A Map For Tomorrow

Chapter 3 (Update 1): What Is Left Behind

          Eskan looked at Colby, who was looking at him with a mix of a stare and slight belief. Meanwhile, Jack wasn't interested in something that could not be proven true at this moment. Simon put his hands on Colby's shoulders protectively and kept listening intently. "Now, I understand completely if you don't believe me with all this magic talk. It really is true, though." He then made a liquefied arm, thus freezing it to help him with hand gesturing. "If that doesn't help you believe then I don't know what will. But anyways, getting back on track with how I lost the arm in the first place. I was newly introduced to these powers of mine, if you will, and because of my inexperience, I ended up losing my arm in the learning process." Eskan looked at everyone in the room with a serious glance, making sure they were listening, and continued. "You see, If I try to heal limb with my powers before it has hit a maximum hardness capacity, it could cause me to lose the limb. If it is not solidified completely, or very close to completely, then I could sure lose a limb."

           "Didn't it hurt?" Simon asked, hoping not to be rude. Eskan perked up in a bit of a shy manner, having a look as he would not have wanted to describe any pain that he might have had.

            Eskan did eventually come around after a few seconds of silence and speak up. "You see, Yes it did hurt, but that was more of an aftermath to after the limb came loose."

            "How does that even WORK as an aftermath? You'd think you would feel it if your arm came clean off." Jack said, trying to reject the information he was being fed. He crossed his arms, a cross look on his face. "Try to come back from that." After saying which, he made a "hmph" noise that made Colby look at Jack, and you could tell that Colby was thinking of telling Jack off then and there. However, Simon stopped him from erupting by hugging him around his shoulders and squeezing him slightly for a mere second.

               Simon whispered in Colby's ear, "Sorry, but not now." And Colby obeyed.

               "Jack," Eskan sighed. "I know very well that you don't trust me, and because of that of course you don't believe me, But what I'm telling is the truth!" He made a gesture of defense with his hands by reaching out in an explaining position and spreading his arms slightly far apart from one another. Almost into a shrug, but not. "The aftermath part was because I didn't let it solidify, thus the materials inside of my arm were not fully repaired so to speak, and that threw it off. I originally didn't feel it because my arm was numb from the materials freezing over. I'm sure that even the normal person would have the same initial reaction. It did hurt, but only when I had feeling once more." He looked at Jack, hoping the chestnut haired boy would understand a word that he just said. Eskan sighed. "It's fine if you still don't believe me, but there are even things that even the least gullible people believe." Eskan looked at Jack with a serious expression. "Get with the program, and just believe what I have to say." He then looked at Simon and Colby, who were still listening intently.

               "If it makes you feel any better, Eskan, I believe you." Colby said, shyly but reluctantly raised his hand. "So does Simon. I think." Colby pointed to Simon, who was standing behind him, nodding slightly.

               "Thank you, Colby. For trusting me, that is." Eskan said, looking at the ground.

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