Many days passed again and Rhea-Nori was now ablaze with executions. The city council exerted its full power over the poor denizens, in response to a sudden increase in rate of homicides in the city.
Many people suspected to have aided Rahiel or have some sort of connection to him, whether they actually did or did not, were hunted down and publicly executed. Some beheaded, some hanged, some thrown off the high city walls. The whole city was driven into fear and insecurity. What was taken as a silly issue of debate, was being acted on in cold, calculated order.
Guards constantly barged into the homes of those who lived in the slums, searching for any evidence to complicate potentially dangerous individuals. The city was tightly locked down as they concluded that Rahiel was in the city, on the basis of prevalent murders within the confines of the outer city.
He had to be.
Quantum watched all that went on and of course, was unmoved; he only had a few days left. The course of events in the world always seemed to favor his plans, yet wiuld always surprise him at the end.
Above all the turmoil however, there was one thing constantly on his mind.
Nhea.
She hadn't come to visit in a long time. Of course, she was going through a lot on her own. She was very fragile and extremely vulnerable.
It hurt Quantum that such a wonderful child would soon be left on her own to deal with the foolishness of the world.
Soon, Nhea wouldn't see Quantum again.
It was inevitable.
The natural course of things. He desired to join his brethren after all. He had been through too much, seen too much and lasted too long. More than two and a half millennia of memories, he had stored up in his mind. He had wandered hundreds of miles towards a voice calling out to him from the east, passing through deserts, rainforests, storms and heatwaves, just to reach it. However, he had reached the end of the line. His strength had ebbed with the centuries that passed.
He needed to end it, naturally, giving them what they wanted.
And just as this thought passed through his mind, Nhea came. She looked worse off than she was the last time he saw her. She was barely ten years old, yet she looked stressed, as though she were thrice her age. There were dark circles under her amber eyes, which seemed to have lost the childish innocence they once beamed with.
She came slowly, passing her hands on the wall and sat with a thump, as though a huge load was dropped on the ground.
Her face was downcast. Her clothes dirty. She didn't even greet like she usually did. She sat with her legs flat on the ground, her hands on her thighs, looking straight. Her behavior was more than strange.
It was simply bizzare.
She opened her mouth, but no words came out. She wanted to say something, but it was almost as if she didn't know what to say.
The orange light of the dusk sun streaked into the alley. That day, the shopkeeper of the meat shop hadn't opened. It was closed off and empty, the dust of the road painting the wooden sides of the stand. The place became silent, as the calls of bords in the distanc, ceased.
"Nhea, what is the matter? What has happened?", Quantum inquired, desperate to know what was going on in the girl's mind.
The same thing happened again. Open mouth, lips quivering, no response.
"Nhea, please, speak to me", Quantum pleaded.
Nhea slowly rose up, got on all fours and crawled to Quantum. Before Quantum knew what was happening, Nhea was in his lap, sobbing. She held his cloak to her face and wiped her tears with it, weeping without restraint.
It seemed that was all she did lately.
It was all she could do.
She cried, "I wish you were with me. I wish you were my father. "
The shrill caws of crows suddenly filled the air, as a murder passed in the skies above.
"Apart from my mom, everybody's mean to me, except you. Nobody likes me. Nobody cares aboiy me. Im always running away from them...I dont want them to hurt me..." A crow came to perch on the hood of the stand opposite to the alley, flapping its black wings.
"Why aren't you there when I need you? Now...she's gone...and she won't come back again!".
Quantum was left in silence, dumbstruck. The crow suddenly shrieked, its head turned towards the skies, and flew away. Its crues followed it in the distance, filling the air with shrill insecurity.
She lay in his bosom for a while before she calmed down and explained.
"The guards came to our house today. They broke down the door and entered. They said they were looking for my father."
She sniffled and continued, "My mother told them that he wasn't there. He hadnt been home for many days. They told my mom that my father had done something bad and they were coming to take him away. And since he with us...
