Courage Comes From Lies

Chapter 34: Devin

| 1:28 am, in the forest of an unknown planet |

It was really late when I landed to resupply with water and rest by the nearby lake. This area was spaced out just enough for me to park the ship. The trees were thick enough for me to be hidden which would mean I'd be safe. But just in case I'm keeping my pistols on my person and the ship's security system online. As I walked around gathering firewood, I heard the ship's radio ringing. "Must be Jasmine again." I sat the wood down and climbed back in the ship answering the call. "Hello?"
"Hey Strawberry." Jasmine waved, sitting in the bedroom. "How's the trip?"
I smiled. "It's pretty okay so far. I've stopped on a random planet to rest and resupply. Right now I'm gathering wood for a fire. Then I'll head out to go hunting for my food before relaxing."
"That's good. Do you know if there are any animals around for that?"
I thought a bit to myself as I began shuffling some leaves towards the wood I'd gathered. "Well I did hear a bunch of hooting and howling when I landed. So there's bound to be something."
"As long as you know what you're doing. So I had a question for you Strawberry."
"What's up?" I asked as I gathered it all up in a pile.
"Well... I understand how important this trip is for you. I understand what Tara means to you. But.. what are you going to do once you actually get there? Do you have a plan?"
Her question made me pause for a bit before I could answer. As I pulled my steel bracelet off, I began speaking again. "The truth is, no. I don't have a plan. I dove into this head first because of the time you and Patrick were taking while Tara was in trouble." I reached in my pocket and pulled out my magnesium block shaped as a combat knife. "I'm not sure what I'll do once I reach them. I'm not even sure if I'll be able to do anything."
"Then why are you doing this? Do you think Tara would want to watch you die while you tried to save her?"
I kept my eyes on striking my bracelet with the blade of my knife over the pile of kindling. That was a good question. I know what I'd be getting myself into. I know what dangers I'd be facing but. "It's because I wasn't there for Amanda when she died." I could hear the confusion in Jasmine's voice as I answered.
"Amanda? What's this have to do with your late older sister?"
I continued striking at my bracelet until I saw an ember light up in the pile. I set them both down and began lightly blowing at the ember to make it grow. She asks what this has to do with Amanda. With how many times I've told her the story, I'm surprised its not obvious to her. After the fire grew to a reasonable size, I went to the back of the ship to look through the weapons so I could go hunting.
"Devin. What does Amanda have to do with this?"
I sighed softly tying my hair up in a hair tie with an Arctic Cougar's paw as the pendant. "Amanda sacrificed herself for me when I was five. She gave her life to my sadistic mother for me to survive. And even if I was five, I couldn't do anything to save her. I couldn't go back for her. I DIDN'T. I refuse to abandon Tara like that. There were so many times I cried about never getting to tell Amanda I loved her before I lost her. As well as my father. I can't let that happen with Tara. At least if I die while trying to get her away from that Hell, I'll be able to tell her I love her." I heard Jasmine sigh at this.
"Devin. At some point you're going to need to let that guilt go. It's not doing you any favors."
"Whenever that is will be after I've had my closure." I pulled out a fiberglass bow with its aluminum arrows and strapped them on before slipping my knife back in its sheath. "For now, I'm going to do whatever I can to avenge her death as well as my father's. And if that means killing my mother to get Tara back, then I will. I'm not going to let her die. I'm not going to let that devil take someone else I love from me. I'm not going to let her traumatize me again. I refuse."
"Devin I'm being serious. At some point you're going to need to stop and think about if losing your life to her is what they would've wanted for you. If you're trying to avenge them by killing her, you're in over your head. And I say this with every ounce of love for you I have. You haven't seen her in a little over a decade. You don't know what she can do, what she's able to pull or anything. Would your father and sister really have wanted you to throw your life away at the hands of the very woman who did away with them?"
I stopped at her last question and thought to myself. She.. makes a bit of sense. My father loved my mother.. but Amanda feared her. He gave his life for Amanda's.. then she took Amanda's while attempting to capture us both... If I continue with this frugal hero mission to get Tara back, I might just end up with Father and Amanda.. That.. doesn't sound so bad to me but...
I shook my head free of these thoughts and just shut the back of the ship before going to the screen. "I'm going hunting now Jasmine. I'll call you when I wake up." In a rush to just end the call and talk, I hung up without waiting for an answer from her and began my trek into the woods, using a small device used as a heat scanner as well as the charmed hair tie I used earlier, which allowed me night vision. As I walked, Jasmine's last question kept running through my mind. "Would Father and Amanda have wanted me to give my life to that woman..?" I set the scanner in my pocket and climbed up a tree to get my bearings, the entire time thinking about how I'd answer that.

