The Dark Obelisk - Chapter Three

A father and son are united, but even in the midst of this long-awaited occasion, the reality of the darkness that surrounds them continues to loom into their lives.

It'd taken awhile before I really realized how banged up I was. So enthralled by finally seeing my dad again, I never stopped to notice that most of my body was layered in bandages and that I was blind out of one eye. As I looked down over myself, I was astounded by just how much area was covered in clothy white.

"What the heck did they do to me?" I asked in disbelief.

My father, who was knelt low in front of me as he worked on switching the dressings on my legs, looked up and chuckled a bit. "A real number. By the time I got to you, you were soaked in blood. Luckily," he said as he finished unwrapping part of one leg and tossed the bandages aside, "You're a tough cookie. Lot of it ended up being superficial."

I blinked and cringed as I saw my leg, all scratched up and scarred, some dried blood matting my furr. He reached into a large sack next to him, rummaged through as he pulled forth a small bottle of water, which he proceeded to pour over my healing wounds, brushing them dry with a soft cloth.

"Don't really have any sort of medicines out here I'm afraid. Sorry if it hurts, kiddo."

"No, it's okay...I'm sore but I'll be alright," I said, blinking slowly.

"That's my boy." He smiled.

After he finished up with a new bunch of gauze wrapped around my leg, he stood up straight and nodded.

"That should do for now. Least you'll have plenty of battle scars to show off to the ladies. Tell them valiant stories of fighting in some big war." He chuckled. "I bet they'll like that."

I shook my head softly and smiled. "Don't got much time for girls, lately," I said.

He sighed and nodded knowingly.

"I'm sorry, Zero. I'm sorry I wasn't there." He bent forward and picked up the bag, lifting it so he could set it upon the workbench. I blinked softly as I looked towards the floor in silence.

After a few moments, I looked up. "Where were you? What happened...?"

His shoulders rose and fell as he released a deep sigh and turned towards me, walking back to sit beside me upon the bed. He rested his paws on his knees and closed his eyes.

"Bad stuff. Real bad. You remember it...when he..." He looked over to me.

"...came to our house? Yeah, I remember." I said with a shiver. How could I ever forget that day? It had begun as a fine evening...normal, joyful, just like most evenings. We'd always been a happy family. My mom, my dad, my sister. But that happiness wouldn't last forever...

"I'd always thought I'd managed to keep one step ahead. I'd spent so long up against him, thought I'd had his patterns down." He sighed. "We stayed in one spot too long. I got too comfortable. I just thought it was worth trying to live normally..." His shoulders seemed to droop.

I scooted closer to him and nuzzed at his shoulder lightly, blinking as I did so. "It wasn't your fault. We didn't like moving around either..." I said.

He rubbed his hands together and continued. "After he attacked, he took me away on that big ship of his. I didn't have a choice, at that point. I could have tried to get away but after what Nagami did..." He seemed to strain, looked almost as if he would cry.

My mother had given up her life to save ours. She had always been so beautiful, so tall and strong...I'd always looked up to her, but I never understood better than I did that moment when she....she changed. I understood at that moment that my mother had been more than just a simple nekojin. The way she looked as golden light had surrounded her...as those wings had sprouted from her back, the way she'd held that glowing sword of golden light...the way I'd glimpsed it, for just a second, in Yggdrasil's eyes...-fear-.

She was an angel. She had to be. Thats what I believed, and I never doubted it since that day. In some ways, I knew she was still watching over me. Still watching over us. She had to have been...I don't think I'd have come this far without her.

"...after what Nagami did, I couldn't escape. It'd have risked you two. I allowed them to take me, bided my time. I'd figure something out, though at that moment I hadn't the slightest clue of what to do."

We both sat in silence for a little bit as I mulled over my thoughts. How frightening would it have been if I'dda been the one captured? Yggdrasil had this massive ship...Seven called it the "Narcotrix". From the outside, it looked like some kind of behemoth, the hull looked alive, organic, made out of some sort of dark green scaly material. I'd seen it high in the sky as me and my sister escaped from our home...I'd learned more about it in the years to come.

"What happened on the ship?' I asked.

"Not a whole lot. At least not a lot I can remember. He didn't bother with me much -  threw me in a cell and kept me locked up. Seven told me Yggdrasil was deciding what he was going to do with me. I figured I'd have been put to death, eventually."

The thought of that sent a shiver through my body. I'd assumed him to have been dead for so long...how frightening would that have been? To have been trapped in a place like that, unsure if you'd live to see tomorrow...I couldn't imagine. It unsettled me, and I scooted closer to my father, leaned against him. He placed an arm around me and squeezed me tight.

"You gonna be alright, Zero?"

"Yeah...I think so." I nodded.

"If you need some rest, just give me a heads up." He looked at me with concern.

