User blog:SinisterFog/A Path to Redemption Ch. 2

= #2: A Journey Begins =

"A Journey of a thousand miles begins with one step"
“General, may I ask a question?”

'''“Hm? Why yes my champion, what is on your mind?”'''

“When we commence the siege, what will become of the civilians?”

“Do not concern yourself with them, they are meaningless to us…”

“In what manner are they meaningless?”

'''“As I said, you don’t need to concern yourself with them, they have their place and we have ours. After all, why should the lion care if the gazelle screams…”'''

Redmond’s Pov

As I awoke on the stone floor, I instinctively looked towards Cici. She was still lying there next to me, her smile still visible in the light of my fire. I stood up and began to make my way back towards the entrance of the cave, being as silent as I can as to not wake Cici. I had to make sure it was daylight before we began to depart, as soon as I could see the light at the entrance of the cave, I knew that the day was ripe.

I walked back to the fire and tried to gently shake Cici to wake her up. After a few tries, she slowly opened her eyes, it took a second for her to wake up. She rubbed her eyes before stretching with a yawn, she looked towards me and smiled.

“Good morning Mr. Redmond.” She says to me.

I let out a small laugh, “Mr. Redmond now huh?”

Cici’s cheeks began to redden as she looked to the left, “Yeah, father told me that addressing people as Mr. and Mrs. is a sign of respect.”

I let out another laugh before saying “Well Cici I appreciate that, but please, just call me Redmond. Ok?”

Cici simply nodded and responded with a subtle “Ok.” As I gathered my things, extinguished the fire, and put my helmet back on, Cici tapped me on the shoulder. When I turned around, I could see her handing my neatly folded coat to me.

“Here,” She said to me, “Thank you for...letting me use it.”

I took the coat and put it back on, “I take it you slept well then?”

She smiled at me again and nodded, “I did.”

After that, we made our way back to the entrance of the cave. As we were walking I heard a slight grumbling next to me, I looked and saw Cici holding her stomach. “Feeling hungry?” I asked her.

Cici looked up at me and said “Yeah, I guess it has been a while.”

“Well, that explains the skeletons of the fish,” I say, looking down at the small piles of bone.

When we made it out of the cave, Cici immediately dived into the river. “I’ll be back with food Redmond.” She says, she then turned and began to swim downstream. I found a nearby rock and sat down, I then looked towards the waterfall.

I began to take in the natural beauty of this place. It looked so...serene, free from the violence and untouched by the pollution of anyone or anything. I don’t think I have ever witnessed such a sight. Back on my world...sights like this would be so...dismal and tenebrous. Even now...I still abhor my home, if it even deserved to be called as such...

After a while of sitting in silence, I saw Cici return with two fish, she was holding them in each hand. The fish still seemed to be alive as they were struggling in her grip.

She slithered next to me and smiled as she handed one of the fish to me, “Here,” she told me “You must be hungry too.”

I took it and smiled under my helmet, “Thank you.”

As I prepared to quickly kill the fish so that it didn’t suffer, I saw Cici about to take a bite out of the living fish.

“Hold on!” I quickly say, startling her.

She looked up at me and simply said “What?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle again, “You don’t want to eat raw fish do you?”

She looked at me and tilted her head, “That’s what I’ve been doing ever since I came here.” Thinking about it now, she didn’t seem to know how to even start a fire, I probably should have figured that before.

“Well,” I started, “You don't have to eat them raw anymore. But first, let me see yours.” Cici then proceeds to hand me her fish, after that, I quickly killed them with my dagger.

I then look towards Cici and say “Now hold on to these because I’m going to teach you how to start a fire.”

Cici then tilted her head in confusion, “What?”

“A fire,” I replied, “You need to know how to make one.”

I gave Cici the two dead fish and gestured to her to follow me. We went into the woods to look for some suitable wood and some grass to make a tinder bundle. As we searched for these objects, I explained to Cici the procedures and the best materials needed. After we found everything we needed, we made our way back to the clearing by the waterfall and found an open space to start the fire.

“Redmond, I have a question,” Cici said.

“Hm? What’s your question?”

“Why do I need to know this if you can start a fire with your hands?”

It took me a second to respond, trying to find a way to explain my fire from yesterday.

“Well, that fire you saw wasn’t exactly real fire. And starting one through usual methods can prove to be quite a skill.” I explained.

Cici took a moment to think, putting her hand on her chin. “So, that fire was some kind of magic like you said?”

I looked down, my face had a somber expression under my helmet as I knew what the fire truly was. “It’s...something like that, yeah,” I replied.

Cici took a few more seconds to think and then smiled at me, “Okay.”

“Right now, let's go over what I told you,” I said, gesturing to the sticks and wood. As Cici was rubbing the sticks to make charcoal, I was gathering the grass to make a tinder bundle. It took a few minutes before I started to smell the smoke. I turned towards Cici as she was rubbing the sticks together, her expression slightly excited at the sight of smoke.

“That’s it! Keep going faster, put a little more pressure into it,” I tell her.

She nodded as she continued to vigorously rub the sticks together as more and more smoke was seen. Eventually, I told her to stop, when she did, the smoke didn’t cease, we had our charcoal.

“Now watch,” I tell her as I carefully put the charcoal into the tinder bundle, making sure not to let it hit the ground.

When that was done, I turned towards Cici, “Patience,” I told her. “The heat still needs to build up.”

We sat there and waited, occasionally blowing into the charcoal to speed up the process, the moment I saw a flame, I turned towards Cici again.

