INITIATION ULTIMATE, Chapter 17.1: Narrated by Tharseo

Somewhere in their twisted Creatorian minds is the idea that one day I will become so desperate that I will have no choice but to turn to them.

So tonight Unari and I will catch a Cantiko.  When we do so, I'll somehow have to convince myself that these creatures are incapable of reason, because I just can't get the blue-eyed creature's message out of my mind.  I understand that the deed is crucial to keep the area safe, but refusing to acknowledge the creature’s sentience will be difficult for me anyhow.  With a deep sigh I sink back into one of Unari's chairs; no use worrying about the inevitable that hasn't happened yet.

 

            A loud rapping sound on the door startles me from my thoughts.  Unari must be returning with the slaughtered rabbit for our meal.  To be safe, I look through the door’s peephole, and welcome him in once I identify the waiting individual as my ally and not a stranger.  My greeting stops mid-breath as I notice the way my comrade staggers into the house, soon collapsing onto the matted ground.  My initial alarm turns to panic as I notice the pool of blood beginning to spread around his body.  

            With a shout, I clamber upstairs to where Unari stores his bathing supplies, and I grab a towel.  Warm red liquid gushes from a wound on Unari's stomach cavity, and I press the towel onto him in an effort to staunch the bleeding.  "What happened to you?  Take this, quick.  Hold this to your wound tightly, and don’t let up the pressure."  As I try to stop the bleeding, memories of Ionracas’s chest wounds flicker across my vision.  “Remember, make it constant.  You can’t let yourself bleed out."  In too much agony to respond verbally, Unari gives a nod and clamps the towel to his stomach.  His face has become white and pasty from the pain and blood loss, and when I touch his arm I can feel him trembling from shock.  Yet he doesn't cry out, doesn't complain...

            "Tharseo," he gasps instead.  "There was something in the woods..."  A strange look comes upon his face and he coughs, causing blood to run down the sides of his lips and seep into his dark shirt.  My hands quiver beneath his head, but I steady myself, soaking up every word he says.  A numb feeling overtakes me.  Suddenly, it’s not like I’m the one holding Unari’s head, but another person in another time who is watching the scene from a theater or reading it from a book.  Detached, I seek the importance in every word, storing them away in the depths of my mind.

            "They want to speak to you...  They need... They need you... And warned me to leave... Wanted me to abandon you... You and the house...They warned me... Leave you be... And it’s watching you…"  He chokes in air, letting out a long wheeze, hands fluttering away from his wound and resting on his chest.

            "Pressure," I remind him, shock forcing me into one word phrases.  I press down on the now-bloody towel, only letting up when I see the pained grimace on his face widen like an adverse smile.

            "I can't... Leave... You're too much like him... Like me... You are special, you need to make... Make it... You must carry on for us... Understand?"  I nod, straining to hear his fading voice.  "A lung... My stomach... I won't be with you anymore..."

            "Hold on," I force out numbly.  "Hold on."

            "Take care of the farm," Unari whispers.  "Be careful.  No Cantiko catching tonight, huh?”

 

            As I reconnect to the situation, I can’t stop the sudden outburst.  "No!  You're going to survive!  Tell me what to do!  I can't lose you, too!  If there's any way to save you, I will do it!  I won't have another person dying for me!  Tell me what to do!  Tell me!"

            Unari searches my eyes, the power in my words bringing about a new energy in him, as well.  He laughs, causing a spurt of blood to gush through the towel, turning my fingers red.  "Don't worry," he grins, ignoring the tears streaming down his face.  "Life was only a game, anyways.  I was just... Just a pawn... Never alive.  Cast aside to be initiated into the afterlife… That’s all… I was never good enough to pass the real Initiations..."

            "Don't say that!" I snap.  "Don't say that!"

            He smirks.  "I can say whatever I want around here... Why can’t I say that?"

            "It’s self-deprecating!  All your life, I don’t think you acknowledged your true worth.  But look at you!" I demand.  "You have all these things to be proud of, and I know you’re proud of them.  I saw the pride in your eyes, but you still deny it?  Look at you.  You’ve built an excellent house in a place where everyone is meant to die.  You created a farm to sustain yourself, and you did so for three years!  The barbarians in the woods?  They're skin and bones!  In a place where surviving is a struggle, you made a home for yourself!  You thrived!  You helped keep me alive! Give yourself some credit, you conquered this place!"

            Unari gives a cynical smile.  "I find it ironic.  Conqueror… Now eliminated, overthrown.  Maybe... The United15 will follow my path as well.  Hopefully.  But until then... Where must the Conqueror reside?"  At my confused stare, he continues, coaxing an answer from me.  "Must he live... underground?  Must he... frolic in the clouds?"  His dying eyes are lit up with excitement and amusement when he asks this.

            It takes an instant before I understand his words and settle for an answer.  "Knowing you, you'd do neither," I reply with all seriousness.  "You'd take a knife to the boss up there and overthrow him."

            An appreciative look flickers on Unari's pale face.  “You know me… Better than I’d think," he whispers.  He again coughs, sprinkling me with redness, and then looks shamefully at his mess.  “Every man has to have a last stand doesn’t he?  Help me up, Tharseo.”

            “That’s really not… I wouldn’t…”

            “Dying man’s request… Help me stand,” he insists. 

 

With a grunt, I take Unari under the arm and pull him to his feet.  He motions for me towards the door, and I support him as we exit his hand-built home.  Once we are about twenty paces from Unari’s hand-built home, Unari gingerly moves my hand away from his elbow.  “Please, let me stand on my own now.”

