“You have the appearance of a human being, but we both know that you are something more, Hybrid.”
Jarred hesitated a moment. “You don’t know anything about me . . . and
stop
calling me that.”
“I know a great deal more than you might think, Jarred, son of Kaylem and Tishara Archer.”
Taken aback, Jarred stopped in his tracks and turned to face the small being, his heart nearly stopping in his chest. “What are you talking about?”
“Your parents,” she replied. “I speak of them.”
Jarred stood frozen, almost unable to breath. He knew nothing of his parents. Not their faces. Not their names. He knew nothing from that part of his life. Orna was claiming to know not only of his missing past, but of them as well. It was almost too much to comprehend. He had spent years searching for answers, finding nothing. Now, this strange being, which he knew nothing about, seemed on the cusp of answering the questions that had plagued him for so long. He wanted to press her for more. Hear all that she had to tell him, but at the same time he was hesitant and forced himself to hold back. Orna had been stringing him along since their first meeting, avoiding his questions and leaving him with her riddles instead. But more than that, he wasn’t entirely sure he
wanted
to know. He had given up the search for answers, doing so because he had convinced himself he was better off not knowing. Being so close to unravelling the mystery now, he felt a great deal of conflict, wanting to run away just as much as he wanted to stay and hear more.
Cautiously, he chose the second option. “You knew my . . .
parents
?”
“As I said,” Orna began, continuing to walk forward, “there is much about you that I know. What I am curious to learn is what
you
know about yourself.”
Moving to catch up to her, Jarred persisted. “Orna, you started this. Stop avoiding all of
my
questions. It’s all you’ve done since I met you and the routine is getting old. Give me a straight answer for once. What do you know of my parents?”
Orna gave him a curious look. “What do
you
know of them?”
Jarred felt ready to explode with rage. This being continued to offer him answers, but only ever seemed to turn his questions back in on him. Considering everything he had been through since meeting her, he was in no mood to continue playing her games. And yet, he was still here. He hadn’t stormed off, as he had felt he should. Just as he had not left her where he found her on Isyss. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt that beneath all of the riddles and backward talk, Orna held the key to answers he had sought for much of his life. If he wanted them, he would have to play her game.
“Nothing,” he answered her, finally, letting out the tension filled breath he had been holding. “I have no memory of them.”
“Truly?” Orna commented, not sounding at all surprised by his admission. “Unfortunate that you recall nothing of their lives. And so little of your own.”
Jarred felt his blood chill as he locked gazes with the mysterious being that seemed to know more about him than he was comfortable with.
“It must be difficult for you,” she continued. “Being unaware of your past. How can you know yourself without it?”
“Enough,” Jarred cut her off. “Enough games. Enough riddles. How do you know these things? How do you know
me
?”
Orna did not reply immediately, appearing thoughtful as she looked out at the landscape, almost as if reminiscing. “I met your parents before you were born,” she began, finally. They were both . . .
special
, like you, and dedicated to using their gifts in the aid of something . . .
greater
than themselves. Something good. Something worthy of giving their lives for.” She paused a moment, allowing time for the statement to sink in.
Jarred had always suspected his parents were gone. Yet, hearing Orna say as much still stung him. They were one of the mysteries of his past, never to be reunited with. He felt a pang of loss, somewhere deep within himself, perhaps in a place that still stored some memory of them, knowing with certainty that he would never see them again. He allowed the brief sadness to pass on its own, instead of forcing it away, and looked to Orna to continue.
“It is rare that two of their kind would find each other,” she said, seeming to know he was ready to hear more. “The result of such a union would be quite potent. Any offspring would be . . .
unique
, even amongst others of your kind. Your birth represented hope for many of us, including your parents.”
Jarred cocked a brow at her last statement. “Hope? Hope for what?”
“For
everything
,” she answered him, matter-of-factly.
The statement surprised him more than many of things she had revealed to him over the course of their dialogues, and that was saying something. The answer caught him off guard, mostly because he had no idea what it meant. “I’m not following you,” he said, finally.
Orna didn’t speak for what seemed like an eternity as they continued walking. “Events,” she began, slowly, “that have already passed and those that have yet to transpire are relative to one another in time and space. If one of the two plains was distorted, the lines dividing past, present and future could be altered. There are some who have the ability to shift their consciousness, to propel their minds across these plains and glimpse the universe without time. Such beings have foretold many things that have come to pass. Millennia ago, they prophesied a union between two of your kind, the offspring of which would be a weapon against great evil.”
“A
prophecy
?” Jarred repeated the word to ensure he had heard it correctly. He had believed Orna to be a strange being, if not a bit enigmatic, but he wouldn’t have labeled her as delusional, which was clearly the case. “You’re saying my birth was . . .
prophesied
. . . and
I’m
this weapon against evil.”
Orna did not seem fazed by his obvious disbelief. “I understand your skepticism.”
“Oh, you picked up on that, did you?”
“You have said that you want answers,” she went on. “I can lead you to them, but it is up to you to accept them or not.”
Jarred shook his head at the absurdity of the conversation. He had been thrown off by her seeming knowledge of his past, and of his lost memory of it, but now he was just beginning to think she was on the wrong side of sane.
