Two days had come and gone. After checking on him Adria left Zycors room and looked over the railing at Baz, Mylon, and Aisha who were looking back. Adria closed her eyes and shook her head. Aisha slammed her hands on the table as she stood up, her ears coming out in response to her emotions. “He has been out for two days already! Come on Ms. Adria, let me go in there and wake him up myself!” Aisha demanded worriedly.
Baz, putting down his mug, berated Aisha, “Pipe down. If the guild master can’t get that dumbass to wake up, what makes you think that you can?”
“What do you know, you half orc bastard?!” Aisha snapped back, “You probably don’t really care do you? Ha, yeah, that’s right, he is probably just a form of entertainment for you and nothing else.”
Baz remained silent, staring at her with a frown on his face. Mylon glared at Aisha, “Alright little girl, you need to shut up. It’s you who doesn’t know anything regarding our relationship! We-.”
Baz cut Mylon off, “That’s enough Mylon. It’s not worth it. I’m gonna head back to the inn. Let the girl think whatever she wants.”
Baz stood up, grabbed his axe and left. Mylon stood up and loudly stated, “Hey, Baz, wait up you idiot.”
Turning to Adria, he gave a slight nod and said, “See you later.” And with that, they were gone.
Aisha, sitting down with her arms crossed and pouting, mumbled, “Jeez, what crawled up their butts.”
Adria, having descended the stairs, took a seat across from Aisha and replied, “Are you sure it was them that were causing an issue?”
Aisha stubbornly replied, “Well yeah, It’s not like I did or said anything wrong.”
Letting out a massive sigh, Adria massaged her forehead as she commented, “I sometimes can’t tell which of you is the larger handful.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Obviously it’s those two!” Aisha retorted.
Losing the little patience she had left for the day, Adria scolded Aisha, “Right now, I would have to say it is you, Aisha.” Taking a deep breath, Adria elaborated, “Listen, I know for a fact that your father has hired a tutor for this exact scenario. I also know that you are aware that you are in the wrong. You had no right to question their reasons for being here just because you were feeling jealous.”
Turning bright red, Aisha stammered, “J-j-j-jealous?! W-why would I be jealous?!”
As if she had been waiting to say this for some time, Adria answered, “Because you feel Baz and Mylon have a stronger relationship with him, and as a result they might take away the time he would spend with you. Which is ridiculous in my opinion. You know how he feels about his friends, there is no way he wouldn’t make time for you. Even if you claimed to hate him and told him to stay away, I doubt he would listen. He is super clingy like that… it can be troublesome at times, in all honesty.”
With a small smile, Aisha added, “But I can’t say I entirely hate that about him.”
Happy that Aisha appeared to understand and confident the issue has been resolved, Adria said, “It’s late, so let’s head to bed. You can use the spare room you normally use. Goodnight Aisha.”
As Adria walked up the stairs, Aisha asked, “Do you think Zycor is going to be ok?”
Adria stopped as she thought about what she should say. Should she simply reassure Aisha and go to bed? But she didn’t want to say something she was unsure of herself. After gathering her thoughts, Adria looked at Aisha and answered, “I don’t know.”
Whether or not it was the right choice to say what she truly thought was irrelevant. Lying may have only caused more issues down the line, issues Adria would rather not have to deal with. Needless to say, no one was going to bed with a clear mind.
- - -
Unbeknownst to everyone else however, Zycor was far closer to mentally breaking than they thought. As he lay asleep, Zycor was surrounded by a seemingly endless void within his mind. He had been in this mindscape, alone and curled up ever since he lost consciousness. The only thing that ever disturbed this colorless void was an occasional question posed seemingly by the void itself, “So, is this the solution? To remain in this mindscape, hiding from reality?”
For the first time since shutting himself away, Zycor responded, “You keep asking those questions as if you don’t know the answer.”
“That is true,” the voice smugly replied, “Though, this time you answered. I would call that progress.”
“Then you and I have very different definitions of progress.” Zycor retorted.
“Now you see, that’s where you’re wrong,” The voice continued its terrifying rant, “You are wrong because I am you, and you are me. I am the culmination of what you buried deep down inside. All those emotions you couldn’t handle, the painful feelings and memories. One could say that I am the ‘true’ personality of Zycor. So what I define as progress is what you truly believe.”
“If you really are supposed to be the ‘true’ me, why the hell are you bothering with these questions. And I don’t remember ever talking the way you do.” Zycor complained coldly.
The voice furiously replied, “Of course I don’t talk in the same manner as you! I have been surrounded by emotions, feelings, and memories that you would rather suppress than deal with! I am our ‘ego.’ All of the emotions you thought you were unable to feel were all dealt with by ME! While I am left to be constantly swallowed by all of this, you live our life without a care in the world.”
