That was a very good question! None of us knew what to do now that SERVERE had left; we stood motionless, in silence, playing back the last five minutes in our heads, trying to make any sense of it. SERVERE was alive and well it seemed, working with HoN Co. to distract them from our presence. If all of this was real, and not a dream which I had initially thought it was, then UOPETA was right. I had mentioned this as a possibility to the situation of AMPHIS seeing SERVERE down near the wooden shack. Now we had all seen him... And not only that, but but he had also communicated with us; he had told us what to do and had taken the map and glowing stone from us so that he could remove them for us.
"I guess we do what he says. We go back to the outpost, inform AMPHIS about seeing SERVERE and await further instructions... What else can we do...?"
"Well even if AMPHIS did translate more portal coordinates, it would mean a trek back to the base to acquire another portion of the glowing stone to achieve the necessary work..."
"We've got no choice then. We'll head back to the outpost, update AMPHIS about seeing SERVERE and help translate the books with the yellow covers. We can't do much about the Latin, but we can decode the first layer of encryption with the pig-pen cipher..."
We better get moving then. We've got at least a day's worth of travelling to do to get back to the outpost, if we head back the same way we have come. Unless any of you two want to go for a swim...?"
UOPETA turned to me and told me to remove the remnants of the portal frame before we were to set off back to the outpost. As I destroyed the obsidian with the pickaxe, millions of questions buzzed around my head. One in particular kept floating up to the forefront of my mind; it wasn't the most important question amongst them, but it was one of the trickier ones: how do we explain this to COLUS and the others, without mentioning SERVERE?
Entering back into the sandy area, we continued our route across to the North East back to the ice crossing. We had been discussing many things along the way, at great length, and it seemed to me that we were all still rather taken aback by the unexpected reunion with a brother of the Lone 7 previously thought deceased. Obviously when put like that, it didn't seem that hard to understand why it was taking so long to get our heads round it. I got the feeling though that UOPETA had buried the possibility of SERVERE being alive with those human remains. However, we now know that the remains did actually belong to a HoN Co. guard who had fallen awkwardly after being knocked unconscious in the bout with SERVERE.
"There are so many questions left unanswered though! He can't tell us anything that he knows in case it puts us in danger, and in turn, we can't tell anyone else either. Everyone's being kept in the dark from each other; it's like we're only holding a quarter of the deck, and SERVERE is reluctant to deal out any more!"
"If it's for our safety, I'm glad I know so little! We need to ensure that HoN Co. knows as little about us as well. If that means SERVERE has to keep things from us, then I'm all for it!"
"He's been away for so long, and I don't know whether we can trust him any more. His surroundings within a HoN Co. environment may have twisted his purpose to face away from us. How do we know that he's not a double agent; secretly working for HoN Co., but appearing as though he's working with us under cover?"
"SERVERE wouldn't do that... I know he wouldn't..."
"That's clearly not the same SERVERE we knew a year ago though! He donned the armour of the Elite, which suggests he's been offered something far greater than friendship and the trust of the Lone 7!"
I walked behind both UOPETA and THEROS, as they continued to argue amongst themselves. It was almost sad that despite the reappearance of a supposedly dead friend, all they can do is bicker and argue with each other. Why could't they see the good that would inevitably come from this?! If SERVERE was indeed working for us within HoN Co., then we had a considerably greater chance of bringing them down, and exposing them to the world! Not only that, but one of the original brothers of the Lone 7 had survived a full-on frontal assault by HoN Co. guards, and not only lived to tell the tale, but flourished, thrived and remained true to his beliefs and convictions!
"... Syeonyx is right. We should just be thankful that we're still as strong as we were before. Stronger in fact, now knowing that we are larger in number than before, and that we have infiltrated into the higher echelons of HoN Co. than originally thought possible!"
"I see what you're saying, but all I'm saying is that we can't place trust in someone who's been missing and classified as dead for over a year!"
"Blood is thicker than water. Us brothers of the Lone 7 remain strong and vigilant in the face of adversity. SERVERE is as loyal as the day he joined us. If you don't trust him, at least trust me..."
As we continued onwards towards the ice crossing, the light began to fade, and we sought shelter for the night. At least we were agreed on some things now enough to get a good nights rest. We were definitely going to need it...
Syeonyx signing off
No comments:
Post a Comment