"Zane!" Ophelia screamed at the top of her lungs. Running out of the safe zone. Screw it all.
She ran till her breath ran out and her body collapsed. But nothing happened to her. She looked up to see Kai standing still and not making any move.
Was he guilty?
Ophelia crawled and felt something rushing up and tugging at her throat. She coughed up a pool of blood. Breathing more heavily than before, she dug her nails into the rough ground.
She reached out for Zane's body and hugged it. She felt something dripping down her forehead. Looking at the cause of it, she felt her heartbeat stop.
Where..was it?
She lifted her hands and found herself to be grasping at a nonexistent object. She looked around and spotted it on the floor. Rolled away with its eyes shut tight. Like it'd never open again.
Ophelia gritted her teeth and buried her head into Zane's body. He was still warm! He is! She was dreaming. Once she wakes up again, she'll be sleeping right beside him.
This was all a terrible nightmare.
It has to be. God was playing a cruel joke on her for all her past sins.
Her memories started flashing inside her mind. Orders and bellows bursting into a mixture of indescribable sounds.
They all commanded her to return to where she belonged. She didn't listen. She ran and ran as fast as her feet in heels could take her.
Until she met an assassin cladded in black. Seemingly coming straight for her, she froze. But he also seemed to have done the same.
It was Zane. Zane who was loving and kind. Though may seem cold at times but he was struggling with his own problems too.
They swore to retire from such a dangerous lifestyle filled with gruesome deaths and tragedy.
But her past was one too. The moment she took a step out of her cage. Everyone behind her died in her footsteps.
"You..murderer." Ophelia murmured, lifting her head and glaring at Kai. She knew well that the words that had come out of her mouth referred to all three of them.
They were all sinners in a particular way of their own.
Kai didn't seem to be staring at her even though he was looking in her direction. His eyes glued onto the background. Twitching ever so often.
"Why Zane?! Why why why? What have we ever done wrong to you?" Ophelia cried her heart out. "We just wanted to be happy."
Who..doesn't?
Finally after a rain of insults and questions, Kai reluctantly looked at Ophelia.
"What are your favourite flowers?" Kai asked with a gentle smile, kneeling down. Tilting his head to one side. "Mine are lilies." He stated.
"What?" Ophelia said, angered by the nonchalant reaction. "Are you joking with me?" She firmly asked, fire burning in her eyes.
"Hmm? What do you mean?" Kai asked, his eyes slowly trailing off to the decapitated head.
"You're insane." Ophelia remarked, her eyes getting red. "Crazy."
Kai stood up and picked up his sword as he watched the tip gleamed, there was no use carrying on the conversation."Let's make this quick."
"You'll never get away with killing people. You maniac. Karma is real." Ophelia threatened, hugging Zane tightly. In the back of her mind, she knew this was her time to atone for her sins.
Kai didn't say anything, he swung his sword as he watched the red braids fall onto the ground as another head got lopped off.
"I'm sorry." Kai whispered, lifting his head up as he held back a familiar feeling he was scared to release. If he did, he'd break at the beckon of guilt.
"How was it? Killing another by hand? Especially since you know them well, Kai." A deep voice asked with cracks in it's voice, sounding as if they were choking.
"Quiet. Leave me alone already." Kai said. Not daring to look.
"Scared? Scared of what you did or yourself? Missing your father already?" The voice teased some more.
Kai stabbed his sword into the ground. "You know you're fading right?"
"What?" The voice said, obviously baffled.
"You're scared I might forget you. I'm scared that I'll lose it." Kai said, smiling now as he picked up the lock of red hair.
"I don't understand."
Kai bit his tongue and blocked off any images or memories that attempted to crawl into his thoughts. If he continued contemplating on such measly emotions, he might never make it far.
That was exactly why dad was always chained right next to her.
He gripped his sword tighter as he rid his mind of unrelated thoughts. All he had to do now was get rid of the pest that was crawling after him.
"But it seems that I've already lost my mind. So what difference would losing a part of my life make?" Kai suddenly remembered his conversation with Zane.
"No. You need me, Kai." The voice demanded, stepping in closer. This was one of the few times where it had talked so much. Normally it stood at the corner of a place.
"I do not." Kai replied, pulling his sword back. "This is the end. May you rest in hell." He stabbed his sword through the figure.
Though it was an illusion of his own. The stab felt strangely real. The strength he needed to push the sword in. The stability it had was as if being supported by a lump of flesh.
Lord Bellaire seemed to explode into tiny dull fragments which dropped dead onto the ground and sunk deep in. He is gone now.
It seemed like a never ending cycle. Even if Lord Bellaire was dead, Kai's mind could not comprehend that fact. Thus, creating an illusion of its own to cope with the loss.
Lord Bellaire was practically a replacement for his parents in the childlike mind of Kai. And that thought has always remained. Even if he hated the idea of it.
Revolting or not, Kai had to accept the fact that Lord Bellaire was a large portion of his life. It had moulded him into the character he was. And it wasn't a pleasant one.
Kai sat down on the ground and breathed out loudly. Sinking his head into his arms as dread and relief washed over him. He opened his eyes and found himself occupied with tasks.
Making himself busy, Kai emptied out most of the contents in his void ring and filled it up with the ingredients for the cure.
After he was done, he looked for a particular object of each person. Keeping it inside his void ring, he thought nothing more of it and left through the gate.
Everything seemed smooth sailing from there on. No monsters, no disturbances and no human life. The maze that seemed uncomfortable to go through earlier was now nothing more than just an insignificant building.
Kai walked and walked, reaching his hands out for the light. Stepping out of the maze. He could feel his vision blanking out for a second before he took a step onto a grass filled ground.
Looking around, Kai stared at a patch of grass. And decided there was where it had to be.
An hour passed and Kai walked away from the lake.
And behind laid four different kinds of flowers to honour the dead.
An event that was worth only a small phrase in Kai's life. As soon after, was when things started locking into place and catastrophe built up behind the shadows of the Iotux Region.