There Was  A Hill In Alarava      

      A tall man walked a steel-reinforced corridor. He was aged and yet there was a vigor in the man’s eyes as if he had aged. He faced a steel door and then typed in on a touchpad. Inside the chamber was a long-haired woman with aged features. She was not wrinkled. There was a void in her. She noticed the tall man that entered. Her prosthetic hand creaked.

“Haytham, my son,” called out the woman. “Have you come here?”

“Dearest mother,” Haytham said. “I regret to inform you that Aunty Velia has passed.”

“How?” she asked.

“Old aged. She… no longer have the spark. The machines couldn’t sustain her and she did not want to live on.”

“I see. What about you, my son? Are you well? How are your children?”

“They are fine, my dearest mother. We can survive the crossing. Father has given me blessings so the Strongarm blood will continue on… that is if our star-crosser doesn’t disappear. Your children will survive, what about your wife?”

“She will be frozen. We will all be. We have made progress in such technology, but I believe that our new home will be much safer.”

“Back then we only had monoplanes,” she said fondly. She looked at her son. “Come closer, let me take a good look at you.”

Haytham came close. He placed his face in front of his mother. “You’ve grown wonderful, my son.”

“It is thanks to you, my dearest mother's guidance, that I became a man. Mother, are you really not going with us?”

She looked at her son. “This is my home. Lazon is my graveyard. Your father fought for this land even now I could feel the strand of his life. Your father would be rather lonely if he doesn’t come back.”

“Mother...I.”

“No, you know my answer. You are your own man. I will not dictate you as long as you care for those who you cheris. Besides, Cecilia will be with you. She will surely guide you better than me.”

“Mother Cecilia would want you to come.”

“She would. But nevertheless I will not. She understands me. I will not leave this land. The Arks will cross the stars. But all that I ask of you, my son. Is that you carry those who are proud to call themselves Lazonians to their new home. Your strength will be instrumental. I believe that you can do it. Come, let me embrace you.”

Haytham hesitated. He then neared her mother and hugged gently as she could. He choked on his words and her mother patted his back.

“There, there, you’ll be good, okay? Don’t let Mother Cecilia worry too much. She isn’t as young anymore.”

“Mother, I...no, you won’t change your mind. Not that I can for you either.”

“Take care of my grandchildren. Cecilia will deal with you if you mistreat them. Come on, don’t cry my lovely boy, you are fine Goodness, you are such worrywart compared to your Sister. Angela, oh, she’s so strong. The two make me so proud. You twins are always so stern.”

“Mother, I must go now,” Haytham turned away. He looked at her aged mother who remained kind despite her heart in pieces. She was said to have been broken. But nonetheless her mother had retained her kinder parts for them.

Her mother was tired. He was sure of it. But nonetheless she was not willing to abandon their home. If there are still others who are willing to live on here. Then she will be their guardian. The mother of Lazon remained eternal.

But sometimes Haytham wished that she would run away.

But then again, his father and mother had such stubbornness.

He got out of the shelter and looked at the shields covering the capital. There was no one left here other than a few who wouldn’t be able to make the journey. Haytham hurried to the VTOL while saluting Old Silica who stood guard on mother’s gate. She was mostly metal nowadays, but Old Silica remained faithful.

“Sir?”

Haytham heard.

“Sister Stefanie, what is it?”

“The Arks are primed and ready...is the Madame not coming?”

“You know mother by now.”

“I see. The Ark shall leave soon. Please hurry. We do not have time left.”

“Copy that.”

Haytham looked around and ordered.

“Everyone, we need to move now!”

Haytham mounted the VTOl and looked at the old ancestral manor. It was one of the many places that still had such an esoteric style. Most of the countryside had become concrete and steel filled with remnants of a civilization that couldn’t win against the planet’s demise. Up high he could see the sheets of metal and old abandoned homes that have polluted the surroundings of the Capitol’s skyline. Her mother was against it, but there were some who had managed to build twenty-story buildings of superstructures. It was unavoidable.

“Incoming debris,” the VTOL pilot said. The VTOL launched two missiles and squashed the debris. On the farther side of Lazon was a group of mutants that were staring at the doomed sky of Magnar-Azia. They tried to fix things, but it was already fortunate that some of the lands weren’t covered in radiation after a messy affair. 

“This is High Command, I see you. Is Mother with us?”

“No. She’ll stay, you know that, Angie.”

“See what I told you?”

“I know. I should have seen it coming. Mother has always been so protective of Lazon and it would be a miracle if she ever agrees. She wouldn’t leave that hill.”

There was a click. Haytham carried his gaze at the home that he had grown up to and had loved before turning it away. He couldn’t bring himself to cry.

Ah, I really can’t like you that much, father, Haytham said. He shut the footage and focused himself on the mission. His mother had made a choice and he didn’t have the heart to force her mother into their own choice.

