HavenGuarde

Chapter 25 - Minefield

Chapter 25

Minefield

- With Haste shall we tread light and with Haste shall we take flight -

Snapping out from the realms of his memory, Thonavar suddenly noticed that the fifth member of the Angardian Council, the same handsome young man, who was lounging in his seat, was suddenly staring intently at him. He seemed to be listening to what Lord Damon was saying.

"I must say, Ironhand", Lord Damon continued, "the Angardian Council thought you would have failed for you reacted in a manner that we would otherwise describe as an emotional response. A moral response. You decided that it was not right to do such a thing and it seemed as though you were not going to push the white woman off the bridge. Bear this in mind though, should one not complete this obstacle, one could always find an alternative route, but such failure would be noted by the Angardian Council. However, most interestingly, you did not turn back but found a way to press on. Unforeseeable to the projection's computer-mind, you somehow managed to carry the woman across to the other side of the bridge despite her struggles. It was important to you to stay true to your principles and because it was clear in your mind that you would not leave her to die or be responsible in any way for her death, you carried her across."

Thonavar's mind raced away as he recalled the memory of the white woman.

Then to his horror, the woman walked back onto the narrow crossing. Once in the middle of the narrow bridge that hanged over the deep chasm, she shot a weary and mournful glance at Thonavar and threw herself off.

Thonavar watched, his body frozen, his eyes wide, as she spiraled downwards into the darkness, her body like a ragged doll in the breeze, white robes swirling about her.

She made no sound and his eyes followed her until she was swallowed by the darkness.

Thonavar remembered the look on her face as she spiraled down. Never before had he felt so helpless and useless.

"She fell off and died", whispered Thonavar and Lord Damon nodded.

"Most unfortunately", continued Lord Damon, "clearing the obstacle required the woman's death from falling from the bridge. Thus, though you crossed the bridge and reached the other side safely, the woman had to return to throw herself off the bridge. Nevertheless, Thonavar Ironhand, not only did you demonstrate resolve in pressing on upon the same route but you imployed a unique and interesting method of your own never employed before in carrying her across with you."

Seeing Thonavar's expression of puzzlement, Lord Damon continued his analytical explanation.

"You already know of the memory vaccum. In some cases, a memory vacuum creates another experience also known as an emotional vaccum. For emotions are tied to experiences. Fear. Anger. Sadness. Loss. In the Gamer's Virtual Projection, the lack of memory also means a lack of emotional memory. The lack of emotional memory might cause one to think and rationalise in more absolute terms than in most situations where emotive undertones ensure a more nuanced decision-making process. Additionally, memory-inspired thought processes might not be available to the candiate. Procedural memory, that is one's ability to learn and process the world around at that particular point is what matters. The world could be a square, a cube, a two-dimensional state of being or upside down for all it mattered and one's brain would simply reorder what is and translate that as the new reality within which one must now exist. As one learns to traverse the world around, one becomes increasinly familiar and more adept at the activities required for survival. Thought and reason is prized above all and reign absolute. Therefore, it was indeed an innovation on your part that you arrived at a logical conclusion that was in line with your innate moral inclination to carry the white woman across. For very few would have considered that the problem before them could be solved differently. Most would have either pushed the white woman to her virtual death or retreat from such an obstacle whose completion would be most morally condemning."

Thonavar nodded. However, his did not process all of Lord Damon's words, being still sickened by the experience. Nevertheless, Lord Damon's words sounded positive and his heart lifted at the thought of receiving his vote.

"Furthermore, if I might add, you demonstrated clear thought-processes in dealing with the exploding gameboard. You quickly discovered that it was the tile that depicted the dragon symbol that was the safe tile and your journey across the gameboard was surprisingly swift."

His heart was racing now. He was sure Lord Damon was going to give him his vote.

"Do not be so quick to praise the boy, Lord Damon", interrupted Lady Raphina icily. "There are many who have cleared this obstacle with infinitely more genius and finesse than what Ironhand demonstrated. In the Testing review before him, the boy called Joram Stalham had thrown rocks out onto the surface of the board, sensing something amiss. The stones that landed on the explosive tiles caused those very tiles to explode. But as the damage was contained within the blast, the result was a clear trail of undamaged tiles marked out for him. He soon deduced that the safe tile was the dragon tile and completed the obstacle with much more ease. This, in comparison, seems a much more analytical thought-process and young Stalham had demonstrated this to us most naturally."

"Yet, Lady Raphina, if the blasts were not contained within the exploded tile, what would have been the outcome? Young Joram Stalham's method, though ingenious, would not have worked. Young Ironhand, on the other hand, was able to, by his own quick-thinking ability, deduce, even before attempting to cross, that the safe tile was the dragon tile. How he came to that conclusion is commendable."

A sound caused the whole room to fall silent.

It was Lord Ramonth. He was chuckling.

"You know", he began, still chuckling softly. "I do, in fact recall, 'young' Damon, that you too faced this very obstacle in your projection when I and the previous Council first examined you."

For the first time, all eyes in the room were focusing on the old man and not staring into space. All appeared somewhat intrigued to hear what Lord Ramonth had to say. Even Felix looked up from his hood.

"Apparently, upon seeing the very same gameboard in front, you proceeded to run across. Remarkably, you made it to the other side just as the last tile you had stepped on exploded", mused Lord Ramonth. "No one in all the Testing projections I have seen so far was able to clear such an obstacle in the way that you did."

Upon hearing this, Thonavar's mind reeled. The tiles exploded upon the slightest pressure, seemingly instantaneously. Thonavar recalled that he had barely time to step back when he was lifted into the air by the force of the blast and slammed down hard onto the ground. No one was that fast. Also, Lord Damon would have been but a young boy, no more than twelve years of age.

Thonavar looked around. The powerfully built man was staring at Lord Dragba, nostrils flaring, as if studying him, like the way one would size another up before a fight. Lady Raphina was frowning and appeared deep in thought. Even the young man seated at the end of the crescent line of plush chairs appeared to be interested, with one hand holding his chin up, both elbows resting on the armrests of the chair. Felix's head, however, disappeared back into the depths of his hood but Thonavar did make out the glint of a almost hidden smile.