The Shades/One More Death

This is a prequel minisode for The Shades. It hints at conflicts in the future.

Minisode
Daras closed his eyes, and reached out for the Enemy. Nothing, again. Not a trace of her.

He took a look backwards down the trail. Savara was keeping up a slow but even gait across the rocks of this gods-forsaken planet. He knew that she was frustrated with their lack of progress. He couldn't really blame her.

He stopped on an outcrop and began to pitch a tent. "We'll stop here for now," he told his colleague.

Savara gave a sigh of relief and lay on her side. "That is brilliant. I cannot remember the last time I've been this tired. I'm as exhausted as a hibernating Wirrn."

Daras gave a nervous chuckle as he finished the tent. Savara was seeming a little more cheery. Maybe he wouldn't have to have that chat with her after all...

"Daras," Savara began cautiously, "I'd like to speak to you about something important. Please bear with me here..."

The overseer closed his eyes.

"It's about our mission," the other Kalossian went on. "I just... I'm just not sure if we're doing the right thing anymore."

I knew she would continue, he thought angrily. ''I saw it coming, but as usual I could do nothing to avert the future. One more death, one more death because I can't stop what I see...''

Daras began unzipping the tent with his paws. "What Mind are you in?" he asked, making a grimace that she couldn't see.

"Think Mind," she replied, seeming confused. "Why?"

Because you're thinking far too much, thought Daras. "You must be tired being in a single Mind all the time. Change to another Mind and we can have a conversation."

"But..."

"Do it. You can get stuck on a Mind if you wear it too long."

Savara hesitated, but she obeyed. Her eyes closed, a shiver goinig down her body as she made the change. She blinked for a moment, and her mannerisms showed Daras she'd entered Child Mind. He felt a slight twinge of guilt as he realized how much she must trust him.

But fortunately guilt was something he'd worked very hard to purge himself of. "Let's have a drink," he said. "Perhaps we can chat over a cup of Tonguetea."

She agreed with a substantial amount of enthusiasm, and they entered the tent. He poured them each a cup and sat down.

"I understand you have some doubts about our mission," he said kindly. There was a time when he would have entered Deception Mind for such a conversation. He wondered what it meant that he no longer needed it. Practice made perfect, he supposed.

"That is true," replied Savara a little more confidently. "I just... I wonder if what we're doing is right."

"Of course it's right," said Daras pointedly. "I would think anyone regardless of species could agree that Evil is a trait which is to be found and destroyed."

"Of course," the other Kalossian said. "But are we really doing that? Are we destroying Evil, or are we acting with Evil in our minds and souls?"

Daras took another sip and thought for a moment. Savara was beginning to look uncomfortable again, slowly thinking as she lapped up her Tonguetea. She likely had memorized her arguments before bringing them up. She spoke again.

"We've been to dozens of worlds, Daras. We've been to Krillith, Earth, Pyrovillia, Capeloca, and every miserable little rock where an odd cardiologist report was filed. And yet the only Evil we've found is that which we brought with us. I doubt our Enemy has brought nearly as much pain and suffering as we have."

"Trust me when I say that she has."

"Just because you've become Nayze's personal hound doesn't mean the rest of us have."

He fixed Savara with a sharp stare. She looked embarassed. "I apologize," she said softly. "I spoke out of turn to you. Perhaps I should change my Mind again..."

"No," Daras replied quickly. "You are right. Your superiors have been vague to you. It is difficult living with a guilty conscious when you are not even convinced it was for a cause. But I assure you, our Enemy is the most dangerous of enemies. If she succeeds with what she plans... the universe will suffer. It will burn, Savara. What we've done is nothing compared to what she will do given the chance."

"I find that hard to believe," Savara whispered. "I... I've killed people, Daras. Not even Evil people. People who were in the way. I killed them like they were verminfish getting in my way."

Daras fixed her with a cold stare.

"I can't do it anymore," she continued, not meeting his eyes. "I... I'm going to the Shadow Proclamtion, Daras. I need to tell them what we've done. I need to make ammends for what we've done."

"You still don't understand," said Daras softly. His tone changed nonetheless, becoming more hostile. "You still think as if you were a babe stuck in Child Mind. Even in Battle Mind, you see the world in black and white. You don't understand when cruelty is necessary."

"There are worse things to be ignorant of," Savara shot back, her body trembling. She didn't seem to be noticing the sweat gathering in her fur.

"Not in war," replied Daras. "When your Enemy is tricky, you must be trickier. When your Enemy is stealthy, you must be stealthier. When your Enemy is cruel, you must exceed them in cruelty."

Savara looked at him as if she were seeing him for the first time. She didn't seem to like what she saw. "What did Nayze do to you?" she hissed.

"The worst thing he could have possibly done," Daras said with a chill growl. "He showed me how to save the universe."

Savara suddenly began shaking, her body moving in harsh spasms. Her eyes closed, and he knew she was entering Think Mind in her desperation.

"Liar!" she shouted, making a jerking motion towards her pistol.

Knowing what she'd do beforehand, Daras knocked her paw away from the weapon. She looked at him with a mix of anger and grief.

"You are a good user of Minds," Daras said gently. "Not the best I've ever seen, but a fine user. If you were in Think Mind at the start you would have seen the poison long before you drank it.

Savara was on the ground, her breathing ragged. Her side moved up and down with every painful breath, before slowing to a stop.

Daras closed his eyes to shield himself from the sight. "I'm sorry," he said to the corpse. "I really wish you could have lived to see your good work come to fruition. I wish you'd seen your family again."

He always liked to talk to the people he killed. He didn't know why. Just a peculiar quirk of the Mind he wore, he supposed.

One more death, he thought. He always thought that. Just one more death, and the universe will be safe.

One more death...

Maybe some day it would be true. But for now, he searched.