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The Watcher
-- Chapter 5
1. Walking the
last mile
gave Bri a chance to transition between worlds.
2. He
buried his conversation with El Sha and blocked synaptic access until
he could re-aquire protection by his Guard. He could have easily
asked his Guard to shield him, but wanted to finish the journey as
holistically as possible, "I've survived Kor for 21 years. I'll
survive one more day."
3. He was
sad to see the past disappear behind him, but excited about the
future.
4. Bri
looked around with dread and hope because there was always that
possibility that
Kor might be more tolerant of him now that they were older. He
wasn't counting
on it.
5.
Every twig that cracked and leaf that fluttered, heightened
his expectation. The scenery looked different going back but the
prominent features and landmarks still reminded him of growing up with
Kor, or without him, whichever.
6.
"Did Kor even know how many times I went looking for
him?" he wondered. He accepted that their separate paths, but
wouldn't bare full responsibility for their alienation. His
previous attempts at reconcilation had been rejected.
7. "Does he
even know I'm here?"
The question was ludicrous.
8. Kor
could shield himself when he was 7, and was better at it now, so it was
pointless to psionically
probe for him. If he wanted to be
found -- Bri would be the first to know. Then again, maybe
this will be the first time when there's no encounter at all -- another
first.
9. The foliage was thickest
at the mid point where hikers often became unnerved or disoriented and
turned
around. There was a powerfully surreal
green luminous haze surrounding him; even the mist made moving shadows
that
heightened the
transition between worlds -- beautiful, but creepy -- "El Sha likes
it this way."
OBSERVING
THE OBSERVER
10.
It had been several years since Bri felt the queasy uneasiness of a
psionic attack. His vision blurred and blood pressure
raced. The luminous green faded to shades of gray. Dark
blotches obstructed the light and the natural sound of tropical birds
was replaced by a crushing vacuum in his head. A dreadful
pressure bore
down and squeezed his body like suddenly finding himself 300 fathoms
underwater; unable to
breathe.
11.
Bri shielded himself the best he could while the swaying horizon threw
him off
balance. If he had attempted to shout -- nobody would have heard
him. Sound could not travel in this vacuum.
12. Another
shellan might have felt terrorized, but Bri recognized the attack style
and knew who the attacker was. If 'death' had been the point --
he would have been dead. Growing up with Kor meant that nothing
at all could surprise Bri.
13.
A mischievous part of Bri was impressed since he had forgotten what a
psionic
assault felt like. Typically, a Guard always shielded him, even
if passively, but since nobody wished him harm, the Director let him
walk the last mile unshielded. After all, he was
officially
off-shell somewhere anyway.
14.
The psionic headlock was getting old. The sensation had its
appeal for the first few seconds and then the novelty waned.
15.
"I know it's you, Kor," Bri sighed psionically, "and you know, I know
it." How many times he remembered saying those exact words as a
kid.
16.
Kor liked to taunt his victims. The winds threw around more
leaves than usual and a few branches snapped overhead. The
shellcast called for another flawless day, so this was clearly
unnatural.
17.
Bri wanted to repel this nightmarish dreamscape, but the effort would
humor Kor, so he didn't. "Brother..." Bri started, and then
he perished the thought. Blood wasn't thick
enough. It was a love-hate, happy-cry, pointless
sentiment.
18. Bri had
been immunized against torture many
years ago, probably better than anybody else. "It's all
relative," he quipped, and laughed at his stupid pun.
19.
Bri was thinking that he just might
have to kick Kor's ass if he didn't stop. He was not afraid, and
Kor knew that. Bri's losses were never due to 'fear' -- he
wanted Kor's attention. By indulging Kor's vanity, he gave
superficial substance to their relationship.
Vanity was better than nothing. Kor believed the opposite was
true.
20. "Your
days are coming to an end," Kor said in a
menacing tone psionically. "So I succeeded in getting a rise out
of you," Bri thought.
21.
Kor's comment was a bit weird. "Are you a prophet too, now?" Bri
mocked. They had been fighting since they were 2 and probably
would be fighting when they were 90 -- "My days are coming to an
end?"
22.
There was the lull. Bri sighed, unphased by the special
effects, and he wasn't being pretentious, "This would be great if I
hadn't seen it before."
23.
"How come you never go see Mother?" Bri asked. "She sends
her greetings." Then he rephrased more aggressively, "Frackin'
ass hole! It
wouldn't kill you! You live right here!" He had much more
violent things to say, and didn't care if Kor read them or
not. Kor kind of liked that.
