It was dark. Completely dark. Ever since he died, it had been like this. Anywhere he turned, he could see only one thing: Black. Is it how Brom feels now? Garrow? Oromis? Is this the life that the humans spoke of: the life after death. If it was he only wanted it to end. The nothingness was killing him. He didn't know where he was or how long he had been here. It was all eternal here. At first he had thought, he would crash into something because of the darkness around him. But now, he knew. He knew that he could walk wherever he wanted and however he wanted, because there was nothing here except darkness. And him.
Every now and then, he would check if he was real by pinching himself. He could walk on but couldn't feel the floor on which he was standing. He couldn't even fathom how it was possible. But it was. He was walking; atleast he was moving his legs as if in walking. He yearned to see something even if it was the slimy walls of his prison cell. He couldn't see, hear, smell or touch. He couldn't even know if he had lost those senses or if there was really nothing in where he was.
"Saphira, what shall I do?", he shouted. But he wasn't sure if he shouted after a moment because he couldn't hear his voice. 'I have become insane', he thought. He had a sudden idea. 'I could run in the same direction. There is bound to be an end to this abyss.', he thought. 'How odd!! An end to abyss' He started running headlong. He kept on running in a direction he hoped was the same as the one in which he had started. He ran until, he felt he had run for a lifetime. Then he ran some more. And some more. But the end wasn't there. Not yet.
He stopped at last deciding that his running was useless. He felt tired yet he felt fresh. It was a strange thing: he never got tired of body in this abyss. But his mind was tired, as tired as it can be. Finally, he decided that the only way to escape this torture was sleeping. So he lay down on what he didn't know and slept. But sleep didn't come. He was sleeping already afterall. Bereft of all hope and happiness, he lay down and wept.
He saw a sudden flare of dim-light somewhere above his head. He reached out to it with his hands desperately, wanting to reach it before it was sucked up into the abyss. But his hand grasped at nothing. It was far above his head. Too far above. 'I have to reach there. Wherever it is.', he resolved and started running yet again. But this time, he had a target: the dim-light that fizzed in and out of existence.
He ran and ran and ran, yet the light was still there somewhere far above him. He ran some more and now slowly he started tiring. He was so happy that he could tire of body. It meant he was becoming normal again. He ran still more determined to reach near the light. And at last, the light started becoming larger, which meant he was getting nearer to the light. He started sweating now, another good sign.
There was something under his feet. Yes, he could now feel things around him. He kept on running braving his failing strength and paining legs. Soon cool air hit him. Sand rose from under his feet. He felt like he was in the hadarac at night. The light steadily grew in size and he now could see that it was no mere light but something huge.
He couldn't run now. His body had let him down. So he walked, as fast as his tired legs allowed him to. Soon he lost balance and started swaying dangerously. Yet he kept walking. He would never again return to that nothingness even if it meant he spent every little store of energy in him.
He fell to his knees, when he saw what the light was: a huge tunnel not because of awe but because of his failing strength. He crawled the remaining distance to the tunnel. Sand stuck to his hands and legs and he was so glad to see it again that he took some of the sand and rubbed on his face. He entered the dimly lit tunnel on all fours.
The tunnel had a familiar feeling to it. It was like he was watching his home in a dream. It was so sinister though. He didn't know why, but a strange fear entered his mind. He closed his eyes tightly but kept moving into the tunnel. After a while, spent closing his eyes, he opened them. He was surprised to see the people around him.
Orik, Roran, Nasuada were all there before him. He was overjoyed. He tried to speak to them, but he couldn't. They would not listen to him. So he felt for their minds. Roran was in utter misery. Orik closed his mind as soon as he touched it. So did Nasuada. He couldn't fathom why they did as they did, but guessed it had something to do with the strange tunnel. He closed his eyes in sorrow at not being able to talk to his friends. When he opened his eyes again, his friends were nowhere to be seen. "So be it", he said to himself and kept on moving into the tunnel further.
The tunnel kept growing darker but he didn't want to wait in the brighter spots doing nothing. If he had seen Roran, Orik and Nasuada then he was sure to see Arya and Saphira at some stage in his journey. He thought he had glimpses of them just after he saw Roran, Nasuada and Orik but he didn't know for certain. So he kept on moving.
The tunnel was now decisively dark. But he inched on in the hope of finding Saphira somewhere in the tunnel. He felt some dark presences in the tunnel but ignored them and moved on. Amidst the darkness that was as black as the abyss, there was one dimly lit spot. But something told him to avoid it and so he avoided it. Just when he crossed that spot, the tunnel disappeared and he found himself in front of a heavily damaged gate.
