The Gallery - 2

A mini story by S.E.Estes
Part 1

Her eyes filled with the panorama, she was stunned to see how many fought and how many already lay dead. As if swarming up from the ground a legion of fighters were coming over the horizon, a smaller army was running out of a cave to face them. There were several battles in the mountains and the main battle was a mass of people. There were too many figures to look at so she moved to another part of the bench to study one scene. There were seventeen figures fighting near a cliff edge, at first she didn't know who was the enemy, it didn't matter, it was fascinating. Three people were dead on the ground in pools of blood and one was about to fall into a chasm. Two main lines faced each other, swords mingled, each side directed by two or three fighters at the back. One of those at the rear was rushing up to the line where it was falling apart. She noticed the fear on the face of another at the rear and guessed that was a rookie, others showed fear but the rookie's was paralyzing, his eyes were at the edge of sanity. That's when she learned who the enemy was, the other line of fighters showed no fear at all, their eyes showed nothing, they looked like they were dead. She got up and walked around the carving and saw a host of dead eyes, the horror of it dawned on her. Ordinary people's minds were enslaved and they were forced into a war they wouldn't have wanted to fight. It was too much, Leine had to go back down the stairs.

She understood fear, she was afraid, afraid to cross the street and go into the Dark Star, afraid to become what she knew she was meant to be. She wanted to be a merc, fearless, but now she understood the cost. She wasn't prepared to lose her soul to a dream. She'd been afraid all her life, afraid of loss, afraid of gain, mostly afraid of death and she hated herself for her lack of courage. Her fears held her back from doing things she wanted to do, knew she could do and do well. She feared failure and success and that fear kept her frozen in a state of perpetual doubt, never moving forward, never falling back, never trying. She despised herself and despaired of life but she had one dream that kept her alive, she wanted to be a merc. She loved the vids of the fearless mercenaries fighting corruption and the unknowns of the universe. They lived life the way they faced death, with power and a wise acceptance of fate. The art of Le Ro Ni, a merc, taught her the foolishness of that dream. Only the mindless were fearless, only the dead.

Leine stepped out of the gallery and, still afraid, walked back across the street.

Part 1