Chapter Twenty-Six: Hard Choices

The red light faded away. I grunted in pain, clutching at my head, trying to ignore the sharp ache that started pounding away at my temples and eyes. "Jesus, how can you stand this?" I muttered, blinking several tears away. "Feels like my fuckin' head's about to explode every time we do this…"

"I was born for this; you weren't," Anna shrugged. "Built up a tolerance, I guess."

Ahuilitzli was coiled up at the table, staring anxiously at the door. She was looking right at us, because that's where we were standing, even if she could not see us. Still, it made me feel kinda skeevy, so I shuffled off to the side.

"We waiting for something here?" I asked Anna quietly.

She didn't even have time to shake her head before the door opened, and a small, pale-blue consort flew inside. It was a little boy. I mean, the cobra version of a little boy…uh… I don't think there's even a word for that. And if there is, I sure as hell don't know it.

Ahuilitzli broke out into a grin, quietly releasing a sigh of relief. She lifted the cobra-consort child into the air with her Vis, twirling him around and around. The kid let out a peal of high-pitched laughter as his mother set him back down.

I couldn't help but feel a bit uncomfortable. I mean, this was very heartwarming, and all, but… God damn, they were snakes! It was weird!

Xolotl entered the home behind his son, closing the door behind him.

"-and there wass a lot of rockss, and the Dark Ones shouted a lot," the little guy was describing his day to his mother. "Then one guy, he, he couldn't hold his toolss anymore, and the Dark Ones, they let him go on vacation!"

"That'ss…that'ss nice," I could tell Ahuilitzli was at a loss for words to say, but she did her best to cover up her hesitation, flitting her gaze over to Xolotl. The white-scaled cobra had slithered over to a small cabinet by the door, opening it and pulling out a wooden bottle. When he took a long drink from the bottle, I recognized the stench of alcohol. "Run along upsstairss, little one," Ahuilitzli nuzzled her son towards the ramp. "I will tell you a Sstory before you ssleep."

The small, pale-blue cobra kid, after some firm coaxing from his mother, slithered up the ramp to the second level, leaving his parents alone on the ground floor. Well, not exactly alone alone…but I guess Anna and I don't really count as being here. We're just observers.

Xolotl hadn't moved from the alcohol cabinet. He took a second long drink from the wooden bottle, and then a third. The stuff smelled pretty strong—due to the absence of any high-end liquor stores in the labor camp, it had to be some form of moonshine. And I knew firsthand, from my experience at the celebration that took place after I climbed the Knight's Ladder for the Western Fires, that my consorts could get drunk.

When he saw that his son had gone upstairs, Xolotl slithered slowly over to the table, coiling himself up and resting his head on the table's surface. He gave a long sigh, breathing out loudly through his nostrils. "I do not know how much longer I can do thiss," he hissed quietly. "It'ss only his third day in the quarriess… I cannot protect his innocence forever…"

"What did he mean by vacation?" the aqua-scaled female asked.

Xolotl gave a bitter grunt, taking another drink from the wooden bottle. "It wass Nuatl…" the white-scaled consort murmured. "He wass feeling ssick for over a week, and today he collapssed in the middle of the quarry… The Dark Ones blew his brainss out and took away his body… Probably buried or burned it ssomewhere, wouldn't want to sstink the preciouss quarriess up with our dead…" Xolotl took a fifth drink. He started to take a sixth one, stared at the wooden bottle for a while. He then replaced the stopper and put the bottle down. "Couldn't let Citlali watch, I couldn't let our sson watch…covered his eyess and earss, told him they jusst took Nuatl on a vacation…"

The aqua-scaled female closed her eyes, bowing her head. "Nuatl wass a dear friend…we will all mourn his passing."

Xolotl gave a low grunt. "All the death in those quarriess… No one will remember Nuatl by the week'ss end, for he will have been followed by a dozen otherss… Our sson iss no ssimpleton, dear one; he will ssee the truth of thingss very ssoon."

Ahuilitzli took the bottle with her Vis, stowed it back in the cupboard. "Citlali iss but a child. We musst shield him for as long as we can."