With Zycor refusing to say anything, the alter ego, growing more irritated by the second, continued, “Have you really grown so complacent with your current situation that you have forgotten the mission?”
“The mission?” Zycor asked, perplexed.
As he lifted his head and looked ahead, a bunch of rectangular screens began appearing. Each screen played out the worst parts of a multitude of different memories, Zycor being unable to mute the images or sounds. With his voice reaching a crescendo, the alter ego began to remind Zycor, “Yes, the mission. Have you already forgotten what those Velathrian bastards have done to us? They killed everyone! Took everything! And left nothing! And they did it for no reason! Are we really going to forget what we swore to do?! We said that we were going to get strong enough to take vengeance, did we not?! Are you really willing to allow them to continue to get away with this simply because we learned what taking a life is like!?”
Zycor, covering his ears, closing his eyes, and shaking his head, replied, “I have not forgotten about that. How could I. But I have Uncle Dreiford, mom, and my friends here. Staying here I can get stronger while being around people I love, while we live in safety. Is that so wrong?”
The voice began to scream, “What do you mean ‘safety?!’ Our friends were just attacked! And by the same Velathrian bastards that took everything from us the first time! And now here they are trying to do it again! Are we really willing to put them in danger like that?! Don’t you remember what happened to our brother and our sister!? What about mom and dad!?”
Zycor tightened the grip around his ears as the images and screams’ intensity grew more and more until Zycor finally cried out, “ENOUGH!”
With his shout, the void was returned to silence. “I see,” the alter ego began with a tone of understanding, “it is not that you have lost the drive to carry out the mission…”
Suddenly, cracks began to form in the void. As the voice continued, the cracks began to grow and become more numerous. “... It’s that you are no longer emotionally or morally able to carry out the mission.”
Zycor held his head as the void shattered and broke down around him. “However, just because I understand does not mean I am willing to just sit back and watch as this injustice remains and continues to grow.”
As Zycor continued to hold his head, a person began to form with its back to Zycors. Finally forming fully and opening its eyes, it was what appeared to be a copy of Zycor, but was visibly far more emotionally charged. The copy continued where the alter ego left off, “So I will go and finish what we started all those years ago. If anyone gets in our way, they will be killed without mercy.”
Two days had come and gone. After checking on him Adria left Zycors room and looked over the railing at Baz, Mylon, and Aisha who were looking back. Adria closed her eyes and shook her head. Aisha slammed her hands on the table as she stood up, her ears coming out in response to her emotions. “He has been out for two days already! Come on Ms. Adria, let me go in there and wake him up myself!” Aisha demanded worriedly.
Baz, putting down his mug, berated Aisha, “Pipe down. If the guild master can’t get that dumbass to wake up, what makes you think that you can?”
“What do you know, you half orc bastard?!” Aisha snapped back, “You probably don’t really care do you? Ha, yeah, that’s right, he is probably just a form of entertainment for you and nothing else.”
Baz remained silent, staring at her with a frown on his face. Mylon glared at Aisha, “Alright little girl, you need to shut up. It’s you who doesn’t know anything regarding our relationship! We-.”
Baz cut Mylon off, “That’s enough Mylon. It’s not worth it. I’m gonna head back to the inn. Let the girl think whatever she wants.”
Baz stood up, grabbed his axe and left. Mylon stood up and loudly stated, “Hey, Baz, wait up you idiot.”
Turning to Adria, he gave a slight nod and said, “See you later.” And with that, they were gone.
Aisha, sitting down with her arms crossed and pouting, mumbled, “Jeez, what crawled up their butts.”
Adria, having descended the stairs, took a seat across from Aisha and replied, “Are you sure it was them that were causing an issue?”
Aisha stubbornly replied, “Well yeah, It’s not like I did or said anything wrong.”
Letting out a massive sigh, Adria massaged her forehead as she commented, “I sometimes can’t tell which of you is the larger handful.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Obviously it’s those two!” Aisha retorted.
Losing the little patience she had left for the day, Adria scolded Aisha, “Right now, I would have to say it is you, Aisha.” Taking a deep breath, Adria elaborated, “Listen, I know for a fact that your father has hired a tutor for this exact scenario. I also know that you are aware that you are in the wrong. You had no right to question their reasons for being here just because you were feeling jealous.”
Turning bright red, Aisha stammered, “J-j-j-jealous?! W-why would I be jealous?!”
