\u201cYou…you then wish to show us the future?\u201d gulped Droka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI do,\u201d answered Balmo. She then pointed. As if by some abrupt change, the scene behind Malnar and Droka was now that of the Stock Exchange. A quartet of people were talking, a plump Centaur woman, a beardless Dwarf man, a Halfling man that was small for his people\u2019s average height, and the Halfling\u2019s wife of average Halfling height.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll I can say is,\u201d remarked the Centaur woman, \u201cI don\u2019t know how. All I know is he\u2019s dead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo you know when he died?\u201d asked the smaller Halfling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLast night, I think,\u201d mused the Centaur woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIs there going to be a funeral?\u201d asked the Halfling\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA cheap one, I\u2019ll be bound,\u201d sighed the Dwarf. \u201cAny mourners?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI doubt it,\u201d muttered the Centaur woman. \u201cHis only friend died before him, his family\u2019s gone, he\u2019s got no one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ll go if there\u2019s food,\u201d remarked the Halfling. \u201cYou know us Halflings, we MUST be fed.\u201d That earned a laugh from everyone in the group. The observers, on the other hand, didn\u2019t laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWho were those people talking so rudely about?!\u201d demanded Droka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou will understand soon enough,\u201d replied Balmo as the scene changed again. It was a dingy room with items all strewn around. A wicked looking Elf woman dumped her bag onto the floor with a fat human pawing through it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHis bedsheets?!\u201d he cackled. \u201cI hope he didn\u2019t die of anything catching! Oh, and is this his shirt?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGot them all washed,\u201d croaked the Elf woman. \u201cDon\u2019t want any disease on my conscience. Besides, they was gonna bury him in it! If he was gonna have them, why weren\u2019t he more natural?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCan\u2019t argue there!\u201d laughed the man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMore of them?!\u201d protested Droka. \u201cBalmo, this is absurd! Let me see some tenderness connected with this death!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs you wish,\u201d whispered Balmo. The scene change to an older-looking Twelmek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWh…why does he show signs of age?\u201d asked Droka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cListen,\u201d directed Balmo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy daughter,\u201d whimpered Twelmek as he knelt in prayer. \u201cMy precious daughter…\u201d He was kneeling by a crutch carefully preserved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c…I see,\u201d mused Droka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNot yet,\u201d countered Balmo as the scene changed to a cemetery. She pointed at one of the headstones. Droka guessed whose name was on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh no,\u201d he sarcastically wailed, \u201cI\u2019m going to die!\u201d He then dropped the act and whirled on Balmo. \u201cThis whole thing is a waste of my time!\u201d he bellowed. \u201cFirst, Freemal has me take a trip through my past! You DO realize that the past makes up who I am, right?! What\u2019s the point of reliving it if I already remember it?! Then, Mordek shows me the present! Oh, wow! It\u2019s like I\u2019m living in it right now! Now, we have you, Balmo, the future? And what IS the future, I\u2019m getting a headstone. Of course, I am! I\u2019m going to die, Malnar\u2019s going to die, her lovers are going to die, Orbak\u2019s going to die, WE\u2019RE ALL GOING TO DIE! …We\u2019re all going to die and leave when it\u2019s too early, so what\u2019s the point of showing me my headstone?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt IS your headstone, yes,\u201d mused Balmo, \u201cbut what about the spirits?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c…Spirits?\u201d asked Droka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWHOA!\u201d yelped Malnar. Droka turned and gasped in disbelief. Chained ghosts appeared before them and the faces were all known to him. Malnar, Orbak, Elmpam, Twelmek, and his own ghost, they were all chained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWait a minute!\u201d protested Droka. \u201cI thought I was the only one risking the chains!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWith you dying,\u201d explained Malnar\u2019s future ghost, \u201cit changed us all. I never married my other lovers, Dad became tyrannical, Mom left him, Twelmek died of depression, and we are ALL chained to YOU! All because you never moved on from your sister\u2019s death!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo!\u201d begged Droka. He then turned to the living Malnar and Balmo. \u201cNo, please, not them! Hear me! I\u2019m the only one that must be chained! Please! Why show me this ghastly future?! And why tell me this is because I see no logic in moving on from her death?! Do you have ANY idea what it was like?! Would you say goodbye?! COULD YOU?! How can you say goodbye…\u201d at that moment, he was crying, \u201cwhen someone is living life and not remembering her?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut Daddy DOES remember her!\u201d replied Malnar. \u201cTHAT\u2019S why he\u2019s living life! He\u2019s doing it her name! He added Mother\u2019s name to the list of living in people\u2019s name when she died! We\u2019re asking YOU to move on!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow can you ask me that?!\u201d wailed Droka as spectral chains wrapped themselves around him. \u201cWHEN MY FAMILY LEFT…it was like losing her all over again!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUncle Droka,\u201d whispered Malnar as she knelt down to see eye to eye with him, \u201cnone of us are your sister. Money is not your sister. No one and no THING can replace her. There IS something capable of lasting a lot longer than money. Live in her name and memory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow can you even ask that with your mother dead?\u201d asked Droka. \u201cHow can you move on?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a process,\u201d replied Malnar. \u201cUncle Droka, this is where you are right now. Where do you WANT to be? Where do you NEED to be?\u201d Droka then looked back and saw the ghosts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBalmo, are these the shadows of the things that WILL happen or the things that MAY happen?\u201d he finally asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat is up to you,\u201d replied Balmo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c…Where is my sister\u2019s grave?\u201d inquired Droka. He looked back to see Balmo pointing to a headstone. Droka made his way to it and wiped off excess snow from the stone to read Telna Emboramii, the sister of King Orbak and Baron Droka. \u201cTelna, I have been a foolish man after you died,\u201d he confessed. \u201cThrough it, I am chaining our family to selfishness. Well, no longer! I don\u2019t ask for forgiveness, only that I make things right and free our family! I will keep the Solstice with all of my heart! I will live in the past, present, and future! The Divine Ones that showed me what those aspects mean shall strive within me! I WILL NOT IGNORE THE LESSONS TAUGHT ON THIS JOURNEY!\u201d He then hugged the tombstone and cried, his eyes shutting. Malnar shut her eyes and cast her head upward, silently asking the Divine Ones to grant him the chance to change and promising that he would take it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cYou…you then wish to show us the future?\u201d gulped Droka. \u201cI do,\u201d answered Balmo. She then pointed. As if by some abrupt change, the scene behind Malnar and Droka was now that of the Stock Exchange. A quartet of people were talking, a plump Centaur woman, a beardless Dwarf man, a Halfling man that was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[463,466],"tags":[318,502,527],"class_list":["post-2647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-standalones","category-ttr","tag-christmas","tag-malnar-emboramii","tag-stave-4"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2647"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2648,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2647\/revisions\/2648"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}