Talen and Henry sat at the stream's edge, watching the sun set, its glow painting the horizon with its orange.
Standing up, Talen dusted his hands. "Rest up." He said, glancing at Kestis he continued. "Tomorrow's gonna be a long day."
Following behind Talen, Henry replied. "Ok, good night."
....
The next morning came quicker than Talen would've wanted.
He had planned to rest for the final two days however, Kestis's presence made him dread them
Raising with a yawn, he stretched, looking at the two sleeping candidates. 'I did all the work while they have all the rest.' He thought, scoffing.
Walking to Henry's side, Talen nudged him, attempting to wake him. However, to his displeasure, the runt's eyelids didn't even flutter.
"Yeah, you definitely did a lot, didn't you." Talen mumbled.
He continued nudging Henry until finally, after what felt like an eternity to him, he woke up.
Sitting up, Henry glanced at Talen, rubbing his eyes. "Oh, hey Talen." He greeted, sleep still weighting his eyelids.
Watching Henry wake up, clearly pleased by the amount of sleep he had, made him clicked his tongue.
He began to walk back to pick up his jian. "Wake him up. We're leaving in a bit."
'Must have been a bad dream.' Henry thought, wondering about Talen's foul mood.
Kestis lay sleeping peacefully.
No wicked grin or smile on his face; in fact, his face was so calm and peaceful Henry doubted if it was truly Kestis sleeping before him.
Gently, he began shaking him. "Hey, wake up." He chanted, shaking Kestis awake.
Slowly, his eyes began to open; he groaned. Henry kept ignorantly shaking him.
Opening his eyes fully, Kestis glanced at Henry. Gritting his teeth, he roared. "I am awake, you ignorant fool." Slapping his hands away, Kestis sat up with muffled groans.
Yanking his hands back, Henry rubbed them, apologizing. "S-sorry, it's just that Talen wants us to move quickly."
Holding his sides, Kestis glanced around in search of Talen.
He found Talen washing himself in the stream. Their eyes met; Talen smirked. 'I shall celebrate your death greatly.'
Glancing back at Henry, Kestis retorted. "And that excuses your attempt at murder."
Avoiding eye contact with Kestis, Henry replied sheepishly. "No." Standing up, he began walking to Talen.
Sitting down next to Talen, Henry asked. "So, what are we doing upstream?"
Glancing at him, Talen replied. "That doesn't matter. We only have two days left."
Henry glanced at Talen, puzzled. "With only two days left, shouldn't we just stay here?" He asked.
"No." Talen answered simply. Jumping out of the stream, he picked up his jian, staring at Kestis.
Similarly, Henry glanced back. "What do you me-" However, before he could finish speaking, Talen spoke.
"We're moving now. Don't slow us down." Talen announced to Kestis, his tone low and cold.
'Movement is another survival mechanism.' Talen thought.
Grabbing onto the log next to him, Kestis struggled himself up. "I cannot wait." He groaned, his signature smile parting his lips.
'It begins.' He thought, snickering.
Talen watched curiously as Kestis limped away, beginning their relatively short journey upstream.
'It's the most logical option, so why do I feel this way.' He thought, clenching his fist.
Walking ahead to assist Kestis, who was evidently struggling to walk on his own, Henry turned around, shouting at Talen. "Come on, Talen, you were just telling us to hurry up." He smiled, a smile so bright it seemed to outshine the sun's light.
Suppressing the grip he felt in his chest, Talen followed behind reluctantly.
The group of three unwilling allies walked up the stream for hours in silence, their pace excruciatingly slow due to the patient they dragged along.
Glancing at Kestis, Henry sighed. 'How can they remain silent for this long.' He thought.
Henry drew in a deep breath. "Hey Ke-" However, before he could even ask, Kestis rudely interrupted.
"I am and will never be interested in a conversation with the likes of you. Understood." Kestis declared.
'Urgh, he's worse than Talen.' Henry thought, rolling his eyes. 'What about you, my dear hero.'
Glancing back at Talen, Henry asked a question that had been bugging him.
"You're a great fighter, Talen, which begs the question: where are you from?" He asked.
Talen froze upon hearing the innocent question. Clenching his jian, he replied with a single word which to most would have sounded like a metaphor, but to Talen, it was a tragic reality. "Hell."
Both Henry and Kestis stopped their march abruptly, simultaneously glancing back at him.
Oppressive silence dawned between the three, choking the air with awkwardness.
Finally gulping his hung mouth closed, Henry replied, trying to salvage the situation he had created. "Surely your master could not have been t-that bad."
At the simple uttering of 'Master.' Something violent in Talen moved like a pebble in water, creating a ripple that grew into crushing waves
Glancing at the two, he froze. His hands trembling vigorously.
The world around him melted like glass on fire, the sounds of the forest muffled into a choir of screams.
Screams of agony Talen had reluctantly grown used to.
The screams grew louder, more violent, caging him in a familiar way, he thought he had escaped.
Dropping his jian, Talen grabbed his ears, trying desperately to silence the screams.
Eyes shut.
He did not wish to see the blood or corpses anymore.
He dropped to his knees, the vision of his past flooding in, ignoring all his attempts to hinder them.
Three dead bodies. He stood, a bloody knife in his even bloodier hands. In front of him, five other subjects battled to the death.
