Into The Unown

The Locked Memories - part 5

Behind the smoke screen which plagued their eyes, the scene seemed to have shifted again. Ash and Gary held each other tight, bracing for the memory they were going to intrude next.

Not long after, the two of them were following Luke, down a spiral staircase of a familiar corridor, dimly lit by torches.

"I've been here before," Ash said, his eyes trailing behind Luke, "this is the place where—"

Luke pushed open the doors to a dusty, dimly lit room. The air was thick with heat with silence raining down on them. Even though he wasn't present physically, Ash felt the room chocking down on him. He wondered whether Luke had come here to meet a corpse... or become one.

Luke steadied himself a foot away from a bed, messily draped in clothes and quilts which stung of rain.

"It's me," he said, putting down his Aura staff at the foot of the bed, "Xenny—it's me, Luke."

He raised his hands and the extinguished torches around the room lit up with fire. When light fell in his eyes, Ash found her.

Xenos lay lifeless on the bed, with her face pale, and fragile body—almost unrecognisable. She didn't look up when Luke announced his arrival. She didn't even look up.

"I... I heard about what happened with Ryder," he said, his voice shaky as he settled himself at the edge of the bed, "I... I can't say anything except how sorry I am."

"What is happening?" Gary whispered, afraid the two might hear him, "What is sorry for?"

Ash remembered the last memory he'd seen in this room—Xenos's screams, Eiran's motivation and finally, a baby's cries.

"Uton stole her son," Ash whispered back, "he came in right after he was born and took him away."

"I heard about Uton," Luke's voice was tight. "I'm sorry I wasn't there. Uton—he, he killed Park. I swear to you—"

"You don't know anything," Xenos sat upright, "You weren't here!"

When she came into light, Ash swallowed, taking a step back. She looked nothing like the woman he had seen in his dreams. The Xenos he'd encountered was still pale, but she held together—she was calculating and cold; the Xenos in front of him looked like she was barely holding on.

"I want to help," Luke reached for her hand, "I know what you're going through, I lost my brother—"

"I lost my child," she retorted, her voice growing darker, "you don't know what I have been through. Don't you dare to pretend that you do."

"Yes, I'm sorry," he continued, "I... I want to help, please tell me how I can help you."

Xenos looked up at him, her eyes were dark and gloomy. She put her hand atop Luke's; her strength increasing as the minute passed by. "There's only one thing that can save me now."

Luke tried to withdraw his hand, but soon he realised that Xenos—the weak, feeble, barely alive Xenos—was stronger than him.

"Revenge." She said and the with a swipe of her hand, the torches went out again.

When the door to the room opened again, Eiran stepped inside. The room was dark, a sinister aura filling the air. He looked around and found Luke—unconscious. His staff lay broken and burned, with vines of black thorns growing from it.

Eiran bent down, his hands trembling as he touched the ruined staff.
"No," he whispered, as if the piece of wood had shown him memories of what had happened—an event that would change the course of history.

The sweat girl they knew as Xenos was gone. Forever.

When Ash opened his eyes again, he was back at the Baek Mountains. Gary lay near him on the ground and up above, Serena slept peacefully.

He stood up, dusting the dirt off his clothes. Immediately he went to her, his hands carefully caressed her forehead. It was cold—her fever was gone.

"The villagers are gone," Gary said.

"Figures," Ash answered, "they weren't supposed to be here... you saw the dreams. They—they were alive thousands of years ago."

"What were they then?"

Ash clenched his jaw, "Memories."

Gary's voice was low. "But... why those memories? Why those moments?"

Ash paused. "Maybe it wanted to show us her fall—it was love with drove Xenos to insanity. But the cause doesn't matter, once a van black goes to the dark side then—"

"They're lost," Gary bitterly agreed, "but there was one thing which was wrong, Ash."

"What?"

Gary's voice was low, a warning in disguise, "Luke lied. It wasn't Uton who killed Park."

Ash stared at him.

"It was Luke. He killed his own brother."