White Flowers

Her long, dark brown hair was inches from the soil. On her knees, she was hunched over in silent agony. Tears left trails through the blood on her face as they fell to the ground, tainted red. With much struggle, she drew her gaze to the man lying next to her. He lay on his back, his breathless lungs absolutely still. Her eyes winced as she let out a scream from the deepest part of herself, yet she didn’t know if any sound even escaped her mouth. 

Like knives continually cutting at her being, his last words floated on the air “Kass…why did you come…? Why…? Please…leave……..run…”

The figure standing directly ahead of her stepped forward once before stopping. She couldn’t lift her head, but she guessed he was about ten feet away. His eyes were wide, staring down at Kass. His face had no expression aside from his thin eyebrows rising, almost in curiosity.

“It’s as if fate has lined up just for you,” he spoke with a very soft and flat voice. “Now you have what you sought. The powers of change rest in your very hands.” 

Kass looked up with an unquestionable rage in her eyes, “fate? Change? How can you say this is what I wanted?” 

“Hmm…” he looked genuinely confused. “The cycle of revenge and war. The cycle of pain and suffering. It has come to you now. And now you can let it go. You’ve endlessly dedicated yourself to understand why we are doomed to fight each other.” 

Kass collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, and he continued, “This man…what was his name? Roren was it…? Yes…now…correct me if I am wrong in the details, but I do seem to recall him being the one who had my comrade’s blood on his hands. So the next step in the ‘cycle’ is for me to kill him…correct? Then followed by you killing me?” His words were progressively more condescending in tone. “So now that the blade of revenge has been bequeathed to you, my dear child, will you sheath it?” He began walking towards her. “Do you have the will to stop this chain, or will you let your emotions dictate your next move?” 

He crouched down next to her, almost playfully. Running a hand through his short white hair, he looked up at the gathering clouds. “I admit, it feels like you are almost onto something, yet still so far away from real change. Unfortunately, you express all of these ideas just drenched in emotional naivety. I have followed you for quite some time, and I think I have a pretty decent understanding of your alleged formula for change. So, bear with me here, as this will be difficult to hear.” 

Kass coughed up blood, unable to lift herself to attack. Unable to move as the hatred seared her entire body, she lay curled up next to the man she loved. The man who ended Roren’s life bent forward, bringing his mouth close to her ear. “Say you kill me,” he spoke very quietly. “Then of course, the process you’ve witnessed time and time again…more and more of us will come. We will end those who you hold dear. We will end you. Because how could we let you live…killing someone who is dear to us…how can we just carry on? But wait…consider this…perhaps you don’t kill me. Perhaps nobody who cared for this man brings revenge upon me. That’s the answer…correct? That’s the first step towards peace. Ending the cycles…ending the revenge and hatred. These are the things that bring us to fight.” 

The man stood up, and stretched his arms out, raising his voice to the sky now. “It’s almost comical! You call yourself a seeker of peace! You happen to stumble upon a solution that you’ve convinced yourself is so simple. Because some of our deepest rage comes from those who kill ones we care about…right?! So if we can end that, we can end it all. Your perspective is so small, it’s pathetic.” His voice was louder than before, with emotion behind it. “If we can forgive each other for the killing of loved ones, than we can move forward together and build a new world. We will forget about everything else, right? The experiments. The societal structure crushing those on the bottom further into the dirt. The lands stolen from these people or those people. The lands that were stolen back. The punishment of those who stand against this. Who stand, judged and ridiculed for being oh so different than we were created to be.” 

Kass blacked out, and the man’s voice calmed. “It’s a field of white flowers. If there is a black one, we are taught to crush it. If there is a blue one, burn it. A yellow one, bury it in the dirt.” He looked down at her. “Oh dear, it appears as though I have put you to sleep with my ramblings. I suppose I got caught up in my emotions…what was I even ranting about to begin with…ah yes…revenge. Sincerest apologies, there’s just so much wrong with this world that it’s hard to contain myself.” 

In the distance, he could hear more soldiers approaching. His eyes gazed upon the battlefield, scanning the fallen. “Hmm.” He looked at one of the bodies. This one was capable of creating some sort of biotic armor around himself. That one was gifted with The Sight. And I think that woman over there has some sort of creatures under her control. He turned around. “Sorry Roren, it looks like it will be you again.” The man hovered his arm towards Roren, and his fingers began to dissipate into sparkling dust. His arm, and whole body followed behind, dissolving into particles swirling over Roren before entering his throat.

***

Three soldiers ran up to the bodies. As they approached, Roren gasped a breath of life, eyes open to the falling rain.

Reviews

[Liddy Magregor]

I'm sorry this won't be a very good review because I can't think of anything I'd want to change about it. I love it. I love it when books seem to start in the middle of something, makes it so interesting. I like the elements, you got a villain, possibly a heroine and special abilities, plus war. I think it's going to make for a very intriguing story. write more.
ps I've started reading a book, The Vault. please review it if you feel inclined. thanks