Ralph didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to think. He felt like an animal. With nothing but messed up words and emotions soaking up together in his drunk brain.
His hands gripping his bowl were loose. The bowl is threatening to fall down the cliff. Any time now.
"No." He finally managed to say. "Don't."
"I thought you hated me?" Forrest grinned curiously.
"Yes," Ralph gritted his teeth. "So don't die."
"I'm afraid I can't stay any longer, though," Forrest shrugged sadly. "You'll have to find someone else to hate."
"I said don't!" Ralph roared, his tear-blurred eye watching his shivering fist clench tighter and tighter. "I don't care!"
As he finished his sentence, a large, bloody gash suddenly appeared on Forrest's leg.
"It's happening," he whispered. "This was the first wound I got that night."
It continued. A scratch there. A cut there. Tears are simply uncontrollable now. Ralph sobbed aloud. But this helplessness is familiar. Kanitha felt the same in her memories when Whales died. Ralph never knew he'd have to experience it in person this fast.
A shower of blood. The first gunshot appeared on Forrest's arm.
"Stop it!" Ralph can't stay still any longer. He pressed his hand onto Forrest's wounds, trying to heal them with his Stone's powers.
"It won't work," Forrest informed him quietly. "Even Kanitha can't heal wounds that are made by time."
"Shut up!" Ralph cried. "I said I don't care!"
Another cut. Blood suddenly starts to seep down through his hairline. Another gash of opening appeared on his torso.
"I've been observing this world after the War of Dawn," Forrest muttered. His voice was weak and raspy. "You've done a good job. This world was better than the one I dreamt of. Keep it up, won't you?"
This time Ralph said no more. Did no more. He just nodded with his head pressed into Forrest body, his hands digging his arms.
"Don't feel bad about it," Forrest continued. "I was supposed to die. I was supposed to die a year ago. I just lived some extra lives thanks to Monk, and now I'm going back. But do look through the prison tower again later, would you? I worked hard with Kanitha to prepare a gift for you."
He paused. When he spoke again, the brightness that he's been faking was gone.
"But Ralph, I... Really don't want to die yet."
Ralph snapped up, exchanging glances with Forrest one last time before the last bullet hole made on his forehead appeared with a burst of blood. The same way it had been on the street of Ling.
Ralph watched him squeezing a smile with the last of his strength. Then, starting from his head, his body slowly broke down into flakes and pieces that disappeared towards the ocean with a breeze of salty wind. As his body cracked away, his clothing and bowl dropped down onto the cliff in a pile. He's lost his friend. Again.
Ralph kneeled down beside Forrest's belongings for how long, he doesn't know. He can't feel his legs anymore when he finally staggered up, tucking away Forrest's bowl, he walked back into the prison building after emptying the remaining content of the coconut wine. This feeling was even worse than it was when Forrest was just killed. Hope like nothing else was brought back to him when Forrest came back to life, but now, again, it's gone. He need to think about something else. Maybe he'd go look for the 'gift' Forrest mentioned.
He's already seen the whole place. The only place he hasn't gone to yet is the second floor. After he climbs up the flight of stairs that leads to the old, dusty level above the prisons and chambers beneath it, Ralph sees one door.
Just one door. The second floor is small in general in comparison with the rest of the prison. He guessed that it was meant for just this one room.
When he pushes open the door, the gush of wind along with it made papers, blueprints and documents flutter before him. When they settled back down into the even large piles of paperwork scattered across the room, Ralph was shocked by the strange familiarity in this room.
All the shelves are made of glass doors. Through one of them, Ralph spotted the miniature model of the Great Wave. On another, there's the Marble House. Then the Land of Sky. The Twisted Library.
This is Eve's office. The place she worked at when she was here.
Ralph walked up to one of the shelves. Slowly, with trembling fingers, he opens the door. Inside, was a photograph.
After brushing away the dust on the surface, he was surprised to find Eve, much younger than she was when she met him, smiling with another boy beside him.
They looked horribly similar. Eve couldn't be older than twelve in this picture, but the boy was definitely over eighteen years old.
He must be Eve's brother. The one that she's mentioned just once before. She said he... Died, I think.
He stared at Eve's face a little longer. He can see the prison tower of the Bread in the background, but she's really smiling from her heart. Her brother, however, seems much more worn out. But the grin on his face when he looked at Eve was true.
I wonder what is his name.
Ralph placed the photograph back. As he was just about to leave, something caught his eye.
Hidden in a corner shaped out by the shelves was a study desk. A study desk with someone dozing on it, her back facing him.
It couldn't be.
He tried to take a step forward. But his legs were frozen in place. So he pulled himself forward, until he accidentally stumbled over a pile of papers, and crashed into the sleeping person.
She jerked awake, her warm, hazel eyes opened wide, curiously studying Ralph.
A breeze slipped through the windows. The curtains veiled her face from him. It was almost like a dream.
"Hey," Eve beamed. "Ralph."
YOU ARE READING
Alasla: The New Age
Fantasy"What killed him isn't me. It's the world." Ralph had never asked for much. Not even his own identity. But when his best and only friend got murdered by the man he calls father, he was forced to set off on an expedition to unravel the truth of this...
