Night
Some time later, five minutes, an hour, a day - it didn't really matter - you were on the threshold of the great hall and looked out over the fight.
You briefly registered the chaos, the blood, the man to man fights and the dull screaming at the back of your mind.
You smiled in resignation.
Dying is just another part of life, isn't it?
A small, approving sound escaped from your lips.
Yes it is.
Then you saw him. He stood in the other doorway, on top of the stairs that were about three hundred feet away, and overlooked the crowd, casting his magic every now and then. He was oblivious of your presence.
You slowly walked towards him. In a strange way nothing seemed to be able to hurt you. There was a path in the fighting mass that appeared where you went and vanished wherever you stepped away. A few paces away from the bottom of the stairs, you stopped and waited calmly.
Now look down.
Black hair, not brown... Isn't that what you're thinking?
You saw his astonishment and somehow it made you feel a lot better. You almost smiled.
He turned around and walked through the door.
Of course, you followed.
...
You found him standing on the edge of the pond, with his back facing you.
"How did you know?" he asked.
"I linked..." you said. "Zoe, remember her? She told me mom's leaving devastated you. That you left her because of it. Tell me, is it true? I want to know. I want to know for sure if this was the reason you killed my brother."
"He's not dead," the man stated softly. "I saw you emerging from the dungeons."
"No, you're wrong. He really died down there and it's only because of a major sacrifice that he's still here. Besides, however he lives now, the old Sisheri is gone. You must know that." You grabbed your bow and aimed an arrow.
Akunadin turned around and looked at the arrow straightly pointed at him, barely three paces away. It didn't seem to have any impact on him.
"Yes, it is true. After he stole my Mekhare, my little girl, I couldn't stay anymore. I went back to this palace and swore to myself I would get her back. That I would get my revenge."
"You're insane," you hissed. "She chose to leave. She wanted to leave."
"She could have been so much more..." the old man whispered, seeming to have paid no attention to you at all.
"That obsession of yours brought nothing but sorrow to everyone involved. Ever saw your wife back after you left her? She was absolutely convinced of it that I was my mother and had returned to her. Why? Because she's trapped in the past! Because after the sudden run for the desert my mom made, her husband was so full of himself that he left her instead of backing her up. She had no support left," you lectured.
"Did you even realize that the only reason why Sheri went to attack the palace when you took mom back by force was because he wanted it to end? Instead he got killed and mom changed forever, just like my brother now."
...
"It killed them all... Good job!" you yelled.
"My own daughter was being brainwashed by nothing more than a dirty thief! She was an heir to the throne! I couldn't let her sink so low! What would you have done?"
You were dead calm. "It's not about me, grandpa... It's about you. You who went so far as to murder an innocent child."
"I didn't want to kill your brother. I just wanted the kaa. I just wanted the last part of Sheri's soul. Its not my fault that that boy just refused to let go!" Akunadin protested.
Exactly what Parshath had told you. So it was true. A part of him was Sheri.
"It is no excuse," you whispered lowly. "How many people got killed by your attempts to murder my father completely?"
Akunadin looked up angrily.
"Do you want me to tell you some stories about that father of yours? Want to hear what he did, out of nothing but pure greed?"
"No," you said flatly. "I don't care what he did. He's my dad and you killed him, mom, and now my brother too. I'm going to shoot this arrow and then we're done forever."
"You wouldn't dare..." he hissed. The look he gave you was one of doubt though.
"Read my thoughts if you want, I'm being serious."
You pulled the arrow back even further.
"Done talking, gramps." You smiled. "On this distance there's no way I could possibly miss. Die now."
A loud gasp pierced the air.
Akunadin sunk slowly to his knees.
Your bow clashed against the tiles of the footpath.
Blood splattered on the floor.
You brought your free hand up to your stomach.
It felt so heavily.
...
It was colored a bright red.
A large stain spread itself across your dress.
You watched everything as if in slow motion.
The steel was quickly pulled back, making you let out a hoarse gasp again.
You just didn't have enough air to scream out.
"I'm sorry."
The voice belonged to Karim.
The strength slowly left your whole body, making you collapse and glide limply towards the ground.
"You should have left with your brother," he sighed, sounding sad but stern.
It took you everything to keep on breathing, you couldn't find the voice or will to answer.
It wasn't important anymore.
The pain had numbed you and you knew that there was no hope left.
You focused on the cracks in between the tiles on which you lay and saw them slowly turning red, your own blood flowing through them like through the veins of a plant.
Somehow it soothed you.
You are right... Karim... but... still... it was the only thing... I somehow couldn't do at that moment
You clenched your fists.
One grasped air, the other still held something.
You couldn't remember what.
It didn't matter either.
I was afraid... I sought a scapegoat... I... I couldn't accept my own guilt... I let him down... and couldn't face it... or... himself...
You felt all life flowing away from you, clawing at it with your will, not wanting to be cut off from your thoughts, holding on to it like every creature naturally does when it withers away.
I'm sorry... so sorry... Now I Let him down...
Again.
The world faded as you let go, not able to cling on any longer.
With the last bit of light shining into your eyes, giving you the chance to see, you looked upon something familiar.
A golden anklet, wrapped around a dark tanned foot stood not too far away.
The veins slowly reached out towards it with the blood spreading out, seeming to grasp at it like claws.
You wished you had the force to look up.
"Ba... ku..."
The sun completely disappeared behind the trees.
The day was over.
Night took the desert
...
And silenced your thoughts.
...
Thank you for reading :)
