The Rise of The Powers vol. 1

Chapter 23: Bitter Reunions

Chapter 23: Bitter Reunions

Lord Synth stalked toward us. A grimace set plainly on his face.

Lilith had brought us back to Paevanshire. For some disturbed, unknown reason she did.

Lilith, for some reason, was even more shocked than I was. When Lord Synth saw Lilith, his tight grimace turned into a smirk.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Synth prowled around Lilith in a tight circle, like how a predator might circle its prey before the final kill.

Lilith choked, her eyes danced in a visible panic. "It's-it's you . . ."

Synth grinned, his face illuminated an eerie, yellow glow, from the sunlight. "And they say you Powers are smart." Synth laughed heartily and loud, he smiled, and he shook his head disbelievingly. "You knew that I was alive, didn't you? And there's no way you didn't know about Paevanshire."

Synth paused and looked at me, for the first time since he had noticed Lilith. " Especially with him around." His glare made me freeze, but he quickly smiled again, as if it had never happened. "And yet, you couldn't put the two pieces of the puzzle together." Lord Synth smiled again, he was clearly enjoying this. Why, I didn't know. "You Powers aren't all your cut out to be."

Lilith wailed and dropped to the ground. It was the final straw, that insult. The insult of her family name. The insult to everything she was and ever will be. She was a Power, no matter how many times she told me she wasn't. She might be a good Power, but that didn't mean that she wasn't a Power.

Lord Synth bellowed a laugh at the sight of Lilith Power crying at his feet. "My, my, little Lilith Sangrey Power, quite a mess, if you ask me. Emotionally unstable too. What shall we do, what shall we do?" Synth pretended to ponder over Lilith, and continued to walked around her in the same tight circle, never loosening, for it would be a sign of giving up.

He had called her Lilith Sangrey Power. I didn't know what that meant. What was the deal with Sangrey? It must be some kind of middle name. It was funny, she had never mentioned that to me before.

"What-what do you want from me?" Lilith bellowed out, tears streaming down her face.

Synth laughed. "Nothing, dear one. You were the one who came stumbling into my camp." Lord Synth laughed again, as if this was the most ironic thing he had ever encountered. I really wished that I knew why he was laughing, or why Lilith was so upset.

Just, great. I thought to myself, miserably. I go around thinking I know everything, and then this happens.

"In fact, I should be the one asking you that question. My dear, dear Lilith, why are you here? What do you want from me? For, me, seeing you bawling at my feet, is enough to keep me entertained for years. I needn't anything from you." Lord Synth stopped strutting in a circle. He yanked Lilith up by the arm and looked her in the eye.

There it was again, but it wan't Lilith, it was Lord Synth.

He had said it.

Needn't.

Almost as if he was from another time . . .

"Lilith," Synth said to Lilith. They were face to face. Lilith had stopped crying. Synth had stopped laughing. "It was never you that I hated, not really. It was Essence I hated, and what she did, it was unbearable. What you did Lilith, that was unforgivable. I'm sorry. But you do know that I once . . . I once . . ."

Lord Synth choked up. Tears fell down his cheeks. He was choking and spluttering and was clearly trying to say something with his heart, but his brain wouldn't agree.

Lilith sucked in her breath. Her face was full of shock. Her eyes told story of revenge, fear, distrust, heartbreaks, regret and lies. It was clear that she knew what Lord Synth was about to say, but she didn't want to hear it. Lilith braced herself, visibly-and probably internally-for the final blow.

Lord Synth got down on one knee, as soon as the first tear had fell, the rest started falling with such force, it looked like the entire Ocean was dripping from his eyes. He gripped Lilith's hand so tightly, both of their hands started to turn white. He bled the salt of his soul, and it poured from his eyes where he clenched Lilith's hand, seeing the darkness ahead, and groping for it, longing for it.

Synth's breathing was ragged. His words were choked off by the sound of sadness. He bawled like a grown man. Quite, with only the sound of heavy breathing and choking. Tears flowed, but his expression stayed as a tight grim line.

"Lilith . . . I . . ." Lord Synth gulped. Lilith grimaced, biting her bottom lip, and staring at Synth regrettably. "Lilith, Lilith, I love-"

Whatever Lord Synth was going to say, her was interrupted with the sound of happy screaming. I looked towards Paevanshire. Coming out of one if the tents was Saphara, Adonis and Sinoda.

"Duke!" Saphara screamed, oblivious to Lord Synth, her father. "You came back!" she screamed again and enwrapped me in a hug. I was happy to see her of course, but I would have been so much happier if I could have heard what Lord Synth was going to say. For he would probably never attempt to say it again.