The Last Dainv-Chapter 54

The Last Dainv-Chapter 54

The knight's voice filled the throne room with a rumble that rattled the pebbles on the floor. "So, the lost lamb returns to the slaughter."
Gale pointed the book at the knight, as if it could do anything. The thing in front of him was no mere beast.
The knight sat motionless on the throne. Not bothering to move an inch. Observing him. Its presence, even just there, pressed weight on his shoulders. It was the same suffocating darkness he'd felt before, the one he thought he overcame by letting Breath of the Void in.
"You think yourself clever, do you not? Sneaking about, playing hero for those weaker. But we both know the truth, do we not? You are naught but a scared little boy, desperately clinging to be unseen by those around."
"Who are you?!" Gale shouted, glaring at the knight sitting atop the throne.
A hollow laugh shook the whole throne room. Pebbles that littered across the room rumbled. Floor candle holders toppled over. The darkness around the knight grew into a deeper dark, taking on a familiar shape of tendrils Gale was accustomed to.
"You don't know anything about me," he said. There was no way for this alien to.
"Do I not? Gale Hathie. The fear that drives you. The loneliness that eats away at your very soul. The way you suppress your desire to
live.
"
Gale stepped back. What fear? All he ever did was do what his parents told him to. Survive, they said. Isn't that what it meant to live?
"Tell me. Why did you truly stay behind? The door was right there. Was it to protect those hapless companions, or was it so you could free yourself of being responsible for the lives of others?"
"I stayed so they could live. Give them a chance at their own lives," Gale said, not entirely sure if his words were honest.
"A chance at their own lives? That one is not even funny. Or could it be a chance for you to play the martyr, to finally feel as though you matter to anyone?"
"I'm not playing at anything!" Gale shouted, stepping back once more.
"Are you not? Then tell me, why do you insist on facing every challenge alone? Are you playing dumb or do you really not see those you push away at every turn?"
"It's so they wouldn't get hurt. It'd be safer-"
"Safer for whom? You claim to want to protect. You claim you want to connect. Yet you deny them every chance to stand by you. To fight alongside you. Do you deny, Gale Hathie?"
Gale lowered his arms still clinging to the book. There were so many times he wanted to run away. It'd be all better. It would have been. Not needing to care about others. Not needing to feel the pain of seeing them hurt. All he wanted to do was just protect them so they wouldn't get hurt.
It wasn't his fault.
"And that, little lamb, is why you shall always fail. You cling to that book. That lie. Only you can succeed alone. In doing so, you've robbed yourself of the strength you needed the most."
"So what?! I've survived this long. I can survive there, out in the woods alone, forever, and nothing can kill me!"
"Is that what you call this half-life you have been living? Survival? Scurrying from one shadow to the next. Being unseen to those who want to see. Never allowing yourself to truly connect, to truly trust?"
"I've made it work."
"And you have thereby been denying yourself of the very experiences that your soul craves." The knight laughed again, shaking the whole throne. "Little lamb, that is your greatest failure. You have become so accustomed to your cage that you cannot even imagine life outside of it."
"Things are different now. I'm different," Gale said. "I saved them. I apologized. I… I changed."
"Do not make me laugh, little lamb. All your life, you have spent hiding from the world. To blend in. To live this half-life of a life. And now you think life will simply look the other way because of a momentary decision to be different?"
"You don't know what I'm capable of. If I say I'll change, I'll change. If I decided to be different, I'll be different."
"And yet, you threw her away."
"You don't understand-" Gale back pedaled three steps, dropping to his knees. He clung to the book ever more tightly, now in his chest.
"You are a coward, Gale Hathie, hiding behind a mask of false strength."
"That's not true."
"Is it not? Then why do you cling to the words your parents like a child sucking on its pacifier? 'Stay low, blend in, survive.' Is that all there is to life?"
"My parents taught me how to protect myself."
"And in doing so have crippled you. They taught you to fear the world. Hide in every shadow you find. And like the good little boy you were, you danced to their tune. Followed every word without a question."
"I've grown beyond that."
"Or is that but an illusion you tell yourself? Have you not just found new ways to hide? Do not make me repeat myself, boy. All you have done is selfishly taken on the role of the sole protector. Consequently, it is you who have become the burden."
"I did my part. I'm not a burden to anyone."
"Boy, that is where the irony comes from. You have tried so hard not to be a burden that you have become nothing at all. Have you no eyes that you cannot see that this itself has become the burden?" The knight continued, "Look at yourself. Where are your allies? You stand here alone in front of me
alone
. Is this what greatness looks like to you?"
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, the violation.
"No… you're wrong." Gale's knuckles turned white at the grip on the book. "I protected them. That's all I did. I didn't do anything wrong."
"You have hurt them more than any enemy ever could. You have denied them the chance to stand with you, to fight alongside you. You have robbed them of their choice, and for what reward? This pathetic thing you call solitude."
"How do I change?" The words slipped out before Gale could stop them.
"That, little lamb, is a question only you can answer. As long as you cling to that disgusting mantra, you shall never be truly great. You shall never be more than a shadow. You shall never
connect.
"
Gale's grip on his book loosened slightly. "I want to be more than this."
"Do you not see? Your parents knew," the knight said. "You were weak. That morning, they couldn't bear to look at you anymore. You knew the last expression in her eyes."
"Stop it." The book finally fell from his grip. Hands covered his ears. Yet it was useless. The knight seemed to speak to him not with sound.
"Such a small thing you were, standing there with your little backpack. Your mother. She didn't even tell you the truth. 'I'll be back,' she said. You knew it yourself. Those words were a lie."
