Renegade Swords

by D.M. Ritzlin

Darkness and silence were the natural state of the cosmos, not light and the noises of Life. No wonder the dead hated the living, who disturbed the grey stillness of Infinity with their tinkling laughter.

“But they’re all-powerful,” protested Algru. “They can’t be faced or denied.” “Nonsense, I’ve faced them,” lectured Kardios. “Maybe you should have faced them long ago. They’ve frightened you, crushed you. How?” “They came into Sambarra and made our fathers serve,” said somebody else. “Made them work, raise crops, build for them, work for them. We’ve never known anything else.” “Because of fear,” snapped Kardios. “I got free of fear some thousands of miles away. Now, I won’t stop and listen to any more. I’m going outside. I have a few more gods to kill.”

2020/2021 in a nutshell.

“Don’t you see?” he rallied Algru. “They weren’t gods, not for a moment—only monsters, and they had to be faced. You’re not slaves any more. Take over here, Algru. You act and talk like a sensible man. Maybe you and your people can make Sambarra amount to something.”

Maybe you’ve learned not to take men like me for granted.”

“No man should face a death like this alone, without a comrade at his side. Our ghosts shall wander forever, side by side…”