Suddenly, the emerald embedded in the wall started to glow, and it opened to reveal that it was merely a piece of cut glass hiding the other half of the stone of Sudre. The stone then levitated out of the holder and came toward me, slowly. It came to me while glowing bright and I took it out of the air once it was close enough.
The light disappeared and it stopped levitating once I touched it, and as soon as I did I could feel the power it held. I only thought about it for a second before turning to the beam again. My eyes searched for May even though I knew she was gone and it suddenly became hard to breathe. A voice came from beside me a moment later and I jumped to the sound. "I always knew that you were planning on killing her from the start, but, I never thought you'd actually do it."
I turned and saw Theodius with an expression of seriousness on his face that I'd never seen on him before. "And here I thought I was just going to take her right from under your nose when you least expected it." He was speaking in a tone that was so unusual for him and his face remained expressionless as he walked in front of me. I managed to speak despite my shock. "Theodius! I-! I don't know what happened! I was going to trade my sword! It was an accident! I didn't mean to trade May! Bring her back!"
Theodius raised an eyebrow. "Bring her back? Does the word 'sacrifice' mean anything to you? She is gone. She doesn't exist anymore. Magic can do a lot of things, but it can't bring people back from the dead. Never the same, anyway." I took a step back. "W-What?!" Theodius shook his head. "Must I repeat myself? You. Killed. Her."
I could hear the sound of my heartbeat become louder as he spoke. "No, I-! It was an accident!" Theodius scoffed. "Oh, really? Are you sure about that? Please, you couldn't help it, could you? I'd expect no less coming from the man cursed with a heart of darkness." I became confused through my panic. "What are you talking about?" Theodius rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, you seriously haven't figured it out yet? Tell me, where exactly did you get those marks on your back?"
I was about to answer him when suddenly, all of the memories that I had of where I got the marks disappeared and I hesitated with confusion. 'I... Always had them...' I thought. Theodius then continued. "It was said that whoever was born with those marks would never have love in their heart and would bring on the destruction of the world. And that was exactly what you planned on doing when you got the stone, wasn't it? To rage war on the forests, because that is the only thing you desire. Chaos, right?"
I didn't respond as I processed what he said. Theodius took a step toward me, still with an expression of stone. "CherryMay was the only one who thought you could change, and you murdered her. You say it was an accident but I know deep down you couldn't help but want to satisfy your hunger for death. Ever wonder why there hasn't seemed to be a villain in this story? That's because it's you. It's always been you."
I felt my throat tighten and my shaking increased as I fell to my knees. "No..." I was horrified as I looked at the floor and thought about what I'd done. 'I knew the beam was behind her but I still pushed her. I killed her. Oh my god, I killed her!' Tears started to fill my eyes and I suddenly felt Theodius place a foot on the back of my head. In the next split second, he pushed down with so much force that the stone below me burst into pieces as my head crashed into it.
I felt my nose shatter again and Theodius kept my face in the floor with his heel as he screamed in rage. "YOU MONSTER!!! YOU KILLED HER!! SHE GAVE EVERYTHING TO YOU!! HER TIME! HER ENERGY! HER LOVE! HER PURITY! AND YOU STILL THREW HER AWAY LIKE TRASH YOU ABSOLUTE DEMON!!! YOU KILLED HER! YOU KILLED HER! YOU KILLED HER!" He pressed my head further into the stone and I froze, hearing Theodius being angry for the first time.
I could feel him shaking, and after a moment of silence, he removed his foot and stepped back. I raised my head out of the puddle of blood to look up at him. His face still carried anger but tears were falling down his cheeks. "You can keep the stone. You won it fair and square after all. Go ahead and kill your father. Complete your quest for power. I hope you're happy with what you've done."
He then disappeared into blue flames and I was left in silence again. I looked at the stone in my hand and it glowed as magic seeped out of it to heal my face. I didn't ask it to heal me and the relief it provided didn't stop more tears from rolling down my face. I sobbed softly and fell to the ground again. I cried, thinking about what Theodius told me and clutched the ground in despair. 'I'm a monster...' I sobbed some more before being able to whisper. "May... I-I'm so sorry..."
*
Theodius appeared in the hall of his castle and walked forward on the red carpet. He wiped the tears from his eyes and after a moment he smiled. His smile grew the more he thought about what happened and it soon became laughter. He laughed until he had to stop walking and catch his breath from laughing so hard. "And the award for best actor goes to..!" He skipped ahead and raised his hands. "Me! Hahahaha!"
He continued to walk and calmed down once he reached the end of the hallway, forcing a straight face. He entered the main room where CherryMay was waiting impatiently as she sat in Theodius's chair. Once she saw him she quickly got up and rushed over to him. "Theodius, did you talk to him? This was a mistake, right? He didn't mean to trade me, right? What did he say?"
Theodius sighed and shook his head. "He, he meant to." The hopefulness in her eyes was then replaced with worry. "What?" Theodius shook his head. "I'm sorry, but, he thinks you're dead now. I tried to tell him what happened, but he didn't care and took what he came for. He left to use the stone like he always planned, to kill his father and declare war on the forests."
May gasped and took a step back. "No, he- he wouldn't do that. He was going to give the stone-" She stopped herself and her ears fell with sadness. "I thought he... I thought..." Theodius got closer to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "He lied to you. Everything you've ever thought about him was a lie. He tricked you to get what he wanted."
May shook her head as she began to cry. "No, no, no, no..." Theodius shared her sadness on his face and spoke softly. "I'm so sorry. I thought he could change too." May then hugged him tightly and continued to sob. Theodius wrapped his arms around her and smiled once she could no longer see his face. 'She's all mine!' He thought.
*