Bertan`s quest - Michelle Tarynne (best beach reads of all time txt) 📗

Evan said impatiently. Dialogue and conversation were not one of her strongest qualities. She was known to have troubles with suppressing her uncontrollable thirst for adventure that would start once they could start moving.
"The Swords have been barren for some time," Seven quickly explained, right in time to tame one of Evan's famous rages.
"What that makes us then? The last Sword children?" Evan asked, finally satisfied that she was gaining the ability to hold off her emotional rages, at least while she still talked. Her infamous lack of control was the most un-Sword-like thing there was.
"No, you moron! It makes us taken, not born into being a Sword." There was a kind of mental transformation Seven went through that made her suddenly fierce and unapologetic for the slower minds of her companions.
"Is that even possible, to be turned into a Sword?" Ashte asked surprised.
"Yes, I only have been a Sword for a few cycles. They call it ‘making a child’ as opposed to bearing one," Genes shared his own experience before anyone had the time to gather thoughts.
"Do you mean that every slave could be just made a Sword at any point of their life, and drink the Juice without going Mad?" Pat asked incredulously.
"Basically, yes," Genes answered hesitantly. "Though, it would make no sense if they could recall their life before that. The hate doesn't just go away. A gift of an almost eternal life wouldn’t erase Swords sins."
"How would they decide, which child would be made into a Sword, and which would be turned into a slave?" Pat asked again, distress marrying his clear voice.
"You would have to ask that question of your Mothers," Genes said with a visible unease.
A prolonged silence fell upon them, as they began to think about the revelations and their implications. For a long time, the only audible sound around was their breathing.
Then, Pat was furiously muttering along the lines of, "I'm going to kill every single one of them."
"We have to accept, there is no blood connection linking us to Swords, while there is an obvious link between us and our origins that we felt just a while ago. Are we ready to accept that we are Anaerthers?" Dawn asked unexpectedly, "Our real families might be long gone, but our real home is still waiting for us. Are we willing to take this quest to discover our true origins?" The silence reigned again until, one after one, they voiced and humped their acceptance.
"Then Genes, lead us to where the Fates mean to take us." Dawn concluded, motioning others to pick up the shrouded body, Genes held in his arms.
"Follow me," was all that he could say. He unfolded the small piece of map that the Unnamed handed him. He smirked and muttered, "How else? Just please be careful with that body we are carrying, she is just sleeping and I intend to wake her up when we get home.”
“Come on! She is dead, don’t you see it?” Evan confronted Genes, “What? He better get used to that thought, “ she added when everyone just stared at her blankly.
“Have you even carried her for a moment?” Ashte asked.
“Not yet, we still have a long way ahead,” Evan evaded.
“Then you don’t know yet, that this body is still warm to the touch. Heart may have stopped it’s gift of life, but something makes her still alive. Like Genes just said. She is just sleeping,”
“But that’s impossible. No one is immortal that much!” Evan wailed dissatisfied with the answer she got. ”Genes, how is that possible?”
“I don’t know,” he said, “It’s the power of the Anaerther Calling that keeps seemingly dead body warm and soft. But it’s only a tale I’ve heard once. The only power that can make her undie, is where our Home lies, its eternal light will bring her back.”
“How?” was all Evan could ask as they resumed walking.
“I don’t know,” he smiled, “I guess we just have to get there.”

Only silence followed their steps as they crawled through the cracks and shafts, careful enough to keep the shrouded body of Bertan unharmed.
The tunnel Genes decided to follow wasn't an easy one. It was filled with dust, fumes, and creeping ivy clinging to their robes. The impenetrable darkness crept in as the glowing and glassy lava veins that adorned the walls, gave way to the water dripping from the ceiling. It was flowing down the corridor like a tiny, mean river, and it became the only reference, Genes followed through the rugged opening into the mountain's deepest interiors. 12