As if she had been waiting to say this for some time, Adria answered, “Because you feel Baz and Mylon have a stronger relationship with him, and as a result they might take away the time he would spend with you. Which is ridiculous in my opinion. You know how he feels about his friends, there is no way he wouldn’t make time for you. Even if you claimed to hate him and told him to stay away, I doubt he would listen. He is super clingy like that… it can be troublesome at times, in all honesty.”
With a small smile, Aisha added, “But I can’t say I entirely hate that about him.”
Happy that Aisha appeared to understand and confident the issue has been resolved, Adria said, “It’s late, so let’s head to bed. You can use the spare room you normally use. Goodnight Aisha.”
As Adria walked up the stairs, Aisha asked, “Do you think Zycor is going to be ok?”
Adria stopped as she thought about what she should say. Should she simply reassure Aisha and go to bed? But she didn’t want to say something she was unsure of herself. After gathering her thoughts, Adria looked at Aisha and answered, “I don’t know.”
Whether or not it was the right choice to say what she truly thought was irrelevant. Lying may have only caused more issues down the line, issues Adria would rather not have to deal with. Needless to say, no one was going to bed with a clear mind.
- - -
Unbeknownst to everyone else however, Zycor was far closer to mentally breaking than they thought. As he lay asleep, Zycor was surrounded by a seemingly endless void within his mind. He had been in this mindscape, alone and curled up ever since he lost consciousness. The only thing that ever disturbed this colorless void was an occasional question posed seemingly by the void itself, “So, is this the solution? To remain in this mindscape, hiding from reality?”
For the first time since shutting himself away, Zycor responded, “You keep asking those questions as if you don’t know the answer.”
“That is true,” the voice smugly replied, “Though, this time you answered. I would call that progress.”
“Then you and I have very different definitions of progress.” Zycor retorted.
“Now you see, that’s where you’re wrong,” The voice continued its terrifying rant, “You are wrong because I am you, and you are me. I am the culmination of what you buried deep down inside. All those emotions you couldn’t handle, the painful feelings and memories. One could say that I am the ‘true’ personality of Zycor. So what I define as progress is what you truly believe.”
“If you really are supposed to be the ‘true’ me, why the hell are you bothering with these questions. And I don’t remember ever talking the way you do.” Zycor complained coldly.
The voice furiously replied, “Of course I don’t talk in the same manner as you! I have been surrounded by emotions, feelings, and memories that you would rather suppress than deal with! I am our ‘ego.’ All of the emotions you thought you were unable to feel were all dealt with by ME! While I am left to be constantly swallowed by all of this, you live our life without a care in the world.”
With Zycor refusing to say anything, the alter ego, growing more irritated by the second, continued, “Have you really grown so complacent with your current situation that you have forgotten the mission?”
“The mission?” Zycor asked, perplexed.
As he lifted his head and looked ahead, a bunch of rectangular screens began appearing. Each screen played out the worst parts of a multitude of different memories, Zycor being unable to mute the images or sounds. With his voice reaching a crescendo, the alter ego began to remind Zycor, “Yes, the mission. Have you already forgotten what those Velathrian bastards have done to us? They killed everyone! Took everything! And left nothing! And they did it for no reason! Are we really going to forget what we swore to do?! We said that we were going to get strong enough to take vengeance, did we not?! Are you really willing to allow them to continue to get away with this simply because we learned what taking a life is like!?”
Zycor, covering his ears, closing his eyes, and shaking his head, replied, “I have not forgotten about that. How could I. But I have Uncle Dreiford, mom, and my friends here. Staying here I can get stronger while being around people I love, while we live in safety. Is that so wrong?”
The voice began to scream, “What do you mean ‘safety?!’ Our friends were just attacked! And by the same Velathrian bastards that took everything from us the first time! And now here they are trying to do it again! Are we really willing to put them in danger like that?! Don’t you remember what happened to our brother and our sister!? What about mom and dad!?”
Zycor tightened the grip around his ears as the images and screams’ intensity grew more and more until Zycor finally cried out, “ENOUGH!”
With his shout, the void was returned to silence. “I see,” the alter ego began with a tone of understanding, “it is not that you have lost the drive to carry out the mission…”
Suddenly, cracks began to form in the void. As the voice continued, the cracks began to grow and become more numerous. “... It’s that you are no longer emotionally or morally able to carry out the mission.”
Zycor held his head as the void shattered and broke down around him. “However, just because I understand does not mean I am willing to just sit back and watch as this injustice remains and continues to grow.”
As Zycor continued to hold his head, a person began to form with its back to Zycors. Finally forming fully and opening its eyes, it was what appeared to be a copy of Zycor, but was visibly far more emotionally charged. The copy continued where the alter ego left off, “So I will go and finish what we started all those years ago. If anyone gets in our way, they will be killed without mercy.”
