Remembrance

     The way COLUS had entered the room and made that statement seemed a little insensitive, but there was no reaction of concern or disagreement from any of us... COLUS must have realised how that comment may have been heard, and his posture and attitude changed immediately. He walked towards the table, and sat down at his usual seat, hunched forward, crossing his arms together, looking at AMPHIS.

"Now AMPHIS... What did you see...?"

There was a pause; AMPHIS didn't initially respond to the question, instead preferring to stare into his open palms placed on the table. The look of shock was written across his face with such intensity, it was almost convincing enough to make me believe him!

"I saw... I saw SERVERE... He... He was standing there... In the chamber... Just... Standing there..."

"Are you sure? Could it have been a trick of the light...? A shadow, or the heat haze from the lava flow...?"

AMPHIS slowly shook his head, still staring into his hands... There was another moments silence, as COLUS looked around the room, before exhaling deeply.

"What did he look like? What was he doing...? Did he see you?"

"I... He wasn't doing anything... He was just... Standing there... He was looking at me..."

"AMPHIS, this is important if you want us to take you seriously on this; what did he look like? Did he look the same as how we knew him...?"

AMPHIS shook his head again, but it was difficult to gauge whether he was shaking his head in response to the question, or whether he was trying to grasp the situation... Eventually he spoke, softly describing what he had seen...

"He was standing there, before me, motionless, just staring at me... At first... I didn't recognise him... He was wearing a mask or a helm of some kind... But, he pulled on a something on his faceplate, and something slid down... Exposing his eyes and the centre of his nose and mouth... I'd know his face anywhere... It was him! It was SERVERE!"

"What did he do? Did he say anything to you...? Did he speak at all...?"

"No... He just stood there... Smiling... He closed his faceplate, turned... And walked away..."

"How long after he walked away did you pursue him?"

"Moments... Mere moments... He was there one minute, and then... I just followed his shadow. It was almost as if... He was leading me somewhere... As though he were directing me to some place..."

"He led you to a lava pit... If it hadn't been for you snapping out of your trance, you would likely have dived in after him..."

"He didn't disappear into the lava... He just... Disappeared..."

COLUS looked around at the rest of us, and could see we were all trying to make up our own minds about what had really happened. We were all in agreement that SERVERE was dead, so either AMPHIS had seen a figment of his imagination, or he had followed someone - or something - else... Looking around at the others though, it was hard to tell what the others thought more strongly in favour of...

"How do you mean disappeared...? If you were certain you were following someone, they can't have disappeared..."

"I don't know... Just... He was there one moment... And gone the next..."

"Amie, can you stay with AMPHIS for a moment? The rest of you, come with me..."

We followed COLUS to the lab, where Joe was sitting behind a desk, drawing furiously with his tongue sticking out. Stopping in the centre of the room, COLUS turned to face us.

"It's obvious that what SERVERE saw was a figment of his imagination. You yourself Syeonyx said you saw the remains of him beneath his outpost house, guarding the library where he stored the Solus stone. AMPHIS might be going through a rough patch; we don't really know much about what he gets up to in the library whilst the rest of us are bust elsewhere. It's possible he's been dwelling on it so much that his subconscious is trying to tell him something by making him see SERVERE. I know they were close... Very close. Almost like brothers... This must be hard for him, but we need to help him through it. We can't afford to become distracted now, regardless of the cause..."

"What do you suggest then...?"

"AMPHIS stays here for a few days, and doesn't go anywhere near that cliff mine. We will work with him to ensure he gets through this. We need to empathise with his position, but at the same time, we need everyone on top form. Syeonyx, THEROS and UOPETA? Go back down to the mine and see if you can find anything that AMPHIS might have seen. It's a long shot, but maybe he didn't see his on subconscious imagery... Maybe he was following someone... Or something. If you don't find anything, continue with the iron extraction, and bring a few books back. Hopefully we can distract AMPHIS with the translations and ease him out of it..."

Nodding silently, we moved off out of the lab entrance, back towards the hatch. On the way, I stopped and placed a reassuring hand on AMPHIS's shoulder, before following the other two. What had happened today had shaken me a little, and I wasn't entirely happy with going back down into the mine. It would possess an entirely different vibe now, but as COLUS says, we need everyone on top form, working their hardest to put a stop to HoN Co. ... If anything, this little scare has realigned everyone's vengeance and hatred towards HoN Co. ...

Syeonyx signing off