Post by Lantlas on Mar 23, 2006 23:26:00 GMT -5
"I come with a chance to alter fate. One chance to try and save your brother, or change anything else that has happened in your life, but be warned... You can only do it once, and there are no guarantees to the outcome. If Neovan survives, someone else must die. The balance must be complete."
...
For the first time, I seem to be sleeping at peace. No dreams, no nightmares, nothing telling me how my life would be if something changed. However, something alters this peace. A hand on my shoulder, perhaps shaking me awake. I open my eyes, and I see Kieran Evenstar standing there.
"Sleeping well?"
I slowly rise to a sitting position and laugh.
"For the first time, probably ever, yes."
"I'm definitely glad to hear that. You deserve a good day's rest. I'm sure it's not weighing on you at all."
"What's not?"
"How fate will balance itself out."
Balance? Wait, Neovan still died! How can there still be a balance to be made?
"What do you mean," I ask, concerned.
"Lantlas, you seemed to have missed what I said, in a way. It wasn't saving Neovan that would require fate to balance itself out. You saved Christine, so Neovan wasn't even in the equation. Someone is now alive who was not before."
I can't believe I didn't think of this... How could I be so stupid? I look into her well-intentioned eyes, and I wonder why she would bring this to me now.
"I can tell by the look on your face that you're concerned," she notes. "I warned you of the consequences of trying to alter fate."
"I didn't understand that not saving Neovan would still cause something like this! Now, not only did Neovan die because I wasn't there for him, but now someone else will die and it will be my fault!"
Kieran stands up, holding both of my shoulders.
"You cannot blame this on yourself."
"How can I not?"
"My Elven brethren, you must rely on yourself to determine that answer. Do not let whatever may happen destroy you."
She stands up, walking towards the door."
"Amarnorlien."
There's only one place to go, and I need to speak with him.
...
I once again return to the Elven Path. This seems to be the only place where that side of me can be conjured. I trip to the ground on an object, and it leaves me face-to-face with the Ace of Spades. I reach forward and grab it.
"What did I tell you?"
I look around, but I do not see him.
"The strongest of all these humans, at the end of the day, is still a human. This one happens to be a coward on top of it, and ran away before he could accept his fate."
Instead of seeing his figure, I can feel him within me. He's speaking through me like he used to.
"Let me guess, you've discovered that fate is going to balance itself out, and now you're going to go madly insane trying to protect whomever you think it might be."
"You knew, why didn't you tell me?"
"Does it really matter? Don't you feel good about yourself now? You go back and rescue the girl of Sinn's life, so now he'll completely ignore you for the rest of his life."
"No, he won't!"
"Oh yeah? When was the last time you heard from him?"
I started to respond, then I stopped. I realized the last time I'd seen Seth, he'd been walking back to the locker room with Christine. His match with Pegasus went sour, he wasn't himself. Now, he's been playing invisible.
"That's what I thought. You're no longer the one he needs. He could lose his entire career now and it wouldn't make a single lick of difference, because he has the one thing he wanted more than anything in his life again. By retrieving this, you've sealed your own fate."
"Sealed my own fate?"
"Oh, you stupid Elven bastard, what always happens when tag partners of yours become otherwise distracted?"
He (I?) was right. Neo Anderson, Devon Drake, Vin Halsted, Al Laiman... All of them, once they had the chance to pursue other endeavors, I'd found the knife in my back. Devon at least had the heart to realize and rectify her mistake, but there are still so many out there, tag-partners, former loves, former allies... who've placed that knife just like Sinn is probably about to do now that he doesn't need me anymore.
"Funny, isn't it, how this place seems to treat you much like they have. You defeat their world champion, by technicality or not, and this week it's almost like you didn't exist. Like the chance of facing Ace Anderson was just a random raffle, and you were the name that happened to be called."
"I'll get my chance at the title. Any fool could tell I can hang in the ring with the supposed image of greatness."
"And this week, you happen to be contending with the one who defeated Kri Delastano last week."
"Showtime, what about him?"
"They expect you to fail. They think it was a fluke that you faired so well against the best thing they could throw at you. Now, they're matching you against one who is high in the rankings as well, and they want to see you crumble, to choke, to fall flat on your face."
"It will not happen."
"Nice confidence, Elfboy. What makes you so sure?"
"In nine matches here, I've been bet against on nearly all of them. Not a soul expected me to come anywhere close to defeating Ace Anderson, not even Ace Anderson. I've made a career here out of defying the odds."
"Downright shattering them is more like it. When will you figure out how superior to these cretins you really are?"
At least in the wrestling world, so it seems. "What do you think will happen with Sinn and Devon now?"
"There's something to Devon that you've never seen before. An interest in that friend of yours has never been existent. Do not worry, you'll find out soon enough."
Find out what? What could there possibly be to Devon that I don't even know?
...
::Devon Drake is in Lantlas's locker room, standing on the desk trying to reach the broken lightbulb. The metal of the desk is creaking, and it looks a bit unsteady. As Lantlas opens the door, Devon turns to see who it is, and it looks like she may fall! Lantlas races over and catches her just before she lands head-first on the filing cabinet.::
Devon- Nice timing.
Lantlas- Sorry...
Devon- What the hell are you sorry about? I could've had a broken neck if it weren't for you!
::Lantlas starts to respond, then feels in his pocket. The light bulb goes off, then he shakes his head.::
Devon- What's the matter?
Lantlas- It's nothing.
Devon- If you're thinking about the girl again, I will kill you!
Lantlas- No, it's nothing like that...
Devon- It can't be your match. After going with Ace Anderson, there's no one in this place you can't handle!
Lantlas- No, it's not that either.
::Lantlas starts to walk away, frustrated.::
Devon- Well then, what is it?
::Lantlas looks reluctant.::
Devon- Just fucking say it already!
Lantlas- I want to know what was going on with you and Seth.
::Devon is taken aback, almost looking offended.::
Devon- What exactly are you implying?
Lantlas- It just seemed like there was something there.
Devon- Right, cause I'm gonna go all 'homewrecker' after you bring back the love of his life?
Lantlas- Wait, how did you know that?
Devon- The next time I want to be accused of something, I'll do something to deserve it.
::Devon storms off.::
...
How could she know about that? The only one who knew anything about it was... Kieran. Why would she tell Devon something like that? Devon and I are friends and all, but it wouldn't make sense. Why would she do that?
I leave the locker room. It's high time for a drink. As I'm walking down the corridor, I have the strangest sense that something is wrong. I run ahead, trying to figure out why I'm feeling this way, and I see Seth Sinn standing there. It looks like the pipe near him is about to burst! I run, and I tackle him to the ground just before it explodes, sending tiny pieces of metal flying everywhere. I pull him away, and he gets up, looking almost annoyed. Without really saying anything, he sort of walks off. What the hell?
"Perhaps the side of you that you've deemed evil is not so wrong."
I turn my head and see Kieran standing there.
"Is your mind playing tricks with you?"
"What do you mean?"
Kieran walks towards the pipe he was standing next to, and... it's fine. Nothing is broken, nothing is busted.
"Fate will balance itself out, whether you wish it to or not. You've become so afraid of this happening that you're starting to see things that aren't there. While what your Elven side has said about Sinn may be true, no pipe exploded. It was all in your paranoia."
I felt so incredibly stupid, and I started to walk off, but as I gazed back at Kieran, I noticed something about her was oddly... familiar.