Chapter 5
Will stared at the man in confusion. From what he could study, he had never seen this stranger before in his life.
The man was almost 90 years of age, old enough to have been alive during the time of the Folk. He was grizzled, his skin nut-brown and wrinkled like a sour lemon rubbed with sandpaper. He was ancient, and he seemed to weak that a single gust of wind could knock him to the ground. Yet, he held the excitement and energy of a youth. Will could also see the man's arm was mechanical, an Augment.
"Do....do I know ye from somewhere?"
"Not necessarily, but I now you from somewhere."
"Where???"
"Oh....I can't remember the exact location. But I remember the time. About two-hundred years ago."
Will had guessed it. The man was mad.
But just as he was about to stand up and leave the table, the man gripped him with his mechanical arm. The arm was made from an alloy of steel and titanium. It felt cold and hard, and Will was sure his wrist would be snapped like a toothpick is he tried to release his arm from the clamping grip.
"Sit down, sonny. You can't remember me, but I've got a real story to tell ya."
Will sat down, and the man loosened his iron grip.
And so the man talked, and he told a fabulous story.
"You see, I was born in the springtime in a small farmhouse ravaged with mold. But at least the warmth of the sun kept me alive during those first few weeks of survival. I never knew my mother, as she killed herself after I was born. Crazy woman, almost feel a bit sorry for her. Either way, I was raised by my pappy. You see, I was alive when the Folk were still up and about, so times were much different back then. Thetmis and Disra were not the muckholes you know today. They were bustling cities. Full of light and love. And they were growing! And it was fabulous! Flying cars! Flying trains! Raydiyoes and other fancy tech you can hardly dream about! Folk wandering the street, wishin' people like me good mornin' and such...."
"What did they look like???" By now Will's curiosity had gotten the better of him.
"Well....just like you and me, I guess. Although they were much bigger, and smarter. Well, anyway, I spent most of my life in Disra, before they boarded it after the Folk vanished. Fabulous place. There was no poverty! Everybody was a somebody! Everybody belonged! There wasn't a hobo in sight! And the machines! Machines everywhere! Lanky Asimovs, dainty Kawais. And Mechs. There were Mechs so big they made the "oliphants" from the old legends look like kittens! The streets changed color! I swear 'tis true! I think it was some form of subterranean light or something, but they changed color! In the morning they were a normal bone-white. But at night the lights activated, and each tile on the paved roads glowed so bright like a thousand suns! Maybe even a million suns! And all different colors! Pink as a baby's cheeks! Blue as a redhead's eyes! Red as a......"
The elderly man stopped mid-sentence. The word "Red" was considered unlucky, and the color of red was only worn or drawn by those with the right knowledge of spiritual-warfare. The number 13 was also unlucky, and if a man with a red robe and the number 13 stitched onto it walked up to you in the street, it was best to avoid them entirely. Such was for witches and psychopaths.
"Well.....crimson as a Ghostie's eyes. But the colors were there, and they were amazing. That's why people still have the Poyya festival, to remember the colors and the times when the light was there. But I'll digress. The cities were beautiful, and people had jobs. There was no hunger, no crime. Everybody was educated. But that all changed very quickly."
Will leaned in closer, and the man let go of his hand.
"You have to realize, son, that the Folk did not go unopposed. Their were still people who held onto their old beliefs, old customs. They didn't want to accept the new order. They rejected what the Folk did. And so for that there were wars. Temples were burned down. Women were maimed and children were brainwashed to become soldiers. So many wars. But me and others like me were safe. Living in Disra gave us protection. We were unaware of the hell going on outside. But of course we would find out very soon. One day, the Folk just vanished. Poof, then gone."
"How???"
The man leaned in closer.
"You know about the Tower, boy?"
Will nodded.
"They say the Tower was the last thing the Folk were working on before their disappearance. I tell ye it was true. One day, 50 years ago, all the Folk from the cities and the rest of Heimland all went to the Tower. And then they vanished. I can even remember the time they vanished: it was 11:11 in the night."
"But how do you really know the Tower had something to do with the Vanishment?"
The man leaned in closer, so close his warm smelly bacon-scented breath tickled Will's nostrils and taste-buds. It was almost close enough to kiss.
"On the night the Folk vanished, at the exact moment they disappeared, the Tower lit up. Every man, woman and child could see it. A brilliant flash of white light. Then it turned to a deep shade of turquoise-blue, followed by shades of sapphire-blue, azure-blue, cobalt-blue, cerulean-blue and a deep indigo like royal velvet, and then a pale lime-green followed by shades of avocado-green, jade-green, olive-green, emerald-green, bottle-green and sea-green. Each color-change occurred every 3 seconds. I swear it. In fact, I wrote it all down as it was happening. I timed it too. You see, I had been sleeping in my apartment room in Disra. I was about 42 at that time, and I once had a job as a maintenance-worker at an old facility known as the Temple, that disappeared off the face of Heimland about 70 years ago when I was 22. After the Temple vanished, I became a sort of tour-guide to the old place. My job was easy; give interested locals a tour of the place where the Temple had once been. It payed me 30 Stones an hour, so I didn't complain. Anyway, on the night the Tower glowed, I was awoken by a loud noise. A deep loud buzzing. Like something coming up from the earth itself. And then, once the colors had stopped flashing, the Tower let out a massive shockwave that sent a sound echoing across all of Heimland. Some people call it a "sonic boom". The sound was terrifying. In fact, it was so powerful every glass window in Disra and Thetmis shattered with the force. It was a horrible event, but something I will never forget. The next day me and my co-workers set off to do our jobs, and then found no one to give us jobs. All the Folk had vanished, as if they never existed. The only things left of theirs were their buildings and machines. And whatever books or notes they left behind were quickly destroyed by the Spider-Folk, who became more powerful after the Vanishment. And well, 50 years later, I have finally found someone to tell my story to. Someone to listen. You."
Will was silent. He had a lot to think about. Sonic boom? Bright colors? A glowing Tower? 11:11 in the night? It was all very strange to him. He felt like his simple mind could not fit the pieces of this massive puzzle together.
"Well.....thanks for the story, mister....."
"Randal. Randal Farris. People call me Rusty."
"Thank you, mister Rusty.'
"Don't thank me yet. The story's far from over."
Comments