"No, it's alright." I shook my head and nuzzed at him. "Just...what happened? How'd you escape?"

"Truth be told, I don't remember a whole lot. That was a long time ago. He kept me on the ship for awhile...thankfully they kept me fed. I got the idea that since they were keeping me alive, they had found a use for me. I assumed it'd probably have something to do with getting you out of hiding. I couldn't let that happen, I wanted you two to remain safe. I started thinking real hard about my options, how I was going to get out of there. I paid attention to my environments, memorized the routines." He paused for a moment, before continuing. "Far as I could figure out though, there wasn't a hole in the system. Everything was in perfect working order. I wasn't willing to make a move until I was sure of something that'd work...lord only knows what they might have done if I'dda been resistant." He leaned his head back and looked towards the ceiling. "I ended up not having enough time to think about it, though. They probably wanted to nip me in the bud, so they tossed me into a confinement chamber and knocked me out until it was time to eat. Eat, sleep, eat, sleep. Kept me so drugged up I couldn't think straight anymore."

"So...you never made it out? But...how'd you get here?" I asked.

"You're probably thinking I finally came up with some sort of ingenious plan or something. A sudden, daring escape. But, honestly, I'm betting I ended up here the exact same way you did." He looked at me, and I blinked.

"What do you mean...?"

"Zero, what's the last thing you remember before you got here?"

I blinked and looked down at my paws. "Me and Khaze turned in for the night. I hit the hay, fell asleep. Then I woke up here."

He nodded. "Yup. Same thing happened to me, one year ago."

My eyed widened. "You...you've been here that long?" I suddenly realized that I wasn't even totally sure where 'here' was. "What is this place, anyways? And why am I here?"

"It took me awhile to figure it out, but I'm pretty sure this is a sort of prison."

"Prison?" I blinked, unsure.

"Yeah. I've met others here." He paused. "Well...not so much as met, but encountered. I think this is the place Yggdrasil stores the people he's captured. Their minds. I think this is something -inside- Yggdrasil." He looked at the room around us. "Whole lot of people have been here before. You wouldn't think you could be very resourceful in a place like this, but apparently they had been. We're in a house right now, built by someone else."

"By who?" I asked.

"I don't know. It was deserted when I found it. I think it was a family, though. I found some pictures and stuff. Personal effects." He sighed softly. "They looked kinda like our family. Mom, dad, couple of kids. Pictures looked old though. I think they were here, a long time ago. But..."

He stopped and sat in silence. His eyes were closed and he seemed tense. I wanted him to continue, but the way it looked...I felt a sensation of dread. I had a feeling he knew what had become of the family.

"...they're not a family anymore, are they?" I asked tentatively.

He shook his head. "No. Those things that attacked you?"

I knew where he was going. "They were the people who've been trapped here..."

"Right." He nodded, sounding saddened. "Who knows how long they could have been here?"

How long....how long would it have taken to turn someone into something like that? They had looked no different than the living dead. Ten years? Twenty? Fifty? One hundred? A shudder rushed through my body as I closed my eyes and shook my head. I didn't want to think about it anymore. I think my dad could sense it, as he changed the subject.

"Anyways," he said as he looked towards me, "this is where I've been pretty much. I've had enough time to explore, get a lay of the land. I found some more houses and such, some stores of water and food. Strange thing is, none of it seemed decayed, decomposed. Water wasn't stagnant. I don't think anything ages in here. Dust settles if you let it but beyond that...everything's inertial."

I blinked softly as he rose from his seat and walked across the room. Just beyond the workbench, against the furthest wall, he reached into what looked like a wooden storage bin of some sort and pulled forth a tan-colored sack. He came back and sat it down on the bed next to me, opened. I could see food inside.

"Have yourself some rolls, I bet you're hungry. Eat as many as you want. I'll go get some water," he said, patting me on the head before he walked to the bookshelf at my left. I watched as he reached around the side of it and unheard something click, before he grabbed it with both paws and swung it open like a door.

"Handy, this thing is. You can have yourself a read on the way out the door." He smirked. He left it open as he stepped through, and I could hear him ascending a stone staircase.

Now that I had a moment to be alone, I thought about everything going on as I slipped my paw into the bag and retrieved a roll, nibbling it. It tasted fresh, though it was very plain. Needed some butter.

If this was a prison as my father had said it was, then how did I get here? How had Yggdrasil captured me? And if he had taken me away, how was Khazetuha faring? I wasn't sure how long I'd been out in my intermittent slips of consciousness, but I imagined it had to have at least been a day or two. Khaze would have woken up by now...

I sighed with worry as I continued to nibble on my roll. It was wonderful to see my father again...but Khaze was alone, and I worried about her. Not to mention with what happened earlier, nearly getting seduced by some illusion...what if my dad was another one of those illusions? He did save me from the creatures though. Why would Yggdrasil waste the time tricking me again when he could have easily let me die? Or might it not have killed me anyways? Was my father's visage a ploy, to keep me here with a false sense of security? I didn't know what to think, what to do.