| 45 minutes later |

As I sat rotating my night's catch over the fire, I stared into the flames just stuck in my own thoughts. Her question was racing through my head. "How could anyone possibly answer something so rhetorical?" After eating I climbed back into the ship and turned on the nightly defensive systems. I lied on my back looking into the starry sky in silence until I drifted off to sleep. It was about 3:12 in the morning when I fell asleep.

| Inside the walls of the Yolaris castle, fifteen year old Devin roams her way towards the gates of the palace |

"Tara? Where are you? Please!" I cried out to anyone I could while looking for Tara as I ran through the castle. "Why am I here? How did I get back?" As I made my way outside I suddenly stopped, staring in horror. My mother was there with my father and Amanda. Amanda looked at me and called out "Devin! Run! Run and don't look back!"
My father said the same thing before he was struck down by his monster of a wife, those being his last words to me. Before I had time to get to them, she stole Amanda's life as well and stood over their bodies dripping their blood.
"Why..? Why do you do this...?" I sank to my knees trembling, just staring at the scene before me with pouring tears. She just glanced back at me with her empty cold eyes.
"One day, you'll learn to stop free thinking. It only gets you in trouble. Your father and sister had to learn that the hard way. And you will as well." I just sat there sobbing until I heard the sound of struggling. I looked up again and my blood went cold. There was Tara, sitting on her knees in front of my mother chained up and gagged, almost completely beaten down.
"No.." She just looked down at Tara, who glared back up at her, blood dripping down her head.
"Hm. She looks just as defiant as Amanda. And just as full of false confidence as you."
"No- no please-" I just teared up more staring, unable to move, and began sobbing again. "Please, don't do this- don't take her from me too." I begged her as hard as I could. She just chuckled listening to me.
"You beg on your knees as pathetically as your sister. Do you expect me to accept the words of any child of mine that disobeys even the simplest of orders? Amanda lost my respect and leniency the minute she refused to help me train you." She walked over to where I was sitting and just crossed her arms looking down at me. "Instead I can see she trained you herself. To be as foolish as she was. She trained you to defy me and my mission to continue our bloodline." I stared up at her frozen in fear, then out of the corner of my eye I saw Tara manage to bite through her gag.
"Bullshit! You weren't even born a Yolaris! How dare you try to force your own beliefs on your blood and claim to be doing the best for them?"
"Tara- no-" I watched my mother look back at Tara who was just glaring and spitting out her thoughts at my mother. She walked back to Tara, to which I weakly began to crawl after.
"No- no stop it- stop-"
Tara simply glared up at my mother who was now standing back over her. "You claim to love your children and claim to want the best for them. They should've never had a mother like you. The moment you take my life, I'm going to love watching you fall into the pit of Hell you belong in."
"Tara stop it- stop talking-" I continued trying my best to crawl over to them. My mother scowled down at Tara and picked up her bloodied weapon.
"Go ahead", Tara said. "Kill me in front of your daughter. Give her another reason to hate her mother."
"No! Please!" I cried out to them both. My mother just ignored my pleas and raised her weapon over Tara.
"Well then. Hate is another quality of a good Yolaris Queen. So you've just given me the permission I didn't need to continue molding my daughter in my image."
"NO!!"

I screamed out reaching towards them before I woke up. The Ursa Sun was peeking out over the trees surrounding the ship. As I lied there panting heavily I saw my arm outstretched towards the roof of the ship.
"That nightmare.... It couldn't have been a vision. It was entirely too specific." I swallowed sitting up and rubbed my face looking at the ship's monitor. It was 6:19 in the morning. I'm unsure of how much I sleep I got. But I had too much to do to stop and think about it. I climbed out of the ship and went to the lake to wash up and start my journey again. The only thing I will think about is getting to Tara and giving my mother what she deserves.