AFTERLIFE: Artifacts

Ch. 7: A Villain Will Sacrifice The World For You

Day 10: 215 Miles Out

     "Oh, come on." Tariel lamented from the cart, "I'm not an invalid. Surely, I can walk."

     "It's best for you to rest." Hafsa said. Andraste nodded.

     "We've no healer." Andraste said.

     "And we should save the potions for the actually important researchers." Nunzio teased. Tariel went to swipe at Nunzio playfully. They had not traveled far the day of the attack. Tariel was laid up on the cart which slowed the donkey having to pull the extra weight. They had all tried to carry a little more, but all were also wary of ladening themselves too much in case the devils returned. Andraste was quiet, her thoughts still consumed with the vision of the head. Every time she blinked, she saw a flash. Part of her wanted to stay in the horror, to see if she recognized the face. Another part thought it best not to buckle over with dry heaves on the road.

     "You're quiet today." Lienna remarked to the goddess. Andraste gave her a look.

     "I'm not particularly talkative." She said.

     "Yeah, but... it's a different kind of quiet." Lienna said, "I can tell. Are you okay? You're going through some stuff obviously. I'm... just checking in. Don't want you to go crazy and kill us all, right?" Andraste laughed.

     "Right... I just keep thinking..."

     "About?" Lienna asked.

     "About whether I should try to remember my past." Lienna nodded. "I... feel like I shouldn't... but then I think about what Hafsa was saying and... what if not knowing does put you guys in danger? I tried last night. Just a bit, to remember something about that terrified feeling I got when I smacked Yama."

     "And?" Lienna asked.

     "And it got me nowhere except dry heaving on the grass."

     "Well, that's intense." Lienna replied. Andraste made a noise of assent.

     "I... keep seeing this... thing..."

     "This thing..." Lienna repeated, "Uh-huh. Gonna have to give me some more details."

     "I see this head. It's a horrible image, a severed head of a drow. Its eyes are sewn closed and it's got its mouth stuffed with glowing magic necklaces. I've been seeing it a lot when I try to sleep. And when I tried to think back to that moment, tried to feel the feeling or anything else about it... all I could see was that head." Lienna mused to herself for a moment.

     "Hmm, well, maybe they're connected..." Lienna said, "But how? They're certainly both terrifying..."

     "Maybe that's all it is." Andraste said, her shoulders slumping.

     "Maybe..." Lienna said, "Or... maybe the head is blocking you. Sure, they're both scary. But maybe the head is blocking you from remembering the other memory."

     "But, then... what do I do about that?" Andraste asked. Lienna shrugged.

     "Try to get passed the head?" She asked, "But if something is blocking you, someone most likely did that to you. Doesn't that help you know if you want to remember?" Andraste thought for a moment. Her brow furrowed into confusion.

     "Not really." She said, "It's never that straightforward when you're dealing with memories, is it? See, last time something was blocking my memories it was so that I wouldn't destroy the world. And it was an aboleth doing that. So an evil creature was doing the good guy thing because it would benefit them. Getting my memories back... wasn't a good idea actually, but.... Then again... I didn't want to destroy the world. I wasn't going to, just... then..." She sighed, "The problem with someone blocking your memories is that it always seems to backfire when you find them again. Which is I guess the point, right? But, well, you wonder why did they not want you to know this? The aboleth just made me distrust everything I knew about myself once I got them back. Everyone did... I don't know... But, maybe if it's blocked... it's blocked for a reason like it was before. Maybe I should learn my lesson from that aboleth. Maybe I even did it to myself, you know? Maybe I'm protecting myself. Maybe whatever I blocked, I blocked for a good reason. Maybe I shouldn't remember all the evil I did before now." Andraste's face looked sad and a little guilty. Lienna looked at her unconvinced.