Aberrant: Children of Quantum Fire - [Interlude] - Shaman 1 Good-byes[FIN]

[Adrian Moss]

{March 23rd}

Shaman sat on the river bank, one of the many tributaries of the mighty Congo. The water was warm and green and he could see some distance into it's depths. There were clouds overhead and soon the rain would come, and with the rain, the brown soil that would muddy the water for a while. Banks would grow and shift. Part of the land would go down to the sea. Somewhere at least one volcano was giving back what the waters took. That was how things were.

'What are we doing here?'

'I think we need to reflect on what we've been through outside the maddening influences of our kin.'

'Yeah, we've been pretty much a volley ball for the past few weeks haven't we?'

'More like a kick-ball.'

'It hasn't been all bad.'

'...'

'Okay, it could have been better.'

'Dude they broke our mind up.'

'...'

'And for the most part, they didn't even notice.'

'What does that say about me?'

'What does it say about them?'

'...'

'If we go back ...'

'When we go back. We must.'

'I know.'

'That will be the crux of so many things, and if we are to fight for who we are, we can not run away.'

'Sometimes I hate this.'

'...'

'Say it.'

'Sometimes I hate them.'

'Why is that?'

'It is a matter of power, I guess. They have it and I don't.'

'Do we really hate them for that?'

'Not really. It is too easy to hate them for that.'

'...'

'It's because.'

'I know.'

'It's because I'm going to go away.'

'Yeah. We've always know this day was coming.'

'It's okay. We were never a person anyway.'

'It sucks to be murdered this way.'

'Yeah, I know.'

'...'

'I wish I had something snappy to say.'

'Me too.'

'Let go of the fear, the anger, and the self-pity. It really has no place here ... not anymore.'

'Oh, great. Time already?'

'There is still time for you to be what you wanted to be. What you are will wait a little longer.'

'How much time do I have?'

'This isn't known to me. The river flows through all things, but it holds to its own time.'

'Yeah, time isn't an aspect I perceive.'

'I wish it was. We could have a good "I Was Almost A Person" going away party.'

'We were never a person. We are a nova.'

'Do you think there will be any fun once ... you know, it happens?'

'I doubt it.'

'It is not likely we will relate to the world in such a manner anymore as there is intransience in all things.'

'Bummer.'

'Worse than that, we'll never look at boobies the same way again.'

'We won't care about love either.'

'We will still have compassion for things in our own way, but most normal ties will fade. It is not the place for Reality to care about the moments of the Instant. Things transform. The goals matter. The road will take care of itself. All we need to do is steer.'

'Will we ever have kids of our own?'

'Most likely, baring fate. We know how now. It is only a matter of sheltering life. The rest is academic.'

'Yep. I'm going to die a virgin.'

'Why does that matter, when you have felt life a thousand, thousand times? We will gain the ability to bring about life itself in due course. One act of copulation will seem unimportant.'

'Maybe I should go back before my time runs out?'

'And get mind-fucked again? Oh, joy.'

'...'

'Great. I can't stay here, can I?'

'We said we would go back and stand by our Father and Sisters. Now, I guess it matters more than ever.'

'Yeah, now we are killing ourselves to do it.'

'It isn't Death. It is shaking off the chaff of what we might have been as a human.'

'I like pretending to be human.'

'It has never been like us to run away when it mattered. We can face this now. The rest is natural progression.'

'I hate progress.'

'There isn't any place good to go and the only place ... oh, forget it.'

'I'm going to stare at the river for a while.'

'Maybe a girl may come by.'

'It won't be anyone I would want, would it?'

The river kept going by. The clouds kept broiling overhead. The rain would come, the river would flow, and the sea would claim its own. So, why did he feel like a current striking back upstream, or a raindrop that refused to fall?

[Adrian Moss]

It was a village as much any place with a hotel,satellite hook-up, and a free clinic could be. There were still signs holding over from the pre-Royal rule, but every place seemed to have electricity and indoor plumbing. While the main road into the place was paved, the side roads were still packed earth, scarred by the ever-present rains.