 

***

 

Natalya looked up at the ceiling. She raised her aged body and looked at herself in the mirror. She had grown older throughout the years. And with the sparks leaving the world. She had started aging once more. But her looks were good enough that she could still be called a beautiful grandma.

“Huh?”

She recalled the voices of young kids. She looked around trying to grab on something but the vision that appeared before her vanished. She took a look at her prosthetic arm and then adjusted it. She then wrapped her ankle-long hair and wrapped it around her waist. She then moved slowly out of her bunker and felt the tremors and the cry of a dead world.

The passage’s lights were shaking. Once she got out of the narrow passage. She saw Old Silica staring at the sky.

“Silica.”

“Madame.”

She stood. Her maid has married twice. But since she didn’t have the blessings that they have. Most of her family was long gone or at least not in contact with her. She decided to stay despite it all and the same hopeful eyes were still on her.

“How about you rest now, it’s okay. You’ve done well.”

Silica lifted her lips but decided to obey. She bid Natalya farewell and entered the shelter without a word to say. Her metal parts were lost in the sound of the tremors. She strolled the aged-old garden that had its flowers withered. She took a look at the mansion that she had lived in for centuries and strolled inside. She headed straight to the bedroom and took a picture, framed that an image of her and her husband. She took the framed picture and carried it with her out of the mansion. She also took a bottle of wine for herself.

There was no one around. The once green pathway to the hill had long withered. Nonetheless, she continued walking down the path until she reached the hill. She clambered up the hill with heavy steps and stood in the well-cared grave of her husband. She placed the picture frame and then took a long look at it before leaning on the gravestone. The perpetual smile on her face was gone and was replaced with a hint of loneliness. She has been through everything and she sees everyday and every incident as a pathway that takes her back into memories from previous centuries. The humans who had been with her were short-lived. There are those who she was fond of. It was awesome how they lived their lives despite their lifespan.

If she didn’t have a long-lived family who held her heart. She was sure that she would have gone insane. If it wasn’t for the little voices of the kids of her children. If it wasn’t for the warmth of others. She was sure that she would follow that vision. A vision of a cruel woman who would see the world burn for herself. An Imperator, who out of spite, would burn all that was good and kind.

That was supposed to be her fate. Truthfully, she was surprised that the world lasted this long. She always wondered when that vision would come. Her husband has left her early and although the bond she tied him with was still around. She could still feel him. In the end she understood that there was something off and that she was meant to be lost. She had seen people who were strange rise up to become awful or good. She had seen them act as if they were destined to be something more than chess pawns. But perhaps because they were lacking boons that some of them were not able to achieve what they are meant to be,

“Was this what you expected?” she said to no one. “Did you gather all the boons so they couldn’t rise up? Mavin, how are you there? I can feel your pain. Your searing emotions...how could this lady just stand by while you do what you do up there?”

She shed tears. She opened the bottle of wine and looked at the skies flaring up. She could feel her shields shatter as minutes passed.

A lonely sight of a sky turning red.

Images of starbound ships preparing to leave a dying world.

And then images of a world soaked in flames.

She saw such visions during her visit to this hill with her husband. She had hoped with all of her heart that such vision would not come to pass. She hated such vision and it was sadly not meant to be.

“Grandma?”

“Huh?”

Natalya looked around. She imagined her grandchildren. Her warmth around her. She thought to herself that she might have preferred to be with them now. But it was too late. She was stubborn. She was unyielding and her pride told her to stay. She would see this land’s end no matter what. Besides, she had lived long enough.

“Ah, what a mess, I am such a fool...then again. I had so many lovely grandchildren. Ah, really, the way of choices...I am tired. I’ve done everything I can now. I simply don’t have the ability to do it all. So it’s fine to be selfish now, right? I don’t know what you’re fighting out there, but unfortunately it seems I will pass on first. Don’t you dare say that I didn’t wait. What I did...those repeating nightmares...I’ve paid for them. My debt is clear...and yet there is something lacking to it. Ah, goodnight my sweet, forever yours...you bastard.”

She smiled at herself. Her grievances. Her greed and her wants.

She had let go of them at those words. Then she stared at the last of the sparks leaving her. The shielding she made above shattered and the rupture had come for her madly. She cast an illusion around her and leaned her cheeks on the side of the gravestone and closed her eyes.

She had a dream and a wish.

But she didn’t want to share them. It was an utterly foolish dream that she’d rather keep for herself. She knew that her children would scold her for it.

 Smiling to herself, the Lady of Lazon, finally slept forevermore.

…

..

.

I remember… on a hill of a place once called Alarava, I saw a woman watching the world end. Her lonely white-clad figure leaning on an empty gravestone. Looking as if waiting for something. Hoping that one day she would be found...by someone.

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A KISMET'S TALE

END

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