Closure

   The next day, citizens of Ramecha crept out of their homes curiously to witness what had become of the wall. At first, they were terrified. But ERA had organized a distribution of hopeful flyers, and when the citizens realized what this meant, most of them decided to travel back to their old homes. There, they encountered a few other souls whom they may not have known or recognized at all, but still shared the memories of what their town had once been. And from that mutual feeling of heritage and belongingness, their cities began to prosper.

    I was not cured. Even after all I had been through, Naceo would not give me the satisfaction. Luckily, the rivers he created to transport the zombies to the ocean were still present long after the storm’s end. Their existence allowed me to dwell in any city I desired, as well as reinforcing new borders between areas. This kept the land small enough for tribal societies rather than mass-production based ones. Even Ramecha had been divided into several different Islands, and the request for bridges had all the remaining citizens working together on a new, self-directed project.

    Eva and I chose to live in Port Antigone. By the time we got there, we received the unfortunate news that Zupak had passed. It relieved us to learn that his death had not come before the storm. “He knew you two were behind it,” the young man who had been Zupak’s caretaker smiled with a tear in his eye. “He was very certain… very proud.”

    My endurance without water had dramatically improved since the day Ty blessed me with the experience. I could resist turning for several days, though the world’s new geography never subjected to me to it.
   One day I told Eva that I needed to be on the move again. “I have to find my parents,” I explained, “I need to know if they are alright.”
    She offered to come with me, but I insisted she stay. Her medical skills were important to have back at the port. I promised that if I could not find them within six months, I would return and settle with ignorance. I left on foot.

    I met a surprising amount of people along the way. They offered me food and shelter for the night once I explained the purpose of my journey.
    One morning, when I was waking up in the guest bedroom of a humble family of four, I heard one of the children screaming. I ran downstairs and discovered a mountain lion was clawing at their front door. After the human species ceased to dominate the world, large predators like this lion were allowed to flourish in nature.
   I urged the children to stay back as I threw the door open and pushed the beast to the ground. Right before I could finish the creature off, the children’s parents had arrived back from the farm- fresh greens in a canvas bag. They would have been killed if I wasn’t there, and the children were likely next.
    Naturally they were both grateful and confused. I figured there was no harm in explaining to them who I was and how I became this way. I spilled my whole story. It made sense now how I was a “traveler” (one would have to carry a boat everywhere they went to pursue a straight path, for many cities still did not have bridges.) They thanked me again, and I continued north.

    I began to show off my strength and tell my story more frequently as I traveled. It wasn’t for the ego boost- although that was a bonus I felt I deserved anyways after all I’d been through- it was the easiest way to get my name in circulation.
    Ramecha wasn’t the only civilization which found it necessary to build bridges, and though cities were still staying small and self-governing, the bridges allowed for trade of unique goods, borrowing during shortages, and most importantly for me: the exchange of stories.
   So it was quite satisfactory to hear one day as I helped a group of men struggling under the weight of a freshly chopped tree, “hey, you’re Jace Orion, aren’t you?”
    These men did not know where my parents were, but I was confident that I would stumble into the right people soon enough.

     Yet four months had passed already, and no one had any hint on where the Orions could be. My father, who only had one arm, couldn’t be mistaken. I began to fear they were dead.
   I hadn’t felt so much spire since I was locked up in the metro car. It drove me weeks over my time limit I’d promised to Eva, all the way back to Ramecha. I broke through the rotting doors of the capital building and demanded the first person I saw to search for the paperwork on the Orion’s exile. The young woman trembled before me- she was just a bookkeeper with an interest in Ramechan history. “I might be able to find it, but I’m not sure!” she whimpered helplessly.
   I took a deep breath, recalling the patience I had to exercise when slipping into this mood.
   As we walked through the ruins, the bookkeeper, who went by the name of Pim, shared what information she’d gathered absorbing all the text she’d sifted through. Apparently the Protector’s Council was sitting on a lot of dark secrets, one which included the murder of Debra Crowley- the wife of my very own Dr. Crowley- who tried to expose the ingredients to the vaccination so that even people outside of SafeZones could have it.
    I admired Pim’s will to learn without seeking certification. She’d also heard of me, but little records were made about my existence, so it thrilled her to hear my story through my own perspective.
   When we eventually got to the files on the Orions, we could find nothing- except for the letter I had written years ago. I tucked it in my pocket and thanked her with a sigh. Before departing, she leaned in to kiss me, but I stopped her. “I’m sorry,” I shook my head, “I can’t.”
    “You said you’ve been on your own for months…” she lowered her head bashfully, “I just… I thought you-”
    “I have someone waiting for me back at home…”  I was reminded again of the extra month I’d added to my trip. She nodded understandingly. I knew then my search ended here, in Ramecha. It was time to go home.

