Each to His Fate
"Rell, are you there?" a voice inquired.
"I am" he answered. Where here was he wasn't sure, but he had a pretty good idea. His last thoughts were of intense pain as he was crushed between the wall and huge stone door as it closed. Now he was in some place that wasn't a place; he had no form and there were no forms around him. He was lost in a mist, the mists of the afterlife his people called 'The Forever' and something was talking to him.
"We...have an issue" a second voice said. "You know what that is, don't you?"
"Yes." Rell was well aware of a problem. He was a Cyclops, and his people had a code. In the distant past they had traded one of their two eyes for the knowledge at birth of the day and place of their death when the time came. It was unknown why the Beast had made the deal in the first place with his people; that part of their history was lost. But after that arrangement all were born with one eye and the knowledge of their fate. Any attempt to avoid one's fate was dealt with by excruciating pain; no one had attempted to avoid his fate for generations.
Rell had no intention of avoiding his fate either. But when Prince Colwyn and his band rode off on fire mares to reach the Dark Fortress to save Princess Lyssa, Rell knew that they would need his help to breach an entrance. Indeed, it was his charge to the door, taking hits in the process before holding it open for the others that allowed them to enter. The last made it through before the door closed, killing Rell.
"Good" a third voice added. "That saves us the problem of explaining what led up to our issue. What is the prime rule of the Cyclops?"
"Each to his fate" Rell answered.
"Correct. Let it be noted that the recently deceased is well aware of his transgression. You violated that rule when you helped storm the Dark Fortress. What is your defense?"
"I have none. You describe it fairly and accurately. I accept my final place." It was rarely talked about, but every Cyclops was told what would happen if you denied your fate; eternal banishment, your spirit alone with nothing but yourself until even your identity was lost in the passage of time.
"He has a defense, if I might interject." A fourth voice entered the discussion.
"Voce, you have not been requested to join this matter" the first voice admonished.
"I have Sil, I have; it is his plea that calls me" Voce stated.
"Plea? There was no plea, he admitted his wrongdoing" the second voice argued.
"Conn, his position utterly screams his plea. He did wrong, that is admitted. But certainly there were extenuating circumstances" Voce explained.
"But the rule..." the third voice started.
"...must be weighed against the circumstances, Yram" Voce went on. "In the past, yes, there has been no set of circumstances that weighed heavily against the rule. But this time is different. I don't need to remind you of the events around Rell's death."
The voice of Sil started dryly. "Rell was killed in the assault on the Dark Fortress of the entity known as the Beast, the same Beast that our forefathers bargained with for our very ability to see our own deaths. The assault was successful, Prince Colwyn was able to rescue Princess Lyssa and the Beast was destroyed, along with his fortress."
This was news to Rell. Because of his death, he was unaware if the rescue had been successful. His relief was great, but he was no less resolved to accept his fate.
"Yes. And if Rell had not chosen to deny his fate, what would have happened" Voce asked.
There was a long pause. "The assault would have failed" Conn's voice determined.
"And after that happened?" Voce prodded.
"The Beast would have finished destroying Krull and moved on to the next planet" Conn slowly admitted.
"Exactly. Rell not only saved Colwyn and Lyssa, but also this planet and untold others in the future. Certainly that is worthy of consideration."
The three voices murmured among themselves. At last Sil spoke "Stipulated. But he avoided the pain which is punishment for all those who deny their fate."
"Avoided the pain? How delightful do you think it is to be crushed to death?" Voce asked, more for effect than anything.
"Granted, although you need not be so graphic" Sil said. "Do you propose we just award him a traditional passing to The Forever?"
"NO!" Yram interjected. "There can be no such action. It is forbidden. No one who has come before us has passed that way."
Voce thought quickly. "What if there was another way?"
"What do you have in mind?" Conn asked.
"Examine the life of Rell. Even among Cyclops, he is considered a little too sociable just for visiting the Emerald Sage on several occasions, not to mention his association with Colwyn's band. And there is the matter of his friendship with a man. No Cyclops has called a man friend for untold generations, but I have a question for Rell: How would you describe Ergo?" Ergo was the magician that helped with the rescue of Lyssa; his results weren't always predictable, but his heart was in the right place and he befriended the young boy Titch when orphaned by the death of the Emerald Safe.
"Short of stature, tall of power, narrow of purpose and wide of vision." He smiled inwardly at the description, often heard from the mouth of none other than Ergo himself.
"No, I mean how would you describe your relationship with him?"
"Friend." There was no other way, and he had saved Ergo's life on several occasions.
"And there is one other small matter; the prophesy" Voce concluded.
"We know of this prophecy" Sil admitted. "That the son of Colwyn and Lyssa will one day rule the galaxy. What of it?"
"If such a thing is to become, this son will need all the help he can get. Even the thief Torquil is Lord Marshall now. If he could be turned to the cause, who knows what can be accomplished with a little help. I propose that instead of passing to the afterlife, Rell be put back on Krull to spend his days helping the prophecy come true."
The voices murmured again. "There must be a cost" Yram said out loud.
"A cost?" Voce asked.
"Yes. There must still be a punishment for disobeying the rule. It must be satisfied" Yram insisted.
"What do you have in mind?"
"Rell will return to Krull with Colwyn and Lyssa, Torquil, Ergo and whatever other misfits they can gather. But for the rest of his days, no matter how few they may be, he will never be assured of having a tomorrow. He will be like his precious friends, in fear due to ignorance of their final day. That will satisfy me."
"Rell, do you agree?" asked Voce.
"Agreed." When asked by Ergo what one thing he would ask for if he could, he had said 'ignorance'. Little did the chorus of voices know, but this was a blessing in disguise; a punishment that was actually a reward.
"So be it" said Sil. "Rell will return to Krull. Let it be so."
The voices, and Rell, were gone.
The End
A/N: Krull wasn't a great movie but it was entertaining, with a few future stars in minor roles. Rell was my favorite character, and although he didn't speak a great deal, his friendship with the magician Ergo was my favorite relationship in the movie. However, the scene where Ergo asks Rell for the one thing that he wish for was impossible for me to hear when the movie was on VHS tape (a friend and I thought he was saying "fig nubbins") despite listening to the line over and over again. It wasn't until decades later with a closed captioned DVD that I finally understood the word he said.
It sure made a lot more sense then. And it made the basis for a short story too...