Nothing seems real anymore. I think I'm losing touch with reality.
Maybe that's how I ended up here. Here staying at Alex's house, long after my youthful adventures were ended.
Well, he calls it a house on the rare occasion that he speaks. Not that I chatter much either. But really it's just more of a hut-home out on some secluded island out in the middle of the ocean. Whichever ocean.
I guess after all these many years of us two immortals chasing each other across eternity while watching everything we loved wither and die just became too much. I forget who stopped first, but eventually neither of us chased after the other, and we just withdrew into ourselves.
Weyard needed us no more, and nothing could be done for the poor immortal heroes of yore. We had saved a world that had no place for us.
However indirectly, Alex had saved it as well. Even in his quest for power, he had always seemed to hold a vision of a better world shaped by alchemy's release. A vision that was bitterly disappointed by the reality's formation.
It began as petty fights among townspeople reveling in their sudden and newfound power. Quickly escalating into villages and whole towns being razed to the ground for a careless word, or even thought. The larger the disputes got, the more uncontrollable the people's powers seemed to become. I had left after Garoh had been utterly eradicated from the face of Weyard, its villagers slaughtered
I was in the middle of the ocean, wondering about everything, getting pretty depressed, if I do say so myself. Then I spotted his island.
It was a small affair, easily missed by all but the most attentive. I had been staring at it for several minutes before I realized that it was even there.
Turning the ship around to face it, maybe with the idea of a home in mind, maybe with no idea whatsoever, I made for the island with no haste. What were a few more lovely hours at sea when you have all eternity to waste?
As I got close to the cliffs surrounding the whole island, I could see him.
Alex was standing there staring out to sea, his unruly hair whipping out behind him in the wind. It was as if he were waiting for me.
If this had been a few years ago, he would have greeted me with a barrage of ice and a tidal wave. As it was, he only stared out to sea while I jumped overboard from my ship into the icy waters, then started the treacherous ascent to the top of the cliffs.
When I reached the top, he didn't so much as look at me, but instead we stared at the lonely sea for hours. I wondered what he had seen of the new world to drive him to this place, to this state. I wondered what he was thinking about. I wondered if he was wondering of me, or of some friend long lost in the mists of time.
The sun had put up a spectacular show when it set over the rolling sea. I estimated about half an hour, maybe forty five minutes until all light was gone. When the last drop of fire had fallen below the horizon, he turned and silently led the way back to his hut.
We coexisted for weeks without any words between us. I stayed in his house, which I guess is my home now too, on a bed he had set up long before I came in a separate bedroom, as though he had known I would come.
We didn't really need to speak that much. I didn't have to ask him questions, and he didn't have to tell me lies. Oftentimes I would be doing something outside and he would come up a few feet away and just sit there doing something else, or vice versa. The companionship was all we needed to get through each day, along with the simple daily tasks of living, which had been all but eliminated in the new world.
So that's how I got here. And I'll stay here, as will Alex. We are the last remnants of a lost world, carrying on traditions long after it was forgotten that they had been forgotten by the new world.
We remain alone, together on this distant isle as the world changes around us. We are brothers, tied not by blood or love, but sorrow and pain.
We are losing touch with reality, and both know that that is a very good thing.