"You think I do not know that?" Xolotl snapped, his head rearing back up. The white-scaled consort then let out another sigh, and turned away. "I try my besst, but how many more of our kinssmen will go on these myssteriouss vacationss before he beginss to catch on? Before he sseess that no one who goess on these vacationss ever returnss? Your father wass right; I will never sstop paying for my misstakess… But Citlali? What misstakess is he paying for? What misstakess is a four-year-old child paying for?"

"What misstakess are our people paying for?" Ahuilitzli countered. "Thiss cannot go on, Xolotl. Ssomething musst be done."

Xolotl tensed up, seeing where the conversation was headed. "No," he declared. "No, I will not sstart another uprising. I will not ssend anyone elsse to their deathss."

"C'mon, let's get outta here," Anna pulled me away from the two consorts as their argument began to pick up steam. "We're gettin' close to the Push."

We made our way back outside. It was nighttime. The rain was coming down in a very light shower, and the glow of the violet rainclouds was barely bright enough to illuminate the labor camp. I've seen nights where the purple glow of the clouds was brighter than the light of a full moon, but here it was always very dim. Almost as if the planet itself were in anguish over what was happening to its natives.

"What's the Push, again?" I asked Anna. I know she'd mentioned it at the beginning of this mind-numbing temporal rollercoaster, but she hadn't really gone into detail.

"It's the most critical moment in all the Events leading up to the libertation—liberation of all the desert peeps," Anna answered. "We've jus' been observin' bitchez so far, but there's one point in the timeline when you're gonna have to interfere."

"Good," I muttered. "I'm tired of having to sit back and watch all this shit happen…"

Anna chose to not say anything, interestingly, which wasn't exactly her style. It actually made me hesitate for a few moments, but I decided to dismiss it. It was evening, once again, now that we were outside. Almost all of our time jumps left us in the night hours—during the day, Xolotl and everyone else would be working in the quarries. When we emerged from the time jump, I opened my eyes to see Xolotl and Citlali, his son, walking up the alleyway between shacks towards their home. On their way back from the dining hall, probably.

Citlali had grown. Not by much, but still enough for me to easily notice… I'd guess two or three more years had passed. He seemed more like an older kid, now, rather than a toddler.

"May I assk you ssomething?" the pale blue-scaled consort spoke up.

Xolotl glanced at his son. "You jusst did."

The young consort opened his mouth, then closed it, at a loss for words. Man, I hated it when people pulled that on me—I could relate to the little guy. Xolotl then broke out into a smile. "What did you wish to assk, little one?"

"What'ss it like out there?" Citlali asked. "Mother tellss me you weren't born here, so what'ss it like where you came from? Iss it better than thiss place?"

Now Xolotl was at a loss for words. He stared at his son for a few moments. "Your mother told you thiss?"

"Well…not directly, no," Citlali admitted. "I hear thingss. People talk about you a lot, you know."

"I came from far away," Xolotl finally answered. He glanced around for a moment, seeing if there were any guards nearby. When he was satisfied that there weren't any Dersites around to overhear him, he sat his son down outside the door to their home. "I will tell you the Story of our originss. Long ago, in the Age of Legendss, we were all part of the three Great Firess—the Peopless of the Ssandss, the Foresstss, and the Plainss. Our ancesstorss were the People of the Ssandss, and they lived in Teotlallizinco, the Desert-That-Is-Home…"

Xolotl went on to describe a lot about the Old Peoples of the Sands, the consorts who'd lived in the desert in the time before the Cataclysm, ten thousand years ago. Citlali listened wide-eyed as his father spoke of how the seven clans of the People of the Sands lived separately from one another, locked in a state of constant strife and conflict. That is, until their differences were resolved by the Old One, and they united briefly to raise Aztlán, the City-In-The-Center. Unfortunately, that place would forever be known to me as the place where I was almost sacrificed…which was a shame, because it was actually a pretty cool city, from what I'd been able to see.

"Have you sseen it?" Xolotl's son asked next. "Have you sseen the desert?"

"I have," Xolotl nodded. "I wass born there. It iss a beautiful place."

"I'll never ssee it, will I," Citlali's next question was less of a question and more of a statement, and it caught Xolotl off guard.

"What?"

"The desert," the pale blue-scaled consort repeated himself. "I won't ever ssee it, will I? None of uss will."

"Never iss a very long time, little one," Xolotl pointed out. Citlali's neck hoods flared momentarily in the cobra equivalent of a shrug, and the young consort started to brush past his father. Xolotl let out a hissing chuckle and stopped his son, coiling himself around the smaller cobra and wrestling him to the ground. "Pinned," he declared.

