[Closed] Consigned to Oblivion

[Numia]

Numia met eyes with the squire, her mind still afloat from the encounter. She took one look into those green orbs, and she knew. She knew how he felt. They both felt weak, angry, lost, sad. Helpless. Even in victory, they were humbled with these emotions, emotions which she didn’t know what to do with. It was the sort of thing tales were written about, an endless sea of suffering wrought by the failings of those who witnessed it. And above all, the world was unfair. It wasn’t fair that a child should lose his brother to such a creature for some twisted game of cat and mouse.

Alex stood and left, he didn’t have to say a word. Numia ran over to the child, she tugged on his pant leg. “Come on, let’s get you home.” She said. His face was dry, stained with enough tears to fill a salt lake.

The small boy barely a few feet in height shook as he stood. “C-can you sing that song again? I want to forget … forget … the monster.”

Numia stared into his eyes, and then nodded. She began to lead him away from the corpse of his brother. Numia looked at the other corpse on the edge of the clearing, the dried husk of the monster. She shook her head, this wasn’t right. She was supposed to protect people from these monsters, but she could only save one. How was she so weak, so naive? Why couldn’t she hear this beast coming a mile away? Rhaus, I’ve learned so much in such a short time. The story I weave, it’s growing. I want to grow with it, I don’t want to let anyone down anymore, I want my story to be the one where the hero always succeeds despite the odds, but I know now that the world is so much darker than that. It’s so out of reach, as if written in half-truths that fall away to reveal lies when you stand on them. Is this what it’s like to be a hero? If it is, I don’t know if I can keep going this way, I can’t help it. I care too much. Numia let the air within her go, as if expelling her concerns and desires in one fell swoop. She looked to the child who had asked her to sing. Okay, she thought. I can do that now, I’ll do what I must.

Numia opened her mouth and began to sing again, this time singing them slowly and placing a shallow tune on the end of each line. As she walked, she found and followed the footprints of Alex, admiring the heavy boot print in the ground. That armor he wears, it must be so heavy. To carry all that weight… Still, the words poured from her.

“These are the monsters that mar my soul.

They make me fail to lift away,

The madness that consumes my core

Oh the monsters that mar my soul,

Alex’ footprints proved to be a great trail. It was only a matter of time before she navigated her way back to where the steeds belonging to both of the squires belonged. She sung her heart out, practically bleeding inside with every word as she fought against crying. She knew she wanted to, Priskil probably knew.

I abhor what they’ve done with me

Where have you gone with my soul?

I wish it hadn’t grown so old,

In your grasp it withers I’m told

Please, monsters, go away.”

It seemed impossibly sad that Alex should be the one to bear the weight. He returned from the woods with the body of the other child just as Numia finished escorting the younger one out of the woods. She thought to the words he told him, the true mark of a leader. For all his bravado, Alexander had a heart. A big heart. It was such a shame that that heart had to affix the bundled corpse of the one it tried to save. “Alex.” Numia spoke up. She had to. “You’ve done good today, We might not get what we want, but that’s what we fight for, right? We just have to keep fighting … fight until we die, until every last breath has expelled the music of our soul. The very last crescendo, we have to! If we don’t, the music stops. Whatever god who yearns for your soul comes and takes it, and there’s no music left to keep it at bay. Just, keep singing with your sword. Maybe we will be the hero someday that saves everyone.”

Banter seemed to sense the weight of the situation, and he came over to nuzzle the child who was cold and lifeless, but walking. He couldn’t help but smile as the wet nose of the big dog smeared slimy mucus over his palm. Banter then sat flat so he could have someone sit upon the seat he carried. He could bear some of the weight too, Numia thought he wanted her to know that. “I think Banter wants to carry you home, child. Let’s go.” The small child was just at Banter’s limit, he was much slower but he could still keep up with the depressing trot of Alexander’s horse bringing the dead body to town.

