Before The Fall (origins)

Drug

"Drugs are...well...you can sort of...this is complicated.  There's generally two kinds.  One kind lets you sense things that aren't there.  The other kind numbs you to things that exist around you."

"Which one is better?"

"Being a responsible adult, I'd tell you no drugs.  But I'm not a responsible adult.  So I'm gonna say the latter."

"I thought you said drugs were bad."

"I've seen things.  Lots of things.  Death and sorrow and pain beyond imagining.  I want to forget."

"So you want to take these drugs to take away the pain?"

"Yeah."

"That's not right."

"Why not?"

"Because my mom said that pain has a reason.  And if we don't feel anything, we'd be monsters."

"I know the reason."

"No, you think you do."

"..."

Why did that conversation come back to me?  That was a while ago.  Drugs.  Asura said one could see things that aren't there.  I guess I'm on drugs then.  But in seeing things that are there.  So what am I?

I've always been on the fence.  I was never truly able to sit in one category for long, with the longest being infancy.  That didn't last long.

As a child, I would never play with the other kids.  As a student, I could never learn as slow as they could.  As a villager, I could never connect in that interlocking way everyone binds themselves together with.

Lone wolf, Asura had called me.  I am alone now. Besides this stupid rock that can't stop patronizing me.  God if I could just put this thing down.  I hope it can't walk.

A whole hour I've been walking, following the fine thread of light that bound Krista to me.  One fine line is all that connects the two of us.  If I lose it, I'll never find her.

Asura called me a monster.  But I saw his smile.  He denounced my humanity, but he didn't seethe with malice.  He alienated me from the village just by existing, and he could just kill us all in a snap of his fingers.

But he doesn't.

I think he sees something.  Something that stops him everytime.

He is the saddest creature in the forest.  He is the most wounded in a brutal ecosystem.  And yet he shines the brightest.  He smiles the most.

Ino.  What must it be like to have known this man since childhood?  What does it take to bind two strings together so tightly?  Is Ino a monster as well?

Am I?

Doesn't matter.  Even if I am, I really hope my monster is feeling hungry today.  Because I can see them.  Jäger.  A tenth of their initial numbers, but still a size able group of 50 or so.

And Krista.

My hands grip the stone with such force that it nearly draws blood.  I've been waiting for this.  My village, my powers and my friend of half an hour.

Powers or no, I hope Asura is far behind. I want a head start on their necks.