"Get off, get off!" the pale blue cobra growled, trying in vain to free himself from his father's grip. He quickly gave up, lying slack within the coils of Xolotl's body, finally giving into and joining the white-scaled consort's surprisingly infectious laughter. "Okay, fine… You win."

Xolotl started to let his son back up, but then he hesitated, deciding to speak to the little guy one last time. "Ssomeday, the White Warrior will come to uss. He will sset uss free…and when that happenss, I will bring you to the desert. I'll show you Aztlán, the City-In-The-Center, my home and birthplace. Ssomeday, I will bring you home."

"You promisse?"

"I promisse," Xolotl answered without a moment's hesitation. He then uncoiled himself and helped his son back to his feet. "Now, insside with you."

"Father…" Citlali stopped one last time, looking back at the white-scaled consort. "Couldn't you be the White Warrior? I mean, you're the only one with-"

"No," Xolotl snapped, causing his son to jump. The white-scaled consort closed his eyes, took a deep breath before opening them again. "I am ssorry… No, little one, I am not. I thought I wass, once upon a time…and fourteen people died because of that fantassy. But that iss a sstory for another time… Go on, now. Your mother iss waiting for you…"

I realized that I'd stopped paying attention to anything else. I hadn't even been thinking about anything as I watched Xolotl and his son. I glanced over to Anna. She stood next to me, patiently waiting for me to say something. I looked back at Xolotl, but the white-scaled consort was already heading back inside. I started to follow, but Anna tugged at my sleeve, stopping me.

"Time to jump," she said. "I'm not using the chronograils for this one—I'm just gonna do it the old-fashioned way. We're goin' to the quarries, this time. That's where, and when, the Push will have to happen."

"Are you gonna tell me what the hell the Push is?"

"Yeah," Anna nodded finally. "Yeah, better you knew what was comin' before shit starts goin' down… Let's walk," she turned abruptly and started making her way back down the alleyway towards the central parade ground. I had no choice but to follow.

"Shit's gonna go down in the quarries, tomorrow," Anna started to explain. "At some point, our friend Mister White Scales is gonna get a beatdown from one of our resident Dersites. And when that happens, you'll have to kill him."

I blinked. "Xolotl?"

"No, you dolt—the Dersite," Anna rolled her eyes to the heavens. "Yeah, kill the dude who's s'posed to liberate all these bitchez; great idea!"

"Well maybe if you weren't so drunk all the time, I'd be able to understand the shit you say."

"Beats getting whiskey dick every time I drink," the Bitch shot back, a grin tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Okay, now that was just uncalled for. I could feel my face reddening. "Oh, that why you decided to fuck Gino all year long? I wasn't a good enough drunk for you?"

"I fucked the crap outta Gino 'cuz he's hot," Anna sighed, not looking down as she stepped over the half-rotted carcass of a dead consort. The poor guy'd been shot through the head—summarily executed by one of the guards, no doubt, for whatever reason. "That's your other problem; you can't stop holdin' grudges! Jesus, dude, jus' let it go! An' yeah, you were a pretty bad drunk."

I closed my eyes and breathed deeply for about a full minute. For a few moments, my hands balled into fists, and I was actually afraid I was going to cave Anna's face in. And as much as I would've enjoyed it, I forced myself to hold back… Man, that took a hell of a lot of willpower.

I decided to bring the topic of conversation back to what it had been originally, ignoring what Anna had just said. For now, at least… "Fine, whatever. So all I have to do is kill a Dersite, and we're good?"

"More or less," the Bitch shrugged. "You should know…killing that Dersite is necessary for the preservation of the alpha timeline. If you do it, though…a couple innocent people will die as a result. You'll have blood on your hands. But see, that's the thing about winnin' this fuckin' game…it ain't a matter of good and bad, right an' wrong—it's jus' a buncha hard fuckin' choices that we all have to make… You're gonna have to make a hard choice. Can you face that?"

