Salvation

The cave was quiet and wet. One could say it was dingy, as even the torchlight barely seemed able to chase away the darkness.  The man carrying the torch looked about him, taking in the rough cavern walls, seeming to memorize the position of every fleck of mold, every dribble of slime.

The visitor set the torch down, resting it on a metal stand jutting from it’s shaft.  He cracked his neck quickly, the sound breaking the oppressive silence. It echoed for what seemed like hours as he picked the torch back up and started moving further into the darkness, his boots sounding out a rhythmic tapping against the floor.

After a few moments, he chuckled a bit, and then he quietly spoke. "The torch is high, but the light recedes. I must be going the right way." His rich baritone voice echoed down the cavern much as the cracking of his neck had. He set forth again, the sound of his boots and his own breathing his only companions as the darkness slowly encroached on the light.

After what seemed like days of walking, the man came at last to an ornate door. The light from the torch- the same torch, he thought- cast ominous shadows across the decorations. On the door were two men, twins by the look of them. They looked almost exactly alike, but there's much artistic interpretation can do to a countenance. The twin on the left had the most beatific look of any creature the man had ever seen.  The twin on the right...

The twin on the right looked like the most horrible beast any man could ever be. The most frightening part was that it still looked human.

The man set the torch down again, and reached out for the door. There were two doorknobs, he thought. That's what the oracle told me. He could not see either.

He examined the door for a moment longer, looking for any hint of what he needed to do.  When he found no hints on the door, he looked around himself. The tunnel had opened up into a small cavern, unremarkable in all but it's own plainness.  What few imperfections there were in the room consisted of oddly uniform stalactites and stalagmites.  There were two of each type on the respective sides of the cave, each of them about the same height and shape.

He found his eye drawn by them, though. Their uniformity made him suspicious, and he decided to look them over. He approached the ones on the left first, the side of the beatific twin. The stalagmites only came to his hip; the stalactites were just high enough for him to duck under.

But one of the stalagmites had a deformity, a knob on the bottom. He reached out and touched it. It was loose, and turned easily when pressure was applied. When he turned it nearly a half turn, a click rang out, and he saw the door moved slightly.

He quickly scurried to the other side, and found a similar knob on a stalagmite there. He turned it, and the door slid open.

The darkness within beckoned him.

He answered.

***

Deep inside he found what he was looking for. The twins from the door sat before him, just as the oracle had predicted. They were androgynous, both of them startlingly beautiful. He could not tell which was which, as the artistic affectations from the door were not in evidence here. Neither looked particularly evil or good. They merely were.

As one, they looked up at him. Their startlingly silver eyes, the same color as their long hair, seemed to look into him, into his soul, and through him. It was unnerving, to say the least.

The twin on the right spoke first, his voice rich and melodious. "You have come."

The one on the left spoke as well, his voice a perfect match for his twin's.  "Finally, you have come."

"I have come," the man replied.

"You seek good?" The one on the right said.

"You seek evil?" the one on the left asked.

"I seek to know of good and evil."

"Evil is as good, both only known because of the other.  Without good, evil has no power. Without evil, good has no power," Right said.

"Together we are everything, apart we are nothing," Left commented.

"We cannot live with each other, but we die if apart." Right returned.

"We are the same." Left and Right said, speaking together for once.

"Then I have found the truth," The man thought aloud.

"Since you have found truth, speak what you need to know." Left said.

"Answer we will." Right said.

This was the most dangerous part, he thought.  The temptation. The rest was just ritual, the proper questions to ask. But even though he knew of the temptation, he could not deny the urge to ask a question, even as he resisted.

The two nodded as one.  "The wisest question is silence," Left said.

Right looked to Left. "The wise shall be rewarded."

The twins faded away, leaving the man alone in the barely lit chamber.  He shivered slightly, having just met two of the greatest powers in the world, true embodiments of good and evil, and knowing that he may just walk away from it

But first, he had to wait.

***

Time passed, he did not know how much, but it was long enough for his cheeks to grow itchy with stubble.  The oracle had not said it would be like this, alone and without company for so long. She had said he would know when he was done though, and he knew he was not yet.  When he looked to the door he came through, he could feel no urge to leave, no wish to go back to the surface he left what seemed like an eternity ago.

He was staring out at the dark when a voice came from behind him. It was a child's voice, innocent but certain. "What do you wait for?"

"I wait for what I must wait for," he said.

"Why do you wait for it?"

"Because I must."

The voice was grew more insistent, "But why do you wait for it?"

"To save that which I love."

The voice seemed to grow older as it spoke again, "What do you love?"

"I love..." He stopped for a moment. "I love everything. But mostly, I love her."

"Her?" The voice grew older again.

"Her. The most wonderful girl I ever knew. She may be dead now, for all I know. But I know I must come here, just for the chance to save her."

"Why must she be saved?"

"Because she has lost her way."

Older again, the voice asked, "And you know her way?"

"I know the path she must not tread."

"How?"

"I have walked that path and returned. I know the horrors that come of war for the wrong cause. I know the pain of hearing mothers crying for their children, only to be silenced when their own life’s blood is spilled. I know the face of evil..."

"Why?"

"Because I was the one doing it." The man turned around, and found a mirror before him.

He looked at his own face as if he had never seen it before.  He seemed older than he had when he had last seen himself.  His face was rough and careworn, his cheeks covered with the beginnings of a ginger colored beard, which was a shade darker than his red hair. The hair was long, almost down to his shoulders, and dirty. His face was little better, streaked with dirt and mud, which conspired to cover most of the livid purple scar that ran from his mouth to his left ear.

The mirror disappeared as he looked into it.

"You have seen evil and good," the voice returned, again behind him. "You have done good and evil. What would make you so worthy of having your desire made true?"

"Otherwise, what reason have I to live?"  the man said, his voice cracking and tears beginning to well up in his eyes.

The voice was silent, and for a long moment, the man thought he was alone again.

Then a young woman stepped out of the darkness. She looked to be barely out of her teens, but her eyes spoke of a soul that had seen ages go by. "You speak of desire, but what you have is need. A need that must be fulfilled. Your need is granted, but there is a price.”

"What is it?" the man asked, shocked beyond belief that it could be true.

"For all things there must be a balance. You say you have no reason to live without her. Would you give your life for her?"

The man did not hesitate, nodding as he could not speak.

"Then let it be so." She vanished from his sight.

A sharp stabbing pain ambushed the man, nearly knocking him to the ground in surprise. His vision hazed, and the last thing he saw before blackness consumed his consciousness was the two men, sitting again on their pedestals. Then he saw nothing.

***

Above, day had just broken. A young woman stood on a cliff, her armor glittering in the early morning sun. Behind her, lines of soldiers stood.  Below her, a city, just waking to the day.  She looked back to the army, her long black hair whipping in a sudden wind, and raised it to the sky. The weapon flashed in the sun, bright and brilliant as the owner's intentions were dark.

The conquest would be good, she thought. She prepared to lower the sword, the signal to charge.

But her arm stayed up.

Would it be worth it, she wondered. With all that would happen, all the deaths... she had never thought of what would happen to others. Now, she could not bear to do it.

The sword fell from her hand.

Something changed.

And the man’s daughter fell to her knees, her sword a shining spike driven into the ground next to her, as she cried for the first time.

Author’s Note: I honestly don’t know where this story came from, but it demanded to be written.  As usual, any comments, criticism, or anything else are welcome, either here or at my e-mail addy,