TALES FROM TOBLITCHE: EXTRA MILE #2

Chapter 2 Down For The Third Time

“Sometimes I ask myself if Karama truly exists and if so where do I land in that spectrum. I'd like to believe I'm in that nice middle ground, that karma doesn't affect me. But I feel something coming and it's coming straight for my head.
I'm not afraid of it, I just hope whatever It is, it makes it quick. If it's the devil himself or if it's some random man or woman on the street, it's all the same to me. At the end of the day, I'll die who am I to complain”

“Why do you believe that something is out to get you??”

“I don't, it's just a feeling I got when I saw you. I think you're here to kill me.”

“Very amusing Mr.Filmer but let's get back on topic shall we?.”

“If that's the right course of action then let's go right ahead. You want to know why somethings out to get me?

“If it'll help your case in any way then yes, I'd like you to tell me your story. Tell me why you believe karma is out to get you. I think you'll find peace in that.

“Fine… let's start here then”

“There's a lot of small towns that make up the outskirts of Toblitche. All unnamed, they don't show up on any maps and they'd prefer if it stayed that way. You could think of any reason why they'd prefer this, you could ask thousands, maybe millions of people the same question and that still wouldn't answer the question.”
“At the time I considered this a challenge. If they didn't want to be seen they'd I'd make them. Why should they have the leisure of privacy while the rest of us were governed by Solomon. How wrong was I to believe I had any way of changing that.”
“In my research, traveling from the towns that accepted me inside, there was a commonality I found that was worrisome. They all shared a religion that tied their faith back to Ichemound.”
“In my time there I… used underhanded methods to get this information and in what I believe was my first strike I furthered my knowledge. But still I received enough information to form my own opinion of what went on there and to no surprise everything that strung them all together all tied into Solomon and his city.”
“Their God's name was Ichemound, a being involved in its followers, the island in which it belonged to, Toblitche, the hunk of rock belonged to it. This was its domain and it had one rule for all its servants to follow. To leave the island meant purgatory.”
“I… decided to put this to the test. In this I believe I received my second strike. Because I was hellbent, I was committed and my thirst for knowledge consumed me beyond what was customary. It felt like a drug, like each time I received new information my drive for more was being furthered until nothing I did quenched it. So, I had no choice but to figure it out.”
“At the time the town I was staying at was one of the few where the cult's influence was nowhere to be found. When I asked about it I only received a slight tilt of the head or crooked stare aimed towards me and that was all. The only person there that I received a reaction from was a man named Dunken. He was known for certain… outbursts that had no underlying cause that any doctor could find. But that was only because they weren’t saying the right things to him, what he reacted to was from one word to make him react. I said aloud, “Ichemound” and he screamed.”
“Before I found the trigger I invited Dunken to my stay. I already had my suspicions from the get go and when it came to the troubled man, I didn't believe information would be hard to come by. Yet still, I wasn’t ready for it. I don’t believe there will ever be a time where someone will be ready to be met with an outer force even if you'd trained your mind, body, and soul. It still wouldn't have been enough.”
“He screamed once I said its name aloud, guttural, agonizing is what I would describe it as. Just as I thought it was finally over, that his lungs had finally given up on him he continued until what I'm guessing was a way for him to relieve the pain he was experiencing pushed himself out of chair as he landed on a plank of wood, hitting the back of his neck, killing him instantly.”
“I stayed there for a while looking at him. Even though this might be embarrassing to admit, this was the first I'd seen a dead man. For a man of Toblitche you already know how rare of an occurrence this was. I took pride that my eyes had never been tainted before, that my ears were the only thing that had been adulterated. I didn't get a chance to ask Dunken any questions but the mere fact that I hadn't yet thought of his family, meant that I was too far gone. But even with this realization, a dead man's body was still in my dormitory and I'm sure, no I know everyone already heard him. By day break they would come and I would surely meet a much worse fate. This however was my second strike”
“From… a very young age I was- fortunate enough to be raised differently than many kids in Ichemound. Love, empathy… kindness was embedded inside me, It made my foundation. After I grew up, I was allowed to research Toblitche to whatever degree my heart desired. It was in those next chapters of my life where the true devil of Toblitche showed its colors. Knowledge is a curse, desire is an evil force here, that's my only findings after everything I've done. To know means to be sad, to understand means to be clueless about everything else, I wish I knew nothing of this place. The greatest gift God gave us was the choice to be ignorant and my findings of what occurred when I sent the man's body into the sea affirmed that.”
“You people found me on the shore after. You know what happens when something, even a corpse leaves this place. Anyone that lives on the coastline knows this so, I was wrong”

“What exactly were you wrong about?”

“.....”

“No answer?”

“What does it matter? I don't think any answer would save me at this point.

“You're mistaken. Any answer you may give WILL help you In your trial. Tell me what you were wrong about Mr.Filmer, please.

“... On my journey, there was always a point in time where the sky would turn gray. Lightning would strike and a fog rolled over the land. Somehow I could never find the source of it, I would run and run but by the time the fog drew back I hadn't moved an inch away from my stay. I took note of this, each time it happened. In my twenty years around the island, I counted 161,927 storms, yesterday I witnessed one myself.”

The man remained silent. He was expressionless before, devoid of emotion and still he remained this way. Yet, now I saw a glint in his eyes, like the eyes of a predator, glowing under the few strains of sunlight that made its way through the window onto him.
“You…say karma is out to get you but I don't understand. You've been at this for twenty years. If karma existed then it has failed. If you die today it won't be because of karma, it'll be because you stepped over a boundary you weren't supposed to know of. Whatever happens next is your own fault you cannot blame anyone for your own demise.”
“Dunken was a tortured soul and though you might have not known his trigger, by any chance you hand’t figured it out then you had no intention of letting him outside your house anyways. You rented that place on the shore because of thist. By your own words this was your plan.”

“I will have to live with that sin for the rest of my days. But the blame should be casted on the land that endorsed such action. I tell the truth when I say the land itself fuels these cravings.”

“You blame karma for your demise and you now won't even face the consequences that you killed a man but instead you blame it on the land that has provided you protection until now. If you spend your last moments in denial than I'm afraid there's no saving you. You've already succumbed to your addiction.”

“Then let this be my third and final strike.”