I said nothing for a short while, but finally gave a nod as we started coming up to the gates. I didn't really understand very much about Time shit…but I knew that if Anna's Push didn't happen, it would fuck a lot of shit up. Maybe I just had some uber-strong, repressed instinct for self-preservation, because—despite my feelings towards Anna—I knew deep down that I had to do what she said. Because right now, she was functioning as a caretaker of sorts…and if you disobeyed a caretaker, bad things happened. And I didn't want any more bad things to happen, not because of me…

I decided to rest assured in the belief that, whoever died as a result of my actions…well, they wouldn't have had to have died in the first place if the Dersites hadn't decided to start brutalizing my consorts like this. It wouldn't have happened if Hyperion hadn't decided to show up and make this planet his fucking-shit-up ground. I wasn't so naïve as to think that an uprising would be bloodless…

"Will killing that Dersite start the uprising?" I asked Anna.

She gave a nod. "Yeah, in a way."

That prompted a frown from me. "In a way? What do you mean, in a way? 'In a way' is just the douchey way of saying 'yeah, but I'm not going to tell you what the hidden catch is'. Because there's always a hidden catch."

Anna refused to budge. "If you kill that Dersite, the uprising will happen. If you don't…then there will be no uprising," she laid it out for me plain and simple, though I still got the feeling that she was holding something back. "We'll end up in a doomed timeline an' die very soon, buuut these peeps…they'll be slaves forever. The only question is if you can sacrifice a couple innocent lives to prevent that."

And before I could even give her an answer, Anna grabbed my arm. There was a bright flash of red light, momentarily blinding me…but when my vision returned, I realized that we were no longer in the labor camp. We were outside of it.

Dust. There was dust everywhere. Dust, and rocks, and powder, and giant formations of dark gray rock. For miles, it was like this…a big, terrible scar in the earth, ravaged out of the side of one of the giant ridges of the Golden Grasses. I've described it from a distance—the grassy topsoil, the trees; everything that bore life…stripped away, revealing the rock underneath. And that rock had been mined, carved, stripped away by the consorts for centuries, under the oppression of Hyperion and the Dersites… But up close…

It turned out that I'd only seen the very top of the quarries, when I'd spied them from the ridge with Anna on the opposite side of the valley. The thing about quarries is that they start out as shallow pits…but as time goes on, they get deeper and deeper… And these quarries had gotten pretty damn deep. The pit we were in was several miles across, and several hundred feet deep.

The stronger consorts were the ones who were actually extracting the chunks of rock from the faces of the pit, while others would break them into more manageable sizes. The youngest ones, the children…they would move all the rock fragments into carts for transport. There was a narrow road, the pathway down to the bottom of this particular quarry, that wound up around the western face of the pit, switchbacking its way up to the top. The carts would have to be moved up that road—it looked perilous enough, but I was sure that any mistakes would result in quick, punitive punishment.

An energy slug to the back of the head. To provide this courtesy were the Dersite guards, who were stationed at various points throughout the quarry, constantly patrolling to ensure maximum efficiency was being achieved.

The dust itself was oppressive, making each breath an effort to avoid coughing my lungs out. I could only imagine how the consorts breathed in all this crap for days, months, years on end…maybe that was one reason why there were never very many elders in the labor camps. The dust probably killed more laborers than the Dersites ever did.

As for the consorts themselves…it was almost hard to see the color of their scales, because they were all covered with dust. Many of them moved around as if they were in a trance, as if they were ghosts…they were a dead people, even if they didn't realize it.

Xolotl was one of the consorts who were extracting the rock from the quarry walls. The Dersites had the consorts dig short corridors into the rock face at regular intervals, and would then break away the pillars of rock that separated the corridors. Then the process would repeat—it probably took weeks for an entire cycle to be completed. Hell, I don't know—I'm not exactly an expert on quarries.

I walked towards Xolotl, but Anna remained where she was. Well, let her play aloof—I was past the point of caring. I didn't get too close to Xolotl, but I wanted to be able to hear what he was saying.

"Keep sstrong, Huemac," the white-scaled consort was saying to the yellow-scaled individual who was working alongside him. "You musst not show your illss."

The yellow-scaled consort was coughing and wheezing. He was in bad shape, probably already sick with something before starting the day's work. "I… I cannot go on, Xolotl," the yellow-scaled consort murmured. His words were slightly slurred, and he sounded delirious. "The moment I sspat blood thiss morning, I knew… I knew I wass a dead man… It iss not even noon, yet…"

"Keep talking like that, and what you're ssaying will come true," Xolotl replied, using his Vis to drive his pick into the rock wall, sending a large chunk of stone crashing to the ground. "Keep sstrong, brother; no one iss dying today."

