Page 1565

((Double Monday -- Page 2 of 2))

The boy is curious for the first time in a long time. He wishes to know more of this person. He decides to ask.

“I have no name, little one. For I am He Who Is Not.”

“Why have you come here?” the boy asks.

“I have always been here. I know your struggle, young Seyos. I know you feel lost. Tell me. Do you believe Avaross is to blame for your misery and that of your kin?”

The boy does not know what to say. He does not wish to lie. But he does not truly know if he blames Father. Perhaps a part of him does, even if he had not allowed himself to acknowledge it all this time.

“...You love Avaross, even now?”

That, at least, the boy can answer. “Yes, of course I do. He is my father.”

“You are a good son.”

The boy does not know what to think or feel. Somehow, this man reminds him of how Father used to be. There is... a warmness there that the boy has not felt in a very long time.

“I will try to help you if I can.”

But just as quickly as the man had arrived, He Who Is Not is gone again.

The boy is more conflicted than ever. More confused than ever. He wants to leave, to travel and learn more of He Who Is Not, but the boy is scared.

So he stays.

And things continue to worsen. The Hun’Kui do not organize. Or rather, they cannot. Whenever they try, others among them arrive to rob and murder them, to take from those who have worked hard for what they have. It is not just.

Yet Father continues trying to change the Hun’Kui’s very nature with words alone. Even though He was the one who made them that way. He wants them to choose to do the right thing on their own. He wants them to be moral, as the Hun’Sho are moral.

Or does He? The boy does not truly know anymore. Avaross is a mystery to him now.

But it does not matter. The boy is powerless to do anything. This is the domain of Avaross and none may go against His will.

And then it happens.

Avaross disappears.

There was no warning. No trace left behind. He is simply gone.

And no one knows what to do.

The Hun’Kui panic. And so do the Hun’Sho, though in a more reserved manner. Without guidance or protection, the world is suddenly much more terrifying.

Soon, however, a man wrapped entirely in bandages arrives. He does not speak, but he carries a message for the Hun’Sho and Hun’Kui.

A message from He Who Is Not.

“You are now free,” it reads. “Do as you will, and have will as you do it. All that I can do for you, I have now done. Goodbye.”