However damaged the gate was, deep inside him, he felt that it was made just for him. So he pushed open the gate. It opened as if trained for his hand smoothly without any discomfort such a broken gate would pose. But as soon as he entered in through the gate, he felt pain. Great pain. He wanted to hide from it. So he ran madly away from it. Strangely, he knew a way in all the wreckage that filled the place.
Soon a huge golden gate came into view. He opened it with all his remaining might and stepped into the lands beyond the golden gate. As soon as he entered the new lands, all the pain he felt disappeared. In fact, he felt as well as he could.
A huge river lay to his left side and he could see huge mountains in the distance. A waterfall with its milky water flowing from those mountains was visible from where he stood. The sight was entrancing. He stood watching it for a moment. Then he turned to see to his right. There was a small town far away from where he stood. But what caught his attention was the stunningly beautiful castle surrounded by equally graceful trees.
A beautifully, carved wooden gate adorned the entrance to the castle grounds. With soft hands, he pushed the gate open. The sight that greeted him brought him the most pleasant feeling he had ever had. Various flowering plants lined the route to the castle, while there were routes as though it was Ellesmera in between the trees that surrounded the castle. The trees were not only beautiful, he noticed, but also were homes just as it was in Ellesmera. The castle though gave a feeling like it was Tronjheim, with a majestic look to it. He walked steadily through the cool soil pathway to the castle. As he neared the castle, he noticed the intricate designs on the pillars that held the castle aloft.
He started climbing the stairs to the castle. The door was adorned with gems and had the Liduen Kvaedhí inscribed on it. It was so beautiful that he could stand there looking at it for years on end. But as if by itself, his hand came forward and pushed the door open.
The inside of the castle gave him a familiar feeling. Like he had been there already but only in dreams. He looked around him. Everything in the castle had a mixture of elven, dwarven and human touch to it. Every pillar, every table, everything had the touch of all three races of Alagaesia. It was like a melting pot of the three races. Like the best from each race was taken and stitched together to form the castle. Enchanted beyond imagination, he walked up the stairs in the castle.
He reached a huge hall at the end of the corridors in the upper level. As soon as he entered the hall, he knew where he was. It was the same hall where he had been waiting for Saphira and Arya to reach him. It was the same hall from whose balcony he watched the golden sunset with Arya and Saphira accompanying him.
He searched for them here, for he knew if there was one place where he could find them then it was this. He ran through the hall-the hall's various wonders never getting to his mind-his only focus being finding Saphira and Arya. He saw them at long last standing on the same balcony where he had left them while watching the sunset with them.
A strange sense of guilt came over him interlaced with his happiness at the sight of the two. It had been ages since he saw them. "I am sorry that I went away. But I had to. I had no other choice. Please, forgive me.", he said to them. There was no response from the both of them except the odd look they gave him. So he waited. He waited until it was dark and the moon came. He waited until the sun rose and set. He waited patiently and a measure of peace settled in his mind as he beheld them in front of him. He would spent all the dusty years that lay ahead just by looking at them.
'I am coming, Eragon', Saphira's voice came from somewhere far above him. Confused, he looked up but there was only the roof of the hall and stars of the night sky there. When he looked back down, Saphira and Arya had disappeared.
'No. Not again I don't want to lose them again', he thought and he ran out of the castle; ran in search of the place from where Saphira's voice came. He ran out of the castle grounds and came to the banks of the river again. He pushed open the huge golden gate that led him into this strange place.
He came back to the wreckage filled place and the burning pain returned. But he cared not; he only wanted to find Saphira. But then, something came in contact with him. Something that he had avoided earlier. Something that was at the end of the tunnel he had crossed before reaching this wreckage. Something that had to be avoided. He pushed it away with all his might and it went away as soon as he pushed it as if it didn't want to resist him.
He heard something call him. He wanted to ignore it. Yet it was near. So out of curiosity, he opened his eyes. And the slimy walls of the prison cell were before his eyes. He was too confused. 'I was dead, wasn't I?', he asked to himself. He heard that calling again, "Eragon. Wake up!!" He had difficulty processing the voice for sometime. Then it dawned on him. Murtagh.
'He was the one who had tried to contact me by mind. So I am not dead. Whatever happened all these years after my death: the blackness, the tunnel, the castle...What were they?', he thought.