...we were accomplices to his crime."
She paused. There was a creak, as a stray cat leapt onto a large wooden box, breaking the silence. It stared at Quantum, its green eyes shining in the dying light of the Sun.
Nhea took a deep breath, and then continued," My mom cried and cried, but they dragged her away. They were about to take me away, but my mother told them I was innocent. That they could do whatever they wanted with her, as long as they left me alone."
Nhea grit her teeth as she cried, her tears streaking down her darkened countenace as she spoke.
"My mother told me, while she struggled...'Nhea...don't worry about anything, okay?'
She was crying and her eyes were red. She gave me a look, even as she struggled with the guards, as though...I would never see her again. Oh, I could tell. She had never given me that look before...
She said, before they pulled her head out the door, 'Live, Nhea. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. But please...Live...for me....please.'
I don't know what my mother told them, but they left me alone, and took her away. I couldn't say anything. I could barely even move. I didn't understand what had happened. We didn't do anything. So why did they take my mom away? I didn't even get to say goodbye…just GOODBYE! I'm not going to…to see her a-again."
She erupted into tears once more, and then coughed hard as the phlegm rose in her throat. Her tears cut through the air like sharp blades, lighting flames of pain and sympathy in Quantum.
Between sobs she added, "I don't have anyone else but you."
Quantum was shaken to his core. He didn't know what to say to console her.
"Say something", she cried," Please". Quantum said, "Everything is going to be all–"
"NO! NO! No…it WONT!".
There was silence after Quantum was cut off. "You know it won't", she whimpered.
Never in his life had he been pierced by words to such an extent. It didn't please him to watch the life of a young girl crumbling apart. He wondered if that was how the relationship would end. Of course, it had to end at a certain point. But why like this?
Quantum reflected upon all his encounters with humans in the past. They were short, bittersweet and stung badly in the end. This one, however, was the worst one yet. Or rather, the worst he would ever have.
The strength of his resolve never to interfere in human matters again began to dwindle until it seemed less like concrete pillars and more like old wooden poles, made rotten and weak by the cries of the child. However, whether solid concrete or old wood, the resolve still stood. He would not interfere. He was practically already dead. He could do nothing anymore, but watch the world run its course about him.
A desire began to kindle deep within him, but he had to snuff it out. It hurt him how things run their course, yet he had to accept them as they were in preparation for his release, from the shackles of the world. He had to deny this one, no matter how much he held her in his heart.
His sun had set.
"Nhea", he began, after a long silence, darkness rushing to fill the alley,
"There is nothing I can do."
The words of his voice echoed through the alley and it seemed as though everything, even the silence itself, stopped in its tracks. The girl began to shake and shudder within his lap. Her eyes wide and countenance darkening. She whimpered and cried.
"I don't want to go…I don't know where to go! Please…please…"
Her cries cut through the new darkness, as the sun disappeared over the horizon. Quantum insisted, his voice almost fighting against itself, "Nhea you need to let go."
"No…no…no…", she cried bitterly.
Quantum insisted again, his voice stronger, "Nhea, you need to let go."
Nhea's grip tightened on his cloak.
Quantum insisted for the third time, grabbing her shoulder, "NHEA. Go. Home."
Nhea let go all of a sudden, getting to her feet quickly. "There is no home…", she said, wiping the tears of her face vehemently, "There's nowhere for me…". She took step and ran out of the alley, tears falling as she ran. Quantum was now alone, within him the guilt of breaking a little girl's heart. He wanted to call her back, but he couldn't.
He shunned himself.
Quantum closed his heart, as he knew that was the last time, he would experience any feeling in his life.
He slowly brought his hands, drawn towards the entrance to the alley, down, and went back to holding his spear. Something nice had begun and had ended quite abruptly. His blue eyes stared into the darkness that surrounded him, a confused heart and an unfulfilled mind.