Salvation
Ice cold wind howls around the snow-covered stones, letting the snowflakes dance wild around Genji. Deadly spikes of crumbled rocks hiding under piles of snow and ice. The path in front of him was barely visible anymore and just a single misstep would lead to certain death. Either into an icy abyss or down a path covered in rocks and ice.
Pulling the loose fabric tighter around his shivering body he took another step against the forceful wind. It was nothing that shielded him from the onslaught of raw strength mother nature showed high up in the Himalayan mountains, but it was all he had been able to take with him. His cybernetic parts stiff and cold, long overdue with an inspection and his upper body only covered by a loose woolen shirt. A thick fabric draped over his shoulders in the attempt to keep his core and the human skin and parts of him warm. His entire body was shaking from the cold already and every step felt like he was pushing against a wall. The wind trying to push him back, as if the mountains did not want his presence on their slopes. Trying to push down the sinner that was trying to climb his way closer to the gods and salvation.
Looking up from the path towards the horizon Genji sees a red flag dance aggressively in the wind, marking another step on his path to the temple he seeks.
How much further could it still be?
Genji had arrived at the village at the foot of the mountain a few days prior in search of the temple that was rumored to be nestled into these mountains. Maybe there he could find guidance on his path, a path he had long lost track of. There was nothing ahead of him anymore, no goal to reach for, just emptiness and a coldness inside that equaled the cold of the snow storm around him. The steps behind him had all crumbled to dust and ash. There was no way back for him, so he kept aimlessly going forward.
After leaving Blackwatch Genji had been wandering the earth. Seeking out places that he had hoped would help him find peace or purpose. It has been several years, but he has still not found a conduit for the emptiness and anger inside. This track into the mountains was his last stand against the pressure inside his mind telling him to let it all go. There was after all nothing left for him in the world anymore. With Blackwatch gone the last people that he had slowly build up trust with had been ripped away from him again. Now Genji was nothing anymore, neither man nor machine. Wandering the earth until his body would give out.
And it seems that it had finally found a rival great enough to force him to his knees. The wind picking up and pushing snow against him. His cybernetics long gone stiff from both the cold and the wetness. Would this be where everything ends? His body covered in snow, lost forever or until the next period of sunshine which uncovers all lost souls who met their end on the winding paths in these mountains.
Reaching the larger boulder in which the red flag has been pushed as a marker Genji sinks to his knees. Looking down his arm and to the hand sinking down into the snow he laughs. A humorless laughter, filled with desperation and fear. The sound of a mad man.
Sitting up on his knees he moves his head up to stare into the greyness of the sky, the wind howling around him, tugging on the fabric around his shoulders. The sound of the flag mixed with his own breathing sounding like it was beating the last strength out of him.
Just when Genji had decided that this was it, that he was too tired to continue his path and his eyes had begun to close behind his mask, had he seen it. A second boulder just like the one he was sitting beside. A second red flag, it’s sound more like that of a beating heart than fists against a weakened body. Muscles stiff and the skin numb where it touches the cold metal of his cybernetics Genji turns to look ahead.
Between the greyness and the snow there was a temple. Nestled against the side of the mountain that Genji had not been able to see before. The wind must have changed direction and revealed the beauty that lay in front of him now.
Maybe not everything seemed to be lost? Was he even allowed to hope for something anymore after all that he has been through and all the things he has done?
With a painful push Genji moves his body to a standing position, leaning heavily against the boulder to steady himself. Taking slow steps, his feet dragging over the snow-covered stones he feels his mind fade. Blackness begins to crawl across his vision and he stumbles over his own feet a few times.
Reaching the large doors, he passes over the threshold, looking up towards the sky before collapsing on to his knees. He made it…but at what price? Staring at the sun that was visible as a bright orb behind all the greyness of the clouds he challenges life itself. Before his body begins falling forwards and hits the ground in a loud sound that echoes in the courtyard Genji wonders one last time.
Was it worth it? Was he worth it?
@gazeintotheiris