Chaos Continuing

Consumed with madness, Alexandru wanders the Zepote desert, until he crosses paths with an old acquaintance. How will this chance encounter shape Alexandru's journey? Only time will tell.

He didn’t know how long he had walked. Days? Weeks? Months? A year? It didn’t matter. All that mattered was he walked. Where? He didn’t know. There was no destination, no plan. Just an urge to move and keep moving. So he did. He walked until his lungs ached and his legs burned from exhaustion. He walked until he felt he couldn’t walk further and then would sleep, only to rise a few hours later and keep walking. He had eaten, although he didn’t know what, nor did he care. 

The desert around him was harsh and unwelcoming, and he loved it. The sun beat down upon his cloaked and hooded figure, making sweat drip from his brow and sting his eyes. The shifting sands nipped his skin and made his footing uncertain. At night, a bone chilling cold settled over the barren land, and penetrated deep into his core. Occasionally an outcropping of rock would come into sight, looming over the desert and casting long dark shadows. They stood like guards over their desolate kingdom. Here and there he’d spot a cactus or some other desert vegetation, and the occasional snake, kangaroo rat,  or scorpion crossed his path. He hated seeing the animals. They reminded him of Joseph. 

The sun was hotter than normal that day, making Alexandru’s progress slow. Not that it mattered. The sweat was making it hard to see yet he refused to remove his black cloak, or even roll up his sleeves. He’d rather die of heat exhaustion than expose his shameful secrets. There was no wind that day, and the desert stretched endlessly before him, still and nearly silent. 

Then, from somewhere to his right came a shadow. At first he assumed it was more rocks, but then it moved. Rocks rarely moved. This piqued his interest and he looked. There was a person in the desert. That was odd. Why were they in this wasteland all alone? Didn’t they know that was dangerous? While he wasn’t certain where he was, he was pretty sure Hyury was far away from here, and there were no other civilizations in the desert. 

As he stood, contemplating the figure, the figure seemed to see him. The figure froze as well. For a time, neither of them moved, simply staring in confusion at the other, each contemplating the other’s possible motives. Then with an unexpected surge, the figure began to hurry towards him, his feet slipping on the sand, though this did little to slow his progress.

As he drew nearer, his features became more distinct. He was relatively tall, and had a slender, muscular build. He wore a pair of ankle high leather boots, a pair of loose fitting black pants cuffed just above the top of his boots, and a tan linen shirt with long sleeves.His face was obscured by a scarf that was draped over the top of his head and around the lower half of his face, but just above the fabric were a pair of dark brown eyes. The only other feature Alexandru could make out was the man’s skin tone, a rich black.

Alexandru did nothing as the man hurried towards him. Something about the man seemed familiar,, although in the jumbled web of his thoughts Alexandru found that he was unable to place who this man was. 

Finally the figure reached him, breathing hard from his sprint. His eyes quickly moved up and down, scanning Alexandru. Then from behind the cloth obscuring his face, slightly muffled came his voice. 

“Commander?” He asked. His voice was rich, warm and pleasing to the ear, and painfully familiar. 

The use of his title made Alexandru burst into laughter. Laughter so powerful his whole body shook and tears sprung to his eyes. Some Commander he was. His throat ached. When was the last time he’d had anything to drink? It didn’t matter. His laughter was harsh and piercing, full of an icey bitterness and empty mirth. 

The stranger was looking at him, his eyes widened in surprise, clearly not expecting his reaction. The stranger reached up and untied the scarf, which was fastened behind his head, lowering it to reveal the rest of his face. With his face came a name: Nanji Vinaer. He didn’t seem to know what to do. He reached a hand forward to put it on Alexandru’s shoulder, before hesitantly retracting it. In his eyes Alexandru could see what looked to be fear. and his usually jovial expression was tight and drawn. An off white bandage was affixed to his cheek, quite the stark contrast to its dark hue.

Walk. Fight. Run. Move. A voice deep inside Alexandru’s mind whispered. Compelled to obey, Alexandru suddenly stopped laughing, letting an eerie silence settle over them. He stepped around Nanji and took a few steps.

“Wait, Commander!” Nanji said, turning towards him, but this time, Alexandru gave no reply. He just kept walking. He heard Nanji’s feet behind him and a hand settled onto his shoulder. Alexandru flinched away from the touch, turning on his heel.

“Don‘t.” He said as Nanji immediately withdrew his hand.

“Apologies Commander…” Nanji began but Alexandru cut him off.

“Commander of what? Sand and scorpions?” He asked. Nanji took a few seconds to process his words. The wind blew and sand stung their skin.