"Man..." My whole body slumped. I was stressed and still weakened, I felt like I just wanted to lay down and go back to sleep again.

A few moments later my father returned, a a clay pot in one hand and a couple of small clay bowls in the other. He came to set the things on the bed next to me before he returned to shut and latch the bookcase-door. Finally, he took a seat where he had been prior as he lifted the pot and poured a stream of glistening, clear water into each bowl. He handed one to me.

"Silverware's at a premium round here. We're living in the lap of luxury with this stuff." He smirked as I sat my roll down in my lap and took the bowl between two paws. I tipped it to my lips and drank. Warm water cascaded over my lips and down my throat. It wasn't until then I realized how parched I was, for though it was warm it was about the best thing I'd tasted in what felt like years. I gulped greedily as he chuckled, watching me.

"Thirsty huh? This place'll do that to you. Don't know why it's got to be so hot." He took a sip from his bowl and secured himself a roll. He took a big bite out of it, chewing whilst he spoke. "Can't complain, though. You'd figure with a guy like Yggdrasil this place'd be hell, but it's more like purgatory."

Had he not been here to save me, this place would have very likely been hell.

I blinked down at my emptied bowl with a tinge of sadness, but he was one step ahead as he tipped the pot in front of me and refilled it. I smiled, meowing in appreciation before I gulped this bowl just as eagerly as the last one.

"How's your sister?", he asked after a few moments of silence. The question surprised me, though I guess it really shouldn'tve. He'd not seen her just as long as he hadn't seen me, it figured he'd want to know.

"She's good, dad. Real good. We're on the run a lot and we've had some close calls but.." I blinked, thinking of her bright, cheerful smile and general hyperactivity, which made me smile. "But, she's happy. Always hyper and stuff." Truthfully, it was her high spirits and attitude that kept me going. No matter how down I'd ever felt, she always seemed to have a way of cheering me up, weather it was through a big tickle attack or just holding me close and telling me it'd be okay.

My father sighed with relief and nodded. "I'm glad. Really glad. Your mom was like that, always in a good mood." I nodded in agreement. "Don't know where Khaze got the pink from," he continued, "When she was born, your mother and I both looked at each other and said 'This is ours!? o__o' ." He snickered. "I accused her of having an affair with a strawberry and she slapped me. If I shaved my cheek, you'd probably still see the imprint. It HURT!" He grinned silly at me while he poked his furry black cheek, and I couldn't help but to grin back, finding myself lost in a giggly fit.

But as I thought about it, this talk and the happiness...the damning realization came to me. Our family had been torn apart, seven years ago. My mother killed, my father captured, I and my sister forced to run. These happy thoughts only made the reality more painful. I'd found my father again, or so I believed, but even if it was him, Yggdrasil still had us...Khaze still might be alone, and I'd never get my mother back. I trembled softly as my lip quivered and my eyes began to blurr.

"Why did he do it...?" I whispered. "Why did he take everything away from us?" I shook and shivered.

My father turned to me and scooted close as he looped an arm gently around my shoulder and shook his head softly. "Because he is evil, Zero. Pure and simple. I wondered the same thing when I was young. Why he took my dad away from me. It took me awhile to figured out, before I could understand." He paused, gave me a squeeze, and nuzzled the top of my head. "It's because he's evil, pure and simple. He does not care for you, for me, for anyone else. I'd doubt if he held any particular feelings for Seven, either."

Evil. Pure evil. I couldn't deny that. I'd always looked for the good in people. Even in Yggdrasil's case, I'd often wondered if there had ever been any hope for redemption. If he was just foolish, or greedy. But after what he had put me through, put my family through...and now that I'd seen this place, and the creatures within it? Greed alone couldn't cause this, it couldn't create that kind of darkness. Only a creature of hatred could, one devoid of the concept of love and happiness. One who only wished to inflict destruction, cause pain, and instill fear.

My paws gripped into fists as I shivered, eyes clamped shut. "Why did it have to be us? Why did it have to be -ANYONE-!?" I clenched my teeth as tears ran down my cheeks, through my furr. "Why can't I stop him? Why do we have to run...?" My tears came freely, washing off my face as they dripped to the floor and more followed them. My father took both arms around me and pulled me close, as tight as he could. I buried my face against his chest. I lost control, I cried. I couldn't help it. It hurt so much, knowing that if I did make it back...everything'd be the same.

He layed his face between my ears, nuzzled my hair softly, rocked me to and fro. Somehow, deep down...I knew he'd felt the same things I did. I could not save my sister from the darkness.

He could not save his son.

Author's Note

Commentary is always welcome. Please disregard typos.