When they arrived, there wasn’t fanfare. They went straight to meet up with Jyness, who seemed taken aback by the sight of the two squires who looked like they’d been through hell. “What the hell happened!?” Jyness shouted, running over and picking the despondent child up in her arms. She saw the bundled dead body of a child and strapped to Alexander’s saddle and grimaced, turning away. “There there, child. You’re in safe hands now. Your mother is waiting to see you, she must be worried sick.”

Numia didn’t know what to say. “You were right, after all. It wasn’t human…” Jyness sat the child down.

“I know what you must be feeling Numia, but it’s not your fault. You did what you could. You saved a life! You should be proud … take the child to his mother.”

[Alexander Faircroft]

The silence. The silence was something that Alex found very sobering. A deep seeded feeling of failure gripped him again. Despite the success of saving one, it was one too shy. He held the reigns as the body of the other lay across the horse before him. He white sheets now a vibrant and sobering red. The slow trot was something that he felt was warranted. He was in no rush to tell someone what had happened.

To boot, he was the one who’d promised to get them back. So it was above all his duty to report his failure. His ears still unable to hear he felt locked away with his thoughts and the image that would follow. Playing it over and over within the silence of his head he couldn’t help but feel each moment chipping away at his resolve but still it stood. Resolute like a wall of something stronger than steel. Unbeknownst to him Numia was talking to him. Her words were… Enlightening and sobering. But he was deaf to them. Not through want to be but through what had happened.

An eerie stillness hit them as they cleared the walls of the outpost. As Jyness came into vision he couldn’t hear a thing still. The ringing still too strong, but the grimace on her face spoke enough for him to understand what she meant. The look to the side enough to let him know what she thought. He simply nodded and trotted his horse past her as he took it further into the city. Alex stepped don from the horse walking alongside it with a slow trudge. The clank of the steel against the cobble stone pathways. Something that alerted everyone. And before he could even look up to see he spotted a flicker of motion ahead of him.

Within what was a matter of heartbeats he looked up. Still the stark silence. He saw the mothers face. And within those heartbeats he caught every emotion of sadness. Every flicker of sorrow. Each passing motion one that added to his already crippling guilt. Her hands raised to her face as she dropped to her knees. The tears falling from her freely now as she sat in the middle of the street. It was at this moment that sound returned to him. Clearly the gods either wanted him to feel the full gravity of his failure or were just plain cruel and heartless.

There were somethings that people should never be subjected to. Never have to see, and never have to hear. Above all never have to do. And Alex had to do one of all three He listened to the cries of a mother bereft of a son. Saw the face of total and complete loss. And above all he had to hand to her the now lifeless body of her son. All whilst holding a face together that spoke of impassibility. A stronger man may have managed to do so and not said a word. Alex wasn’t that strong. Handing the body to her he spoke.
“Sometimes, the hardest part isn’t letting go.” He spoke softly with an edge of empathy to his voice. And then he finished with a sound of deep regret that he hadn’t been faster. “It’s learning to start over.” He paused a moment. For in that moment she struck him across the face. Hard. It wasn’t the power behind the strike that hurt but the emotion. He just closed his eyes and Spoke again. “I’m sorry. I I failed you. I failed him. And I cannot fix it.”

Her turned to walk off the horse lead behind him as he did so. The mark of an ill omen that he brought with him when he first arrived had turned out to be just that. The mark of an ill omen. Again the bitter draught of failure was tasted. And for All his strength. All the power he possessed. He still wasn’t enough. He closed his eyes as he stood still, the horse next to him. He looked skywards again and fought to hold back the feeling of defeat. Of failure threatening to spill from his eyes.

[Numia]

Alexander went on ahead. It was probably the right thing to do, to break the bad news first. Alexander made a good call, Numia thought. She tugged the boy's pant leg, and the two of them walked onward to the cottage of the grieving mother. It took some time, but as they walked they saw Alexander riding by. Numia looked at Alexander and nodded, but the boy stared him right in the eyes. "Th-thank you Ser," the boy said. His blue eyes took up much of his face, staring deeply. And when Alexander passed, the boy broke another tear just when Numia thought the human child could cry no more. "Thank you, Sera," he said.

