GraceFall [ONC 2024]

16

Another place. Another time ...

As soon as Betty touched Phaross, she saw a very different devastation before her. A scene so vivid and horrible, she could only look in silence. An alien world, razed to the ground. She could see broken shells of strange buildings. Skeletons of places where these people lived and worked and raised families of their own. So very much like Earth in some respects, but wildly different in others. The home of the Zjahul. The home of Psycona.

She saw through the eyes of Psycona, or, as he was once called here, Peacemaker Zjahn Zjmit. Light from the bulging, red, alien sun burned down upon what she could imagine was once a fertile, vibrant land, but all she could see now was ash, and dust, and craters. And bodies. So many bodies that she couldn't begin to count them. Some lined up in the signs of mass execution, others simply littering the ground. Adults and infants of all ages.

"This is not for your eyes, human!" The voice ripped into her, both Psycona's voice and Phaross' voice. "This is mine to behold alone. Get out of my head!"

"No. No!" She could feel Phaross' mind pushing at hers, fighting to expel her from his, but she fought to remain. "You have to see this again. Everything that has happened to you started here. Face your past. Face it like a hero!"

A hand rested on the shoulder of the body she inhabited. A strange, alien body. More like that of a lizard, or a reptile, and she could sense the differences between them, but also the similarities. The head turned to see Principle, tears trailing down the man's face as he looked out upon the destruction, the bodies. Even Psycona could sense that tide of empathy from the hero was quite genuine.

"Zjahn. I'm so sorry. I blame myself." Principle hovered a bare inch above the ground, wiping his powerful hand across his cheeks. "If I had acted faster to gather the others. If I had pushed Drone to enhance the ship's engines. If I could only ..."

"Stop." The words came from Zjahn's mouth, not from Phaross in the mind. "None of this is your fault. If anything, this is my burden to carry. I thought I could fight them alone and I hesitated before seeking help. You could not have done more, but I could. The blood of billions is upon my hands. The deaths of my family, of my ... my ... child are mine to bear."

"You are but one man, my friend." Principle looked away to the other gathered heroes of Earth and gave a nod. "We will bury your people. Swift and Drone can take care of that. It will only take moments, then, when you are ready, we will chase these destroyers to the ends of the universe and bring them to justice."

Zjahn looked at the hand upon his shoulder and then to a scene that looked magical. A black and white blur passed over the landscape before them and graves appeared, bodies disappearing. The hero, Swift, could move faster than a fraction of a fraction of the blink of an eye. Drone's drone army constructed headstones for each of the graves, though many of the names were unknown, these people deserved markers of their passing.

"No. If I chase them, it will only become a mission of revenge. I feel no justice in my hearts." Zjahn turned his back to the scene below. "I will watch over the graves until the drip of time takes me. A penance for my failure."

As Zjahn moved away, Principle followed. Up ahead, Betty could sense that the former home of Zjahn Zjmit and his family lay, in ruins, as everything else lay. Within Psycona's mind, Betty could sense the memory. That Swift left the bodies of Zjahn's family for him to recover and lay to rest, as a sign of respect. Zjahn had appreciated that.

Once he had placed the last of the sterile dirt upon the bodies of his family, Principle standing beside him in silence, Zjahn had considered what to do. Nothing could grow here, not anymore. His days as guardian to the dead would not last, but he would fall gladly into the night of death beside the graves of the people he loved more than anything and anyone. A lonely death, but he deserved nothing better.