Perla Vardo: The Ragnarok Chronicles (Part Six)

A cold dreary rain washed through Perla's entire body. A dreadful day, which could not have gotten any worse, just did. His entire life was gone. He had no identity left. What now? What emotions could survive this cataclysm? Revenge? No, the drizzly rain simply made him apathetic. Perla simply wished that all this pain would go away. Not necessarily that life would go back as it was, that was too much to hope for. His reactions were mixed: should he put all of his effort and energy into trying to make sure that the toys that survived would go on to live healthy and fruitful lives? Or should he abandon all hope, and simply sit in the mud until he became one with it, and his life sniffed out?

These heavy thoughts filled Perla's head until he could bare it no more. "I must have sleep" he whispered, dropping onto the ground with a low, mournful, sigh. "No!" Tu thundered. "We must keep going, Perla. it cannot end like this, not like this!"

"Does it matter now?" Perla snapped back, with a ferocity that he did not know that he had. "Life as we know it is gone, dead forever. Do we need to keep on fighting? We can't save them now, we can't save anyone."

"It does matter Perla, oh, it does matter. How could we expire with our consciences like this? To know that we did not give all that we had, and that we had doomed so many others. I know that you are so deep into the throes of despair that you hardly care Perla, but I beseech you. With every fiber of my being, listen to me!"

"What could we do Tu, even if we tried? How could I pledge myself to a cause that has no hope of success? All I have ever known is gone, all my friends cannot be saved, what is the point Tu? What is the point?"

"You might not see a light to the end of this darkness, and you may not see anything that we can do. But I'll tell you this: in all of history, those who have succeeded in the end, those who win, are those that have nothing to lose. That is what we have become Perla, and let us use it for our advantage. It is true, our friends are beyond saving. But our duty to them, as binding as a solemn oath, is to keep this from happening to anyone else. Then, and only then, may we rest in peace.

Tu's words hit Perla like a hurricane: thrusting new ideas and concepts that either he had not thought of, or he had not been willing to admit. Reason washed over Perla, and he took Tu's suggested goal as his life's purpose. Perla would keep on going until this enemy was gone, so that no one else had to endure all that he had gone through. Little did he know at the time, he had not really known pain. He had not really known fear. He had not really known despair. But he would, very soon. Oh, so very soon. It would not be long until he would regret this choice, and curse the very day that he had been born.

To be continued...