Memoria - Chapter 6 - Visia

"Seeing through times's mist,1

black and white merge to grey.2

These Visia of battles long past,3

giveth strength to he who sees." - Infinitum Liberati4

The red-laced darkness surrounding him erupted into a dazzling display of colors that condensed to form a forest. The sun filtered through the leaves, the beams marked by smoke that blew through the trees like low hanging clouds. Jason glanced around. Nobody was in sight, yet in the distance he could hear yelling voices. Carefully he made his way toward the sound, and soon a familiar sight met his eyes. 5

In a clearing large enough to hold a small town, houses built of wood and straw, much like eleventh-century England, were burning. Everywhere he looked people were running, screaming. Some were being chased by men on horseback. Those too slow met with death by a sword, some with an arrow in the back. Jason walked like a ghost through this struggle for survival. The acrid smoke of fires assaulted his senses, making his eyes water. Far in the distance, children were running for the woods, accompanied by some of the women. Jason could see they were not going to make it. Coming from behind were five men on horseback, some wielding bows that had arrows already notched back, prepared to fire into the small stream of innocent lives. He looked away. This was a sight he could not bear to watch. He glanced around the chaos, hoping to find some reason for this madness.6

A small cry arose from a burning house, and Jason stopped in his tracks. It sounded like it had come from the one on his left. Its roof was on fire and soon the entire structure would collapse. He had no choice. The cry rose up again. A small child was trapped in that house. Jason had the distinct impression of deja vu throughout the entire scene that had lasted for about a minute. He felt as if he knew every corner, every tree, and every man, woman and child of this village. Dark smoke assaulted his lungs, and he muttered a few words again, causing a faint blue bubble to appear around him, protecting him from the heat and acrid air as he entered the house. His eyes took a moment to adjust to the darkness inside, illuminated faintly by licking flames from the roof.7

"Jason the Guardian!" a voice called outside, and inside his head. Jason turned to look through the door, a small hole of light.8

"You can save that child - or save the entire village. Which will it be?"9

Jason looked forward. The cry seemed to have come from behind a door set in the back of this small house. From under the door he could see orange light playing. Flames were already appearing around the cracks. Whoever was behind that, didn't have long to live. To Jason it was no contest. He held up his hand and uttered another word. From the palm of his hand, a light blue beam shot out faintly and splashed over the door, covering it with a water-like reflection. A few seconds later the door disappeared and the subsequent airflow almost dragged Jason into the room. The flames sprung up with new vigor, and Jason could see a small girl huddled in the middle of the room, crying. Red hot ashes were falling all around her and soon the roof would collapse. Jason rushed over to her, grabbed the crying child, and Pushed out of the room.10

Once outside, he looked back at the house just in time to see it collapse totally, flames shooting high into in the air, as if to claim another victory. The crying child gave Jason one wide-eyed look before running off. All around him the flames were devouring the village, and soon nothing would be left. Bodies lay strewn everywhere like forgotten toys, some covered in red, and others burning along with the buildings.11

As Jason watched, darkness enveloped the scene, the flames fading to black, and even the sky disappearing. Before him the darkness melded once again, to show his failed pupil, cloaked in the now familiar red streaks intermingled with pure black.12

"You started that!" Jason yelled, the taste of smoke still deep within his lungs.13

The shadow seemed to laugh. "No Guardian, you did! That girl you saved, was you. And as always with you, the last thing you worry about when all hell breaks loose, is anybody else."14

"So, she was one of my incarnations, I had to save her!"15

"You could have saved the entire village old man"16

Jason sighed. He saw now where this was going, and he knew where the mistake had been made. Already his anger for this monstrosity before him was mounting.17

"Perhaps I could have saved the entire village, and perhaps not. But this has already happened, and history has shown that I would always choose to save the child. Everything is fated; you above all should have learned that lesson by now. Why was the village being destroyed in the first place? And why would the attackers kill those fleeing children? Let me show you!" Jason shouted. 18

The radiant light that still encased him, burst out blindingly, banishing the darkness to reveal another scene.19

