Breaking Point

Part 2

Like all criminals, the Blackstone Duchy was caught for their crimes. But unlike all criminals, justice didn't fall on them. Justice fell on their dog. Me. They pretended they didn't know anything. Pretended that they had taken me in as a helpless orphan, not mentioning my brother, and lied about my whole existence. They pretended that they hadn't forced me to do all those terrible things by holding my brother captive - using him as leverage against me.

Then, they played the part of the unknowing, innocent, gracious nobles who 'stood up' - with quotation marks - for me in court. As a commoner, I wasn't even allowed in court to plead my case - not that they would have let me speak anyways. I wasn't the only dog they had - they used others to plant fake evidence everywhere. At every murder, there would be at least a couple of my fingerprints. At every raided office, there would be something I owned. Until the final verdict, I was placed under house arrest, not allowed to leave the Duchy, and not allowed anywhere without magic restrainers around my arms and legs.

I hadn't been allowed to see my brother for days. They didn't let me - they told me that I would probably just kill him like how I killed all those other people. It was true, but it was also hiding most of the truth. The facts behind it. They all knew what they had done, and yet, every single one of them were so shameless - they called me a murderer. A heartless beast. A cold-blooded monster who didn't hesitate to kill. Not just in the Duchy, but in the public too. Rumours flew and were exaggerated - I had killed hundreds; they said I killed thousands. I had stolen; they said I had robbed and murdered. I had disabled people by breaking bones; they said I personally had cut off people's limbs slowly with a dull axe to further excruciate the victim.

At some point, they blamed the famine that had occured last year on me. They blamed the escaping of several dangerous criminals on me. They had blamed a neighbouring ally country's ruin on me. Every problem the town had ever had somehow became my fault. The only rumour that I can't deny was that I had destroyed the town that had been my home. The rumours hurt - a different kind of pain. The kind in my heart that I couldn't fight off or defend myself from. The kind of pain that I felt when looking at my brother and knowing that it had been me who did that to him.

"Let me go!" I kicked against the maids as they desperately tried to drag me away from my brother's room.

"Shut up and leave already!" one of the maids yelled, kicking me down onto my knees, but I got up instantly. 

"Let. Me. Go!" I shrieked, my anger triggering my powers and fire shooting from my hands. The maids yelped and screamed, then bounded away, cradling their injures hands as I ran straight to my brother's room. Tears were brimming behind my eyes, and just as I reached the door, Duke Blackstone himself stepped in front of me.

My heart skipped a beat. Yes, the name of this feeling, I think I remember - fear. The memories of his twisted smirks and smiles as I screamed and yelled. But my desire to see my brother overcame my fear. "Y-Your Grace. Let me see my brother - I have to see him!"

"Now, now." Duke Blackstone tutted. I tried to sidestep him, but he blocked me once again. He knew full well that I could have killed him there, but the fear brainwashed in me would never let me. "That would be a hazard to your dear brother - you'll kill him, just like how you killed all those other people."

"Both you and I know that I didn't want to kill those people!" I hissed, scowling, my expression quickly shifting to fear as his face twitched. He was angry. I could recognize that. I knew that my persistance would make him angry, and when he got angry... life wasn't good for me. Life was never good for me in the first place... what did I have to lose?

"Let me see my brother!" I insisted. He raised a brow, and I gulped.

"No, for his own safety, I cannot let you see him--" before he finished, I ran past him towards my brother's room and flung the doors open as I heard him call my name loudly.

"Atlas! Don't touch that door--!" but his voice faded out quickly. The thing that hit me first was the smell - I had smelt it many times before. The ominous, dark and murky smell of death. Not a fresh death either. My brother. What happened? Where was he? I ran into the room, straight towards the place where the smell was the strongest - my brother. Dead. Still lying on the luxurious, blood-stained bed in the same position that I had last seen him in, his face twisted in pain. I smelt something like cinnamon - poison. Arsenic. It hadn't been a natural death. It had been a painful, slow one.

"H-How long did you s-s-suffer...?" I whispered, reaching out to brush his face. "Iziekel... n-n-no... you can't be dead. Y-Y-You promised... that we'd outlive the w-w-world together-- I didn't believe y-y-you... but please, k-k-keep your promise. I-I-I can't live without you..."

A sigh from behind me pulled me from my own world of grief and misery. I didn't bother to turn around. 

"It seems your bad luck has even affected your brother," there was no sympathy or sadness in Duke Blackstone's voice. If anything... he sounded excited. Of course. This was another of his twisted experiments on me. He did it all the time - experimented with my emotions and reactions. Once, he got me a dog, and when I grew attached to it, he killed it right before me. It had triggered something in me, and my power exploded out, killing everyone within a hundred-metre radius except him, as he had a magical protection barrier around him. That had been the beginning of his hundreds more of twisted experiments on me. And this... this was his final experiment. Now that he no longer needed my brother as leverage against me... he could finally use him in one of his cruel experiments.

There was a moment of silence. I was overcome by grief, and the silence felt like only a second to me before Duke Blackstone spoke again with a disappointed sigh.

"Nothing? No reaction? No explosion of fire or a massive, twenty-kilometre radius purple thunderstorm? How disappointing. What a waste - I was hoping to see something a little more... exciting this time." Exciting? He was talking about how exciting it would have been to see me explode after seeing my only beloved brother's death while I knelt by his side? Cruel, twisted monster! I choked back tears. There weren't enough terrible words in the world to describe the hatred I felt for him. 

Soon, I heard Duke Blackstone's retreating footsteps as he left. I stumbled to my feet, my arms limp and my expression dead as I walked to the window. I had nothing left to live for. I could die. My brother was gone - I didn't have to worry about them torturing him forever if I committed suicide. I could die.

As I opened the window, I spotted Wes. My mind seemed to flash - Wes. Surely he would comfort me. Hold out his arms and envelop me in a hug, telling me how terrible the Blackstone Duchy was and letting me cry on his shoulder. Quickly, I jumped out the window, landing with a slight stumble in the garden one floor down.

I ran towards him and yelled, "Wes!"

Wes turned around to look at me, and I stopped short when I saw him.