A tale in the desert

[Brian]

Liao froze his kata, turning his head to one side and trying to locate the source of the noise.

[Dracos]

The sound was everywhere and it was nowhere.  It was all around him.  Growing slowly...then fast.

A thunderous beat sounding once.

Before the entire room went silent once more.

Something was there, in the corner of his eye.

Dracos

[Brian]

Liao spun to try and see what was visible in this dark place.

[Dracos]

He saw...his brother... his left leg missing, as he held a wounded stump.  Clear as day despite the darkness.

"Brother, would you lend me your leg, so that I may stand?"

Dracos

[Brian]

Liao's jaw drops open, and he stares at the image of his brother in silence for a moment before he regains his senses.  "Brother, what are you doing here?" he asks, nearly in a panic.  "I can't give you my leg; it won't fit.  You're too tall."

[Dracos]

"Agh...it hurts so much...you would abandon me brother, in my time of need?"  His brother ignored his questions, holding to his painful stump.

Dracos

[Brian]

"Well, I'd help you if I could," Liao said, "but I don't know how to give you a leg!"  Kneeling, Liao tried to examine the wound, to see if he could bind it to prevent additional blood loss.

[Dracos]

"Thank you brother.  I shall remember this."  With that, his brother reached out...and tore off Liao's leg, taking it for his own.

The pain was unimaginable, a reddened stump where his leg once was.  He did not feel as if he was dying, but... so the pain!

His brother stood on two legs, turning and walking away, leaving Liao alone in the darkness.

Dracos

[Brian]

Liao stared after his brother, and then looked down at his leg.  Physically, the pain was crippling, but emotionally, he'd gone numb.  "But ... we were supposed to go on together ... brother?  Why are you leaving me?"

His brother's image became blurred with tears before it vanished.  "Why...?"

[Dracos]

The hum returned.... Followed again by the thunder.  Almost like a heartbeat.  Sudden, yet suddenly quiet.

"Son...can you hear me son?"

His father's voice called out...from behind him?

Dracos

[Brian]

Turning, painfully and slowly, Liao tried to face his father.  "Father?" he asked weakly.  "My....  Where is brother?"

[Dracos]

"Liao, I'm so proud of you Liao.  You do our family proud, my son.  ...if only I could hear you again."  His father didn't answer his question.  Of course, after a few seconds, it became obvious.  The sides of his father's head were blank.  He had no ears to hear with.

Dracos

[Brian]

"Father?" Liao asked in confusion.  "Well ... if ... I can give Brother a leg, I should ... give Father ears."  Liao doesn't know how to do this, but thinks about it, trying to ignore the pain of his missing leg and figure out how to help his father.

[Dracos]

He felt a sharp pain as his ears vanished, his father smiling, his mouth opening and speaking as Liao heard nothing.  

He started to fade before Liao's eyes.

Dracos

[Brian]

"But ... wait!  How am I supposed to...."  Liao trailed off, as his father was already gone.  "Hear," he finally mumbled, unable to hear his own words.