24.
Bri's legs were kicked out from under him by an unseen force -- his
body fell back but did not touch the ground. Instinct should have
taken over, but Bri had all of this memorized, as if it was
yesterday.
25.
An unseen power cradled Bri and lifted him up gently.
The wind stopped, the pressure stopped and a ray of misty sunlight
illuminated Bri's body as if God was retrieving a fallen angel from the
grid. Bri only rose to about 10 feet in Kor's
version of Heaven but the sensation was believably
divine. He could feel the sunlight.
26. "He who was
‘Born into Light,'" Kor
intoned with genuine mockery disguised as soft, disingenuous
praise. He would have excelled in theatre. "They must miss
you," Bri was certain.
27.
Bri permitted himself to think that Kor cared about him for fleeting
second. Kor was referring to the story of their births, as told
by El Sha, when Vejhon was in transition from Dark to Light: Kor
was born while it was still dark and Bri had
been 'Born into Light.'
28. "They will
both become powerful archetypes," the Priestess told El Sha, "having
the power to
do great good or great evil."
29. "You chose
your own path," Bri said. He did not have an ounce of
sympathy, "No amount of fortune telling can make you do anything!" Kor had no
argument with that.
30.
Then he asked, "Maybe for once, you can tell me why you hate me?" The
question was not terribly passionate, then he really did
accuse him, "Why do
you hate me -- what have I done?" Perhaps any other shellan heart
would have answered. Not Kor.
31. "You
realize I could have killed you if I wanted to," Kor
thought. His exertions at levitating Bri must have lowered his
guard.
32.
Then Kor realized that Bri could read him and dropped him. The
thick foliage broke his fall and was nothing compared to days
past, like being thrown off a cliff.
33.
The attack stopped and the weather resumed it's natural
serenity like changing channels on a holo.
34.
Kor had not yet appeared -- the production had to play
out first. The haze and mist regained it's normal perspiration
from the ground.
35.
"Is that it, then?" Bri asked, getting up to finish his trek back to
the landing pad. He wanted to see Kor, but realized that it might
be
asking for too much.
36.
Another sensation tingled through Bri's mind and body like an angel's
wings. It was not hostile -- it was erotic and focused on his
manhood. The extreme sensory juxtaposition caused Bri to tilt his
head back and freeze tensely. A psionist can trigger sexual
responses better than any
date rape drug. Bri started to sweat, fully aware that he was
being violated. It was definitely not the first time; Kor
was only one of several thousand wannabe offenders.
37.
"Ahhhh, "Bri replied mockingly, "I didn't think you were still
into me?" "I can't believe this!" he said to himself, "From my
fans, yes, but from you?"
38.
If a Watcher had been watching, the kids would have been dispatched
immediately. Most psionic
rapes went unreported because they were difficult to prove. Kids
were the least desirable targets because they were more
dangerous than adults and maintained a
symbiant relationship with the Guard. Kids intrinsically
manifest heightened abilities and lose their edge over time, unless
they become Guards.
39.
"If you're wanting to be my bitch -- why don't you just ask?" He
mocked Kor, who was
no stranger to being violated by his adoring fans either.
40.
Finally: Two large ferns parted like stage curtains and behind
them stood the
commanding figure of Kor. Bri laughed out loud because Kor still
wore face paint; his bow and arrows, and sandals. It seemed like
Kor would never grow up. This was how they looked when they were
15. Kor was not grinning; his face was made of stone. Bri
reached out and pressed against Kor's scuplted cheek bone. No
reaction from Kor. The bone didn't give either.
41.
"It won't take you long," Bri said. It was a double
intende'. However frustrated and pent-up he might be -- the
violation was not Kor's true objective.
42. "You, my
brother," Kor said in a devilishly
seductive tone, "are going to cause the deaths of millions."
43.
Bri rolled his eyes while Kor slowly encircled him and repeated,
"Because of you -- millions of shellans are going to die." And he
said it with an unnatural accent, as if imitating a holo
character. Bri stood fast -- it wasn't the first
time.
44.
Bri considered his current prediciment, "Just how fracking arrogant can
you get?" he rebuked, "Look at
YOU! You attack me, hold me in the air, give me a psi-job... and
accuse ME of doing crap that will
NEVER happen!" Bri calmed down somewhat and spread his arms
toward the
shell-at-large. He wanted to confess that this bizarre interlude
was comically refreshing. Kor was never boring. "Do you
even care about what goes on,
anywhere... besides here?" Bri asked. He sounded sincere in an
exasperated way, "Anywhere?" he repeated, "Have you ever even left this
rainforest?" He said under his breath. Kor heard it.
