Chapter 8: Solitude of the soul
For most of the day Eric encouraged me to give the remains of my fellow gummis a proper burial. We traveled around the glen gathering remains and having me identify their names. Gently placing the bones in a proper lying position before heaving the dirt over them, we all made doubly sure to pay our respects to each grave before seeking out and burying the next bear. It was Eric's idea to bury them in the midst of the gummi berries and I agreed that it was the most proper thing to do for them. Eventually, we even located the remains of the Barbics and placed them in their own graves in the gummi berry patch. Using wide chunks of wood with names carved on them as temporary tombstones, we finally completed the last grave and finished paying our respects. The sun was just hanging half way over the horizon by the time we were completely finished and the three of us were exhausted and starving. I paid one final moment of silent longing on particularly Gusto's grave before traversing back to the house, kneeling down in front of the tombstone and allowing a few tears to absorb into the soil.
"Your boyfriend?" Eric asked when he noticed me grieving over his grave. "Not really. I mean, I liked him like that. But I don't think he paid much attention to much else other than his art." I admitted as some more tears strolled down my cheeks. I sniffed as much of my sadness back into my head as I could, but the saddening question still echoed in my head. "Why?" I asked out loud. "Why what?" Eric questioned. "Why did this happen? How did Igthorn become so vengeful, so bloodthirsty?" I squeaked out as more tears began flooding out of my eyes. The more I thought about it the faster and heavier my tears escaped. "I wish I had an answer to that, Sunni. I really wish I did." Eric solemnly said to me as he placed his hand in between my shoulder blades. Instinctively I buried my face in his side once again and simply cried my sorrows out. He never seemed to mind my constant crying and it comforted me so know that he would be there to soak up my tears. I cried for another ten minutes with my furry face buried into the right side of his shirt, drenching it with my tears. I could feel his abs with my right forearm as I gripped at the left side of his shirt to press my face deeper into his right side. He tried to help me settle down by rubbing gently against the back of my head and shifting his hand to my back once again.
It was another ten minutes before I calmed down enough to stop crying. Eric knelt down and wrapped his arms around me. He then lifted me up, supporting me by my back and just under the buttocks, carrying me like a young human girl. Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around his neck and nuzzled my face into his neck. He was plenty strong enough to carry me with ease, and started walking back to the house as the last rays of sun were escaping over the horizon. Not exactly asleep, I nestled down in Eric's embrace silently hoping to myself that it would never end. A small smile stretched across my face as he fidgeted with the door handle using the hand that rested under my buttocks, and slowly pushed the door open with his right leg. Don't get me wrong, it was amusing, but I was smiling for a different reason.
He made his way past the kitchen when Rose noticed him carrying me like a daughter. "Eric, she's not going to replace you sister." She exclaimed. "I know that. And I'm not trying to turn her into Ella. She isn't her, she is Sunni. Last of the gummi bears. And, do me a favor and stop using that dreamscope probe. Dreams should remain private unless retold by the dreamer." Eric said as he gave Rose a menacing look. "What do you mean, 'last of the gummi bears'?" I asked slightly curious. "There are whole other civilizations out there on... other... lands." My voice trailed off as I realized the connection between things that I had learned and this new bit of information. Eric looked down at the floor ashamed that he couldn't tell me outright. "Igthorn took three hundred years to take over the world because he went on a massive gummi hunt, locating and destroying every gummi bear in existence." Rose informed me. "Enough Rose. She doesn't need to suffer more than she has to." Eric raised his voice at her. "Eric," I solemnly said, "Not knowing is actually worse." "Eric shifted his gaze downward again and solemnly said to both Rose and I, "I'm sorry. Yes, eventually Igthorn eradicated every gummi in existence and simply moved on to controlling the entire world through war tactics he had acquired through his lifetime." "You told me before that you know exactly how Ightorn was able to live for so long." I asked, remembering his words when he admitted that his ancestor was responsible for revealing the time stone to him. "Yes. Well, that is knowledge passed down by my ancestor as well." He answered. "You know that different blends of gummi berry juice produce different effects, right." "Yes, and I also know that you need to stir it right or it won't blend well and you need to hit the pot with enough force to get the bubbles out. If you hit it too soft, the batch spoils the moment it is cooled and if you hit it too hard, the bubbles burst while inside the juice, causing the whole thing to explode." Eric and Rose stared at me dumbfounded. "What? Grammi taught me to mix gummi berry juice when I was younger." I stated while slightly blushing. "Wow." Eric exclaimed, rightly impressed. Rose just continued to stare at me with her mouth hanging open and a baffled look on her face.
"Anyway", Eric continued after settling through his shock, "After his first initial 'hunt', in the glen we were just in, he acquired a particular book that revealed all of the gummi secrets." "The Great Book of Gummi." I deduced. "So, that's what it's called. He eventually read the book from cover to cover and found a chapter describing the different effects of gummi berry juice. And references to the very recipe book he needed to create a blend of gummi berry juice that grants longevity and limitless youth at the same time." Eric continued. Upon hearing that pit of news, I gasped at the very concept and placed my right paw over my mouth, my eyes wide with shock and realization. When Eric continued, the new information was beginning to get confusing with my limited knowledge of this era, "However, drinking the broth was hazardous to a human. It acted like a slow poison despite granting the longevity and youth, it was slowly killing Igthorn. However, with his longevity, when the industrial age finally came along, he discovered a method to slow the poisonous effects even farther. By injecting it directly into his blood stream." "But that's deadly." Rose said to him. Eric simply shook his head. "Apparently it wasn't so much with that particular blend of juice. Since his scientists eventually discovered that it absorbs into the blood stream anyway, if they filtered out the toxins its effects might stop killing him. In fact, once it was purified, it granted him complete immortality when he had it injected." Eric explained. "How do you know that?" I asked slightly curious and a little surprised. Eric sighed before answering, "My father led the last rebellion against his rule. A survivor told me the story of how my father shot Igthorn in the forehead and he barely flinched."
Trying to wrap my mind around complicated things that were far beyond my knowledge, I simply wound up confusing myself. One thing that stood clear to me though was Igthorn was now immortal and couldn't be killed by conventional means. "Perhaps the best thing to do would be to locate the time stone before he does and send you to a point where you can stop him from seizing control of it." Rose suggested while thinking. "We'd need to locate the time stone first. Besides, we're wanted fugitives now. We wouldn't even be able to get near the city before the guards spray us full of bullets." Eric reminded her. "If there was only a way to travel along the roads without eventually getting spotted by the helicopters." Rose trailed off. A thought then occurred to me, "What if we don't have to use the roads?" I suggested. Being there with me as we gathered up the remains of the gummi bears, Eric understood what I was getting at, "The quick tunnels. We could repair the quick cars and use those for transportation. It's brilliant." Rose stood there slightly confused. "We'll have to take some time and repair some of the tunnels, as well as find out where they go and if any openings had been sealed." Eric added. We finally noticed that Rose was more confused than ever. "We'll explain tomorrow as we begin the project." Eric said to her. "Fine! I'm going to bed then." Rose slightly complained and walked off toward her room.