nothing, Lantlas. Narenwyn’s evil grew as her relationship with you did, and pleasure derived from the pain she caused you gave her such a rush that she sought you out to do it once again in your new life.”
“Why did she try to kill me?”
“You were becoming too strong. Yes, the pain she caused still inflicted you, but not nearly as much as it used to. You were following a new path, climbing towards a new destiny, and every step you took made you that much more immune to her wrath.”
“There’s one more thing I want to know.”
“Yes, Lantlas?”
“If my destiny was to find this out on my own, who is speaking to me?”
From the distance, I saw a form approaching. I quickly recognized the form as Eldarin, who stopped a good five feet away from me, and right before my very eyes, the blue hair grew down, and his outfit replicated the one I was wearing. In a flash, he became Green Eyes! “You see, Lantlas… while the circumstances, the names, and the people have changed, the rebirth did not merit you an escape. You can never escape your destiny.”
“You mean, this whole time…”
“Yes, Lantlas. I never once lied when I said that I really was you. The only difference is that I told you I was your Elven side, but that’s not possible. You are Elven; there is no half or part. When I saw you going down a path that I believed would cause you to give up your immortality, I had to convince you that I was your Elven side in order to have you listen to me.”
“But how did the spirit carry over if it was supposed to be a new one?”
“I do not know for sure, but I’m assuming it’s because the spirit never dies.” Green Eyes looked off in the distance the other direction, and then turned back to me. “And now, it is time for me to take my leave.”
“Where are you going?”
“You don’t need me anymore, Lantlas. You will win that championship all on your own. You no longer need my guidance, for you have finally learned the truth about who you are, where you come from, and everything that ever has been. Now, it’s up to you to make your own destiny from here on out.”
The image began to fade, and the stars returned to my line of sight. I quickly rose up a bit, looking around. I was back on the shore, near the cliff, and the light blue beam of light had disappeared. Pulling myself to my feet, I felt a bit different. For the first time, I didn’t feel like my eyes would change color and a different person would be speaking through me.
“And now, I truly have the heart of a warrior,” I proclaimed out loud. On the eve of battle, the Elven Warrior awaits the arrival of the most worthy human adversary, Ace Anderson, the world champion, and the man I respected most of anyone in Pure Class Wrestling. A showdown of epic proportions was on the horizon, and the day was drawing near. I wondered if being on my own for the first time I could remember would make any difference. My eyes returned to the stars, and I somehow began to understand that Eldarin’s presence never really provided me with any advantage at all. Everything to this point that I’ve achieved in my life has been as a result of the work and effort I’ve put into everything I do. Ace Anderson had likely done as much work himself, and for that, among many other things, would earn him the utmost respect, no matter the outcome of this contest. One thing had changed since my arrival in PCW, though… Ace Anderson really was a deserving champion, and for me to have thought otherwise so long ago was indeed foolhardy. I only hoped when and if provided with the opportunity, I could command the respect and admiration that he did.
Things were really going to be a lot different now. My memory wouldn’t be jaded through things Green Eyes did or said, and now that I think about it through this perspective, he was really trying to protect me from Terry, not ruin things. He likely also knew that Devon’s Kieran was involved with Narenwyn as well; also a situation where he was trying to protect me. As for getting involved in that title match a few months ago, well… if nothing else, it certainly got me noticed, and it gave Ace no choice but to pay attention to the newcomer, the Elven Warrior, Lantlas Anduril.
One day, I was sure that he and I would sit down and talk about these things. I would tell him about his father, and he would tell me what he truly thought of me, beneath the Ace Anderson arrogance. I would tell him of my respect for his abilities, and he would finally see me as an equal. Whether he was the champion or I, I had a strong feeling that the one thing that would no longer be shared between us would be hatred. The hate would be replaced by respect, and the jealously replaced by admiration. Things had finally come full circle, and I couldn’t have been more grateful for the peace of mind. Fate had never abandoned me once, and on that I could always count.
As I began to prepare to walk back down to the beach, something else occurred to me as well. My father wasn’t the best friend of Ace Anderson’s father… I was.
A smile crept across my face. I couldn’t help but anticipate this match in such a new light. As my mind recalled the face of a good man named Jason McDonald one more time, I thought out loud, “you have an honorable son, Jason. You’ll always be my brother.” I pulled the Ace of Spades from my pocket, and flicked it into the air, watching it drift down to the calm water. “I’ll never forget you again.”