Dio - Onwards (3)

“Ah yes, my good friend… The ocean, it was water as far as the eye could see. Waves sent gently and endlessly from the horizon. A sapphire blue that hid deep mysteries. A salty scent that tickled the nose and refreshed the mind. The calls of gulls mingling with the roar of the incoming waves and their foamy crests. It was the first thing I truly became aware of. Nothing except infinity before me, and the white sand beneath, carried off by the faintest breeze into wild yet ordered patterns. Of course, I was not alone when I arrived there. Yet it felt that way, as though I stood alone before a wondrous eternity from which all things might spring…”

Lao fell silent, his mouth curving into a wide smile. His closed eyes seemed to help him return there, if only in memory.

“What happened then? Why didn’t you stay?” Brela asked, resting her elbows on the table, her head propped on her hands.

“Ah, dear Brela, that would likely have been wise. Yet I fear I am a fool. A simpleton. As I looked out over the distance, I wanted to go, out onto the sea and beyond the horizon, however…”

He trailed off, and a shadow crossed his face. Dio noticed it only dimly; his own thoughts were tangled in the words the young man had shared.

Distance… deepest mystery…

Lao’s words blended with his own thoughts, and a longing grew inside him, to go there himself, to see it. The eternity before him, the depths and the hidden wonders that held all possibilities…

All that could be…

A sharp flash of blindness pierced through his mind, and he shook his head. He must have flinched, for Brela, Lao, and several others nearby were watching him with concern.

“It’s nothing. Lao, what happened next? Why did you leave?” Dio tried to distract both the others and himself.

Lao cast him another worried look, but soon the memories overcame him again. “Well, it was… I wasn’t alone. Others had arrived there. We tried to remember, yet we couldn’t. Still, it didn’t matter; it was so wonderful. As though we had risen out of peace itself to awaken on those shores. Then two Sages came and tested us, with glowing white stones…”

“Yes, it was similar for us,” Dio confirmed.

Lao nodded. “Well, I was nothing special. There was a young woman there, majestic, blue hair flowing like the sea around her face, and with a gaze that seemed to know exactly where in the distance she had to look… She was so joyful when the Sages took her. She had seen something in the Light of the stones, something special. I hadn’t. You know, her, I will never forget. Then I asked the Sages about the horizon. One gave nothing away, while the other, a grumpy man, spoke of the Voids beyond, the edges of our realm. I think it slipped out; he brushed his dark beard as if caught. Though I gave up on going out there across the sea, no one would have joined me. I mean, how would you even try? Nobody can swim that far. Still, I could keep moving over land instead.”

He fell silent, glancing down, a little embarrassed.

“What is it?” Brela asked, who had been listening to Lao with fascination.

“Ah, kind Brela, it’s… When I first woke on that shore, I couldn’t even stand. My legs, they’re strange. I felt as though I had never used them, as though moving forward was impossible, pointless. People had to support me, as you did, Dio. They had to give me sticks, had to teach me to walk somehow. Well, they managed, those good souls, at least enough to make it possible…” Lao whispered, shaking his head in shame.

“Is that why they tremble so? Because they’re not used to walking?” Brela asked, also looking down at Lao’s legs.

He nodded gloomily.

“Perhaps… they are a damage I carried over, a fault…”

“No.”

The word escaped Dio before he had thought, yet he was certain of it.

“I think they can hardly wait to carry you where you want to go,” he said firmly.

Suddenly, Lao laughed.

“I’ve never seen it that way. Completely strange, yet brilliant!” he chuckled.

“Maybe you need to look forward more, not down. Not at your feet or legs. More at the place you want to reach. Or at whatever it is that draws you. Even if it’s only an urge or a feeling…” Dio murmured, mostly to himself.

Inside him, the blindness finally quieted and withdrew its ugly, hollow tendrils.

Lao froze and looked at him.

“Yes, perhaps…” he whispered.

From the corner of his vision, Dio noticed Brela nervously brushing her hair back, unsure what to do with her hands. She seemed distracted now.

Is she worried about Des? That he hasn’t come yet? Dio wondered.

He had noticed more and more often the glances Brela cast at the old farmer when she thought no one was watching. Was it right not to interfere and help those two take the first step?

“I will move on tomorrow!” Lao suddenly declared, bowing slightly again.

Dio felt stones sink in his stomach.

“Stay a while longer! Rest! We’ll give you clothes, provisions, anything you need. Just stay with us a little longer!” he pleaded.

Lao shook his head.

