Arynthe's Story

Our peaceful mission

185 ar. (Day of Liberation)

"Arynthe!"
I turned around to Zad, who came running towards me. "What's the problem?" I asked. 
"I need to give you something," he said, and the next moment he held my blade in his hand. "Remember we took it from you when you were sent to prison? I never came to give it back to you, but I'm pretty sure you'll need it." 

I laughed and took the blade in my hand. It was just like I remembered it: light, but not too light. I could feel the strength of the material. It seemed to be filled with a cold energy, as if it wanted to say: Use me! I haven't been used for too long!

"I hope you haven't unlearned your skills in the mean time." Zad looked at my fingers, that had grown slightly thicker in the past decades.
"Nah," I said, and I tried a few moves on the air, just to be sure. "You don't unlearn what kept you alive."
"Will I see you again after this mission is over?" he asked. 
"Probably," I replied, "but you don't have to stay here."
Zad shook his head. "All that violence is not for me. I mean, I know how difficult it can be to heal those wounds."
"So do I."

Zad shook his head again. Then, he stepped forward and embraced me. It took me by surprise, but I wasn't scared. I hugged him back carefully, so that I wouldn't cut him with the blade. I could see it had been sharpened for this occasion. 

"Seriously, Zad," I said. "This is going to be a peaceful mission. There are so many of us that violence is probably not even necessary."
"Would you give your blade back before you went?" he asked.
This time I shook my head. "That's something different. It belongs to me." 
"You didn't seem to miss it much all those years."

Before I could reply, I heard the bell ring. It was time to go.

"Goodbye," I mumbled, having nothing better to say, and I rushed into the spaceship. 

When we arrived, we simply marched to the Team Tower. Most Ashirians were just watching: most had a smile on their face, but some seemed scared or frustrated. Halfway the main street a few rebels tried to stop us, but there were only twelve of them. They stood no chance against our enormous group. We simply kept walking towards the blockade, until I could touch it with my nose if I'd take another step. 

I lifted my head up and looked at the people on the blockade. Young, fully armed people. They took themselves so seriously. 

"Tear this thing down," I said. 
"No," the guy that looked like the leader of the group replied.
I could barely suppress my laughter. "You're fools. You made this out of wood."
"Yeah," a girl on the right side said. "So?"
"Don't you guys and girls know how dangerous wood is? Haven't you learnt that in school?"
Now the rebels started laughing. "School?" the leader asked. "Who goes to school? We don't need boring facts to know what's right for us." 
"Well," I laughed, "whatever you think is good for you, it's not wood. Allow me to show you."

I took my blade and used it to slice my finger open. I made a cut so small only one single droplet of blood came out. Then, very carefully, I let the droplet fall on one of the wooden sticks that had come off the blockade. 

PANG!

The stick broke in the middle and the ends flew away. Arynthe, who was standing in the front a few places to the right, picked up the end and held it up. The place where the explosion had been was blackened. 

"See," I said, "That's why you should go to school. I mean, you're really making yourself too easy to defeat."
"Ha!" the rebel leader shouted. "You can't do that little magic trick on this entire thing! It's too big!"
"Would you bet your lives on it?" Mitor, who was on my left side, now said. "I mean, if we're showing you that we're right and you're still on your silly blockade, you're not going to live to admit your defeat, that's for sure."
"Did we ask you for your opinion?" a little boy next to the leader shouted. "You're all stupid! Go away!"

He was so young! I felt bad for him, but I had to do what I had to do. 

"You have the time it takes me to make this happen to get away from here," I shouted loudly. "And trust me: It will happen!" 

Our army collectively moved back. I wondered if it'd be enough. However, I thought, I probably wouldn't live to see if it was. I was being a fool. I was sacrificing my life to show a bunch of lost children that they should've stayed in school. 

The biggest reachable vein was in the upper leg. I cut it open with perfect precision. One mistake could make it all fail, so I wasn't satisfied with anything less than perfect. I made a cup from my hand and caught the blood that flowed out. If it would keep flowing at this rate I would be dead in 46 minutes, but knowing my situation I wouldn't even make it 46 more minutes anyway. 

I looked up at the blockade. There were only two people left on it: the leader and the little boy next to him. 

"Do it, xaoni," the leader said. "Do it if you dare. I'm not afraid."

Suddenly I felt I understood what Zad was going through when I was holding my breath for what I planned as 20 minutes. I wondered: Would there be a way to get them to breathe? I slowly and carefully moved my hand back behind me, getting ready to throw. Meanwhile ideas soared through my head like they had wings, but the one was even more stupid than the other. What could I do? Was there a way to spare our lives? Was there a way to end this ridiculous game? 

"Dashai kiregle anteri porillik," I said, and swung my hand forward.