"I… I…" the yellow-scaled consort broke off and doubled over, heaving for breath. He coughed several times and ended up vomiting a disgusting mix of puke and blood out into the dusty powder that covered the ground.

"Get up, get up," Xolotl urged his friend, trying to get him back upright. He glanced up, looking at something behind me, and he swore. He let out a quiet stream of profanity and redoubled his efforts to help up his friend, who was continuing to cough up blood.

I looked over my shoulder, trying to see what had caused Xolotl to panic. My questions were answered when I saw a tall Dersite—not so tall as the Overseer, but still pretty tall for a carapacian—dressed in a gray jacket, pants, and heavy boots. He was armed only with an energy pistol, but he looked like he knew how to use it with deadly accuracy. And he was walking towards us, brushing past Anna without even knowing she was there. The Bitch winked at me, gesturing at the tall Dersite.

"The pit boss hass sspotted uss," Xolotl hissed after he finished swearing. "Get up, or he will shoot you. Get up, damn you! Get up!"

"What is the meaning of this?" the tall Dersite shouted as he strode through the dust towards the ailing cobra. When he reached the site where Xolotl and the yellow-scaled cobra were working, he took one look at all the blood and vomit on the ground and clacked his teeth together in annoyance. "You there, why has this piece of filth ceased doing his job?" the pit boss asked Xolotl.

Xolotl bowed his head, not meeting the Dersite's gaze. "He iss fine; jusst inhaled dusst from the lasst rock fragment."

The Dersite gave a doubtful grunt. "Know what you sound like, white filth? Go on, tell me. Tell me what you sound like."

"I…" Xolotl was at a loss for words, again. "Forgive me, I-"

"You sound like you are full of shit," the tall Dersite answered his own ridiculous question, drawing his pistol and brutally clubbing Xolotl across the face with it, sending the white-scaled consort flying to the ground. "You do not vomit that much blood from a puff of dust."

"Forgive me, ssir…" Xolotl picked himself back up and started to plead for the life of his friend.

A bad taste developed in my mouth as I watched the exchange. Contempt for the Dersite pit boss, and…something else. Sadness, maybe? Sadness for how Xolotl had been reduced to this. How he was forced to grovel and beg in front of these assholes…

Xolotl wouldn't stop begging for the life of his friend, and the pit boss's annoyance quickly exploded into an angry impatience. The pit boss aimed his pistol at the yellow-scaled consort and fired…only to give a yell of shock when his arm was suddenly forced upwards right before he pulled the trigger. The energy slug crackled off harmlessly into the sky. The consorts working around Xolotl glanced over for an instant in reaction to the gunshot before resuming their work. Gunshots must have been a very common occurrence here, sadly.

"You redirected my aim?" the pit boss seethed, before completely losing his cool and clubbing Xolotl over the head again with the butt of his pistol. "You redirected my aim? You piece of filth! You insignificant, sewer-bred pile of worm dung! How dare you-"

This guy just started to get angrier and angrier. After hitting Xolotl a second time, he paused to catch his breath. Then he really started wailing on Xolotl. Beating the white-scaled consort with the butt of his pistol, with his fist, kicking…

"Now or never, Sir Sourpuss," Anna had walked up next to me without my noticing. She nodded at the pit boss, who was still beating the crap out of Xolotl. "Do it."

I took a deep breath, focused on my Aspect as I stepped towards the Dersite. I raised my hand, focusing on the pit boss's head. Then I took one last breath and closed my eyes, turning my hand as I did so. I heard the sickening crack, then the following thud… I opened my eyes again, looking down at the pit boss's body, his head bent at an impossible angle.

No one paid the gunshot much attention, but when the pit boss fell…the entire quarry fell silent. The consorts ceased their work, staring in shock at what had just happened. I think the Dersite guards were equally as shocked, but they quickly overcame their initial surprise and started sprinting towards Xolotl, shouting at the top of their lungs.

Anna grabbed my arm, just then, and pulled me into another flash of bright red light. I grunted in pain, clasping my forehead as the headaches returned. "Jesus, a little warning next time?" I muttered. "So, what, is that it? I pop the guy, and…and…" I blinked several times, getting my bearings, my voice trailing off as I realized where we were.

