[The Stone Garden] Sharing Thoughts (solo)

[Elmoch]

29th day of Spring, 511AV.

There were so many boulders. Everywhere. The environment almost invited Elmoch's mind to travel away from his body, through all of the history it embodied. His gaze became lost for a few chimes, somewhere far away, while his mind drifted between several different thoughts that emerged at random. He could certainly try to stop it, try to force his mind to stop. But it was so much easier to simply let the thoughts flow, to allow the current to take him to a very far place. An old man was there, observing Elmoch from not very far away, unnoticed. He suddenly poked Elmoch, taking him back from very far, almost surprising him. He was used to such surprises, however.

"You're not really from here, are you?" questioned the mysterious man, who wore fine clothes, a long gray beard and a walking cane. He looked rather wise, and probably had considerable wealth. In contrast, Elmoch almost looked like some vagabond or a beggar, it was rather surprising for a man of such apparent prosperity to actually want to interact with him.

"No, I am not. I come from a very far land, but I have no place to call home," answered Elmoch, with the usual smile on his face.

"Oh! You must have been to the wilds then! I've never really known what it is like, I've spent my whole life in Syliras, and I intend to die here," said the man, stopping his speech to take a breath to then make a question "How is it that you endured all of the disorder of the wilds? Syliras is a safe place, we have rights, we have knights, we have order."

Elmoch cackled. "It is bad indeed, but not overly so. There are many risks of course, but where can one truly be safe?" he questioned.

"I feel pretty safe here," the old man asserted, "Syliras has everything one expects of a place to call home."

Elmoch seemed puzzled for a moment while scratching his beard. "Really? There are so many restrictions here that I wouldn't even know where to begin with. It is almost like every single person is eager to give every single bit of freedom they have left so that the knights can take over their lives. What is it that you people fear so much?"

"Are you insane? Taking those measures are necessary in days such as this, you can't just roam around the city swinging swords," said the old man, with a terrible look on his face, as if questioning Elmoch's sanity. "The dangers from outside could destroy Syliras at any moment if the Knights were not here. They do it for our own good."

"Hahaha! You're can't be serious!" cried Elmoch. "You see, I don't know much about politics, but one thing I know from my life experience, which is that some people and some races are inclined to serve, and they need strong leaders to control their lives, because they can't do it on their own," he gave his voice a pause, to further think on how to complement his words. "But I believe you people just give way too much away for the sake of your own security, and fool yourselves into believing that it is a good thing when that's not necessarily the case. Can't you see where this is going?"

"What!? Have you no respect for what this garden represents!? For every single boulder here there is one hero who fell for the sake of our ideals. Who are you to question our ways!?" The old man seemed rather angry as the words left his mouth with an increased tone. "And what do you suggest, that people take over and fight the knights? That's absurd!"

"People taking over...? No, I don't think so. And I can't really picture something like that happening in Syliras, no. I'm just saying that this place isn't one I'd enjoy calling home."

"You're saying that because you've never had something taken away from you by the chaos you so much desire," sharply said the old man, with a sad expression.

Elmoch's smile had disappeared. His pupils contracted for a moment after hearing the man's words, his eyes got a bit watery and he lost focus on the conversation. The memory of Anya blinked in his mind. Elmoch had never blamed a government for his long lost love's death, for she was not even within city walls when it happened. But it was murder. It was chaos that took her from him, was it not? No, that was not so for Elmoch. "It was evil," Elmoch thought, "Not the freedom that they had." That was his true enemy, the foe that embodied her murderers in his memories. "Evil exists everywhere, and evil can take over governments too." With a corrupt government that could rule everyone with iron fists, by taking their liberties away, that would be a nightmare for people like him.

"Power corrupts people," said Elmoch, remembering his master's warnings on sweet whispers, "those who have it in excess will only want more and more. That's when you know that something is going wrong."