49 Unspoken Words

The orbs of light hanging on the circular tower not far from where he was lighted Jakob's face. The veil of rain splits the lights. On the community, there was a group of people opening the hatches so that the floodwater whirls down the drain. From the second-floors of the buildings, there were men and women dressed in thick gray clothing.

Jakob rested his back on the bench. He looked up. The flyers of Aured City numbered about hundreds a day. The city consumed fuel than any of the bastion cities. He had been ignorant of the world. Jakob did not have to know about the city. All he knows back then was how to survive a day outside of the city.

Jakob clenched his fist. He had done something to change something. He did not know what it was that made things turned out this way, but he could not understand the empty feeling. The feelings he had while in battle were like momentary and fleeting.

"I really cannot do it," Jakob said. The rainwater was like spray hitting his face. "It seems that I cannot do it. I am far too weak for this."

Jakob Recker was an old dog barking at anyone. He was a rabid dog. He could not see himself past that. He did what he did for no reason other than he followed his thoughts. Jakob thought back. If this world were really going to change its course, then would that mean that his memories are useless? No, he suspected that the moment he shot Dion Bismark that he had change the path of this train.

He should be happy, but knowing how tiresome it was. Jakob Recker held his head and rubbed it rather forcibly. He could not care about his wet clothes or the cold wind. Jakob Recker's head was a mess. His eyes were half-open. His hands loosed as if he just wanted to drown on this rain.

"Then will they leave this planet soon? Or will that be a problem?"

Jakob could recall the night where they saw the spaceships breaking the orbit, leaving them for good. That horrendous sight of humanities best leaving the rest of the world in the mercy of the beluas and etherians was still fresh in his mind.

The technology that Aured has was not a joke. It was advance and they have their technologies that would allow them to surpass this planet. After all, they abandoned this world to go for the nearest planet that drifted near the planet. A planet was green and untainted by the belua. Jakob was the one who recovered the data from their drives. His head went numb in anger as the best of the world abandoned the people. Jakob could not blame them. They simply lose hope when the etherians started getting more powerful. The ether was not enough to control them, it could threaten but they were not the weapons that could contend with the etherians and the beluas.

It was only a few months since then. Jakob thought he should be far happier than this. However, it only made him want to kick the ground and break things. If things were so simply to change then why would they lost the world to the burning?

Jakob was ignorant of the known world. He thought that he might have gone senile, not knowing the other cities in the world. How could he know the cities when in his past world they all burn before he could get the chance to remember them? The beluas kept evolving. He kept on fighting in the frontlines until he realized that he was not a young man any longer. He had grown wrinkled and even the best enchantment could not change that.

"These people are not them," Jakob said. "This is a parallel world different from what I know. If I am right then why does it matter? These are not the people that I loved and died for."

That could not change. He could not get the words out until now. The words are stuck in his throat. Even now, he could not maintain the joy that he had. Here he was in a changed world, a world that could do better than the past world that he had, but he could not.

I am really a half-assed trash of an old man, Jakob thought. Just because I change some paths does not mean it will go all smoothly. Destiny is a bitch, I know this already, but why do I want to prove myself so wrong? I should be happy that I still live. That I had done things that I could, Jakob thought. So tell me, why do I feel so hollow?

Jakob did not understand. No, he did understand but a part of him was still confuse. The death he had experienced was so vivid. The pain of the burning as the fire burns his throat. The screams he made until there was no voice he could scream.

Jakob could not dream. Even now, he felt like this was a long dream, a painful one. He took out his communicator. There were messages from Haven. There were also messages from Dona. Jakob crushed his communicator. He dropped it on the ground and stomped it hard with his boot. His expression did not change as he does this. He kicked the communicator out of the way. He stood up. He looked down at the community. He spotted someone appearing out of one of the houses.

Ginger hair, freckles around her cheeks, and hair gathered on her back. She wore simple clothing and she had no makeup. Jakob stared at this figure. He slowed down his perception. Time slowed down to a still as he watches the woman from the distance. As time moves to normal, he turned his back away from the scene. He wiped his cheeks using the back of his hand. He inserted his hands inside his pocket, blowing his nose, and making body-shaking movements as he walks away from that painful sight.