The Medoran Chronicles~ A Fanfiction

Part 15

 KAIDEN'S PERSPECTIVE:

  The distorted, too-familiar lobby of Meya's palace wobbled like the shudders spreading through Kaiden's body.

  'I should have killed you.'

  It was said not remorseful or angrily but simply as if it were a decision like deciding to get a different piece of cake.

  Kaiden swore. Why again? The room shivered as his voice reverberated around it, gleaming oddly. He ignored it. 'Aven, what do you want?'

  'What's the hurry?' Aven's voice was warm and silky. It was no wonder he had been able to wind so many innocent Meyarins into his lethal web. 'You were always like that when you were here...Hurrying around, thinking of your future and not appreciating all I gave to you.' 

   'I think it's pretty natural to want to have a future. Now, get to the point.'

  'Or?' Aven made a face, half-way innocent, half-way malicious.

  'Or I'll thrash you. Or I will kill you as you so want to me.'

  'Oh, we have something there, don't-don't-don't-don't we-e-e-e-e...' Aven's voice crackled and stuttered unnaturally, like a ruined recording. Kaiden leant back against the door as Aven jerked and appeared in random spots across the room without merely lifting a finger.

 When the eerie, robot-voice ceased, a look of genuine fear washed over Aven's golden face. It fell away like liquid. 'As it turns out, I must hurry as well. But we are not finished. You need answers.'

  Kaiden didn't bother denying it.

  'Aren't you interested in why you are here? Well, the answer lies...' He swept his hand into one of the many elaborate layers of his cloak. When it arrived again, it was clutching a vial of shimmering black with traces of thin brown. Kaiden hadn't any medical experience whatsoever, but he knew Aven well enough to know that that was not a healing potion. Not even close.

It was also identical to the liquid in the stream he was transported to Meya in, over a year ago.

  'This, my boy, this is what I have been working on for the last three years while you were out there trying to impress that girl of yours.' 

Kaiden fumed. He would not fall for this again. He gritted his teeth. 'Aven, if you quite honestly believe that—'

  'No, no, I am not here to talk about her.' He spat the word 'her' as if it were Hyroa blood he was trying to get out of his system. 'I am here to tell you about this liquid. This vial contains the power to seek out its target. It winds its way deep into the victim's mind. It finds a precious person or memory, re-creates it so that only that person experiences it— a hallucination, created by this hint of brown Hyroa-blood you see. But that is not impressive.' He waved his hand dismissively. 'What is, is that it can alter that memory, which is why you saw me screaming your girlfriend's name.'

  It was as if merely saying Alex's name was too painful for Aven's tongue, so he avoided it at all costs.

  'So, I had some of my engineers working on this clever little design, and they worked with a group of other Meyarins who helped plan it so that when this liquid worked its way into you, it would lead you to a scene where a void took you all the way...' He mimed falling and exploding with his fingers, followed by a dramatic whistle. 'To here. Do you know how I got this into you? Let's just say that stream...may not have been as you saw it.'

  'I think I got that.' Despite his verbal confidence, Kaiden gaped. Not so much from the surprise of the information but because he had been so stupid, as to believe that that damn golden string wasn't sinister.   

  'But I have many, many Meyarins here in this simulation, so I can have as many of these vials as I want. I would loan any of them to you. Just imagine; no problems, any emotions you wish, any scenario or life you wish...your life would be a dream! It's almost a fantasy that I'm offering to you; it's an impossible ideal, now made possible just for you! And any price I would ask would mean nothing at all— you wouldn't remember it.' Aven's eyes glowed, cold and bright in the chandelier's light.

  Kaiden said nothing. His mind was too busy warring sense with wishfulness.

'Kaiden, I only ask that you think about it. Think of the wonderful futures and opportunities I am offering you. Think about your sad, pathetic life with that girl...and compare it to what I could give you.'

  Kaiden awoke in sweat so cold, he felt as if he had just been plunged into an icy river. 

  It was so tempting.

  For once, Aven was right-- what he was offering Kaiden was a fantasy. Even with the life Kaiden had now, it was impossible not to consider the offer. Not to consider his dreams...becoming a reality.

  But no. No, that wouldn't-- couldn't-- happen. No. He had a good life; a true life. He faced struggles, but not doing so was unnatural. Not to have surprises that both brought him plummeting to the ground and spread a smile across his face, wasn't human. He'd already faced so many challenges in his life; it would be idiocy to throw that all away for a man who only wanted the death and pain and Medora. And Freya. And Vardaesia.

  So, Aven was right. It was a fantasy he was offering Kaiden; a complete and utter fantasy, nothing more. It wasn't a beautiful reality; it was a childlike hope. It's a trick literally designed to gnaw at my conscience. I'll let that stay a fantasy, and let this, let everything I have, stay my reality.

  But still, as he let his head lay against the pillow, indecision crawled through his veins like a disease.