Their One Last Chance: II

there hasn't been a sun since we left camp. Now only I, my guardian and the creatures we look after are left. Most of my people have long since passed on to the next plane of life. Everyone speculates as to what it is but there is an old man in the village that swears he's seen the faces of the gods and has assured me where I will be. I'm not sure I buy his story as of yet as I am holding out to the final hour to decide for myself.

My father wanted more for me. He pushed me endlessly trying to justify all the humiliation under the credentials of a good deed. I guess he figured if he belittled every single thing I have done then it would somehow compel me to do better next time. He's not here to see if his plan worked and nor is my maternal guardian. The only living relative I have left is my child and she has been appointed my keep in my final years. Then the wars came. All daylight was obliterated in the need for more energy and the human consumption kept climbing in its efforts to dwindle the resources of this barren planet. Trees and greenery were stripped to find cures for ailments brought on by each generation before. Food became scarce and only my kind survived and a few of them. All deemed "chosen" by their god. For a century we have now lived in darkness and the real monsters showed the colors of their mirth. Humans wrecked this place and humans killed my kind and our cousins and now for some insulting salt to the open wounds of my heart we have been granted the keepers of their endangeredness. Language has been replaced by telepathy and you can thank the Wamphyrii for that though the weaknesses in mankind have not allowed for the use of such valuable tools as this, so I being half breed play the role of mediator. No matter how mighty my peoples have been the weaker have clenched and dug their parasitic claws into our backs and not let go. I am weighed down by remorse for comrades lost and to watch in horror as my own progeny is enslaved and carrying the load of a hundred of their men.

I wanted more for her. I saw more for her. She was supposed to be the light in the dark and I her teacher and now she carries these old broken bones through another half century when they should have been lain at the feet of my forefathers some time ago. I don't know why I am still alive and what my purpose is but I am still by her side and feel her pain through it all. How can I reason with them when they cannot see past their own grief? They weren't the only beings who lost in the war. By percentages my kind suffered along with the dog people far more in casualties. She and her mage partner are expecting their first born, my only grandchild, soon. A halfling of noble birth to be born in the mud and blood of its ancestors and to bear witness to the new world order. I only hope she survives the ordeal as she has shown signs of her end of days as well. My days ended so long ago and yet I am still kept here, without order or directive, and I know not what I am to do. Shall I outlive her? Why shall I outlive her? A parent should never bury their child and still we do. I watch her as she leans to a brook to wet her lips against the night's wind stripping of the flesh back from her teeth. You can see she was once a gloriously beautiful thing and now looks more like a twisted mad and tortured heathen cursed above all men. I am thankful he be at her side and I feel like the third wheel on the cart. He is amicable enough and protects her and comforts her.

The light in the distance signals the end of the nights day and allows us to recalculate our journey once again. My little troop packs and loads the beasts as we set out again for the northern cliffs. It will be my last, maybe even hers too and it will still take several decades of human span to reach there on foot, myself on rigging as I can barely walk a full days stride now. Pretty soon, I tell myself, pretty soon it will be over as the new one has begun. She will walk where kings have died and lay me down upon dark grasses and the fires will be lit and the music will play...pretty soon.~mobe's love to her all and her all to her loves.