Last Life Part 1: Homecoming

The Last Son

Saul

Within mere moments, the boar was asleep, his breath slowed and the faint glow of circuitry faded into the the shadows. Already the sun was dipping beneath the horizon, must be around 20:00, but I don't remember even a quarter of the day passing by. I picked up my lamp. Into the cave I went, right down the middle, between the strange, carved out granite walls. Each step seemed to echo louder than the last, disturbing the air that had settled here for many many years.

I had not gone all that far, perhaps only twenty or thirty meters before I was faced with a monolithic boulder, whose face had been worn flat and smooth, only to be marred by a series of ticks and dots spaced in horizontal groups of eight. I spent a moment considering the code, then smiled to myself, if only I knew how to read ascii-encoded binary. Thousands of the tiny marks covered the front of the polished granite, engraved by some strange tool with beautiful precision and startling uniformity.

So entranced by the curious inscriptions, I hardly noticed the boar beside me until the turquoise light of his glowing eye washed over the boulder, scanning the writing. I looked up at him, he stood still for a moment, then carefully with the front of his snout, he pushed the great boulder back, and slightly to the side. Black motes of dust flew out, disturbed from their rest on the walls of stone. I covered my mouth, damn I had forgotten my mask.

Lifting my lantern, I gazed upon a bizarre spectacle spread out on the earth before me. Skeletons, near a dozen of them, scattered about in the dust. Trinkets of gold and silver, jewelry, mother boards and integrated circuits, they lay about in disarray among the bones. I lifted my lamp higher to see that they were in fact, several whole, articulated skeletons... Boar skeletons, piglets at that. Crouched over, I swept the dust off of the silky worn ribcage of the piglet closest to me. It was difficult to call them that, due to their massive size, nearly as large as I, but seeing that the metal plague had barely taken its hold on them, a wire here and there, it was easy to see that they were still young. Young, but they must've died centuries ago. With the competition for resources so great, it would be a great waste of energy for most beasts to reproduce.

The boar only looked at the bones from a distance, he would not step past the boulder that he had pushed aside for me. Were they... Those piglets... I placed my hand on his scarred snout, patting him gently. "C'mon... I'm sorry." He snorted and turned back, and I followed him out. The boar, he just didn't seem to care. The way he had looked at the bones, it was as if he looked right past them and only saw the dust in which they decayed. What levels of hell has he been through, I may never know. We walked back to the mouth of the cave silently and settled for the night. I lay down facing him, looking up at the great ancient, whose godlike status have earned him years of agony. But only a vacant stare occupied his eyes, the organic glazed over as if dreaming, and the other glowing pale blue, in standby. If only he could talk.

When I woke up, the boulder at the mouth of the cave had been pushed aside, allowing golden sunlight to wash the dusty flatlands below in brilliant amber and bleeding carmine. The boar was planted into the earth outside the cave, gazing contemplatively off into the distance, to the swampy lake that was once his forest. Perhaps it would be better not to disturb him. Keeping to myself, I made myself a quick, pathetic meal of dried potato gruel and lukewarm water. After repacking my bag, I had the courage to peek under the bandages around my hand. Blackened, congealed blood and stained, white bone greeted my eyes. I wretched, almost losing my breakfast, instantly I regretted checking my damn hand.

A lifetime of harshness, one of eternal damnation, is all that I have received for my hardwork, thanks to whoever curated this whole mess of an existence. I am not appreciative, in the least for this arrangement. Ah hell. Maybe, just maybe this was the start of a new life, because I sure as hell was not going anywhere in the last one. Maybe I can manage this one.

Outside, I found the boar waiting for me, his uncannily intelligent gaze piercing through my mortal skin. Out of consideration, he held his head close to the ground so that I could grab onto one of his formidable tusks and pull myself up. I clambered up into his hirsute mane, settling right behind his constantly flicking ears. He straightened up, the creaks and groans of gears and mechanisms within his hide filling the once silent morning air.