Chapter 71: CHAPTER 71: GRIEF OF NIGHT
Misery looked at David and said in a hurry, "Take the Blood Stone.....I want to go back in your soul and rest. Tonight was a really good night for me. I feel almost as if I can break through some level or something..."
"Okay," David said as he picked up the Blood Stone.
After picking up the stone, he ran as fast as he could in the direction of Mr. Harver's office.
Making his way through the town, he noticed destroyed buildings dead bodies of guards and various other sights of the slave rebellion.
On his way, David happened to pass by the hospital building. Part of the building was on fire, and it looked like there had been an intense fight out front. David was worried for
the nurses....they weren't bad people and seemed to generally care for his well being despite the fact that he was a slave.
Going through the halls, he saw a few other dead guards. He also saw that some of the defenseless paitients had been killed. Why would the freed slaves kill the defenseless?
Turning a corner, he saw a sight that made him feel A minute of emotions....hate, grief and blame. Two of the nurses had been killed. One was half dressed and appeared to have been assulted. The other looked like she had been partially cleaved with a blade. A dead slave was laying on the ground with a surgical knife in his back.
David seemed to get the scene in his head. One of the slaves that he had sent to get the supplies had decided to disobey orders and attack one of the nurses. Another nurse came to her aid and stabbed the man...however, he didn't die right away and managed to hit her with his sword.
David was disheartened at the sight. He didn't intend for something like this to happen....but it happened nonetheless. He felt guilt. He wanted power to prevent stuff like this...but in this case he felt at fault because his actions had caused the situation.
Realizing there was nothing he could do about the situation, David felt defeated. He couldn't even talk to Misery about how he felt since she was in meditation...he felt alone.
How does someone wage war but prevent civilian casualties? David had never heard of a way in all his history studies....there were always something nice to bystanders to a conflict that were killed.
With a sullen attitude, David left the hospital building and started running to his original destination.
While it wasn't his peak speed, David only took a few minutes to make his way through the rest of the town. Most of the place was deserted.....David assumed that those people not involved with the rebellion....were probably hiding. He still couldn't shake the guilty feeling.
'Can I deal with eradicating the Diego Family if I'm going to feel like this always?,' David thought as he moved along the town streets.
He had no trouble doing the most cruel and merciless actions against wicked people....but he felt like his usual kind self when around innocents.
David reached the building and immediately went to Mr. Harver's office to get his bag from underneath the desk. Just as he picked up his bag and stuffed the green orb inside, then....he felt the ground start to shake.
'Fuck.....they didn't even wait on me," David said realizing the time limit of an hour must have been reached.
He had hoped that they would still wait on him.....that's the way it goes in the movies...they always hold out for a few extra minutes for the hero to get back safely....but Omar must have took him 100 percent literally and started to collapse the tunnels as soon as the hour mark was reached.
David's disappointment quickly turned to worry as the building started to shake. Then it clicked in David's head...the building was right on top of the large chamber that the tunnels tied into.....if the chamber collapsed....that collapse would travel up to the building....and the building would fall!
David started to move toward the window. However, the building started to fall down around David and before he knew it.....he was buried in rubble.
Since Mr. Harver's office was on the top floor, David actually lucked out a bit. Only part of the flat roof structure fell on top of him as the building collapsed. It took him almost an half hour to dig himself out. He had a few broken bones and a few scrapes...but nothing that his Body of Recovery couldn't handle.
After getting out of the rubble, he decided to check the town with his soul perception. He had been hesitant in reaching out with his soul perception....he didn't want to witness more of the destruction caused by his actions. He limited his soul perception range to just the building. Maybe he could find a route to the tunnels and catch up to the group.
He began to scan the building to see if a path to the tunnel remained.
Amongst the rubble, David noticed something that made his already dismal mood plummet to an even lower level. He recognized another body buried in the rubble. The disfigured woman sex slave's body had been partially crushed by the rubble.
'Fuck....no one went and got her,' David thought a little pissed off that no one helped the woman. But honestly.....could he really blame the other escaped slaves?....she would have only been a hindrance to the fleeing slaves.
David could see that she was still breathing and in pain. The intense pain must have brought her out of her mindless state.....and now she was suffering under the rubble. David watched her feeling guilty over the entire situation. This was his doing...just like the nurses. His resolve to payback those people that had wronged him started to break. He needed a way to keep this sort of thing from happening or he wouldn't be able to continue. He should have specifically told someone to take care of this woman.
As David sat on the rubble trying to heal his injuries, all he could do was watch over the woman. After a few minutes, she closed her eyes. David actually felt a relief that she was no longer suffering. However, he quickly realized this wasn't the shut eyes of death.....it was the shut eyes of unconsiousness....her body wasn't dead yet.
David had an idea. Maybe he could give her a chance as payment for his involvement. Amongst the rubble of the building, he closed his own eyes and entered his soul space. He could see Misery off in the distance sitting down in a medative position. She must still be trying to consolidate her gains from the battles.
