Inspired by some of the last words of the Arisens on Bitterblack Isle.
Last Words
None of it matters now. None of it. Pray leave me to sleep in peace.
"My tale?" Barroch sat down on the small wooden bench opposite me. He absently weighed one of his golden daggers in his hand before fixing me with a piercing stare. "I told you. I was an Apothecary before I became an Arisen…" I'd heard this before. He'd appeared, quite suddenly at the short cut to the main entrance to Bitterblack Isle. Foolishly his appearance there gave me hope. Barroch had clearly been on the island for some time and if he could survive, so could I.
His story began much as mine had. "I came from a small village on the coast. You won't know it. The odd brick might still standing." He trailed off with a slightly sinister tone in his gruff voice. "It was a sunny day, not a cloud in the sky. Then suddenly the wind picks up. A mighty wind blowing from the sea." His face twists into a smile. "I needn't describe how the dragon flattened every house with one beat of his wings? Or how he ripped me open and plucked my still beating heart from my chest? I thought not." He paused for a moment and narrowed his eyes. Then he stood and turned his back on me. Looking at him I could tell he had folded his arms. Suddenly I was reminded of something the Dragon said.
"If you wanted to live you had naught but to hide yourself away." I said slowly. Barroch glanced at me.
"Met the beast have you? Offers a compelling choice doesn't he?" he said gruffly. "Very few survived the Dragon's coming to my village." He continued. "Those that did blamed me for the Dragon's coming. Said I was dabbling in witchcraft not alchemy."
"They drove you away."
"I left." He smiled with that ironic smile. "The feeling was mutual." He became silent as though he didn't intend to continue. Slowly I rose to my feet and crossed the distance that separated us. As I was about to place a hand on his shoulder, he caught it and gave me a hard look. I looked down and returned to the bench. I could still feel his eyes watching me carefully as I sat.
"You didn't go after the Dragon?" I asked him. For a moment I thought he wouldn't answer.
"Why should I?" He said with a shrug. The casual nature of his answer angered me. I could feel my temper rising.
"To get your heart back!" I growled. "To take back what is yours!"
"There is your mistake. And the Dragon's. I didn't have a heart to take."
His admission astounded me. It must have shown on my face as he laughed dryly and explained.
"One beat of the Dragon's wings took everything away. My heart? Nothing after that." He regained his seat opposite and leaned back on the rough stone wall. In the distance I could hear the trickle of water, the life giving spring which ran just outside. There were other noises, just beyond hearing. Sounds of large creatures growling and moaning as they moved through the labyrinth. Occasionally there was a roar, and the sounds of stones and rubble smashing to the ground. Then silence. An all pervading quiet which is somehow even more disconcerting.
Bitterblack Isle is a place of shadows, not just monsters. There is a dark that persists even through the hours of supposed daylight. The voices of pasts Arisens have been my constant companions on my journey through Bitterblack isle. Their thoughts as they died in the darkness hounding my footsteps. I know Barroch has heard them too; Arisen's who came to the Isle in the hoping for something, looking for something. I was drawn to the Isle by Orla. She was driven here by something she can't remember.
"I travelled the land looking for herbs and the like." Barroch continued.
"What about your pawn?" I asked. I wondered about the shadows in the room. Were they getting longer? Barroch looked away from me.
"I didn't ask to be an Arisen."
"Neither did I." I retorted sharply. He smiled at me.
"Some spirit left, eh? Surprising." He said this more to himself than to me. "Soon I knew every herb and ore Gransys had to offer. I wanted more."
"You were looking for something?"
"This island has herbs unseen anywhere else. Ore and metals not found anywhere. I've seen more gold and treasure to rot my eyes."
"But not without your pawn." I said.
"I wouldn't ask a man to do what I do. Lead this life. Think I would ask someone who has no choice in the matter?"
"What happened to your pawn?"
I persisted, I had to know. I was clinging on to any piece of information he would give. His voice held me here and each second was precious. Barroch narrowed his eyes.
"I travelled. After a time he started to get on my back about facing the Dragon. No will? No soul? I know that isn't true. So do you."
It is said that pawn have no will of their own. Their will is directed by the Arisen, but travelling with them, talking with them it was difficult not to see them as human. They seemed to act on their own, have their own opinions how could they not be? Sometimes they seemed more real than anyone else.
"I lived for my work. I've been here half an age and I've barely scraped the surface."
"What happened to him?"
At last Barroch relented.
"He was my pawn and my friend." He trailed into silence. "He grew dissatisfied with my wanderings and thirst for knowledge. He wanted me to face the dragon. My wanderings 'were not befitting an Arisen'." He laughed dryly. "What did he know in the end? The dragon offered immortality. Eternity was mine to learn everything. All I had to do was stay away."
Barroch smiled wryly. "The monsters here make the ones on the mainland seem like child's play don't they? There are creatures here that defy reason. Even the rooms linking one to another is mad. More like the work of some diabolic imagination." He sighed. "What do you think happened to him? What happened to yours, eh?"
"There are rift stone here why didn't you bring him back?"
Barroch didn't reply to this, but he didn't have to. His gruff manner, his cynical point of view was a show he put on to the world. He probably excused himself in his own mind, absolving himself from any guilt.
I rose slowly. The room tilted alarmingly, I remain still breathing deeply for a moment.
"Three days to a week eh?" I said sardonically. The room luckily remained steady and I walked towards the hole through which Barroch had carried me. I carried on walking, heedless of direction. My pawns were gone, thankfully their deaths were quick at least. They gave their lives that I might carry on. My own pawn was the last to go. Barroch was right, she might have had no will at the start but towards the end she was more human than I. This place was the devils own labyrinth, with endless pits and stench of death. Rotting flesh littered the floor, the smell of it turning the stomach. Barroch's words as I left the refuge still rung in my ears.
"You'll be dying soon."
"I'll try not to make the place look untidy."
"No matter. Your voice will join the chorus of others, no doubt."
Why did I come? This place of eternal night, where corridors twist and the dark plays games with your mind? The monsters here made those on Gransys look like a nursery! Maybe the dragon was right, those whose courted death found it. I slumped against a wall, my legs finally gave up their strength. It didn't matter now. None of it matters now. None of it. Pray leave me to sleep in peace.