The Flower's Roots
Rain poured over them as he clutched onto her. He felt her body, which was bathed in her own blood, grow colder with each passing second. He wanted, more than anything, to save her. But deep down he knew that he'd be asking for too much, after all no creature could survive being punctured through the heart. Even knowing that he still prayed for someone or something to do something, anything that could save her.
Sensing his distress, she turned her eyes to meet his own and forced whatever strength she had left towards putting her hand to his cheek.
"You...look…. Terrible….. my love…" she strained.
He stared blankly for a moment, taking in the gravity of what she'd just said and how she said it. After pondering for a while he finally decided to respond to her.
"You don't look too good either." He scoffed.
She strained herself into giggling, "That's fair...where...are…the children?"
"The kids are safe. You protected them exactly like you said you would."
"They are….our children…after all..."
"Yes...they are."
A deafening silence fell between the two of them. It made it so that the only thing audible enough was the sound of her heartbeat, and how it continued losing it's pace steadily. She drew in one sharp breath as she came to terms with her impending demise.
"I love you…. Lucifer….."
The man, Lucifer, felt a sharp pang in his chest as she said those words.
"I love you too…. Alice..."
Her heartbeat had gone silent, her body heat frozen. Her eyes were now completely devoid of light. Lucifer knew, she had died. Lucifer brought Alice's body into a tightening embrace, tears flowing like river water all the while.
"Why?" he sobbed. "Why is it that everyone I care about keeps dying? WHY IS IT THAT I ALWAYS FAIL WHEN IT MATTERS MOST!? WHY??"
Whatever being or entity he was shouting to refused to give him an answer. Lucifer screamed as he hugged Alice's body. He continued his wails till his voice couldn't be heard anymore, all that was left was the sound of a voiceless man. That man soon fell to the floor unconscious with Alice still in his grasp.
***
Zackary flew out of bed like he was waking up from a nightmare unlike any other. His eyes were moist with tears, his retinas glowed in a deep crimson. He looked around to get his bearings and finally realised where he was, in the ruins of a once famous museum located in the remains of a city once known as Paris. As he sat there on the bed the door to his room creaked open.
"Zack?" intoned Kazuri, Zackary's most trusted companion and life long partner.
Her long black hair, which faded into a beautiful grass green at the tips, fluttered as she walked to Zackary's side. She pulled a wet towel from her breasts pocket and wiped down the sweat that was on Zackary's brows. The way she delicately handled his forehead made it clear just how much experience she had. It emphasized the amount of time she had spent taking care of him. Once she finished cleaning him Kazuri laid him down once again, then sat by his bedside.
"How much do you remember?" she asked finally.
"....a name....Alice."
"That one bares a close resemblance to her name. Are you sure it was 'Alice'?"
Zackary glared at Kazuri with a deadpan expression, "I'm sure it wasn't her. She had blonde hair. Alice's hair was pink."
"I see. Another failure then?"
"Yeah."
"How many does that make now?"
Zackary shut his eyes and thought for a moment, "Fifteen million…and something. I think."
"That's quite a lot," Kazuri started brushing Zackary's hair, "Do you still remember them?"
"Each and every last one. There was one who was Japanese, for a good while I thought you were related. Then there was one who was literally an angel, one who had a difficult past, one who struggled to make friends, an emo, an extrovert and then of course there's her."
"Wow," Kazuri said sarcastically. "It's hard to believe that one woman could have so many counterparts."
"And for each one of her counterparts there is a counterpart of me."
"And every one of those counterparts will fall in love with each other but they'll never be together. Is that right?"
"That's right."
"Then maybe you're chasing a fruitless exercise."
Zackary's eyes narrowed slightly at Kazuri. "Sorry….I don't think I heard you correctly. Repeat that."
"Wh-what I mean is…" Kazuri said in panic. "If you already know that those pairs will never be together then why are you still trying to change their fates? I mean, they're already set in stone aren't they?"
"If you're gonna ask me to give up then I'll tell you right now, you'll be the one chasing a fruitless exercise."
Kazuri leapt to her feet, "I can't not ask you to not give up! Fifteen million is a pretty big number, and it's a miracle you still remember your name! If you keep this up then you'll ….." Kazuri thought carefully, deciding to mince her next words as much as she can.
Zackary continued staring at her with slight anticipation in his eyes. He already knew what Kazuri was implying but he still wanted to hear the words come out of her own mouth. Kazuri realised that it was too late to crawl out of the whole she'd dug for herself and decided to voice her concerns to him.
"You'll go insane." She said finally. "Reliving all those memories, all those lifetimes. If you keep this up you'll eventually adopt the personalities of the owners of those memories, losing your sense of self in the process."
Kazuri's concerns were understandable. What Zackary was doing, living out the memories of hundreds, perhaps millions of his counterparts, feeling each and every emotion they did, learning as much information as they did, going through all their experiences would eventually take a toll on his human mind. It may be taking it's toll on him already, yet even knowing that he still couldn't give up.
Deep down he felt, he hoped that someway, somehow there was a counterpart out there, a reality or timeline where one of his counterparts managed to save her. Having gone through fifteen million timelines and realities and not being able to find one where their counterparts live happily together didn't diminish his spirit.
Yes, watching her die over and over again crushed him each and every time, even if he was only watching her through his counterpart's memories. And with each different counterpart came a different version of her. And each version of her died in a different way. In some realities she was killed by a disease, in others she was killed by an enemy, there was an endless list to the methods in which she died.
And in every instance in which she died Zackary's counterpart would be right there watching, powerless to do anything but pray for her survival. And each time his prayers were never answered. Simply thinking back to those memories made Zackary want to puke.
"I've come too far to stop now," said Zackary. "I promised her that I would find a way to save her...that's exactly what I intend to do. No matter what."
Zackary's desperation turned determination came across to Kazuri clear as day. It made it impossible for her to continue her pleads. Reluctantly, Kazuri accepted Zackary's declaration. She pulled him into a tight embrace and whispered in his ear.
:"Zachariah Agrabath."
"What?" Zackary whispered.
"That's the name you kept whispering every time you wake up. I don't know if it actually means anything."
Zackary instinctively knew exactly who Kazuri was talking about. The fact that his own name bore such a close resemblance to that of Zachariah was no coincidence. Zackary felt that he had met Zachariah Agrabath before, the question was where?
As Zackary continued pondering the glow in his eye grew brighter. He felt a stinging pain strike through his head, like a thought was being forcefully jammed into it.
Zachariah Agrabath is the root.
That thought continued ringing through Zackary's head as his eyes shimmered brighter.
"Argh!!" he groaned.
Kazuri pulled away from him and noticed blood streaming down his eyes. "What's happening!?" she yelled.
"Zachariah Agrabath is the root. Zachariah Agrabath is the root….. he's the root…of all of us.... He's the primordial Deneran!"
No sooner than Zackary finished his sentence did he fall over Kazuri's shoulder completely unconscious. A panicked Kazuri hurried to check his heartbeat. Fortunately he was still breathing, unfortunately he was completely unconscious and no amount of yelling, tossing and turning would wake him up. This meant one thing, once again Zackary was reliving the life of one of his many, many, counterparts. While that was well within Kazuri's expectations it still alarmed her that this time he seemed to have little to no control of his memory jumping.
Which meant that whoever's memories he was reliving had to be someone with significantly important memories.
"Please…. Just don't lose yourself in the process…..master." prayed Kazuri.