Repeater.

The growing crowd surrounded the ground where Luci’s smoldering body had come to its rest. Etand and I had to look away. Neither one of us wanted to face what was happening. Myself in particular, I was nervous and confused at how a once joyous celebration had turned into this. Soren came back from viewing Luci, coughing on his own sick will.

“I’m sorry, guys. I just had to see it for myself.”

“I understand,” I told him. “I just…it’s too much for me.”

“Me too,” Etand added.

“So what was she saying before she fell?” asked Soren.

“About what? Chaotica?”

“Yeah…that.”

I explained to Etand and Soren about my experience with Chaotica, about freezing temperatures and the crumbing of the Palaza Avare. They listened with interest, as did a woman that happened to be passing by.

“Excuse me,” she spoke, “Are you telling them about Chaotica?”

I nodded affirmatively. “Are you familiar with it too?”

“Yes, quite,” she revealed. “I cannot stay, but you all must remember one thing about it.”

“What’s that?” inquired Soren.

“Just when you think it’s over, it isn’t. Chaotica never finishes. It is as eternal as life itself.”

“Yeah, but is life really eternal?” questioned the extremely interrogative Etand.

The woman just smiled at us and walked on. “As soon as you figure that one out,” she concluded, “Chaotica will cease to be. And don’t forget, everything comes at a price.” With that statement, the mysterious woman collapsed to the ground.

“What happened?!” I exclaimed. She wasn’t moving at all. One by one, the three of us watched as others around us fell down as well. I could hear wheezing through all of the mass panic, a sure sign that something was amiss in the crowd. The Bendo sculptures were still flickering boldly in the darkness when Etand grabbed my sleeve. He was one of those wheezing.

“Can…you…feel it?”

“No,” I told him, “I can’t. I’m sorry.” My answer seemed to come as a surprise.

“I can,” interrupted Soren. “What is it? What’s happening to us,” he said with a level of concern I was not used to hearing from him. Etand could sense the answer though.

“Suffering,” he said quietly. “It’s our toll, our burden. It’s fallen on us for our blind indulgence and consumption.” He then stared intently at me with glazed-over eyes. He had become blind again. “It’s plague, Evan. Pestilence.”

“Know what?” Soren struggled to say, “I’m inclined to believe him.” With that last thought, Soren dropped like the others.

I laid Etand down gently over the rough, cracked soil. “Learn from this,” he told me. “Learn from all of it.” Those words sounded like I’d heard in before – various forms and various takes on the same advice. Before Etand lost consciousness for good, he confided one last thing to me: “I’ve served my purpose. You need this to help you.”

When I stood back up, I saw the last few that remained standing topple over to the ground. I knew I should be with them too, yet I wasn’t. In fact, I felt fine. The second coming of Chaotica had arrived and taken everyone with it except me. I indulged just as everyone else did. There were times here that I even partied just as hard, if not harder than other people. Was it because I learned from it as Etand instructed me to, and if I did, what was it and how did I learn it? I felt like I had all the answers I needed, but I didn’t know what they were. If anything, this had raised even more questions in my mind – questions I’m sure would have to go unanswered for quite a while longer.

Everything came at a price. It was prophetic, and it fulfilled itself as some prophecies do. The wind finally died down, along with the rest of the surrounding environment. At last it looked as though this version of Chaotica was finally over, but then I remembered what the mysterious woman had told me: “Just when you think it’s over, it isn’t.”

The last of the Bendo flickered out, at which point the darkness around me began to grown even more intense. However, this time it was more powerful than when I first noticed it. The landscape in the distance disappeared from my sight. Before long, the bodies and objects of the Bendo did as well. I knew in my heart that the immense blackness would soon envelop and overtake me. But rather than be frightened and resist it, I closed my eyes…and went with it.

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