David focused his soul energy and a few orbs appeared throughout the city. Looking through these orbs, David could see that almost all of them were people who had been knocked unconscious or were on the verge of dying. More guilt hit him in a wave.
With his intent, he focused in on the orb of the woman trapped in the rubble. David came forward and touched the orb. With a thought, he was inside the woman's dream.
He willed the space to be just the woman and himself. He needed to ask her something.
"Hello.....is anyone there?," the woman's voice echoed through the white space.
"Yes, I am here," David said as he appeared in front of the woman, "I'll try to explain."
"You have been in an accident on the outside of this dream world....and your body is dying. I have put some effort in giving you good dreams in the past...I know you have been though some horrific experiences. You were not saved when the other slaves evacuated during the rebellion. Somehow, I feel that this is partially my fault.....I never instructed them to specifically find you....and they destroyed the escape route on my orders....which in turn....collapsed this building causing your deadly injuries. I am sorry," David said trying to explain the situation to the woman....and doing a horrible job.
The woman could see that David was very emotional. He was actually crying. This incident had been a bit much for him to handle. Despite the cruel things that were done to him, he had still a normal well mannered man that was raised in a loving and caring household. He wasn't inately violent....he just had a few violent tendencies that were brought out by things that happened to him.
"I see," the woman said very calmly looking at David face, "so I am dying...that is fine. You do not need to feel guilt. You are not the one that caused me to be like this."
David was surprised by her calmness. It was not a crazy psychopath sort of calm.....it was an accepting sort of calm. David wished that he could fell calm. Another thought occurred to him as he was standing in front of the woman. He could make her a Ker like Misery. He decided to make the offer...it would be her choice.
"Miss...I have a special technique that can preserve your soul and give you a new body," David bluntly said, "I can give you some sort of life to live....but because of me it will most likely be full of violence.....I have my own path to walk.....and I need to remove a few evildoers from this world."
The woman stared at still crying David.
She still remained calm as can be as she began to speak, "I am from a small village in the mountains. Although I was quite beautiful, I had never found love and never had children. In my small village, I was a school teacher. Every child in the town was mine to teach. I loved those children.....then one day our village was raided. These men killed, raped and stole...everything that they could in the village. Then, I was somehow brought to this place. They fed me and kept me alive.....only to continue to torment me. All I had was the dreams of those children to keep me alive. I do not know if I can walk the path of violence that you need."
David thought for a moment and made some considerations. He continued to feel tons of guilt over the devistation that he caused. He knew that some of the death and destruction was necessary to achieve his goals. However, he hoped that he would be able to deal with the losses better. An idea struck David.
"I am a normal man. Because of the hardships placed on me by the cruel nature of others, I have ended up here. I can not make promises. My road will be filled with death and destruction. Those people that acted against me help me determine that path months ago...they are evil people. However, I do not wish to hurt the innocent. I only wish to punish the wicked....but I now understand the innocent may suffer from the conflict....Here is my offer to you....I can promise you that I will never force your actions. If you do not wish to kill, you do not have to. However, I will require one thing from you....watch over the innocent on my path of destruction.....I can give you a body, I can give you strength.... and let you loose on battlefields to judge the wicked and protect the innocent. This way, I can feel some sort of relief in my actions...I can feel like I have saved some of those that need to be saved. I can avoid some of the guilt that I currently feel now."
The woman looked at David in consideration before nodding and saying, "Okay.....I can help you with that. Just remember what you have said and hold to the agreement."
"I will," David said, "Thank you for helping me."
Since the decision was made, David needed to move quick...her body was dying after all.
"Now I will detach your soul from your dying body.....it will not hurt, but you will be stuck in this soul space until I can perform the ritual...is there any dream you would like to relive until I have made the preparations?"
"Yes....I would love to play with the children again," the woman said.
David put the woman in a dream and popped her soul free of her body. This was exactly what he had done with Misery.
After the process of soul separation was done, David visited the woman again.
The woman was playing with a group of kids. Both David had resumed his orginal appearances. He looked like a normal man from Earth.
This time, he told her about absorbing souls and entering dreams. He also told her about Misery. When asked for more information, David began to tell the story of Misery to the woman. Of course he left out the personal details like he just told her that Misery had changed her name from her original name....but he never said her original name.
After the story was finished, the woman looked at David and requested, "Please call me Grief. I greive everyday and that suits me best. I do not want my original name and more."
"Okay...Grief, I will follow your wishes," David said, "Now, I need to get back so I can leave this town."
Before David could leave, her calm voice spoke again.
"Sir.....what is your name?," Grief asked
"My name is....," David paused. With the events of the night, his mindset had made another shift. He had always felt like David....until today. David would have never been responsible for a slave rebellion. David wouldn't have been responsible for sending people to plunder and murder their way through a small town. He truthfully felt that he was no longer the peace loving, gentle architect called David. David was dead...the peaceful David had died with the destruction of this town.
Taking a deep breath, he finished his introduction to the woman now trapped with his soul, "Night....My name is Night."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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BrokeButton End of Volume 3. I’m going to take a two day break on this one. I need to go back and finish up edits of Volume 4 before I start releasing chapters.
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