45.
Kor was not completely without reason, and there was no reason to
aggravate a moot point.
46.
Bri placed his arms on Kor's flawlessly sculpted shoulders while Kor
read a thousand questions in Bri's eyes. He could not shape a
single thought into words, and the feeling seemed to be
mutual.
47.
Bri looked compassionately into Kor's eyes, "If just for one second,
Kor," he
said pleadingly because the issue certainly wasn't about his dignity,
"What do
I have to do?" Bri was offering
himself on a platter. Kor batted his eyes.
48.
In another setting, this could have been funny, but Kor
understood Bri's pain. Rather than give their
relationship hope, it was kinder to forego the cruelty. Their
paths were incompatible; their
futures' unmergable. Kor let his gaunt expression weaken a
little because he did respect his brother's intention, but refused to
grieve over the irretrievable.
49. "Your
destiny must be stopped," Kor said, with
un unnerving clarity, "Because of you,
millions
are going to die." Bri's face tightened up because he knew that
Kor
was being sincere. In that case, the 'what if' was greatly
distubing. "If my existence is such a crime," Bri asked, "why
haven't you killed me?" He
didn't say it out loud.
50. Instead,
he articulated as
calmly as
possible, "What... makes... you... so... damn... sure?"
51. How many
Kings have died in the
arms of a servant? Then Bri realized that Kor didn't come here to
see him -- he came here to say good bye. Bri gasped and his jaw
dropped. He was ashen. The light in his face dimmed.
No more of these
accidental encounters. This was the last. This marked
the end.
52.
The futility of his effort deflated him like nobody else could, and he
withdrew his hands
from a cold statue that had been his brother. He
could see a universe in Kor's eyes that did not include him, because
Kor belonged to another dimension
and God. Even if he was to hang on, just for appearances, it
would be for vanity's sake. "That's all it really ever
was," Bri whispered. He didn't care that Kor heard it because he
was protecting his heart from that truth.
53.
Their
relationship, which had never been a real
relationship, had concluded permanently.
54. Shedding
a
tear would have made Kor angry so he restrained himself. It would
be
his last gift to his brother, who had disowned him.
55.
Bri's
universe was one-half mile away. In that Universe every door was
open. In Kor's Universe every door was closed.
56. Kor stood
strong and unmoved, staring through his brother as though
he was already a ghost.
57. In spite
of his effort, there
was a leak in Bri's face, so as a parting gift to him, Kor wiped a
single tear from Bri's face and licked it. No
outburst. No cynicism.
58. Then Kor
looked away, as if sensing something else. Bri
remembered Kor's reaction when they were 15. He
remembered the exact moment so instantly that it startled him. --
that strange cylindrical indentation in the water. It was
spooky, even for a psionist. Kor was dressed like he was
that day, only bigger and stronger now.
59. For the
first time, Bri could feel what Kor
felt then. Nothing unnerved Kor like that object did:
It was connected to him, but he couldn't read it and it vexed him.
60.
"I'm
gonna
catch that fracking thing if it's
the last thing I do," he whispered
psionically to Bri. Kor faded into a vaporous form and then the
vapor disappeared -- he was gone. Bri never
really
thought about how Kor did the things he did, because it was natural for
Kor to do the unexpected.
61.
Onimex dropped his insides when Kor suddenly seized him on either side
and held fast. Droids are not easily spooked like this.
"You didn't see me this time!" Kor rebuked with a vengence. It
was futuristic in design and
seemed strangely familiar like deja vu' in a round
suitcase. The object defied mechanical and philosophical
conventions. It also seemed
that "time" was part of the equasion -- it had to be.
62. Onimex
shifted further out of phase, escaped Kor's grip and continued to
modulate until Kor gave up his search. "Wie tat er den!" Onimex
said, "How in the hell did he do that?" Xanax said things like
that. Kor wasn't just an anomaly --he was an unquantifiable
danger. The only words Onimex could find were more bad words he
had learned from Xanax.
63. When Kor
returned to his natural dimension, Bri
was gone. Time had accelerated during the interlude. The
engines of Bri's car echoed overhead as the car glided across the
treetops and faded back into Bri's Universe. It was a little
late, but Kor dignified the sound of Bri's departure with, "Good bye...
brother."
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