The Unnamed stared at the mountain's entrance crack for a long time. He was thinking about his future and his past, though he wished for the voices in his head to finally leave him. It was not the time for guilt, not yet.
He turned around to see the Royal City of Naam in its full glory. The first Sword Troops were already pouring into the city from the outer Sword territories. He climbed even higher, fluid in his moves like smoke and water in between of the cracks in the ground. Not far into the climb, he noticed Ash, standing still on a viewing platform among the solitary stones. After some consideration, he walked up to face him. It was the only time and place to have a conversation unheard by a wrong set of ears.
"Ash?" he asked when he got close enough to be heard.
"Unnamed?" Ash mimicked the question and tone without sparing his opponent a glance.
"What exactly do you know of my Mother's death?" The Unnamed decided to ask the one question that burned at his core with the strength of the Core’s white-fire.
"Are you sure you want to have that conversation now?" Ash asked in return, "You seem to be so happy, set in your own views and ideas."
"I'm only happy when my views and ideas are based on truth," The Unnamed admitted reluctantly.
"Had you not had this conversation with Bertan?" Ash couldn't hide his surprise.
"Apparently, she did not trust me enough for that," he sighed with unease.
"Considering what you have done to her, it was a good assumption on her side. You should be the last person she should have ever trusted. Unnamed betrayer." There was no accusation in Ash' tone, but this cold statement hurt the Unnamed more that Ash would have imagined.
"I… ah… I actually do have a name now," he sighed deeply, grimacing at the memory of his Naming.
"How come?" There weren't many things that Ash wasn't aware of, but it appeared to be one of them.
"Bertan had freed me of my status and ordered me to go to the King for a Naming," the Unnamed confessed, "I followed that order immediately and went to the King directly afterward and demanded a hearing. He only looked at me once, without a question. He just looked right through me and Name me Sil then. I was about to leave his room when he mentioned I was to leave my Line House soon after the New King takes his residence, and I was free to decide which house suits me best… And then he died, right in front of my eyes." the Unnamed finished somberly.
"Prove it!" Ash interrupted him unceremoniously, bringing his invisible blade up to the Unnamed' throat. "Show the seal, or I'll take your head."
The Unnamed slowly took glove off his right hand and lifted the sleeve to reveal the Old King's seal that was burned deep into the still raw flesh.
Ash eased his blade and looked up to the skies to whisper. "So this is how the Fates want to play."
"What do you know, Ash?" The Unknown asked again, though this time, he was unable to hide the torment of his voice.
"I can't share my knowledge until you join me, Sil of no Line. "Ash extended his arm in an invitation gesture, "I freely offer you a place in my Line House as my brother in arms. Do you accept that offer?"
"I'll follow my Fates with you and your Line," the Unnamed said without a hesitation, accepting Ash' offer, suddenly filled with a strange emotion swelling in his core. Finding a new home was a rare occurrence among their kind.
Ash covered the Old King's seal that was burned into the Unnamed 'skin with a Yanna fruit, the one ingredient of the Tharo Juice that was under the Second Line's care. The raw flesh healed almost in an instant, leaving only a faint blue scar hidden within the skin.
 
At first, an unsettling moment of silence seemed to separate the two giant Swords even more. The Unnamed no more, carrying the name Sil closed his eyes, looking into his own core and sought answers, not to questions, but to emotions that seemed to drown his senses ever since she had given him that last gaze, full of the acceptance and understanding.
"Why do you trust me now?" He asked at a loss. Suddenly, his old reasoning felt more unnatural than leaving his face bare, for everyone to see.
"I think, it's because I can feel that your awakening almost nears." Ash looked straight ahead, at the fiery river that drifted through the city to sink down under the surface again.
"Awakening? What sort of awakening are you talking about?" Great was his surprise with the word Ash decided to choose. It was so close to describing the feelings he was still hesitant to name.
"Awakening from the Madness everyone here seems to wear with pride while forgetting that this Madness is not and has never been our natural state of mind. It came as a price once. The price we still pay to live." He still refused to look at his newfound brother.
"All of us? Is it really all of us?"
"You will see that once you are fully awakened. It pains me dearly, though, how painful it will be for you." Ash's voice dipped even lower with the sadness his core carried, "It shouldn't pain me that much, though.”
"Why?"
"You had sacrificed her in your Madness, betrayed her trust. Her! Once you are fully aware, that knowledge and the memory of it will kill you from the inside so often, you will wish for it to come back again and grace you with the familiar bliss of feeling nothing at all."
The Unnamed of the name Sil nodded in acceptance, for the words he heard, rang a truth to his core, "I can feel your own sadness and fury over this sacrifice, Ash," he said quietly, thankful for the darkness and the lack of an eye contact, afraid to see any of the pain and truth he could hear.
"The only reason you still breathe is because I'm waiting for your core to swell up with the pain so deep that your only reprieve will be vengeance. You will live, breathe and crave revenge so much that you will let it consume your heart and soul with abandon. Then, just then, we can talk about Bertan again." Ash growled.
"You promised to share your knowledge with me." The Unnamed opposed that anger weakly, deeply shaken, by the way usually cold and emotionless Ash, uncovered his inner fire, just like that. Yet, he knew right then, it wasn't just like that. Everything Ash had done had a reason to it. His every