| |
My new companion was hurrying down the hill ahead of me at great speed and I was forced to run to close the distance between us. As I went along I marveled at this carbon copy of myself. He seemed oblivious to all of the doubts and questions that I had been asking prior to his arrival! Instead, he proceeded blindly down the hill, in search of an enemy that he had no knowledge of. His only goal was to find this foe and to destroy them! It made wonder why I did not have the same desires, and also why he didn't think to attack me. I was, after all, the only other person he had encountered so far.
The path we traveled leveled out after some time and led out on a vast and open plain. There was very little on the rolling hills other than more green grass and a few trees and boulders. Oh, and men. Lots and lots of men. The hill I had sat on had blocked the sounds of battle, but they rang out clearly now. Countless numbers of men were spread out across the fields below and were locked in deadly conflict.
“So this is the enemy you were looking for?” I asked as we came to a brief halt at the bottom of the slope.
“Of course! And now I will defeat the enemy!” Robben cried out confidently.
I looked out across the field again. It seemed to me that there were more than two armies arrayed against each other. In fact, if I had to guess I would say that at least six different factions were in combat against one another. And even as we stood surveying the battle, more men were streaming in from every direction!
“Rob,” I began, hoping to talk my twin out of this madness. “Are you sure this is the right move? I mean, what are we even fighting for?”
“We are fighting for victory!” my companion replied.
“Sure we are.” I sighed.
“To victory!!” another voice suddenly shouted from behind us.
Both I and my partner whirled around. To my complete shock, ANOTHER man was running down the hill behind us! He was wearing the exact same clothes, and looked, of course, exactly like the two of us. The only difference between this Robben and the one that stood beside me was that he did not carry a weapon.
“Brother!” Robben number one cried to the man approaching.
“Brothers!” Robben number two answered.
“You are welcome to join us in combat, but where is your weapon?” Rob asked.
“I was given no weapon,” answered our newest companion. “But I will unleash my wrath with my hands alone!”
The two men embraced each other as I watched, almost humored by how ridiculous the situation seemed. My hope of convincing Rob not to fight a pointless war had been small before, but now I abandoned all hope. It was obvious that the newcomer was as zealous as Rob to fight, leaving me outnumbered.
“Well, Robben,” Rob said, turning to me. “Are you ready to go?”
I looked out at the field and sighed. “As ready as I'll ever be, I suppose.”
Together, the three of us began to head towards the fight. I trudged along behind, reluctantly. I turned my head over my shoulder as we went and chuckled when I noticed yet another copy of me running down the path we had just vacated, headed for battle.
“This just keeps getting weirder,” I said to myself.