    My journey back took even more months. I kept running into people in trouble! Predators, dry-spells, famine, all kinds of conflict. At one point I even found myself in a fight between two halves of a larger city. The northern side had snuck in and taken crops from the southern side, but they were caught. Now the south wanted revenge.
    “Stop it!” I ran between the men, charging with weapons of stick and stone in their hands. “If a poor man comes into your house starving, what do you do? You feed him! Sure, it is not easy to keep a whole other town fed, but we are not each other’s enemies!”
    “It’s not fair,” a southerner spat, “we work and they take it all?”
    “It was also not fair that the norther soil happened to be less fertile,” I reasoned, “but that’s just nature. We are nature too, and it may be in your blood to fight for what is yours, but we aren’t animals.”
   The mob wasn’t pleased. The man that I had to force back physically was not shoving me aside. I rolled my eyes, grabbed the back of his shirt with my fist, and whisked him to the floor five feet away like a ragdoll. “If you all don’t cooperate with each other, I’ll kill you all, hm?! How’s that for animal behavior!?”
   My strength bewitched them, and they began to chatter frightfully. “I guess we could make some sort of deal…”
   As they muttered, I was revisited by an important lesson: It is not our duty to create a world where everything belongs. It is not our duty to govern! My threat of power against these villagers was no better than tyranny.
   “I’m sorry,” I rubbed my head regretfully, casually roaming off the battlefield. “Forget what I said. Do whatever you think is best.” I dove into a nearby river, and let its current swallow me for a ride all the way back home. No more stops… no more interference… let humanity be…

    I was worried Eva would be angry at me for nearly doubling the amount of days I said I would be gone, so I approached our front door with caution. I was startled to see a small child by Eva’s foot. I thought it about it for only a moment before reasoning that the child was at least a couple years old to be toddling like he was.
   Then I heard my name, coming from my mother’s voice. “Jace? Is that you?”
    Both of them were there- at my dinner table- alive and well! I ran into their arms and cried with joy. I couldn’t find them, but just like the prophecy of my strange dream had predicted, they were searching for me!
    They’d been staying here with Eva for a couple weeks now. My original idea had actually aided them in discovering my whereabouts. News of a powerful young man from Port Antigone scouring the land for his parents eventually found its way to the city they were living in. “You made me glad for once that I have a missing arm,” my father joked, “it really was a crucial part of the story…!”

   After a brief reunion, I met my little brother, Niko. He had ruffled brown hair and hazel eyes like mine. I picked him up and raised him over my head, laughing with him in delight. “You’re my little brother!” I breathed in amazement, to which he responded “yay!”

    At nightfall I crawled into bed with Eva. In the midst of excitement, we hadn’t yet a chance to talk in private. “I’m sorry I took so long,” I sighed as she rolled over, her back to my face. “I was caught up in an anger spell. I lost hope… I thought they were dead.”
    She hit me with an unexpected issue. “You’re not growing older, Jace.”
    The world was quiet.
    “I love you, Jace… but after meeting your family, I realized… I need a life like that.”
    My heart felt stiff at first, but I considered her words in silence. I loved Eva- deeply enough to resist the temptation of the bookkeeper even after months of loneliness. Yet since the storm ended, I realized we never had the same chemistry. If she needed to move on, I was prepared for that. Spending more than half a year without her helped me realize the person I could be while on my own.  If I really was going to be young forever, solitude would have to be something I could accept.
    There was another thing on my mind. I wasn’t exactly okay with the shape I’d left those arguing villagers in. I wasn’t trying to avoid giving a response to Eva’s decision, but I instead asked her if she could offer some wisdom. Eva’s advice is valuable.
    “Of course, Jace.” I heard joy in her tone.
    “When I was searching for my family, I found trouble in every other city I crossed through. It was hard not to try and control their problems from an outsider’s perspective. But then I remembered the ERA chant… the idea that we shouldn’t meddle into each other’s affairs… the idea that everyone is free to do as they want.”
    In the middle of my first sentence, Eva rolled over to face me. She listened thoughtfully with her lips tightly pressed together for some time.
    “If you trust your own judgement,” she formed her words carefully, “and you believe in freedom… it may be worth it to at least bring your ideas to surface. There’s a lot of people out there who don’t understand their own freedom!”
    “Seriously…” I sighed loudly, my mind flashing with the hundreds of faced I’d met over the past three seasons.
   She smiled, kissing my cheek. I was reminded of Naceo’s parting display of affection, and though this was softer and warmer, it carried the same love and honor.
    “Alright,” I smirked back, “what better to do with the rest of eternity…?”