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“Who are you?” Abaddon called out.
“I wish I could tell you my name,” said the old man. “I’m afraid I’ve forgotten it.”
“Forgotten?” I asked, “How?”
“Many of us have forgotten who we are. Most of us, I would venture. And once you forget your name, it’s not long before you start forgetting everything else.”
“We could still help you,” I said. “We just?—”
“Look around you,” he interrupted. “Do these people look like they can be helped?”
Though the crowd of tortured souls was a little more animated now, none of them had gotten up or moved from where they were. They weren’t swarming us, begging for help.They could only moan and groan from where they sat. Even the little girl and woman we had tried to help were back to staring sightlessly at the tent walls.
“We are here to repair the damage done to this place,” said Abaddon. “We will set things right, but we must get to the Chantry first. Do you know where it is?”
“I do.” He pointed down the street we were walking down. “It is not far from here.”
Abaddon took my hand. “We should go, we can’t do anything else for them.”
“Wait,” I said, and I walked up to the old man. “I need to know what happened.”
“What happened?” he repeated. “The city fell, then the world shattered into pieces. We took shelter where we could find it, decided it would be best to wait for a rescue.”
“Rescue…” I breathed.
“It was a few days before we realized, you were all gone. We had been left behind—forsaken.”
I shook my head, tears falling down my cheeks. “No,” I said, weeping. “Not forsaken.Neverforsaken. We did not ask for this. We had no way of getting back here until now.”
The old man struggled a smile. “Let us hope it is not yet too late for us, then. We cannot move on, so we suffer and wither, until there is nothing left of us but our angry spirits on the wind. I am not afraid for myself… but I am afraid for them.” He gestured with his head at the woman and child.
Abaddon turned his head to look at them, his jaw tightening. “We will help them,” he said, looking at the old man again. “We will help all of you. On my honor—whatever is left of it—I swear it.”
The old man nodded again. “I have faith.”
“Look after them. I will come back for you.”
A great flash of Light suddenly erupted nearby, streaks of it shooting up into the overcast sky, illuminating the ruined city and shining upon the golden dome of a building I recognized, even from down here. The clouds churned and parted, allowing each beam of light to go sailing through them uninterrupted.
“Abaddon!” I yelled, pointing at the Light.
“That can only be him,” he said. “We must hurry.”
The flash of Light that tore through Heaven sent a shockwave of golden, glittering motes rushing through the shanty village. The cries of the people around us suddenly grew in volume and coherence.
“Angels!”came a voice.“We are saved!”
“Save us!”
“Help us!”
“Do not abandon us again, please!”
Some voices, though, weren’t as desperate as others.
“They abandoned us.”
“Liars!”