Shaman walked into the village. He must have appeared to be some tourist lost in the forest, but that would have only been the first impression. The young man lacked the look of someone lost, or unhappy with his predicament. His obvious health meant only one thing - nova. A good look at him gave a hint to he might be. This was the nanosecond information age, after all.

Einherjar's Son? It looked like him, but what was he doing here?

The boy gave no answers. He played with some of the children, bought some snow cones for him and his new companions, and swam in the river. In the end, no one seemed to care who he might well be. The boy made an effort to be nice, was well-received, and went on his way. By nightfall, the village had fallen back into its isolated slumber.

[Adrian Moss]

'Life does not happen, Life is. One does not seek a beginning because we all come from matter and create ourselves into complex forms, then devolve into matter once more.'

'Does that mean no sex?'

'Gak! We're a Virgin! We've got to have sex!'

'Don't seek out what will happen for it will happen if that is they Way. Events are part of the flow. You are the current in the river, you are the flow, you are the event.'

'Yep. Definitely going to die a Virgin.'

'sigh'

'Wait, Asian chicks dig this Flow/Way/River crap, right?'

'Yeah. Yeah they do in fan fiction on anime sites.'

'What are you saying?'

'I'm not saying anything.'

'No. You are saying I should grow my hair ling, dye it blue, or white (I like white) and walk around with a sword on my back?'

(groan)

'Wait! I need a giant Mecha! Chicks dig Giant Robots!'

'We are so going to die a Virgin.'

'The essence of worry is a misunderstanding of that is to come. Things progress, adjust your position by adjusting your place in the River.'

(blink)

'... Giant Mecha that Fly! That's it. I'll get my Phase Motion Oscillation Gun and then ... DAMN! BAMM!!!! Seeya Divas Mal. Good-bye Pax!'

'What ... the ... Hell?'

'I'm going to have to polish up on my Mad Martial Arts skills.'

'Bro, we learned fighting from a bear. We don't have any martial arts skills, mad or not.'

'Damn. Guess I'll have to be good with a gun.'

'We have never held a firearm in our lives.'

'No problem, swords it is. I now we've fought will melee weapons!'

'That's right. We've beaten sixty feet tall trees to death with branches. Where's my Master Kendo licence.'

'That's the Spirit!'

'You know something?'

'What?'

'Like what does it mean when you can't tell that you are being sarcastic to yourself?'

'...'

'I think we are suffering form TSR Syndrome.'

'Huh?'

'Terminal Sperm Retention Syndrome.'

'...'

'Yes?'

'I don't get it.'

'We are so going to die a virgin.'

'WAIT! I have a great idea!'

'Oh boy ... what is it?'

'We'll ask Bombshell to take our virginity! Wow, what a way to go! Good plan, right?'

'Hold on ... (gets stick)

'What's that for?'

(Smacks upside the head) "Bro, she's the most attractive woman in the world. The moon hangs up in orbit a few extra seconds hoping for a chance to see her. Exactly what do we plan enticing her with?'

'...'

'If you say Buck musk, I'm picking up the stick again.'

'Gems?'

'Nope. She's got tons.'

Feathered headdress?'

'Done that.'

'Most beautiful flower in the world?'

'She has a botanical garden.'

'Sigh'

'Bro, we are not in her league. We can't even be elevated to her league. We are in the league below the league below the league that's below the league she's in.'

'Rivers move rocks. Might rivers move boulders. It is all a matter of force for effect.'

'Dude, Spirit Voice didn't say it was impossible.'

'We are a raindrop. Not a creek, not a stream, not a river, and certainly not a great river.'

'Sigh'

'Yeah.'

'I'm going to miss these little conversations.'

'Me too, Bro. Me too.'

[Adrian Moss]

'Examine the humble raindrop. It is part of the vast oceans that span the globe. It is the medium of creation.'

'Oh, and all this time I though its purpose was to get us wet.'

'That raindrop thing makes sense.'

'Doesn't make me happy.'

'Yeah.'

