THE LAST KEEPER

”I don’t think you are going to understand even if I tell you,” N’varu said. The two were in the arena above the fourth year pentagon. sagiri had managed to heal from the initiation punches, but one punch had not healed yet, and perhaps it could take another night. Kaka’s punch, of course.

”I want to know now,” Sagiri said. The schedule after the exam had not returned to normal, the cadets had been allowed a day of rest, and Sagiri could only guess that the instructors needed time to mark the exam to be able to release it in two more days. They could go back to the normal schedule after the exam, only that they will be arranged into squads now, and the textbook work is now done.

”You haven’t remembered yet?” N’varu asked, and sagiri wondered what he was supposed to remember.

”I haven’t, but as you can see, my body is now changing, and I can feel the power that powers my archive flowing freely inside of me. It’s been a few weeks, but I have grown taller. I must know what I am and why nine people were sent to kidnap me.”

”Yes, you have grown, but I don’t think what I know can help you remember who you are,” N’varu said, throwing a spear at Sagiri. They had come up so he could teach Sagiri the spear dances since he had failed relentlessly.

”Tell me what you know,” said, caressing the long handle of the weapon. ”Perhaps it can help me remember.

”I’m sure you know you are different, and you have something inside of you that everyone doesn’t,” N’varu said, holding his spear in his right hand, the other hand on his waist. Sagiri had known that fact ever since he could remember. He had always known he was different.

”That much I know,” Sagiri answered, feeling the weight of the spear in his hand.

”Well, let’s try to explain it this way. Let’s say a chicken egg, a boiled egg. Someone takes the outer shell away and leaves only the egg white and the yolk. The egg white can’t stay on its own, so it is taken and put inside another shell to protect it. understood,” N’varu explained, and Sagiri was lost now more than ever. Had someone put that something inside of him, so he was the new shell?

”I am the new shell?” he asked, and N’varu looked to be in thought before he spoke again.

”Well, there used to be others who protected the egg white and the York, but then you are the last of those,” N’varu said, and Sagiri tilted his head trying to understand the logic behind N’varu’s words.

”Like a secret art or like passed down from generation to generation?” sagiri tried to make sense of it, not to feel like he was a cocoon for the archive inside of him.

”Neither of the two, but almost like a clan’s secret art passed down from one generation to another. But far from it. The York is the echo, and the egg white is the archive. The echo is the heart of the archive, but they are one. This can not be learned like a secret art. You are meant to protect the two, and as you have realized during that fight, they protected you two because they can’t live without you,” N’varu explained. So he had been right about the name.

”So like a parasite and a host,” Sagiri asked, wondering if he had been hosting a parasite.

”No. Your clan was meant to protect the shell from cracking, and by that, they protected the egg white and the yolk for generations until they could no longer. So in a sense, it is your sole and sworn duty to protect the echo archive,” N’varu explained again, and Sagiri’s ears perked.

”Why did my clan fail?” sagiri asked, and an emotion passed in Nvaru’s eyes so fast, but he whipped it away and calmed his emotions so much so sagiri couldn’t get a read in.

”They did not fail. Your clan went extinct,” N’varu said slowly as if he did not want to explain any further. Sagiri had always known he was alone, but perhaps some part of him had kept hoping that his clan was out there and he had just been separated. N’varu’s words made him feel a bead of loneliness he hadn’t anticipated, and his eyebrows furrowed.

”All of them?” sagiri asked, wondering if there might be a few survivors scattered in the lands of Tagayia.

”Yes. Except for you,” N’varu answered again as if he regretted even admitting it out loud.

”Did the parasite inside of me kill them?” Sagiri asked, suddenly feeling some doubt about the archive ever since he knew he had it in him. Was it going to kill him, too?

”No. But it might have been the reason they died and the reason you are being sought. You will know yourself when you remember,” N’varu said as if he did not want to dispel any more information, and Sagiri was beginning to think that he should not have asked. Now he couldn’t help but think that he was carrying a big target on his back that caused his clan to die.

”It might be better to wait and remember on your own,” N’varu added.

”Can the echo archive be taken out of me?” he asked, and Nvaru’s eyes widened. ”How did the one before me part with it? old age?”

”No one carried it inside of them. You are the first. Keepers just protected it, never carried it. It was the last resort to protect it. that is all I know, too,” N’varu said.

”What is the name of my clan?” Sagiri asked in a small voice, his hand tightening around the spear handle.

”I can not tell you that, but your tribe still lives, so you might be the last of your clan, but you have a tribe,” N’varu said, seeing the gloomy look on sagiri’s face. At the mention that he had a tribe, Sagiri felt some spark of hope, but he still felt lonely. A tribe was not the same as a clan. Tribes had many different clans, and clans were much closer than tribes, even if their way of life seemed almost similar.