We were back on the parade grounds, standing between the gathered crowd of consorts and the Dersite guards. The consorts had all been assembled, with the Dersite guards in tight formation around the Overseer's platform, as well as the parade grounds' perimeter. The Overseer himself was no longer on his platform—he was standing in front of it, and he'd just finished speaking to his consorts. I didn't get the chance to hear what he'd been saying.

I saw that Xolotl had been brought in front of the rest of the consorts, flanked by half a dozen Dersite guards, all of them aiming their rifles at him, waiting for the first sign of disobedience to open fire. I turned back to Anna. "What the hell's going on?"

"Watch."

I turned my gaze back to the Overseer as he barked out an order. The line of guards behind him parted momentarily, allowing four more guards to march through, escorting a pair of consorts to the Overseer, lining them both up so that they were facing the crowd of laborers. My insides seized up when I saw who they were.

"No…" I whispered. "Jesus Christ, no…"

They had been beaten almost to the point of unconsciousness, but they were both still somehow standing…

The Overseer drew his pistol and shot Citlali first. The top of the young consort's head was blown away, sending bits of bone and brain matter spraying into the air. The pale blue-scaled youngling's body thudded to the dirt. Ahuilitzli let out a piercing cry as she watched her son die. She continued to scream until the Overseer fired his pistol a second time and silenced her forever.

I looked back at Xolotl. The white-scaled consort was standing as still as a statue, his face completely blank. No tears, no expression…nothing.

I bit down on the insides of my cheeks again as Anna led me away from, trying with every single atom of my body to restrain my anger. When we were finally out of earshot from the parade grounds…I stopped restraining myself. Within a flash, I seized Anna by her arms and slammed her up against the wall of the shack we happened to be walking past.

"What the fuck was that?" I screamed at her. "His family? His fucking family? You never said-"

"I told you a couple innocent people would die, an' tha's ezzactly what happened," Anna didn't try to fight back or anything, remaining perfectly calm and drunk even as I shouted right in her face. "Would you've acted diffurntly—differently if you'd known who those people were? Would you have let us spiral off into a doomed timeline?"

I wanted to keep on screaming at her, wanted to yell until she burst into flames…but I had to admit that I had no real answer. And she knew that, too.

"It's like I said, dude," she sighed, her grin finally fading away. "All this game is is a set o' hard fuckin' choices that we all gotta make. You jus' made one. An' now you got a glimpse of what it's like to be a Hero of Time. Ain't all it's cracked out to be."

I relented, releasing Anna and taking a step back. I wandered forward aimlessly for a few moments before my knees buckled and I threw up again. Well, actually, I didn't really throw up…I'd already thrown up when Anna had gotten half her head blown off, earlier. All I was doing was dry-heaving.

Yeah, I know, maybe you're thinking I'm crazy for being so affected by watching a couple of snakes die…but I was beginning to think of my consorts less as cobras and more as people. I'd just watched a woman and a young boy get shot because of something I did. And even worse, Xolotl had to watch the same thing, without even knowing why it was happening in the first place. He certainly wouldn't remember killing the pit boss, back in the quarry, because he hadn't. But who would believe him when he protested?

When I was able to stop, I spat out the bile residue that had made it up my throat, wiped my mouth. "Why?" I muttered to Anna without looking at her. "Why me? Why'd you have to make me do that?"

"I didn't make you do anything; it was your choice," Anna retorted. "But it had to be you, because sometime in the future, your sprite will have to make another hard choice. One even harder than this one."

"My sprite?" I frowned, turning back to look at Anna once more. "What the fuck does my sprite have to do with this?"

"Let's just say he's following in your footsteps, in a way," Anna replied. "It's kinda hard to explain, and I don' really feel like tryin' to! An' if it's any consolation, even if you hadn't made the choice you did, White Scales's family still woulda died. No one survives these places."

To be perfectly honest…no, it didn't make me feel any better. But deep down, I was secretly glad that I wasn't a Hero of Time…if this was the kind of shit Anna dealt with on a regular basis, I was glad I didn't have her job.

"C'mon, Sir Sourpuss," Anna took me by the arm, helping me to my feet. "One Event to go. You ready?"

Wordlessly, I gave a small nod, bracing myself for the headaches. There was another flash of red light, and then we were gone.