“I want to find something, though I do not know what it is yet. It has always been that way. I wanted to move on. Only this time, I feel as though I am carrying something valuable with me. Your unmatched hospitality has given me cherished memories I will never forget, like the face of that woman, still in my heart!” Lao declared, clumsily climbing onto the table.

He stayed on his knees, steadying himself against the tremors of his fits. “People of Daw! Hear my words and my praise! You are truly friends of this meek traveler, and I would send you all the thanks in the world if I could. Yet I am no poet, so I will say only this: THANK YOU!”

At his final word, he threw his arms wide as if he wished to embrace the whole village. A burst of applause broke out, followed by joyful singing and dancing that made Dio smile.

Still, he wished Lao would stay longer. When the cheer slowly faded and the night grew old, he found himself sitting with Lao and Brela on the old log, gazing at the moon. Des had joined them by then, as had Avee and Lot, who had spent much of the evening quietly talking with Lao. That alone would not have been unusual; many desired to hear tales of far-off settlements, distant shores, rugged hills, and thick forests. Yet the spark of excitement on their faces was different.

Special.

That sparkle made Dio uneasy, and a heaviness pressed against his heart.

“Lao, what is it you seek?” Avee asked once more, her long hair flowing in the night air like a thousand threads.

“I seek memories—well, one I chase. I seek the feeling of walking onward, of continuing my path, of discovering places I do not yet know. Of growing to…”

They all fell silent, and Dio studied him intently.

“To grow… That is noble. If one stops growing, surely one must wither eventually,” he said softly, more to himself than anyone else.

Inside him, the last remnants of blindness receded further, and he had to smile. Then, he heard a sharp gasp beside him.

Brela’s dark skin had taken on a green hue, one that looked unhealthy in the full moonlight. Avee and Lot wore wide grins and seemed not to notice him at all, lost in their own thoughts. Only slowly did Brela regain her usual cheerfulness. Des gave a short laugh and shook his head, though it was a laugh of disbelief rather than joy.

“Perhaps we should meditate. The night has grown late,” he said quickly, pointing up at the silver disk now almost overhead.

The others nodded in agreement, though none seemed to truly hear him. Slowly they began making their way back to their cottages. Avee and Lot were the first to leave, walking arm in arm toward their large house near the square. When Avee brushed a kiss onto Lot’s lips, Dio froze. He had never seen them show their bond so openly, even if everyone already knew. He should have felt happy, laughed, even hopped with joy like Brela.

And part of him did. Yet he still disliked the change for some reason he could not grasp.

Lao went with Lot and Avee, for they had a spare room in their large house. Once the two had shared their intimate moment, they turned eagerly back to the young traveler, chattering with excitement. Dio wanted to run after them, to stop them, though he did not even know why.

“He gets along well with them…” Brela said absently once they had gone, turning into her garden without her usual exuberant embrace for either of them.

Dio wanted to say something to her as well, yet she had already disappeared into her wooden house.

At last he was alone with Des.

“What do you think?” he asked the gray-haired man, who suddenly did not seem quite so old.

“Ah, Dio. Not much, as always. Still, do you think I should try to… grow more? Not always do exactly the same things, day after day? Do you think I might wither otherwise, like a flower?” he asked, worried.

Dio was struck dumb, a lump rising in his throat. “Des, that’s not what I meant. I only wanted to tell Lao…”

His friend waved him off with a hollow laugh. “I know. Yet you were still right, as you almost always are. Always? Dio, I need to think…”

With that, Des too disappeared into his hut, not even glancing at his beds and plants.

A chill ran down Dio’s spine. Slowly he walked to his own dwelling.

Did I say something wrong? Something terrible? he wondered as he pushed open the door, eager to retreat into his inner self as quickly as possible.

Soon he was lying in his bed, snuggling into the soft pillow before letting himself sink into the night and the starry sky within his soul. A new star had risen: Lao’s being shone among the others, casting its light down on him through the calm of his spirit. Everything was all right again, everything…

A piercing scream tore Dio from his meditation, and it took him a moment to shake off the confusion and drag himself upright. His bed creaked as he swung his feet out, his pillow sliding to the floor, though he hardly noticed. Not far away, two green spheres glowed, drifting lightly back and forth as they fixed on him.

A figure stood in the doorway, barely visible. The door was open, and the dark outline was etched against the pale light of the distant moon. The spheres continued to stare at him, and there was something uncanny about that shadowy form.

The blindness stirred within him, and he did not know if it was a warning or an attempt to overwhelm him. He could barely hold it back as the figure took a step toward him, trembling slowly…