As the earl's life ebbed away before her eyes, Elyza couldn't help but feel the full brunt of the of emotions within her. The memories of her mother's radiant smiles would've broken her mind with the grim reality unfolding before her. She had dedicated herself to seeking revenge against the earl, meticulously planning, infiltrating, and positioning herself for this very moment – the moment when justice would finally be served. Years spent on focusing on tracking him down, and the moment where he took his last breath was exhilarating, before the anger and rage took hold.
However, now that it was done, the ordeal finally accomplished, Elyza couldn't shake the emptiness that had settled within her. It was exhausting, feeling like nothing, but a voice stopped these thoughts from turning further inwards.
"Are you okay?" Alex's voice carried a mixture of caution and concern as he approached Elyza, his feet not making any noise.
Elyza looked over her shoulder at the man who had said nothing as she, frankly speaking, brutally murdered a man right in front of him. And just as she had expected, Alex approached her with a look of anxiety, staring at her bloody visage. She remained silent, it was too tiring to try and trudge through her own thoughts, but he took the silence as a sign of affirmation, his face quickly switching to one of relief.
"Good, because I'm not about to lift this body on my own," Alex said, pointing towards the Earl's body, holding his other hand out to help her up.
Elyza took his hand, forcing herself to prioritise her own safety, "We should leave."
"Not yet," Alex's voice remained steady as he bent down and grabbed the Earl's lifeless feet, motioning Elyza to grab the other side.
She hesitated, vocalising her confusion, "Why? He is dead. Was that not why you were hired?"
He let out a resigned sigh, releasing his hold on the Earl's feet. He turned towards Elyza, weariness etched on his face. "Look, my plan's a bit convoluted," he admitted, striding towards a nearby desk and exerting effort to push it back into place, "And I don't want to waste time explaining it all right now."
"Just follow my lead," he added with a final pull, "And we'll be out without anyone even knowing we were here."
Right on cue, the room's door burst open. Within milliseconds, Elyza was ready to lodge a knife in between the interrupter's eyes. Yet, a firm grip on her wrist arrested her movement. Even more surprising was that the hand belonged to the Earl. The anger she had felt for the man has dissipated, replaced by a perplexing mix of astonishment and confusion at his unexpected survival.
The butler that had just entered seemed oblivious to the dead body on the floor behind them, as he panted out his words, "Sire, the fire... in the garden... has stopped burning,"
Elyza scanned the room, trying to figure out what was going on. The portrait of the Earl appeared unmarked, the tear vanished, and the bookshelf had returned to its original position. The room revealed no sign of anything that had happened mere moments ago.
Yet something seemed off. The edges seemed to be slightly blurry around everything in her sight. Everything except the person standing in front of her. Elyza looked down at the ground behind her, where the Earl's lifeless body lay, the blood on his lips slowly drying.
"I would think it should have, since I told you to do so," the fake Earl commanded in the same voice that had screamed bloody murder a few moments ago.
"Well, sire... the fire actually stopped on its own, before we even reached the garden," the butler replied.
"You should be glad that it did," the earl responded, looking aimlessly at the documents on the desk, his mannerism perfectly encapsulating how the man laying below behaved.
YOU ARE READING
NEMO: Into The Depths
Fantasy"After you achieved your revenge, after that brief moment of ecstasy at finally doing it, killing the person who caused you so much harm, you felt empty inside. It's as if all the actions you took, all the sacrifices you made, all the people you cut...
