Re: Duality

A Mistake

      The performers are gone. The readers are back, but one is missing. The eldest one was not in attendance, however no one seems to mind. In fact almost all in the audience were pretty glad to see them not listening to the next part. The listener was the only one not fazed by their absence and focused their attention on the protagonist back again with the next foreboding section of her tale. 

      After another miserable night I'm still following this blasted river. It appears endless in its length and the shore was a soggy miserable mess. My shoes were unbelievably filthy, but I've long given up bothering to clean them up. What would be the point if they were going to end getting muddy again? 

         The river starts turning a brownish color with blackish bits floating up the top. It keeps growing darker and darker, but I assume that it's just some pollution from the war. Nature wasn't in the best of conditions thanks to all the warfare, but no one seems to care about the environment during these trying times. It's not until clothes and bits of furniture float on the murky surface, that I begin to panic. My steps quicken and a growing dread washes over me upon the sight of limp corpses floating on the water. It all culminates into the river leading into a lake filled with bodies. A heavy stench of poison and gunpowder linger around the remnants of a fallen civilization. 

      It wasn't just adults either, much to my disgust was infants purple in the face from the polluted water and children corpses missing limbs from the force of being shot. My hands tremble and before even five seconds pass I vomit into some bushes. Glancing around I notice some leftover explosives and empty barrels of vile cyanide. I pocket some small explosive bombs for later use. I'm bound to get dragged into some kind of conflict eventually, and one should always have a backup plan in the worst case scenario.

      Demons don't use technology, at least in terms of weapons. What purpose would it serve to beings who can command the elements at their fingertips? Therefore the most likely candidate would be... Humans. 

      Humans had polluted this entire ecosystem.

      Humans have destroyed this entire town. 

      Humans have killed these innocent children and infants in front of the eyes of their helpless parents. The parents who would soon join their children in death along with all the other members of the underwater towns.

      The thought triggers the very familiar pain once more and I suddenly throw up once more, spilling some bile onto my already dirty shoes stained with red clay. Are humans truly this disgusting? They destroy, kill, rape, and are beyond irredeemable. Yet, I've met perfectly fine humans along the way in my journey. Pan is half-human and Ojiro was human, and both were seemingly fine individuals. People I can respect to an extent and would be willing to converse more with. Then surely there must be... some outside force? No. No? Why would I have such a strange thought? 

      My thoughts are interrupted by the sound of footsteps quickly coming towards me and I instinctively raise my hand summoning my blue fire. Before me is a filthy looking female water demon, she is barely wearing any clothes and has purple blotches all over her body. Her hands are crooked and shaking uncontrollably. Her lips had clearly been ripped from her face disfiguring what was once a pretty young lady. Under her crazed eyes were black bags, and her neck is completely covered in scratches. Her claws are a disgusting rusty color and overgrown to the point of nearly reaching four inches long. She is all skin and bones, and there is clearly infected wounds in various spots on her body. Blood trailed down her inner thighs and her knees are caked in bloody dirt. 

     "Ah... Ah... No more... No more.... Where....? Where is it? I'm looking... I'm looking for it! Yes that! I'm looking for that! It must be you! It can be no one else!" The woman cried out in a crazed stupor. Her hands outstretched towards me and I recoil in fear of the woman's insane ramblings. I squint noticing underneath all the trauma inflicted on her body, this woman almost looked... familiar. It isn't until the woman stumbles over and roughly grabs the sapphire that I recognize her as the woman I've been looking for!