The atmosphere around Devereaux Castle is laden with a grim and desolate aura. The charred remains of the castle stand as a ominous reminder of the tragedy that has occurred here.
Luke is momentarily paralyzed, staring at the desolate scene before us. The castle, once imposing and majestic, now lies in ruins, its towers collapsed and its walls charred.
Meanwhile, I feel that burning sensation on my neck again, my mark recognizing its own handiwork.
"What happened here? More than just a dragon, this looks like the work of an earthquake," Luke says, pointing to the completely devastated eastern part of the castle, barely able to comprehend the magnitude of the destruction.
"You're right, it does look like the aftermath of an earthquake," Maiara murmurs back.
"And how do you know that...?"
Maiara gestures around her. Luke and I look around, but we see nothing but destruction.
"Everything is imbued with a level of power that I've never felt before. And that power doesn't match with other weaker and smaller power traces... There was a fight here."
Luke steps forward, examining the remains with a somber expression.
"You're right, aside from it looking like there was a fire, there's a different trace of power. I can't easily sense traces, so this one must have been very powerful."
My heart beats faster as I hear his conjectures. It's true, there was a fight here. I don't remember much, but enough to recall that unfamiliar power repelling the fire of the Devereaux queen completely.
Suddenly, Maiara turns towards me. I know she can't see me, but it's eerie how she can look me in the eyes even without knowing their height. I avert my gaze elsewhere, but soon realize that Luke has moved beyond the range of our voices.
"Did you really do this, Keith?"
I don't want to look at her. She can't see me, but there's something unsettling in her gaze.
"You said you wouldn't judge me."
"I'm not."
"It doesn't seem like it."
I feel Maiara move in my direction until she's standing beside me. It surprises me to feel her cold fingers due to the weather intertwining with mine.
"I know most likely you were defending yourself."
"And that's what happened."
"But..."
Of course, but. Why did I already know? Regardless of what actually happened, there's always what people know or believe they know. So I know from short experience what Maiara will say.
"But what?"
"Wasn't there... wasn't there another way?"
I feel like a sharp dagger is plunging into my back, opening an old wound that I didn't even know I had.
Distrust was the most common reason relationships ended. That had been the reason why my father ended up isolating my mother in a room in a tower of the castle. He distrusted her because he thought that at some point she might kill him to take the throne.
I coldly remove her hand from mine. Why does she want to judge me? I had just scorched a group of men in self-defense, and if I did something slightly bigger in self-defense, am I the bad guy?
"Because now you want to make me look bad?"
"I'm not talking about that. I don't mean that. I just..."
"Forget it," I whisper. I try to return to the castle gates, but Maiara stops me by the arm.
"No. Listen to me. I'm not judging you, I'm just trying to warn you of something that is obvious."
"And what is that, exactly?"
"That your mark is corrupting you."
Her words hit me like a bucket of cold water. The term tainted* was well known, commonly used to refer to a human who was given more power than they could control and ended up going insane.
Her insinuation that this could be my case without even doubting it bothers me greatly.
"Stop talking nonsense."
"See for yourself, Keith. Nobody knows that mark, so it could be very powerful. You ended up scorching an entire palace without knowing how to use it, and just with your body you subdued someone older than you."
"That doesn't prove anything."
"These are the first symptoms."
"And what would you know about that?"
"My power almost overwhelmed me too, so I agreed to have two of my marks sealed."
I push her hand away from my arm with annoyance, this time sure that I've hurt her at least a little on her wrist.
"What are you implying? That I should give up my power because you say so?"
"You're not out of control yet, so it can still be stopped."
"Stopped what? What needs to be stopped is my father."
Maiara's brow furrows. She doesn't understand anything of what I'm saying, but that burning sensation has returned, threatening to take over again.
"He's the genocidal maniac. He starves those who refuse to follow his orders and beheads those who are weak. He has his own wife locked up, and he doesn't kill her because his mark gives him the power to rejuvenate himself. He's a damn lunatic who won't stop until I kill him."
Maiara shakes her head. "There are other ways."
"Don't try to deceive me because there aren't any."
"And then what are you going to do?!" she shouts, annoyed. "My father was also a shitty person. Do you know how many times he hit me a day? There were so many that at some point I forgot what my body looked like without those bruises. I remember that I also wanted to kill him, just like you wanted to kill your father. I wanted to kill them all, Keith, because in my mind, when they died I could be happy. And you know what? I did it. I did it and that is the reason for my blindness. I... incinerated them alive. I heard how they were asking for help, how they were asking for mercy, but I didn't stop. In the end I ended up alone and much worse than I started. Because now I'm a fucking murderer and I suffer even more than before. Every night before I go to sleep, the only thing I remember from the last time I saw me is my entire family dying. To guilty and innocent. And I know that you don't want innocent people to suffer too."
There is silence on my part. I have nothing to say. There is no one innocent in Lacrontte. Even I ended up being corrupted by that thought of superiority that my father taught.
"Just forget it, Maiara," I mutter as I walk away from her. "I'm going to do it anyway. I will burn Lacrontte and you and no one will be able to stop me."
Maiara tries to touch me, but I move away from her. She tries to follow me, but there is too much debris for a blind girl.
See you never, Maiara.