Chapter 17: Recollection of war
I sat down next to Eric's bedside at his left and Ella sat herself down at his foot, just in front of me. "The story I'm about to tell you happened around four years ago, right at the end of the final battle between the resistance group who called themselves the Neo-Gummi Battalion. Dad was the head of the battalion and mom always supported him. Eric and I were supposed to have been transferred together, but I decided to stay and help fight. That was the moment things went wrong." Ella tilted her head downward in solemn sorrow and sniffed a few times before continuing her story. "Eric was taken away to live with our grandfather and I purposely missed the transit to go with him. First thing that occurred was an attack chopper chased after the train and the rebellion was attacked without warning by a massive army. We all held them off the best we could and I eventually located our dad when I saw a large explosion off in the distance where the train was predicted to be." The moment she mentioned the train, Eric instinctively placed the first and second finger of his right hand on the scar he had on his right cheek. 'So that's where he got that scar.' I thought to myself before turning my attention back to Ella.
"Believe it or not, we actually were getting the upper hand on Igthorn's army for a while, until his fearsome elite squad of assassins joined in the fight." "Igthorn has a band of assassins?" I gasped. "There were ten of them at first. But dad personally reduced that number down to six before he and mom succumbed to their wounds. They were each skilled in different weapons and tactics. One of them was a skilled small explosives expert and I was unfortunate to receive one of his explosives against my arm." She had grown nostalgic while she spoke of the assassin that blew her arm off and she turned her head to look at her missing arm with her good eye. "For a while I laid in the ground screaming in pain from both the burn wounds that took my eye and the blast that took my arm, and apparently, one of the assassins was a woman who took to my plight. She spared my life and held the other assassins back until the others could escape. She lives now as the village 'mother'." She then turned to Eric and asked rather boldly hoping that she didn't strike a nerve, "What happened to you on the train, Eric?"
He was taken aback by that question and finally figured that he should answer. "The attack chopper chased the train as you said. It also caught up to it in a hurry, and attacked relentlessly. Civilians, children, elderly and sick were being taken to safety and they still attacked. It was led by Igthorn's head general, Maximus Landwall. Once our father's best friend, he now turned to Igthorn's side and destroyed all in his path." His voice was harsh when he spoke about the man who had betrayed his father's trust and softened it when he spoke of his next actions. "Somehow I had survived the destruction of the train and lie in the ground with a few minor burns and scrapes. I was terrified and just wanted to escape as fast as I could when he appeared in front of me, pointing his rapier at my face." His intensity faded as he recalled the next confusing events, "But, he didn't kill me. Instead he simply swiped the tip of the rapier across my cheek and said to me, 'I never wanted it to come to this. If you see your father, tell him I'm sorry for his foolishness,' and then walked away after commanding his troops to stand down. After that, I made my way to the closest town and got myself treated by a local mechanic. He taught me everything I know. Four years later, I built my own workshop and eventually came across you." He said turning his gaze to me.
"You said that the assassin woman became the head of the village. Could we talk to her?" I asked Ella. She simply smiled and said, "I don't see why not. It's not like she hardly makes herself known. I'll take you to her home." She then turned to her brother and said, you stay here and rest. I'll see if I can bring her to you." She then led me through the small quaint town to a house built within walking distance from a small creek of crystal clear water. The house was well built and even painted white and surrounded by local plants. Along the right side of the house I noticed something that I thought that I wouldn't ever see again since the bombing at the glen. It was a row of gummi berry bushes, and they even looked tame. Two bushes of every color followed the house's side in a perfect row and groomed in perfect oval spheres. "Gummi berries?" I gasped in nostalgia and surprise. "Apparently she also has the greenest thumb anyone has ever seen. She grew them from seeds and has been caring for them since." Ella explained to me. Then she added, "Did you know that they make delicious pies?" The statement was slightly awkward and I was slightly speechless to a retort for it. The silence caused Ella to feel the awkwardness of her earlier statement and she cleared her throat before returning to the original subject. "So, this is where she lives. Shall we go and see if she's home?" She grinned in embarrassment, still making the situation more awkward so I decided to walk toward the house before anything else 'different' slipped past her lips again. We reached the front door of the single story house and Ella proceeded to knock three times. A minute later, a woman in her early thirties opened the door. She was perfectly fit and around five feet and eight inches tall. Her black hair was cut to about shoulder length and the front of it curled just under her ears. She had hazel-green eyes that had a large amount of kindness and strength behind them and she even wore a soft smile when she looked at Ella. "Oh, Ella. How is your brother doing?" She asked in a smooth feminine voice that simply echoed with parental wisdom. Her face was gorgeous for a human and she even resembled what Calla may have looked like at her age. Her outfit was fairly streamline, she wore form fitting denim jeans and a form fitting cotton blouse that partially exposed her belly button and wore a denim jacket over her blouse. She also walked around her house barefoot. "Eric is recovering well. I wanted to introduce you to the gummi bear that was found with the others. This is Sunni Gummi. Sunni, this is Selina Alumsdale, the town's 'mother'." Ella introduced us. "It's a pleasure to meet you Sunni." Selina said as she bowed slightly to me. She was even extremely polite. I just had to know her story.
"So how did you go from assassin, to the town's 'mother'?" I asked outright. Selina nodded her head back slightly as she giggled at my question, "Ella told you about me, huh? Well, I signed up as an assassin to make a difference in the world, because I believed that it was the rebellion that was causing the world to be thrown into chaos. But, I could never bring myself to harm a child. It was that battle that helped me see who the real villain was. When the general was ordered to destroy the train of innocent civilians and elderly people, I knew that there was something wrong with the orders to take out the resistance. I made my final decision when I found Ella badly wounded. I then discarded my title as an assassin and led them all to safety as a new friend. It's only Ella who calls me the town 'mother' though. Some of the other villagers still harbor feelings toward me, but I vowed never to kill again."