Andarin: The Mountains: Cast a spell on the country you run.

“This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face.
The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown.:
The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout 'Save Us!'...:
...and I'll look down, and whisper, 'No'"

I feel a void as I think of them, the people I had left behind. The family that missed me as much as I missed them. I had gone away, sick, boils covering my face and festering wounds. Perhaps they thought I was dead. It was hard to survive, being as weak as I had been.

Nicodemus never tried to be something that he wasn’t. His heart was one of gold, and yet he lacked the people skills to let everyone know it. Socially he was a recluse, preferring to do his good deeds and then be left alone. Why he was like this was a mystery to everyone including myself. It just was the way it was. Humility had always graced him, which was a quality most lacked. The fierceness in him could only be seen if harm came to those he had vowed his protection to. And in anger, he was terrifying.

I knew that I had to go back. Failure was something I was almost willing to accept now. There had to be an answer, but it wasn’t here. Perhaps….I thought, perhaps in Andarin…

Nicodemus listened, quietly, his pace smooth, his breathing steady. At the words of Skylar he nods, a simple thank you unspoken between them. When he spoke of himself the man slows his pace. A good father? Nicodemus wished that Formaldehyde could understand all that he hadn’t done for Skylar. All that he could have done, and yet would not. All because of the stupid fact that it hurt him, because Skylar was so like her mother. How selfish was that? Nicodemus was repulsed with himself for it. There was no way he could ever make up what he had done to Skylar in his mind, and yet the girl was so willing to let him back into her life and love him like never before.

“You are important to Skylar.”

I saw Andarin there, and somehow it was more beautiful to me now than ever before. I had been gone a very long time, and now it was time to come back. Yet something restrained me, made each step into the mountains harder and harder. It was a promise. A promise that now seemed so distant, so hopeless that it aged my permanently child-like features.

I made a promise to my father, and now I couldn’t keep it.

He came into plain view then, the father that now I was failing. The father that cared so much, deserved so much, and yet it was my fault. All of it. He told me time and time again that it wasn’t my fault, but I felt the remorse deep in my bones…

Formaldehyde was with him, and I let out a contented sigh. Grace had always been my ally, and thus I had soon slipped among them without being noticed. Enough to hear the exchange of words, cloaked in moonlight. His words so carelessly thrown caused me to remove my veil, stepping between them with all the beauty of a dancer.

“Yes. You are very important to me.” My words echo out, captivating and serene. The opposite of my father’s deep and handsome words. Beautiful voices ran in the family.

Nicodemus saw her there then. Skylar, the daughter he loved and cared for. He did not run to her, but hang his head low, and Skylar’s eyes fell to him, stepping forward to lovingly embrace him. “Daddy. I….I..” failed you. She doesn’t say it, but it shows in every aching inch of her body, broken, weak, defeated. “I’m home.” she whispers.

SEER

**NICODEMUS**

Existence is random. Has no pattern save what we imagine after staring at it for too long. No meaning save what we choose to impose. This rudderless world is not shaped by vague metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. It's us. Only us.

Picture Copyright to Artwithapulse at Deviantart