He listened as Ereza spoke. He followed her steps through the temple. When she spoke of time, Jake remembered a quote from one of [member="Cerusia Shamalain"] many books that he had taken a moment to read. “The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone.” That quote was never truer than it was now. Ereza spoke that nearly five centuries had passed. Jake’s mind simply struggled to comprehend that. To him, it felt like a year or so since his family’s deaths. The look on his Lady Silencia’s eyes, the gaze they gave one another as Jake was forced into the cryo tube still haunted him as though it had just happened yesterday. Five centuries though?
Ereza explained that she wasn’t familiar with the issues that occurred regarding the clones nor the gemstones. By her words, the galaxy, the planet and the temple had all changed over time. That was something Jake knew all too well. He still felt like a relic out of place in an environment not his own. Like a ghost drifting through a place it did not know as its own. The Noghri did what they could to make Jake feel at home. His smuggling companions even helped him rebuild a home that had long been forgotten; long since abandoned and left to rot. She then explained that a great deal of care went into repairing them. Jake could only ponder about what he just got himself into.
When Jake was guided into parts of the temple he had never stepped foot in, the Knight did what he could to keep a very close eye on Ereza. He needed to stay a step behind to ensure he did not lose sight of her. His eyes were old and tired, not like Ereza’s which seemed to light up in the dark. When they approached a massive black door, Jake used the moment to bend over and rub his aching knees. Stairs. They had become yet another bane to his existence.
“A clone isn’t me.” Jake replied sharply.
Pushing himself back into a full stand the Knight was quick to add,
“You’re right. A body isn’t a body unless a soul is within it. Yet what’s to say it doesn’t have a soul? That it doesn’t have a consciousness? What is a soul? What gives consciousness? Is it some unseen entity dwelling within a physical vessel or is it nothing more than electrical impulses in the brain? What makes me, well, me?”
Jake was being a bit more philosophical than normal. Usually this sort of discussion was best saved for his Lady Silencia and his Lady Reticea.
“Again though, forgive my ignorance. I am a trained assassin turned guardian. I’m not known for having that much of an intellect when compared to others in the Shamalain family.”
As Ereza turned to fiddle with some sort of locking mechanism that Jake was unfamiliar with, he pondered on her final statement though. That of his wife and children. He had to correct her on one thing that she did get wrong however. When he heard the sound of gears grinding and spotted the door opening, the Knight feel silent. He’d correct Ereza later. Even in this darkened area of the temple Jake knew what he bore witness too. Crytostasis tubes and several of them at that. They lined each side of the hallway. He didn’t wait for an invitation to enter. He simply went.
“Holy hell.” Jake mumbled as he began to look over the first of the tubes. It held someone he didn’t recognize. He knew the person to be a Shamalain but that was it. It seemed his Lady Silencia had kept some people hidden away from him.
“Heh… so much for being this family’s Guardian.” The Knight spoke as he went to the second tube which was surprisingly empty. It was the third and forth tubes that caused him to stop dead in his tracks. Opposite the first two, Jake placed a hand on the first.
“Lysander.” The body within was identical to that of his oldest. It slumbered within. Quiet and peaceful. It was far different form the sick son that Jake had buried.
“Romano.” The name slipped softly from his lips as his eyes began to swell. The sight of two bodies, those of his sons, was nearly unbearable for the man given the last images he remembered was of their sickly frames being lowered into caskets. Yet for Jake this was a paradox. Two bodies were here and two bodies were in the earth at the manor.
He stood, staring between the two for several painfully long minutes. His eyes scanning the entirety of their bodies. He scrutinized every aspect he could. Toes. Fingers, their joints, jaw lines. Everything. Yet nothing was amiss. Everything was as it should have been. Jake knew his sons. These bodied were truly identical to the ones he buried; save for the fact that they held no ill-infection.
Tube to tube Jake went. Like the first, some he did not recognize. Some were empty. The final tube once more brought the Knight to a dead stop. Inside was a fully formed vessel. Inside was a body that Jake couldn’t deny being envious of; his. Just glancing over the flesh, there were no battle scars. There were no burn markings, nor blemishes. It was as he had been in his youth; perfect and clean. The one part Jake lingered on the longest were the knees. Unlike his boney joints, these were thick and full. The tendons within were not worn down and depleted. His right hand gently rubbed his left thigh in a feeble attempt to ease the pain within the knee. Even the nose held a straight ridge. Unlike his current that seemed to divert ever slightly from a previous break, this body was pristine.
“Earlier you mentioned that this was meant to help me live as long as my family. A cloned me wouldn’t live as long as them. I am a pure human. They were not. I’ll be lucky to even see another two decades before something vital in my body gives out. Perhaps my aorta blows? Perhaps the plaque in my arteries finally clogs enough to shut me down? Maybe my heart just stops? Or worse yet, perhaps the last bit of my sanity leaves me and I suffer dementia or even alzheimers. Humans are a fragile species after all. No matter what, they’d would have long outlived me. I would be nothing but a footnote in this family’s history; if even that.” He explained.
Negative? Yes. Realistic? Absolutely. Jake had learned a valuable lesson. He had to expect the worst. He didn’t even both hoping for the best. Why would he? The galaxy had taken everything away from him. Everything. Even the family he had long served, that he had married into, had forgotten all about him.
“Look at these here.” Jake pointed to the bodies he didn’t know.
“I was supposed to protect this family and yet here are people I don’t know. I bet everyone here knew of each other; except me. And what about the emp…”
Jake’s voice fell silent for a brief moment as he eye’d the empty tubes. It was here it clicked. People were missing. Between the shock of seeing himself, of seeing his sons, and of seeing the bodies of those he didn’t know, Jake realized those he did were not here.
“I can account for two.” Jake said, in obvious reference to Quietus and Dissero. He’d met Quietus and her family for a few hours. Dissero he hadn’t though he knew he was out there. Regardless if they were clones or not; they lived. Two others were missing.
“Where is my Masters body? Surely you could have just transferred her essence into a clone? Well hell, you could have put her in mine.”
Then Jake came to the first empty tube that faced both of his sons. His eyes went from it, to his sons, then back again. It finally clicked.
“Where is Lady Reticea?”
[member="Ereza"]