”And I guess you are not going to tell me what my tribe is,” Sagiri said, looking into N’varu’s eyes even though he already knew the answer.

”The echo archive inside should know the answer to all the questions you have asked me and many more you might have. As you have already realized, you know more than you should and about places you have never been to. The echo is like an eye that does not miss anything and a brain that remembers everything. I thought for sure you could remember when you turned sixteen because that is when a true keeper always emerged in your clan after the other died of old age or any reason. Keepers are like part of the shell,” N’varu explained, and Sagiri sighed. If he was supposed to remember, why couldn’t he remember then?

”Why can’t I remember then. Is it maybe that I am not a true keeper?” Sagiri asked, suddenly wanting to be a shell to some egg white and yolk, which, from what N’varu had said, might have been the cause of his clan’s death.

”Only you can be the keeper. You have been, since you were born,” N’varu said with so much assurance that sagiri wondered why he thought so.

”Why can’t I remember then?” Sagiri asked. If remembering could help him know the answer to all the questions that were burning in his heart, then why didn’t he? all he had to do was remember, especially when he turned sixteen, according to nvaru yet he hadn’t.

”That I do not know. Maybe you are blocking yourself from remembering. I don’t know about that, but you will remember at your own time,” N’varu said, trying to heighten the urgency in his voice, but Sagiri could tell that N’varu wanted him to remember as fast as possible.

”Is it important that I remember?” sagiri wondered, and Nvaru’s hand tightened on his weapon even though his face and breathing remained as level as possible.

”Yes,” he said without missing a beat, ”you have to remember your clan,” N’varu added.

”What do you think might be blocking me?” Sagiri asked, but N’varu did not answer this time, and instead he got into an attacking position, forcing sagiri on the defense. He attacked the middle body, and Sagiri, though lost in thought, had seen the attack coming, and he blocked it. Even N’varu seemed distracted. He went for another attack on his head, and Sagiri used both hands to defend the attack. He held the spear diagonally above his head, deterring Nvaru’s attack. Even so, the attack was much more forceful this time, and sagiri slid back a few feet before throwing N’varu off.

He did not get to attack before he was pushed on the defense again by sagiri going for his heart. He barely escaped the attack by side-stepping and arching his body backward to escape, yet another attack using the spear as an anchor and pivot. The head of the spear dug a hole on the ground as he used it to spin around to run from another attack, and jumped back to put distance between the two of them. Even though N’varu looked to be going easy on him, he was still not holding back.

Before he could land, N’varu was already on his feet, and their weapons met yet another metal-clashing collision. The two continued to spar as if it were a means to stop the wheels turning in their head.

”The echo was never supposed to know violence. So you should be careful on how easily you kill,” N’varu said when he had landed yet another attack.

”It went out of control on itself when I saw Lotaga almost get killed because of me,” Sagiri said, defending. The two circled each other. It was true, since he could feel it inside of him, he had only used it to hunt squirrels, and it had only gone out to protect sagiri or perhaps to protect itself.

”It acted on your deepest emotions,” N’varu said when Sagiri attacked, but he blocked swiftly, sending him back on the defensive.

”Perhaps it just wanted to go on a rampage using me. you have said it’s a parasite,” sagiri said, defending and moving quickly to avoid two more attacks. He was getting faster and faster since he started growing randomly. He was growing thinner as he got taller, but he was lighter.

”So you are saying it controls you.” N’varu stopped, and it was as if he were mad at sagiri. ”You are the keeper supposed to protect it, even its innocence. It should not be protecting you, but you should protect it. If you let it keep picking you from the jaws of death, then yes, it becomes a parasite, and you are just a puppet,” N’varu said, and sagiri stopped trying to understand what N’varu was trying to say, but he could not understand.

”What I am saying is, just like you felt a deep urge to protect lotaga you should have the same urge to remember,” Nvaru said, and sagiri finally understood. When he felt threatened it had acted and when he felt pathetic and unable to protect his comrades it had acted to his aid. It could not be described as a parasite since it had saved him and Lotaga.

”What should I want to remember? an urge has to come from a deep emotion,” sagiri asked, wondering how he could force himself to remember things he did not have a clue about.

”I can’t help you on that, keeper, I’m just here to wait for you,” Neni said, twisting his spear around.

”Neni is not a clan,” Sagiri said after a long pause, trying to rake his mind and remember N’varu’s clan.

”When you remember, you will know my clan and tribe as well,” he answered with a tight smile before suddenly attacking.