[Mkguild] Life As We Know It II

[Jack Moore]

Life As We Know It - II

Listener, let me ask a question.  How much respect do you suppose the Watch
gets?  Really think about it.  The Long Scouts, open secret that they are,
are filled with Metamor’s admired.  Who is admired in the Watch?
None to my knowledge.  Being in the Watch means you serve justice. What
people want is irrelevant.  All that matters is justice.  And that is
something difficult to learn.
This is the story of how I saved someone’s life when they wanted to die.
Do you know what it means to save a life?  It’s not easy. Yet it is so much
worse though when they don’t want to be saved.  They will loathe you as you
help them.  They will hate you if you succeed.  No one will thank you, no
one will reward you.  All you have is the knowledge that what you did is
right.
And sometimes that has to be enough.  It’s not fair that you can and will
be hated for doing the right thing.  But life isn’t fair.

March 31st, 707
'I’ve been here too often.'
Again the dream came upon me.  The same dream I had experienced so many
times over the last several months.  I fell, or emerged, into that
hallway.  It was for the most part black, except thin veins of white light
along the edges of the walls.
'This doesn’t have to be scary.' My legs started to shake.  I could feel
myself sinking.  I closed my eyes.  'I am in control.  I am in control.'
Instantly the sinking stopped.  Now I stood on solid ground.  I let out a
deep breath.
'Why do I keep coming here?' The air blew across my scales and the cold
clung to me.  It didn’t feel like wind, instead it was a thousand grasping
arms.  I tried to brush them off.
“Turn back Janelle.” A voice echoed from somewhere.  I couldn’t see a
speaker in that darkness.  “You don’t want to reach it.”
“Yes I do.”  In the distance, an eternity away, was a light.  I pushed
forward.  In the real world my body is weighed down by my tail.  Here I
felt as light as paper, pushed back by gusts of wind.
“You will regret it.  You can leave right now.”  I couldn’t identify the
gender of the speaker.  The voice echoed from the walls.  It was and wasn’t
human all at once.  It seemed to speak from the inside of my mind.
“I have to keep going.  I have to get to the center of this.”  Where on
Earth did those words come from?  Why did I speak them?  My legs burned as
the hands of wind pulled against me.  The bright light got a little closer,
but the hallway seemed to stretch on just as far.
“You can’t save everyone Janelle.”  I shook my head.
“Be quiet.  I can do this.” One leg forward. “I can do anything.” The next
leg.  One-two-one-two.  My tail was floating somewhere behind me.  I knew
it still existed but I couldn’t quite…feel it.  My brain and my body were
disconnected, yet I felt pain.  No exhaustion.
“Why do you keep trying Janelle?  It’s okay to admit failure.”  Never.  Now
the light seemed to draw farther away.  I raised my hand.
“Don’t!”  The hallway began pushing against me so I ran harder.  “Don’t!
Please come back!  Don’t do this Sotto!”  I pushed until my chest burned
and my eyes bled with pain.  I ran though.  “I’m coming for you!”
I took a running leap at the light and-
-And found myself sitting up in bed.  My heart was racing and my sheets
completely dry.  Because reptiles don’t sweat.
No matter how scared we get, you’ll never see us sweat.
I collapsed back on my side.  The window in my and my son’s room showed a
pale moon outside.  Still a few hours before work.  I pulled my big tail
over my side and hugged against it.  I could hear my son in his bed taking
his little breaths.
“Only a dream.  Again the same dream but just a dream.”  I let go of my
tail.  “I prefer dreaming about our Duke…” I laughed.  “Eli help me, I need
out of here.”  I stood up from my bed, careful to avoid the one bare patch
on the floor.  Ice cold stone could be bad for me.  “One dream…”
Holding my tail to avoid dragging noise, I padded over to my son.  As my
eyes adjusted in the dim light, I could see his tiny body under the blanket
on his bed.  His whiskers and ears twitched in rythem. 'What are you
dreaming about Kaysar?  No doubt something wonderful.'  I reached out but
hesitated.  'Let him sleep.'
Watching my son must have done the trick because soon I was able to sleep
again.  This time no dreams came for me.
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