“Quick, get the wood,” I told her. She nodded quickly and got some wood from the pile, putting some of it on top of the flame. “Not too much, try not to smother it.”

Eventually, we had a fire going, I looked towards Cici and said “And that is how to start a fire.”

Cici gave me a slightly prideful smile, “Yeah! We did it.”

“Great, now, let’s cook the fish,” I say as I draw my sword...

Sometime later...

As Cici and I sat next to the fire, I skewered the fish onto my sword as I held them over the flame. We sat in silence momentarily as we listened to the waterfall, eventually, Cici was the one to break the silence. “Thank you Redmond for teaching me how to start a fire and helping me. I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to do it on my own.”

I looked at Cici, she still had her smile, that adorable little smile. “You’re welcome Cici. Though I’m sure with a little practice, you can do this all on your own.”

Cici nodded in agreement before returning to the fire. I still had a few things on my mind however, ever since last night, I couldn’t exactly figure out what Cici exactly was.

“Hey Cici,” I started, “I don’t mean to sound rude but...what are you? I don’t think I’ve seen anything like you before.”

Cici turned back to look at me, “I’m a bunyip, just like my mother.”

“A bunyip?” I asked, “I don’t think I’ve heard of bunyips before, much less seen one.”

Cici then let out a little giggle “Well then, I am glad to have been the first one you've met.”

I also laughed a little, this girl seemed so...happy. Sure she distrusted me at first but after that, she seemed so happy to have met me. Then again, I might be the first person she has met in a long time, I’m sure that corresponds to it.

When I looked at Cici, she still had that smile, a smile that easily could have melted the hearts of those who saw it. I smiled again, I liked seeing her happy, I liked seeing her smile, but then something had begun to bother me again. That night, that one night when everything had changed. As much as I try not to, I can’t get them out of my head, I can’t get her out of my head. I can’t that happen again, I won’t let that happen again.

“Redmond,” she said, “I think the fish are done.”

I looked towards my sword, the fish were indeed cooked thoroughly. “Right, sorry I was just...thinking.”.

Cici looked at me with concern, “Was it something bad? You had your head down.”

“No it was nothing, you don’t need to worry about it,” I replied, patting her on the head.

As we ate our fish, I started to think of where we would go when we depart. Seeing as how I know little to nothing about this world, I thought that I could find answers in Cici. Perhaps she remembered where her home was? That would be a good place to start, we could find clues on her parent's whereabouts. “Hey Cici,” I say, getting her attention.

“Do you by any chance remember how to get home?”

Cici’s expression began to darken as she looked down, “I would have gone back home if I did…”

She’s right, I wouldn’t have even found her here if she knew how to get back home. Though I still felt sympathy for her, part of me was glad that she didn’t return. People who are out for blood, who attack others don’t give so easily, they could have waited for her to return and...nevermind, I don’t want to think about it.

Looking at Cici’s expression, I must have ruined her optimistic attitude from earlier. Guilt began to crawl up my spine as I tried to comfort her.

“Hey,” I said, “I’m...sorry for saying anything...”

Cici only replied with silence, I could see the dolefulness on her face and it tore through my soul. “I…” Cici started to say, “I just miss them, so much…”

I put my hand on her shoulder, “Cici, I am going to help you find them, even if it kills me.” I heard her gasp suddenly and perk up in shock.

“Don’t say that!” she yelled. I was beginning to see tears form in the corners of her eyes. “I don’t want you to die,” she said, “I don’t want anyone to die, no one deserves that…”

My eyes widened at my statement, not because Cici herself said that but because…it reminded me so much of something she would say...

'“Life is precious Redmond, it’s a truly beautiful thing. Nothing truly deserves death, that is something I believe in…”'

I looked down again, “You’re right Cici, I didn’t take your thoughts into consideration, I’m sorry…”

Cici took a second to regain her composure before looking at me with sincerity. “It’s ok Redmond, I forgive you, but please...don’t say anything like that again.”

She then proceeded to embrace me in another hug, this one was even warmer than the last. I sighed and smiled under my helmet, she used to be exactly like this, it was almost uncanny the resemblance between the two.

After that, I began to gather the rest of my things, I started to think about where we would go next. My thoughts were interrupted by the voice of Cici.

“Redmond,” she said, getting my attention. “We could follow the river, that might lead us somewhere.”

Following the river huh? That’s not a bad idea actually, if the river has fish, and Cici can eat fish...then other inhabitants in this world could eat fish too.

“Cici, that’s...a great idea actually.”

Cici tilted her head in inquiry, “It is?”

“Think about it, the river has fish, right? How many people in this world go fishing?”

I could see Cici begin to think about my question before eyes practically blew up with realization. As I saw the excitement begin to ignite on Cici's face, I knew what to do next.

"Cici, you seem to know you're way around the river, could you lead the way?" She responded with an excited nod and immediately dived into the water, splashing it onto my boots.

I saw her come up from the water’s surface and wave her hand at me, “Come on Redmond, let’s go.”

I chuckled to myself, “Alright, I’m coming, just hold on.” I stood up and began to stretch a little, I put my sword back on my scabbard and proceeded to walk along the edge of the river.

Cici began to excitedly swim ahead but not too far to where I couldn’t see her. As I walked, my mind drifted back to the thought of how similar Cici was to her. They have the same smile, the same optimism, the same outlook on life…

But most of all...I made a promise to them...and I couldn’t keep the first one…

I won’t let history repeat itself, I was going to make good on this one. Not just for Cici…

But for her as well...

To be continued