"Stop it!!" Gale closed his eyes, tightening his hands that covered his ears.
"And your father? He didn't even step out of the car. He knew what you'd become. And you became nothing but a shadow. A ghost, as you called it. A boy who had spent his days learning to disappear."
"You're wrong!" Gale's voice cracked.
The knight shifted its weight to the other side of the throne. "Am I? Tell me, little lamb, how many days did you sit by that window? How many hours did you waste, watching for a car that would never return?"
Tears poured out from Gale's closed eyes. He never did stop waiting. Everyday, he looked at the courtyard. In front of it was the street where cars would pass by. Days passed. Weeks, months, and years. He never stopped waiting.
"The other children called you names. Monster. Freak. You let them and made yourself small, invisible. A ghost that they wouldn't see."
"I had no choice," Gale's voice quivered.
"No choice?" The knight's laugh rattled through the throne room. "You had every choice. You could have fought back. You could have stood tall. Instead, you traded your pride for shadows."
The knight rose, standing atop the throne. "You became so good at hiding that you forgot how to be seen. You forgot the skill you were given. Even now, power flowed through your veins, yet you cower to learn it. You throw others away, delude yourself and call it protection."
There was no other choice. Rachel was going to die.
"Cornered like a rat in a trap. And the moment you had a choice? You chose solitude. Chose to stay behind. Not for her. Not for any of them. But because it was easier." The knight stepped forward, climbing down the steps one by one. "You're still that little boy at the window, Gale Hathie. Waiting for someone else to show you the way. Following paths laid by ghosts who abandoned you."
Gale's breath came in short gasps. Sobs came in once again. Maybe there was a way for her to live after that stab. She was awakened. Stronger than normal humans. Maybe Shawn wanted him to reach out and mend the relationship. But he never did. It was supposed to be for his own good. Or was it for himself?
The countless times he'd eaten alone. Shawn passed by with his friends. He'd notice them give him a glance. Instead, he relied on talking to the books he befriended.
The book on the ground began to look like a cursed object he couldn't let go. Each word from the knight stripped away at each brick he laid at every turn of the page.
The knight crouched down on one foot, head hovering over Gale's small form. "Tell me, little lamb, how many hours did you waste in those paper worlds? Demons and heroes, magic and might. All safer than the real battles around you."
Gale's fingers flexed around the book. Books had saved him countless sleepless nights. He'd read those books, flashlight in hand, until dawn. He felt alive even as his eyes stung from the strain.
"Such grand adventures you sought in those pages," the knight continued. "While other children fought their battles in the yard, you hid between chapters. Each story, a new mask to wear."
"Reading kept me sane," Gale whimpered.
"Sane? Or separated? Every page turned was another brick in your wall. Every character befriended was another real friendship denied." The knight's helm tilted. "Did you imagine yourself the hero? The chosen one? How convenient that paper heroes need not face real fears."
The throne room's shadows deepened. The tendrils behind the knight slithered near Gale. "Now look at you. Standing in a world more fantastic than any tale you've read. Magic flows through your veins. Monsters lurk in forests. Demons rest in castles. And what do you do? You recreate the same patterns. Alone. Apart. Afraid."
"I'm not afraid," Gale whispered.
"No? Then why do your hands shake? Why does your voice quiver? You stand before me, wielding powers beyond mortal ken, yet you tremble like a leaf in autumn wind."
The knight stood up, circling Gale, visor never leaving his direction. "Tell me child, is it fun to play the hero you have read about in those books? Oh, the irony. You dreamed of magic, of being special, different. Now you possess true power, and what do you do? You use it to push others away. To maintain your precious solitude."
"That's not-"
"Not what? Not true? Then I shall repeat again. Tell me, little lamb." The knight's armour clanked as it threw its arms wide to each side. "Why do you stand here alone? Why did you push away those who would fight beside you? Can you imagine yourself fighting with them in this forsakened world?
Fighting for them?!
"
"I did fight for them!" Gale looked up, glaring at the knight's visor looking down on him.
The knight put his arms back down. "Such delicious irony, watching others gravitate to you despite your attempts to fade into darkness. The more you tried to disappear, the more they sought your guidance."
"They made their own choices. They chose to follow me," Gale said.
"Did they? Or did your attempts to avoid responsibility make you appear more worthy of it? The quiet one, the careful one, the one who sees all but says little." The knight laughed, yet this time it was weaker. "Oh, how they must have wondered what wisdom lay behind your silence, never realizing it was nothing but fear."
Gale looked away from the visor. It was right. There were so many things he could've said. So many things that would've been better if he had trusted them with the words inside of him. It would have all went better from the beginning if he had been… braver.
The knight circled a step closer than before. "You claim to protect them, yet you push them away. You speak of keeping them safe, yet deny them the strength of unity. Such beautiful contradictions you are."
He could no longer say anything. He did protect them. They had put all their faith in him. Saved all of them. All he got was the hollow reward of solitude.
"Their faith in you burns worse than any wound." The knight crouched in front of him again, closer this time. Face to face. "You speak of survival, yet every action done for them betrays your words and thoughts. You claim to want solitude, yet you throw yourself into their battles. You insist on independence, yet your powers serve others more than yourself."
At every junction, every turn of danger, he was always the first one to leap straight into battle. Deep inside, it was all because he was selfish, not trusting others to shed blood for him. He did push them away, all so he wouldn't feel guilty about not being able to do anything.
"You run from those who would follow, pretending it's for their benefit. Such pretty lies you tell yourself.
How pathetic.
" The knight sighed.

.
!
Chapter 54