Numia looked up at him, silent at first. "I am no knight, child. I am a squire, and you can be stronger than I am. You must, for your mother and every friend you ever make. I will always look out for you. Make me proud, make your mother proud, but most importantly believe in yourself. Times like these make me question this belief, but it's impossible to continue for a short time. Time heals all wounds, and so does another soul to another." It was hard for Numia to keep things simple, born with the vocabulary of an intelligent human. "We do what me must, just as you must go to your mother and comfort her."

The grieving mother had her arms wrapped around her child still when Numia made it to the cottage. She cried, she wailed. When Numia arrived, the woman had cried so much that her voice was starting to run ragged. She never looked up, her face buried in the hair of the deceased poking out from the blanket. With an encouraging shove, she sent the boy over. He took one step and looked at Numia, she wasn’t sure if he understood her but she had a feeling he would be fine, and that she would see him again in the future.

Numia slung the fiddle off her back and began to play as the two humans wrapped their arms around one-another. She focused on sad but bright tunes, notes and chords that would instill hope, or at least she felt they would. In either case, she melded with them on an emotional level and began to resonate with their feelings with every stroke of her bow on wire. She decided to sing the song born from the turmoil of her heart and thought hard about what she would name it. It didn’t take long for her to settle on ‘Consigned to Oblivion.’

“These are the monsters that mar my soul.

They make me fail to lift away,

The madness that consumes my core

Oh the monsters that mar my soul,

I abhor what they’ve done with me

Where have you gone with my soul?

I wish it hadn’t grown so old,

In your grasp it withers I’m told

Please, monsters, go away.”

Every word carried with it a product of her heart, and so did every note she played on her fiddle. Numia swayed back and forth, and it was only then that she began to cry. Pycon did not have tears so instead it was something internal and more personal, and as Numia grimaced her mind was fragmented by sadness.

When she had finished her performance, Numia felt as if she was in a storm of icy blue. She didn’t even say goodbye, she turned and ran away full sprint. The Pycon just couldn’t take it anymore. She slung her fiddle over her back, and she ran, breathing sharply and gulping air. It was too much.

[Okara]

Grades and Awards   Numia Experience Riding 5 Observation 5 Investigation 1 Morphing 1 Camouflage 1 Tracking 1 Fiddle 3 Tactics 1 Singing 3 Rhetoric 2 Lores The Case of the Missing Children Using Morphing for Camouflage The Cry of a Wailer The Burden of a Child’s Death Alexander Faircroft: Comrade in Battle Singing to Comfort a Child Shield Points +7 (aiding citizens of the city) Notes Great thread! I enjoyed this a lot. Numia, your character seemed to observe Alex and Jyness investigate the problem and not participate in the investigation as much so I couldn’t award you many points for that. I liked Numia’s creative way of dealing with the wailer, not the typical slash and stab. The ending was very unfortunate for the character’s and I liked how you portrayed Numia’s struggle with the death of the child.   Alexander Faircroft Experience Riding 4 Interrogation 2 Observation 5 Leadership 2 Investigation 2 Tracking 1 Dagger 1 Tactics 1 Longbow 1 Bastard Sword 2 Shield 1 Lores The Case of the Missing Children Signs of a Kidnapping The Cry of a Wailer The Burden of a Child’s Death Numia: Comrade in Battle Informing a Mother of Her Child’s Death Shield Points +6 (aiding citizens of the city) Notes I assumed bastard sword was the blade used since it wasn’t specifically mentioned. PM me if I missed it or you meant another type of sword since you have experience in several. This was a great thread with an ending that was very unfortunate for the characters. I like how you protrayed Alex’s reaction to the death of the child. His emotional talking to the mother afterwards felt very real. Please edit your post in your grade request to reflect that it has been graded. PM me with any questions.