***
When I was a little girl, words fascinated me. Especially the words I couldn't define, but that always seemed to have an impact on someone else. It surprised me that just spoken words could hurt someone so much.
Ecliptor once told me in the middle of a training session that you can slash someone to pieces and if their will is still strong to the end, you've destroyed them. But if you slash them to pieces and then assault them with words as they lie bleeding to death, you've truly killed them.
I wondered how killing was superior to destroying, and in my contemplative state, I wasn't paying attention to the blade he as my opponent wielded, and I forgot the defense I was supposed to concentrate on. My hand rose up to counter the sword as I suddenly came to my senses, and the next thing I knew, my palm was stinging like hell and I felt hot liquid dripping down my wrist, despite the thick leather gloves I always wore.
He had dropped his sword immediately and actually caught me before I protectively dropped down on top of my wound, as I was prone to doing in my young age. He pulled the glove off and whisked it aside in one swift motion, and he studied the cut on my palm as I gritted my teeth, trying not to cry.
"Please forgive me, Princess. I.. I often forget that you aren't... you're a magnificent fighter.. please forgive me..." He was murmuring, pressing down on the cut without even thinking.
I remember the owner of the training facility we often used. A short, ornery mutant in armor, with the head of a pig. He charged by the move, which never made any sense to me, but angry at loss of money was an emotional state he often ended up in around me, and the next thing I knew, he was storming into the steel-walled room, carrying some sort of meat in one hand. His mouth was often full, and he was hard to understand because he often lapsed into another language while speaking.
"You don't fight, now what this about?!" He managed to spurt out. "I tell you don't bring that in here if you're not going to fight, huh, we discuss payment now--"
"Get some bandages." Ecliptor commanded coldly. When he spoke like that, it was no time to be standing around chewing gristle, but the owner was in absolutely no hurry.
"What happen, the orga dugo hurt herself?" He asked, relishing his cleverness and taking another bite of meat.
I found out later "dugo" was a term for child-whore in certain circles.
Ecliptor slowly turned his head to meet the blank, beady eyes of the pig with his own expressionless, red glass slits. He got to his feet, slowly letting go of my hand.
"I believe I asked you to get some bandages, Mr. Schiko."
"I believe it not your place give orders around here! Tell the orga to act like man!" He exaggeratedly flexed his arms and made a grunting sound. "Man! Why you trying to train little dugo, anyway? What she give you in return at home, huh?"
"Mr. Schiko, I'm afraid your establishment is about to undergo some changes." Ecliptor said with surprising calmness.
"Oh what, you report me to IPP? You see my papers all in order!"
"I was thinking more of a change in management. Your principles are deplorable. May your wife and son feast on your remains." He said, his voice raising at the end of the sentence. With that, he extended his sword and shot a great green blast of lethal energy, frying Mr. Schiko before he was able to say "Hey, you don't point thing at me!"
Immediately after he finished with Mr. Schiko, he strode out of the room, returning a moment later with a coarse brown rolled bandage.
As he tended to my wound, it almost seemed impossible that he was the same one who just obliterated another living being without a second thought.
"Is that what you meant about assault with words?" I asked, flinching as the cloth made contact with my open skin.
"Yes. I apologize for that. I imagine we'll have to cut our session short today, as most likely the Interplanetary Police will want to know what this was all about."
"But you think his spirit was.. um.. hurt bad when he died?"
"Certainly. Although, he wasn't exactly an opponent. People like that.. you're doing a favor to destroy before they pollute the air any further."
"Not destroy. You mean kill." I said, grinning.
He stopped for a moment, and looked at me. Then he laughed. An artificial laugh, but he'd practically perfected it despite the fact that he didn't have lungs and it wasn't a natural response. It was disarming, but as a child, it made me feel happy inside.
We went home that night, and although he was quiet as always, I found myself smiling almost the entire time. He no longer felt it necessary to hold my hand, but I offered it to him and he took it without ceremony. I occasionally skipped, but felt foolish and then stopped, concentrating on meeting his walking pace.
It was like that a lot back then. The games I talked about earlier.. they popped out of the most unusual circumstances. But they made me so happy.
They really did.
And now.. I don't know if it was innocence... or if there really was that much magic in those horror-story turned childhood memory. I'm biased, thinking about it and smiling. Were I to tell Andros that story.. he probably wouldn't get it. Cassie might, but I truly believe no one else would really see what I saw.
That Ecliptor wasn't just an evil, diabolical presence. He wasn't just the enemy of good and one of the henchmen of an evil empress.
He was the protector of a lost, frightened little girl. The salvation of someone who thought she lost everything she knew. A teacher of every one of life's important lessons.
And I.. I wasn't just a kidnapped child. I wasn't just a good person turned evil by corruption. I wasn't just a destroyer of worlds disguised as an innocent girl.
I was... what was I?
I was someone with a chunk missing from my life, wasn't I?
I needed to know. At least with the truth as an option.. I could make my own decisions about it.
I needed at least that much.
