?????
I watched the exchange happen, heard every word and found it all the more exhilarating. Intriguing, I thought to myself as the woman suddenly vanished, Did she notice me? Or did she notice him? I turned to my left, seeing the man grasp the railing in front of him and I could only imagine the expression beneath his mask.
"Now now, I only brought you here to show you one of the many events where things start to go wrong," I spoke up and the man whipped his head around to look at me. "Oh come on, don't look at me like that, I am doing this for your benefit, believe it or not."
"Why? Why bring me here then? Just to be an observer." The man's voice was irrevocably changed by the mask he wore, in a way that each word felt as if someone else spoke it. It reminded me of something else, funny how things seem to feel the same.
"I brought you here to show you a choice, one that you will have to make, but in order for me to do that, I need to show you something first," the man sighed as he placed a hand on my shoulder. The scene around us changed, where the world was bright and intact, here, a thick smog of ash and dust coveted the road. "Come with me," I ordered and the man followed, coughing at the sudden change in atmosphere.
"Where is this?" he asked.
"Better question is when," I started, placing my hand against the wall, taking off a coating of stained blood. "This is twenty years in the future, I wanted to show you this," I led him into one of the rooms, though using the word rooms, gave the destruction too much credit. Inside was an old television, displaying a figure that the man knew instantly.
"Sebastian," he muttered to himself, as he watched the screen. Watched as swarms of enemies assaulted him and how he thought them off. I stayed quiet, just watching the screen and the man's reaction. "Why bring me here ?" He asked, keeping his eyes on the screen, "just to prove Isaac right or something?"
"That's not why I brought you here, keep watching," I ordered. I watched the man with piqued interest.
"No, no," he finally said aloud, dropping to his knees and I looked at the screen, seeing the familiar scene of his friend's death.
"That thing, that is what Isaac is training Sebastian to fight, but give me an honest opinion, do you believe your friend will be able to kill that thing?" I asked and watched as the man tried to think of a response.
"Yes," he said with uncertainty.
"Are you sure?"
"What do you want me to say? Do you want me to acknowledge that he will fail, that he will never survive?"
"That's not my intention."
"Then why show me this!"
"To show you what he must always face, but with Isaac's meddling, something new has appeared that may change the future, change this outcome," I placed my hand on him and brought him back to where we stood overlooking the earlier exchange. "Find and follow that woman, then you will realise what I am talking about." With that, I left him there as I left to go have a look at the other pawns that I had coveted.