“The Domakai.” Nanji said uncertainly.

“Not anymore.” Alexandru said, before turning and beginning to walk away. He only made it a few steps before Nanji called out to him. 

“Com- Alex, where is Lord Orfellia?” Alexandru froze. Blood stained rocks flashed in his mind's eye, as did the body of a throatless soldier. Once again, he began to laugh. Behind him he heard Nanji approaching him. 

“Alex, where is Lord Orfellia?” Nanji asked again, this time from right behind him. He couldn’t answer. The laughter was too intense. His knees buckled and he crashed down into the sand, small plumes of dust flying up from where his legs impacted the ground. Tears streamed from his eyes as he laughed, and laughed, and laughed.

“Alex, where is Lord Orfellia? Where is Joseph?” Nanji repeated. This time his voice was more firm.

It took a few minutes for Alexandru’s laughter to calm enough for him to be able to reply to Nanji. The entire time he laughed, tears poured from his eyes. All Nanji could do was watch, his unease growing by the second. Finally, however, the laughter ebbed. 

“Alex…” Nanji began.

“Soldiers took him.” Alexandru said, his voice completely devoid of emotion, although his mouth was still curved in a twisted grin. 

“I see.” Nanji said. 

Move. Walk. Fight. Run.  The voice in Alexandru’s head said. He pushed himself up and began to walk away from Nanji.

“Alex, where are you going?” Nanji asked, hurrying to follow after him. 

“Nowhere.” Alexandru replied, continuing to walk.

“Then why don’t you come with me? Wilder has been looking for you on behalf of Lord Hayashi. I can get in touch with them and we can figure out a plan.” Nanji suggested. 

“No.” Alexandru said, continuing to walk. He wished Nanji would leave. He wanted to be alone. 

“Alex, please. I can help you.” Nanji said, stepping in front of Alexandru. He had a look of concern on his face. Concern for Alexandru. Alexandru did not need his concern, nor his help. There was no helping what had happened, no fixing what had been broken. 

“I said no!” Alexandru snapped, stepping around him. 

“Then I apologize for this.” He heard Nanji mumble. Confused, Alexandru turned to see Nanji extend both his hands. From them a swirling, shimmering green mist began to flow. From the corners of his eyes, the same shimmering green mist appeared. 

The swirling mist began to take shape, before dissipating to reveal two exact replicas of Nanji, each of whom seized one of Alexandru’s arms. He attempted to pull away from them, but was unsuccessful. Their grips were like iron on his arms, and pull as he might he couldn’t get loose, even when he felt his shoulders twinge in pain from how hard he pulled against them.

“Let me go!” He shouted, glaring at Nanji. What was he doing? 

“I’m sorry Alex, really.” Nanji said, deep sadness written on his handsome features. “But I need to get you somewhere safe.” At this, Alexandru began to laugh, until the only thing keeping him on his feet were the grips of the clones of Nanji. 

“Safe? Safe! There is nowhere safe! Not for us, for anyone! Not anymore!” He cackled as tears leapt to his eyes. 

“Perhaps not.” Nanji said, “But my home is certainly safer than wandering the desert alone.” Alexandru could not reply to that. It was all too much. Didn’t Nanji know that they would never be safe again? He had to,  surely. Nanji wasn’t stupid, was he? Suddenly Alexandru found he couldn’t recall. 

“Let’s go.” he heard Nanji say. The clones began to pull him along, and he found that the laughter was making him too weak to resist.  So he simply allowed it to happen. Afterall, nothing mattered anymore, did it? 

Author's Note

This is part 2 of the Chaos Series. I would strongly recommend reading the previous entry Chaos Consuming first. I hope you all enjoy, and I look forward to any feedback you can provide! Thank you!

Reviews

[QRoels]

Yay! The second installment! It was a good continuation. I liked the introduction of Nanji (who I find as a good juxtaposition against Alex’s character). Their dialogue felt real and I believed their motives. I was driven through the story wanting to know more about their relationship.

A few notes. The beginning could be shortened. He was walking through the desert alone and not much was happening besides his inner monologue. I don’t think you need as much time before Nanji shows up. Also, the “Move. Walk. Fight. Run.” Was a nice touch on Alex. I get the feeling that he is broken and going insane. I might feel that more if he repeated the mantra a bit more. Finally I got the feeling they would fight or Nanji would have to give chase. I don’t believe that Alex would have lost that easily to someone who is likely a subordinate (or at least that’s how it’s portrayed). I think you have a chance to show how this magic system works and how things interact. You might be able to add a small confrontation at the beginning before they realize who each other is.

Overall great! Excited to see how the story keeps going.