***
When I was a little girl, words fascinated me. Especially the words I couldn't define, but that always seemed to have an impact on someone else. It surprised me that just spoken words could hurt someone so much.
Ecliptor once told me in the middle of a training session that you can slash someone to pieces and if their will is still strong to the end, you've destroyed them. But if you slash them to pieces and then assault them with words as they lie bleeding to death, you've truly killed them.
I wondered how killing was superior to destroying, and in my contemplative state, I wasn't paying attention to the blade he as my opponent wielded, and I forgot the defense I was supposed to concentrate on. My hand rose up to counter the sword as I suddenly came to my senses, and the next thing I knew, my palm was stinging like hell and I felt hot liquid dripping down my wrist, despite the thick leather gloves I always wore.
He had dropped his sword immediately and actually caught me before I protectively dropped down on top of my wound, as I was prone to doing in my young age. He pulled the glove off and whisked it aside in one swift motion, and he studied the cut on my palm as I gritted my teeth, trying not to cry.
"Please forgive me, Princess. I.. I often forget that you aren't... you're a magnificent fighter.. please forgive me..." He was murmuring, pressing down on the cut without even thinking.
I remember the owner of the training facility we often used. A short, ornery mutant in armor, with the head of a pig. He charged by the move, which never made any sense to me, but angry at loss of money was an emotional state he often ended up in around me, and the next thing I knew, he was storming into the steel-walled room, carrying some sort of meat in one hand. His mouth was often full, and he was hard to understand because he often lapsed into another language while speaking.
"You don't fight, now what this about?!" He managed to spurt out. "I tell you don't bring that in here if you're not going to fight, huh, we discuss payment now--"
"Get some bandages." Ecliptor commanded coldly. When he spoke like that, it was no time to be standing around chewing gristle, but the owner was in absolutely no hurry.
"What happen, the orga dugo hurt herself?" He asked, relishing his cleverness and taking another bite of meat.
I found out later "dugo" was a term for child-whore in certain circles.
Ecliptor slowly turned his head to meet the blank, beady eyes of the pig with his own expressionless, red glass slits. He got to his feet, slowly letting go of my hand.
"I believe I asked you to get some bandages, Mr. Schiko."
"I believe it not your place give orders around here! Tell the orga to act like man!" He exaggeratedly flexed his arms and made a grunting sound. "Man! Why you trying to train little dugo, anyway? What she give you in return at home, huh?"
"Mr. Schiko, I'm afraid your establishment is about to undergo some changes." Ecliptor said with surprising calmness.
"Oh what, you report me to IPP? You see my papers all in order!"
"I was thinking more of a change in management. Your principles are deplorable. May your wife and son feast on your remains." He said, his voice raising at the end of the sentence. With that, he extended his sword and shot a great green blast of lethal energy, frying Mr. Schiko before he was able to say "Hey, you don't point thing at me!"
Immediately after he finished with Mr. Schiko, he strode out of the room, returning a moment later with a coarse brown rolled bandage.
As he tended to my wound, it almost seemed impossible that he was the same one who just obliterated another living being without a second thought.
"Is that what you meant about assault with words?" I asked, flinching as the cloth made contact with my open skin.
"Yes. I apologize for that. I imagine we'll have to cut our session short today, as most likely the Interplanetary Police will want to know what this was all about."
"But you think his spirit was.. um.. hurt bad when he died?"
"Certainly. Although, he wasn't exactly an opponent. People like that.. you're doing a favor to destroy before they pollute the air any further."
"Not destroy. You mean kill." I said, grinning.
He stopped for a moment, and looked at me. Then he laughed. An artificial laugh, but he'd practically perfected it despite the fact that he didn't have lungs and it wasn't a natural response. It was disarming, but as a child, it made me feel happy inside.
We went home that night, and although he was quiet as always, I found myself smiling almost the entire time. He no longer felt it necessary to hold my hand, but I offered it to him and he took it without ceremony. I occasionally skipped, but felt foolish and then stopped, concentrating on meeting his walking pace.
It was like that a lot back then. The games I talked about earlier.. they popped out of the most unusual circumstances. But they made me so happy.
They really did.
And now.. I don't know if it was innocence... or if there really was that much magic in those horror-story turned childhood memory. I'm biased, thinking about it and smiling. Were I to tell Andros that story.. he probably wouldn't get it. Cassie might, but I truly believe no one else would really see what I saw.
That Ecliptor wasn't just an evil, diabolical presence. He wasn't just the enemy of good and one of the henchmen of an evil empress.
He was the protector of a lost, frightened little girl. The salvation of someone who thought she lost everything she knew. A teacher of every one of life's important lessons.
And I.. I wasn't just a kidnapped child. I wasn't just a good person turned evil by corruption. I wasn't just a destroyer of worlds disguised as an innocent girl.
I was... what was I?
I was someone with a chunk missing from my life, wasn't I?
I needed to know. At least with the truth as an option.. I could make my own decisions about it.
I needed at least that much.
***