Birth to Chaos

Episode 4-Guilt

"Tessa...?" Tremond called out softly, as though he was cautious, as he observed the lights in the room flickering, when in that instant, Tessa made a faint murmur, only for him to turn to the terror of seeing a man holding a knife on her throat, and Sarah sitting bound to a chair in the centre of the living room, her hands nailed cruelly to the wood, her legs severed, with two enormous men standing next to her.

Tremond stood frozen in sheer terror, his mind desperately clinging to the hope that it was all just an illusion. But then, from behind him, a chilling voice rang out, accompanied by a suffocating energy that crushed him to his knees and left him gasping for air.

"Are you Tremond?" the voice demanded, cold and merciless.

Tremond turned slowly, his fear tangible as his eyes locked onto a man seated at the dining table, legs crossed, wearing a customised nose mask. The air around him seemed to ripple with a suffocating, overwhelming energy that radiated visibly from his body. Beside him, two towering men stood like statues, their presence as unnerving as his. The man sat in eerie silence, his cold gaze piercing Tremond as though dissecting him piece by piece. Then, with a chilling smirk of satisfaction, he rose gracefully from his chair and moved towards Tremond, lowering himself to meet him face-to-face.

"You're not as grown as I envisioned." the man said with a calm yet biting tone, his hand lifting to tilt Tremond’s chin so he could better study his face. "And, as the offspring of the infamous Dreaded Valkyrie of the Shawn, I expected more... presence. But it appears you and your sister are as empty as any ordinary person."

Leaving Tremond behind, he advanced toward Sarah who was totally weak and on the brink of death. Without warning, he struck her with a brutal slap, gripped her by her hair as she bled from her mouth. With a sinister grin, he turned her to face Tremond. "Do you know why I’m here today?"

"Why?" Tremond answered softly as tears ran down his eyes, as he watched his mother in a hopeless condition.

"The name's Derek Mark," the man began, his voice dripping with amusement as he chuckled after every sentence. "Fredrick Mark, the man you killed a few days ago, was my older brother. Not that it bothers me whether he lived or died. Honestly, if it had been natural or even by my own hand, that would’ve been fine. But someone else killing him? I can’t just stand by and let that person live in peace, So I've come to take from you, as you've taken from me." He added, and immediately signaled one of his bodyguards to hold Tremond up.

"See to it that he catches every detail," he instructed with a cold disdain, as he turned to his bodyguard who held Tessa.

"No... Please, You don't understand," Tremond pleaded desperately as he struggles to get off the grip of the man holding him.

"Light her up." Derek commanded, and immediately, the man holding Tessa, retrieved a small gallon of fuel and poured it on her, as she cried in fear, calling out to her brother for help.

"Please ... Please take me instead... It was me alone who took your brother's life... Please take mine instead, " Tremond begged as he trembles at the sight of his sister possibly dying before him, as she was soaked in fuel already with her cloth tied on her mouth. The man laughed like a devil at the sight of Tremond begging, and before he could end his statement, she engulfed by flames.

In that instant, Tremond was paralysed, his voice stolen as if the earth itself might crack open and consume him. Tears streamed down his face in helpless despair as he watched his sister engulfed in flames, her agonised screams piercing the air while her flesh burned. Derek and his men’s cruel laughter echoed mercilessly. Nearby, Sarah lay motionless, her battered body trembling on the edge of death, her head bowed as she struggled to cling to consciousness.