They were in a room built of dried mud, much like a hut made by the people of his present incarnation, Africa. In the centre a man was seated on a high chair, dressed in brown cloth and wearing the horns from a dead steer. It was clear by his demeanor that he was the leader of this settlement. Another man entered the hut, bowing low to his ruler. The king looked up from a piece of paper and acknowledged the messenger.20

"My King, we have reports of a village that blocks our advancement to the north. They are peace-loving and pose no threat."21

From behind the king, shadows seemed to form once again into a familiar shape. Nobody could see it as it lowered itself toward the king's ear, where it spoke: "There is a child there. Kill it, kill them all". The king hesitated for a second. A shadow passed over his face before he gave the final death order. 22

The scene faded into darkness, leaving Jason and his pupil alone once more in the world between worlds.23

"In every incarnation, you have tried to kill me. In some you succeeded, and in others you didn't. But in this one, events transpired to make me aware of you before you could do anything." Jason spoke into the stifling vacuum of darkness.24

From around Jason sounds emerged from the blackness. Yells, screams, gunfire, distant explosions. All the sounds of pain and destruction that his pupil had inflicted on humanity throughout the passing of time. And above all the noise, voices arose in unison, a choir of song so filled with sadness, that Jason's heart ached for them. They spoke to him: 25

Too long has this abomination walked the earth. 26

Too long our suffering of eternal rebirth. 27

Now is the time to end that pain,28

Remember the promise, again and again.29

Over and over the mantra sounded, filling the emptiness of Jason's longing heart with a remembrance that he had never gotten to fulfill. But now it was the time to remember.30

flick31

Jack held the gun to his temple as he surveyed the scene of his dead family. Never before had he seen so much blood. It was everywhere, giving the entire room a red tint. The blank eyes of his dead daughter stared up at him, accusingly asking him why he hadn't been there to help them. With a sob he pulled the trigger. His last thought was a promise to his family to find the person responsible for these murders.32

flick33

Leana never had much chance to live a life she could be proud of. Especially not now that her husband had been found murdered, all fingers pointing to her. She stood on the balcony. Her eyes glanced down to the street below, so far and yet so close. In the distance she could see police cars approaching, and behind her the distinct footsteps of authority were coming closer. Spreading her arms, she jumped. Her flight lasted only a few seconds. Her final thought was a promise to find whoever had been responsible.34

flick35

The boy child looked to the left and to the right. Across the street his father was motioning him to hurry up; they didn't want to miss the circus. The road was packed with cars coming in for the show. After making sure nothing was coming, he stepped out, and was hit by a bus travelling much faster than it should have been. The child flew through the air. Those last few seconds were magical. And fatal. His last thought before he met his fate was: who would do such a thing?36

flick37

On and on it went. Jason's mind was blasted raw by the memories of millions of victims, each affected by his pupil in his quest to find him, Jason. In every act of destruction he was there, moving events to eliminate Jason before he could remember his promise. Finally the images stopped, and for a long time Jason could do nothing but weep at the unfairness of life.38

"Even when I tried to get to you, it was always about you Guardian." The shadow spoke up, "why should I be condemned, when it is you that caused this?"39

Jason wiped the tears from his eyes; a chilling rage filled him at the words spoken by his old pupil.40

"Ask this, why do you follow me? Why do you want to keep me from stopping you? Are you afraid of your own demise?"41

The dark man laughed, the sound anything but pleasant. It sounded like fingernails on a blackboard, and Jason flinched at the sound of it.42

"I do not fear you Guardian. You are weak and I had millennia to find out how easy it is to play with these mortals. None of them can remember the time of Memoria, except you and me. How can I possibly be afraid of you?"43

As the shadow spoke, the voices filled Jason's mind again:44

- I remember45

- Memoria, the chain of memories46

- Broken chain47

- Time of peace48

- He destroyed the balance49

Jason smiled as those words filled the soundless void.50

"You hear that, my dark friend? The dead remembers. We used to have the perfect world. Nobody was unhappy. Until you broke your chain. Nobody can survive that unless they have the right training, something you never completed." Jason pointed, hoping his words would have the desired effect. They did.51

The dark form streaked with red like sick sores, and from those streaks one flew to Jason, who side-stepped it skillfully. 52