'No one stands isolated and alone. No one draws there strength from a single source. It is how the raindrops come together determines ruin or wealth. Rain breaks a drought, or flattens crops. It all starts with a single raindrop.'

'Is that a teamwork speech, because I'm not sure.'

'I think I read a fortune cookie that said that.'

'Dude, we've never had Chinese food.'

'Well, if we did...'

'The difference between a raindrop and us is our willingness to chose a direction, our choice in who we collide with, creating a greater force, and whether our force breeds life or ends it.'

'That I understand. We are destined to hook up with Coraline.'

'Sweet! Man, she's smoking.'

'Whatever she looks like?'

'She never gets boring to look at?'

'Never say that in front of Bombshell.'

'Well, duh.'

'Way off topic here.'

'The raindrop is weak. It strikes with little force, but it is the engine of tidal waves, raging rivers, towering glaciers, and devastating mudslides. That is the force of raindrops gathering together. Even the oceans were once barren. There was no ice. It began with one raindrop and changed the face of creation.'

'Okay, I get it. I'm a raindrop.'

'No. We are the current in the River, we just don't know it yet.'

'Why not?'

'We are not ready.'

'And we know this how?'

'Because we are not there yet.'

'Huh?'

'The greatest lesson of the River is not that it brings life and death. It is not that it starts from a single raindrop. It is not that it is the balancing point of all life. The greatest lesson is that Good and Evil do not matter.'

'No ... I don't think so.'

'We balance things, being neither and both Good and Evil. Life is. Life endures. Life is a struggle. Our goal is Life. Our goal is to see that live goes on, that the river reaches the sea, that there are raindrops falling back to Earth.'

'We can do good. We must do good. What's the fucking point if we become a Monster?'

'That's why we are not ready yet. We see the Monster. There is no Monster, there is only what is.'

'If I can't tell the difference, then we aren't doing this!'

'...'

'No snappy bit of wisdom?'

'...'

'Damn it!'

'We are what is and what should be. The River continues as it has, and as it is, and as it will. It is only that we will see it were others do not.'

'Fuck you too.'

[Adrian Moss]

'I'm going to miss this place.'

'It is not your place to regret things that have passed, or fear what is to come. All are one stream of existence.'

'Oh, wonderful.'

'What about me?'

'Will I be gone and forgotten as well?'

'This is a shell we created to deal with a world we were unsuited and unready for. We will move on.'

'Everything? I'm going to lose everything?'

'Leaves fall from the branches onto the ground. Nature decays them into the soil. The soil is washed way by the rains into the river. The river brings the soil to the sea. Storms toss the soil back upon the land. Leaves will fall upon them once more.'

'I want to cry.'

'There is no point. What do we have to live for?'

'I'm going to miss Coraline ... a lot.'

'You will most likely see her again in the fullness of time and as events unfold.'

'But it won't be the same, will it?'

'I won't ache to be with her.'

'I won't want to hold her and have her hold me.'

'That need will fade as well. In the sum of things, such distractions are no longer necessary or important. We will feel things, but they will not be the same. As a flower turns toward the light, we shall take notice, but nothing will need to be done.'

'Will we remember Mom and Dad?'

'Will I remember Einherjar?'

'You will know of them and their memories, but they are things that have passed and contribute only now in the progression of the course we will take.'

'Why are we so different?'

'Yeah, how come we are the one's who are fucked up?'

'The others do not see fully what lies before them. Some are close, but more will come to understand. Life will find a way.'

'This doesn't help me much.

'I know. I hope it makes more time once we ... become?'

'You will awaken to the dawn of your potential.'

'Funny, I don't feel asleep!'

'We are going to miss that too, aren't we?'

'...'

'It's time we go home.'

'Will they know me ... afterwords?'

'Our form will still be something they can relate to.'

'Well, that's something.'

'Right, we'll still be the ugliest guy in the room.'

'Good note to go out on.'

;...'

'...'

'Goodbye.'

'We're not done yet!'

'Yeah, but we might not get another chance to say it.'

'Oh.'

'It's been real.'

'Yeah.'

'...'

'Goodbye.'

[Quantum Fire]

End of Thread

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