Next, he laid strapped to a bed. Multiple hooded figures surrounded him.
"Please, just stop. This isn't what he promised."
A young Talen roared, pleading, but they did not care. They tortured him.
"Stop, stop, stop." Tale mumbled, like a broken record.
Watching the person he once saw as an unmovable mountain crumble, Henry froze. "What's going on?" He whispered, stunned.
Talen kneeled, muttering "Stop." in an endless trance.
More buried memories rose, invading. The cacophony of screams growing louder, mixing with his cries and pleas.
Dropping Kestis on the ground, Henry rushed to Talen's side.
"Talen, hey, are you okay?" He cried, desperately trying to shake Talen out of his head.
Screams, cries, killings, torture. All repeated in a cynical cycle, in his head.
"Talen!" Henry kept shouting. However, Talen only trembled, muttering "Stop."
"As much as I would love to do this, Talen would kill me once he is out of this state." Henry whispered.
Raising his clenched fist.
Stepping into the Zone, he tensed the muscles on his arm, delivering a powerful punch square on Talen's jaw, dislodging him from his deep trance.
'You will thank me later.' Henry thought.
The punch carried such force it sent Talen tumbling to the ground.
Opening his eyes, Talen watched the world around him fade back into the evening forest it once was.
The screams fading into the rustling of leaves and flowing of a stream.
Sitting Talen up, Henry studied him like a worried mother. "Better?" He asked, helping him stand.
Talen stood, scanning his surroundings, needing to be sure the nightmare was simply a dream, not that his recent reality was the dream.
'It's real.' He thought, sighing.
"W-what was that?" Henry asked, his voice and hands shaking.
Ignoring the worried Henry's question, Talen began walking away.
'You can not keep doing that.' Henry thought, clenching his fist. He ran in front of Talen, stopping him dead in his tracks.
"I was scared. I deserve an answer." He demanded.
His eyes, though tearing, Talen had never seen them with such purpose and clarity.
'Even I wish to know, Talen. It would be a great weakness to exploit, just in case.' Kestis thought, watching the soap opera before him unfold.
Talen observed the terrified Henry.
His hands trembled, eyes fluttered, yet he still stood unmoving.
'You've come a long way, It wouldn't hurt to reward you.' Talen thought, satisfied by Henry's minor milestone.
Taking a step closer to Henry, he answered. "We all have memories we want to bury. Memories that chase us no matter how far or fast we run. Memories that torture us no matter how much we learn to endure." He paused.
Placing his hand on Henry's shoulder, he continued. "My memories are just." He trailed off, his mind pulling him back into his nightmares.
Clenching his fist, he continued. "Worse than the rest, more troubling and deeper rooted." Letting go of Henry's shoulder, he kept walking.
Henry remained standing, his trembling gone, the tears he held back in a dam braking through.
Clenching his fist, he thought. 'Guess he is normal after all.' He glanced at Talen's broad back, scoffing.
Talen was right.
All six of them on planet Roku had their own traumas.
Traumas that broke them down, only difference was how they rebuilt. And that was what defined them as a person in the past, present, and even future.
'What does he know.' Kestis thought, his teeth grinding hard against each other. 'He simply blabbers with no knowledge of what he speaks of.'
Nails digging into his palm, crimson liquid flowing.
Kestis glared at Talen, enraged by the insult.
Talen kept walking, carrying the only thing 7734 had left him with, or more accurately, cursed him with: a deep-rooted trauma he could not escape anytime soon.
.....
Far downstream, where Talen, Henry, and Kestis had camped, Calistis and Valen arrived.
Calistis stood near the stream, analyzing the camp, while Valen swam in the stream in search of fish.
'Three now.' She thought, glancing at the bloodstain next to her feet and the extra sleeping leaf.
'Kestis, Lillian, or Henry.' She wondered, walking to the camp, her eyes darting around.
Sitting down on the log, she sighed. 'Nothing much here.'
Glancing at Valen, she watched as he jumped out of the stream with an abundance of fish.
He walked to the camp, his signature smile shining.
Sitting down next to her by the fire, he asked, shaking his wet hair dry. "Anything new?"
Kneeling in front of the extinguished fire, Calistis began smashing two rocks together. "Very little." She replied, feeding dry leaves to the starting fire.
"They are three now. The newest addition is injured." She paused.
Sitting down next to him, she continued. "Therefore, we will be able to meet Talen sooner."
Hearing the key word, Valen's smile beamed. "We shall continue after eating, then." He said.
Glancing at him, Calistis scoffed. "You wish for us to travel through the forest at night?" She asked.
Valen froze mid-smile. Coughing, answering sheepishly. "Tomorrow it is, then."
Picking up the used skewers, he began piercing the fishes, placing them by the fire.
The fish took their time roasting, both waiting in silence.
By the time the fish had roasted, the sun had long set.
Calistis picked up one, passing it to Valen. "Why do you desire to be a hero so badly, Valen?"
His hand froze mid-air. "Wait, are you, Calistis, starting a conversation?" Valen chuckled, grabbing the fish.
He leaned back, eating.
Calistis hurriedly glanced away, her cheeks flaring up. "My curiosity was piqued." She replied, her tone flat.
'Today is full of surprises.' Valen thought, chuckling.
"My master's the reason." He answered, simply and plainly.