Jason laughed. "You cannot harm me in this Otherworld. And when debate runs out, you resort to violence, the sign of a weak student. Yes indeed, you should fear me, for I am everything you wanted to be."53

"I could leave you here pupil, easily. You and I both know that this world only opens to those who come naturally. Or to those who come to remember. Neither of which applies to you."54

The dark man started walking towards Jason, who quickly uttered a few arcane words. The blue light surrounding him flared up and the pupil hesitated, giving Jason enough time to Push out.55

He landed back in the wooded surroundings. All around him the stifling silence of the night was abundant, and the full moon shone ominously from above. He had been gone a few hours, yet it felt like days.56

Graham never took himself for being flaky. He was a creature of routine. Everything in its place and a place for everything, as the saying goes. Unlike some of the people he dealt with, he never took it upon himself to try and fathom the meaning of life. Usually those people would try and get the answers using the strangest drugs possible, making them Graham's business. He could never understand why anyone would want to get high. Breathing the fumes emanating from Sasol on especially windy days would make anyone high as it is. (Not to mention ill for days afterwards). Stable as a rock, his co-workers described him back in Pretoria, before he got sent to this lonely outpost in the middle of nowhere. 57

Graham smiled to himself as he sat waiting under a tree. Who would have thought? If someone had told him yesterday that he would be involved in events looking remarkably like the supernatural, he would have laughed, and just tightened the cuffs around the poor slob that dared to try and upturn his perfectly ordered world. He mused on arresting Jason. It was clear the man was involved with the teen suicides. Hell, not just involved, practically the reason for it, if he understood all the clues. But this instant travel? No. Graham shook his head, just wont do. Can't jail someone that can go anywhere, anytime, as he pleases. He liked that idea though. Traveling without the expenses. Like something out of those cheap comic books his mother used to buy him as a kid in a vain attempt to stimulate his imagination. Aside from walking home, (more than fifty kilometres), he had no other way back except catching a lift with the deputy, but that would only raise more questions. (Where's your car chief?) So he had sent the man back to town after quieting down the crowd, and having the kid released from that shaman witchdoctor. 58

He didn't much believe in all that hocus pocus, but then again, a few hours ago he hadn't thought it possible for a man to make light come from his hands. Or for a shadow to walk like a man. He considered the possibility that maybe his world, which he had built to be stable, was in fact only a facade to hide him from the terrible truth. That some things happen beyond his understanding because that is how it was meant to be. Logic and reason did not always apply. A single event like appearing in a dark world can really shatter your nerves, and he was still suffering from shock. But something in him told him that he must stick with Jason, that somehow the past few hours had made them a team stronger than all his partners of past crime busting capers. Perhaps he should just follow Jason, make sure the man didn't do anything strange. (What a joke that was!) After all, partners should look out for each other. And Jason had so far proved himself worthy of Graham's trust, if only for a while.59

Graham sat watching Jason's appearance. The telltale whining that signaled an oncoming force, made him jump up and reach for his gun, which he wasn't carrying, still being in his civilian clothes. A normal reflex reaction. With a sigh of relief he gazed upon Jason, the snap of his arrival fading in the silence.60

"Jason, man, am I glad to see you. That old madman told me you would be coming here, and said I should wait." Graham took a step forward to look more closely at the figure standing in the natural shadows of the trees.61

"Have you been in a fire? Your hair is singed and you smell."62

Jason turned toward the old police chief, a smile flickered over his face.63

"Must have been the village fire."64

Graham's face distorted into a questioning frown, "Village fire? Not here I hope."65

"No not here. Long ago and far away. Don't worry about it. Let's just say I've bought some time."66

"Time to do what?" Graham asked, his look of concern so evident that Jason couldn't help but feel guilty.67

"Stop him."68

"Stop who?"69

Jason sighed. He didn't have time to explain everything to his reluctant comrade. Rummaging in his pockets, he produced his diary. The moonlight glinted off the symbol engraved on the cover. It glowed ever so slightly.70

"Read this. And I think it is time we get a drink. I'm a little bit parched. Fire and all. Really dries you out."71

Graham clutched the book in one hand as Jason took him by the arm.72

"No wait, we're not going to do that Push thing again, are we?"73

Jason didn't reply. He Pushed.74