            Balance wavering, the young, dying warrior raises his fist to the sky.  “You will never defeat us!” he gasps skyward, struggling with his burst lung.  “Whatever happens, we’ll carry on!  We’ll carry on!  We’ll…”  With a stagger, he collapses into the lush grass, but I still stand back.  Pulling himself to his knees using his elbows, he shouts his final words.  “When we were born, we were given a number.  Our deaths may be insignificant now, but one day, they will be counted!  One day, all the numbers will rise up against you!”

            And then everything goes silent: the birds, the wind, Unari.  Head bowed, I approach my fallen comrade and kneel beside him.  “It’s beautiful up there,” he wheezes, voice faltering.  An expression of pure disbelief occupies his features, and he points up into the sky.  “Look, there’s 822,” he marvels. “Haha, he’s waving to me!  Did you see that?  He wants me to come to him.  And hey, look at that.  There’s a man who’s waiting for you, too.  He looks worried.  Dark blond hair and hazel eyes… You know him?”

            “Ask him his name,” I suggest, the description reminding me of one man: my hero.  Could it be?

            “Ion, he tells me,” Unari whispers, and I gaze at the dying boy with astonishment.  How does he know my brother’s name?  It has to be true then, isn’t it? 

            “Where’d you learn that name?” I ask.

            “I told you, he said it!” Unari insists with excitement.  “He really did!”

Something erupts inside of my soul, something between immense joy and extreme admiration.  The awe that I feel now is beyond comparison to any other similar feeling in my life. “You’re amazing, Unari,” I whisper with deep appreciation.  “You… are… outstanding.” 

He focuses on me, pure happiness on his face.  “I appreciate that, Tharseo.  More than you’d have the wits to understand.  That means you recognize the name.  It only proves that this place is real!” 

You, still criticizing me on my intelligence, I think, the thought both fond and sorrowful. 

“I’m going to go explore, Tharseo,” he announces jubilantly.  “Maybe I’ll build a house, settle down.   Keep things running up here until we meet again!”  

When the lights finally fade from Unari’s eyes, his expression still is of sheer delight and satisfaction.  I wish him good luck on his journey before I slide his eyelids closed.

 

***

            At sunset, I pull Unari’s body up to a freshly dug grave and lower him inside.  He deserves better than this, a burial without a casket, but he hasn’t given me enough time to make him one.  I chose the best location that I could find, a hill overlooking a ledge by the sea; it was the spot where we had originally met.  Once the grave is filled in, I kneel down beside it and whisper my final words to him. 

When I look up, seven pairs of eyes are watching me.  The barbarians!  I fiddle for the pistol in my bag, but stop as I realize that they are weaponless with their hands in the air, surrendering.  With a respectful bow, the leader steps forward, a rose in his hand, and places it on Unari’s grave.  Following his lead, the six other Initiates do the same.

“We will never be your allies,” the young leader explains, “but we won’t be your enemies, either.  We saw what he did, and out of an agreement with his words, I am calling a truce.”  One bony hand reaches in my direction.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?” I ask as I give his hand a firm shake.

“No,” the leader chuckles, “just a person who hates the adversary as much as you do.  In this case, it’s the killer we both hate.”

I raise my eyebrows.  “Now who is this killer?”

“I was sure you had figured out,” the leader explains, “that it was the United15 elites, the Creatorians.  They’re the only ones that could communicate from practically anywhere.  Late at night, Unari would come out into these woods and begin speaking to the sky, or at least that’s what it looked like.  He did that ever since the last Initiate drop off day.  I think he realized that something was up with you for the beginning, and was determined to protect you.  He told you his story, didn’t he?”

“Yeah,” I nod, remembering the boy who was disregarded by his family unless he was perfect, the boy who was sent to the Island Initiations for attempting to rescue his flawed friend.  The boy who I had hidden my own story from because of my ever-persistent distrust.

“We know his story, too,” the leader explains.  “He used to be a part of our clan until he left for a bigger, better life of his own.  It was a good decision that he made, even though we refused to admit it.  That’s why we became rivals, you see.  Anyways, Unari has always had that spark about him, putting others before himself.  I think that’s the reason he did better on his own.  When you came into the picture, he’d rather protect you than let you suffer by yourself like they wanted you to.  That’s why they shot him.”

I run my fingers through my hair, processing the information.  “Hmm.  And I thought it was distrust and fear that had brought him to me, but now I don’t know what to think.  Was it time that made us trust each other?  Do I trust him?  Was it really trust at all, but dependence?  I don’t understand.”

“Well, Unari was never a dependent one,” the leader muses, shaking his head and turning away.  After a few minutes of silence, he turns back to face me.  “Did you ever hear that one of the quickest ways to enter a person’s heart is to mirror them?  I want you to think about that.”

 Once, I thoroughly process the meaning of his words, I understand what he means.  Shame causes heat to rise to my cheeks, and I look down onto Unari’s grave.  “You make me feel guilty.”

“It’s nothing compared to the guilt we feel,” the leader says.  “For remaining stubborn and not persuading him to release you.  Sure, we tried, but if we put in a little more effort, we could have saved him.  Instead, I think our little stunt in the woods only brought him closer to you, wouldn’t you agree?  But now, Unari’s dead and there’s nothing we can do about it.  We must now disappear into the wilderness, far from your influence.  If we were to be associated with you, we’re sure to suffer the same kind of fate.  Goodbye, Tharseo, and good luck.  God forbid you get close to anyone.”