The Road We Walk, (part 3)

It rings out from behind him, sounding like a large poorly oiled gear. He turns around to see where it is coming from. Behind him, through the distorted haze, he can glimpse a vast lake. In the lake, he can see someone waving for help. Strangely enough, she seems clearer than the area around her. He could see that she was female--and that her hair was red.

This somehow strikes a chord in him. He remembers the dreams, he remembers the Princess with her flame-red hair, he remembered all the people who he has killed or harmed. Frederigo D'Honaire desperately wants to help her. Yet the Brazen Man stays his hand. And he cannot escape the feeling that this is somehow significant, more so than the fate of one woman alone.

To this day, he would not be sure why he did what he did. Perhaps D'Honaire did prevail after all, out of love for Astra or remorse over all he had done. Or perhaps even then he has an idea of what is at stake, and the Brazen Man in part consented as well. After all, there is no point in ruling over a destroyed universe.

At any rate, he finds himself rushing to the woman's aid. As he does, he feels great joy as D'Honaire becomes free of the Brazen Man's chains. He leaps into the water. Although he had not been a very good swimmer as D'Honaire, he now is able to swim better than ever. It is as if absorbing the Crystallic has somehow given him abilities that he has never had before. Yet he is disturbed, as he realizes that as he draws on this power the shadow of the Brazen Man increases in his mind.

He ignores that and tries to concentrate on his swimming, although a minute ago he had done this without really concentrating. He reaches the woman, and grabs her in his arms, then swims back toward the shore.

He is shocked to find that she is still gasping as if she was still in the water. He soon finds that no mere mouth-to-mouth resuccitation will help her. Something is wrong. There is no way he can help her. No, there is a way. He can examine her more thoroughly, examine her timestream, in a way most mortals cannot, in a way that as the Brazen Man even he could not have done before. He does not know how he knows this, he merely does. But to do so, he must once more utilize the Brazen Man. Sadly, he reaches into his mind and once more the two become one. He has trouble reading her timestream, as he must fight constantly against the Brazen Man, but soon realizes what is wrong. This woman is not a woman. She is a living time machine. She had been drowning not in the water but in the temporal instability.

He realizes what he must do. Somehow, within her is something resembling a primitive Crystallic. The Crystallic within him resonates with that within her, his mind joins with her mind. She waves her hand and a door appears. He enters and finds himself in a fairly large room with a black jagged console. He moves toward the console and guides the woman's movements with his mind, supporting her strength with his. And she leaves the universe, materializing in a nearby analog universe. It is on the Earth of their universe, in a location corresponding to where they had been. She looks around, then collapses. The man who had not long ago been the Brazen Man steps out of thin air and attends to her.

The woman/ time machine is now barely conscious, but recovering. To bring her back to her full functionality, certain complex repairs will have to be conducted. He does not know if he knows how to do them, but he knows that she will live.

It is now night. He has been watching over her for several hours. Although she still lives, she has not yet become conscious. He looks at her, and ponders. He had been disappointed to find that the woman was not an Astra, after all. She seems somewhat similar, but the face is wrong, the cheeks are slightly chubby in such a way as to suggest to uncharitable minds a chipmunk. And her hair was not as bright, strawberry blonde rather than the flame red hair of Astra. It is odd, how it had seemed so bright in the heat of the moment. Perhaps it had been the temporal distortion.

There is a lake here in this world, too. He looks into it. The familiar brazen mask covered in verdegris leers back at him. Cautiously, somewhat reluctantly, he takes off the mask. He holds it in his hand, pondering. If he wanted to, he could leave this world. His army of Dark Champions still waited for him. The girl's fate was unimportant. He could let her die.

His concience then reasserts itself. He could not let her die. He would let her live here, then abandon his role as the Brazen Man, and become a servant of the Rules and Agents--

No. He was the Brazen Man. He would serve no one. But...

He looks towards the lake. He could see the outline of his face. He realizes that he had not seen his own face under the mask for far too long. With a burst of strength and will, he throws the mask into the lake. It sinks to the bottom. He smiles, feeling truly free for the first time in centuries. But he also feels a note of regret, for what he has lost.

1. Then he sees the reflection of a man standing behind him.

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