"Eragon..", Murtagh's voice came mildly again. He was annoyed. 'What does this empire-man need with me?', he thought. And he turned towards the voice ignoring the pain he felt in his back while turning.
Murtagh stood before him with a concerned look on his face. 'What is he concerned about? That I am not dead yet.', he thought.
"What happened to you?", Murtagh asked again in a deeply concerned voice.
'Ah!! What has happened to me? I don't know it myself. How I am I supposed to tell him. And why does he need to know? It was him and his master who did this to me afterall.', Eragon thought to himself but didn't reply anything. After a time, Murtagh sighed and said under his breath, "Never mind". He then put his hands into the pouch he had in his hand and took out a bread from it. He offered it to Eragon. It was not the usual drugged stale bread he was now used to. But rather a fresh one. Eragon realised the ravenous hunger and thirst he felt only then. But however tempting the bread was he pushed Murtagh's hand away.
Murtagh didn't show surprise or any other emotion at Eragon's action. It seemed to Eragon that he accepted it as the norm. But when Eragon thought, Murtagh would let him alone, Murtagh said, "You should eat. You have been unconscious for five days now. Your body would fall apart if you don't"
'Only five days?!!', Eragon thought. But Murtagh's voice stopped his thought flow, "You were nearly dead when Galbatorix gave you to me. He ordered me to heal you just so that you will be alive."
"And you followed the orders like a dog, I suppose", Eragon said although his sound was so soft because of his parched throat.
Murtagh looked at Eragon with a peculiar expression and continued as though Eragon hadn't uttered those words, "You were far beyond healing. I healed your broken leg and some other grievous wounds, but it was no use. Thorn constantly supplied energy into your failing body. I had lost all hope of saving you. But the soldiers said you moved and called out Saphira, thats why I came to check." Murtagh fell silent after that.
Eragon processed all that Murtagh had said. He finally thought he knew what had happened to him sine he had used his father, Brom's spell. "Why are you telling me all this?", he asked finally.
"To make you understand", Murtagh said as if he was expecting this question from him. Eragon didn't reply to Murtagh. 'What does he think I need to understand?', he said to himself.
"I need you to understand, Eragon that I had underestimated you. I thought nobody could stand Galbatorix. But you did. I accept that I was weak. Atleast weaker than you.", Murtagh stopped suddenly. Eragon smiled; not pleasantly but forlornly and then said, "You accept. Yet you won't try to be like me. You will still be his slave"
Murtagh's face showed a flash of annoyance but then he controlled it. "I am trying brother. But it isn't easy." Eragon didn't reply. Murtagh offered him the bread again. Eragon lifted his head and looked into Murtagh's face. Both of them stared at each other for a long time during which Eragon thought back to when Murtagh helped him in reaching the Varden after Brom's death and in rescuing Arya from Durza's prison. He thought of how valiantly Murtagh fought with them even when he knew he had to face a shade. 'This is not that Murtagh. He died once Galbatorix entered his mind' But there was the same fierceness in Murtagh's eyes; only a little subdued. 'Maybe he still lives somewhere deep inside this hard and cold man', Eragon thought. And he silently took the bread from Murtagh and started eating it. The sweetness of the bread caught him by surprise. He hadn't realised how good a bread tasted when he had had it in abundance. When Eragon finished the bread, Murtagh said, "We were once friends Eragon. I know we can't be like that anymore. But I promise you that I will help you however I can" Eragon looked into Murtagh's face and found from his earnest expression that there was truth in his words.
Both of them fell silent from then on. There were footsteps heard on the corridor and Murtagh said hastily, "Galbatorix isn't here, Eragon. Nobody knows where he went, but he went away the day he last tortured you". Eragon felt relieved that he wouldn't have to face the usurper for sometime. The thought itself gave him strength. Because however emphatically he thwarted Galbatorix, he was afraid of all the things Galbatorix had made him go through.
The footsteps came near and the captain and magician entered the prison. "Lord Murtagh", Rotab said and bowed. The magician followed suit.
Then the captain said, "We heard that the prisoner had awaken. We have come to drug him, sir"
Murtagh nodded and said, "Go ahead" and he left the cell.
Author's Note:
So finally, we have seen how Eragon is. The first 1500 words of this chapter may not be understandable for many of you. Probably I will get to explain it in some coming chapter. The title is indicative of two things: resurgence of Eragon's health and his 'friendship' with Murtagh.
No comments:
Post a Comment