“It is difficult for you to see past the physical realm of this world,” Orna continued. “The, still dominant, homo-sapien in you is not well equipped to do so. In time that will change.”
“Well, right now the homo-sapien in me thinks you’ve blown a fuse.”
“You do not need to rely on my words alone. You can find the truth for yourself. The path to your own enlightenment can begin here, if you should choose to take the first step and open your mind. You must accept that nothing in this universe occurs by chance. Our meeting was not coincidence. All of the events which have occurred have done so in order to bring us here, to this crucial point in time, so that you may begin on the path to fulfilling your destiny.”
“What are you talking about?” Jarred was actually stunned by the path their conversation had taken. “You’re here because of Sierra and her resistance pals and whatever it is they want with you. I was just unlucky enough to get caught up in this mess with all of you . . .
temporarily
.”
Orna looked thoughtful. “They have their parts to play, as we all do. They were also the means to which we would be brought together. As was the man you hunted, who led you to the moon where the ship I was aboard had been forced to land. So too, the young woman and her brother, who convinced you to give me aid.”
Jarred was suddenly taken aback . . . yet again. “Wait. How did you know that?”
“All of these things,” she continued, seeming to ignore his question, “were needed for our paths to cross and to bring us here to this
sacred
place.”
Jarred followed Orna’s gaze as she looked out at the mountainous region before them. They had come to the edge of a steep cliff wall that gave way to a breathtaking view of the serene landscape. It reminded him of the place he had once called home, which was probably the reason for the strange feelings of familiarity he had been experiencing since arriving here. Pulling himself away from the view, he returned his attention to Orna.
“What
about
this place?” he asked.
“It is here that your journey begins,” she answered.
Jarred shook his head at her, a bit dumbfounded. “What journey?”
She blinked her large eyes at him, a look he had grown accustomed to seeing, though he was no closer to understanding its meaning. “That is for you to discover.”
Jarred rolled his eyes and let out a tired sigh.
“One’s destiny cannot be delivered to them,” she continued. “It is a path that must be walked.”
“What if I don’t believe in any of these things you’re talking about. Destiny or good and evil?”
“Soon enough, you will,” she replied, the statement causing a chill to run up Jarred’s spine. “There are forces at work in this universe that you cannot yet comprehend, but the time is drawing near when you
will
have to face them. But you are not yet ready to do so. You have squandered your gifts with aimless wanderings, running from your past and the path that has been laid out before you.”
Jarred’s confusion quickly turned to anger and he snapped back at the small being. “This is
my
life to choose! No one else’s! I decide where it leads. You’re not the first to try and tell me what path to travel. The last one was the closest thing to a family I’ve ever known, and I didn’t listen to him. What makes you think I would listen to you?”
“I do not expect you to listen to me,” Orna returned, once he had finished blasting her. “I expect you to follow your heart. To do what is right.”
“What is
right
,” Jarred echoed, almost laughing. “Can you tell me what that is exactly?”
“I cannot,” she answered him. “It is something one must decide for one’s self.”
“Of course,” Jarred scoffed. “How convenient that every question can be answered that way. Well let me tell you something about the universe we find ourselves in. I’ve travelled to its darkest corners and I’ve seen the foul nature of the people in it. It isn’t all warm and fuzzy. It’s a cold, dark place.”
“It is darker than you know,” Orna said. “You have only glimpsed its foul elements. Far worse things than you have ever encountered lurk beyond the rim of your perceptions. And they will soon be upon us. You must be prepared for them.”
Jarred shook his head. “You’ve got the wrong person. I’m no one’s hero. There’s no
path
for me. Like everyone else, I’m just trying to go my own way.”
Orna stared at him for a long moment. “Perhaps you are right. Perhaps I have misjudged you.”
“You wouldn’t be the first.”
Orna continued to regard him, her dark alien eyes seeming to look straight through him. “There
is
a light in you, Jarred Archer. Even if you choose not to see it. You may choose to cloak yourself if the persona of one that cares only for himself, but your light will always shine through it. You cannot hide the truth of yourself. And you cannot run from that truth forever. There comes a time in every person’s life when they must come to terms with and accept who they are.”
Jarred let out a weary breath as he turned away to stare out at the mountainous scene before him again, feeling almost fatigued from the battle of words he was quickly learning he could not win. More so, much of what she was saying was striking a sensitive nerve inside him. As much as he wanted to deny it, some of it was the truth. He
was
and
had been
hiding from who he was. He didn’t want to face it. It had been easier to pretend he wasn’t . . . what he was. That way he didn’t have to try to understand or come to terms with it. Whether he believed in the things she was saying or not, this strange being, in some part, knew him, had known his parents, and claimed to know something of his future. If she could truly lead him to the answers he had spent so much of his life avoiding . . . then maybe it was time he finally stopped running from them.
“And how do I accept who I am . . . if I don’t
know
who I am,” he asked, turning back to face the small being.
She was still watching him, patiently, as if having been simply waiting for him to work through his own inner conflict, already knowing the conclusion he would eventually come to.
“Then you must learn.”
Chapter 21