Liridia

Chapter 26: Clarity

Liridia
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This is all your fault, Liridia. You could have done better.

I turn my head slowly to meet the eyes of Ayala, sitting delicately with her ankles crossed in the old armchair.

The sword isn't sticking out of her like last time. But the blood is there. So much blood, still pouring out of her wound as she stares at me. Her hair is out today, swept about her face by some undetected wind.

Haven't I told you before? Wherever you seem to go, death follows.

They aren't de-

But how could you possibly know that?

Death is all that you understand. You don't know what you are doing.

"No. They aren't dead. You shouldn't even be here." I snarl at her, the grim smile twitching on her face. Amused.

I go where I please. Can't you see?

"See what." I demand, unsheathing my daggers, one in between each finger.

That I'm everywhere. Always with you, despite what you think.

I close my eyes, a shiver spiralling up my spine and settling into the deep dark corners of my head. I look back up to see she isn't there, and my breath hitches in my throat as I glance wildly around.

Hither, dither
Confusion, frustration
Hither, dither
Magic, creation

She strolls through the library, picking up a text with one hand and flipping with the other, never yielding her eyes from mine as she sings.

You're dead. Robbed of life. Buried with your people and honoured by your clan. Be gone from me.

She pads her way over to where I'm kneeled in between Aldwin and Hywel. I can feel their heartbeats through their tunics. Aldwin lies in the space between sleep and death, his mind torn to pieces. Hywel stares at the ceiling vacantly as tears manage to slide from his eyes, slowly gaining more control as mother grows ever tired.

Liridia, darling. I'm growing impatient. Hywel hisses, starting to blink and twitch at the fingers.

She lifts up my chin to meet her eyes and strokes my cheekbone, her nose wrinkling in disappointment.

Such a pitiful warrior. I looked up to you, and you cry when the war is not yet over. You have not lost anyone, so why weep for the alive?

I stab her. Right in the gut with the six small daggers in between the fingers of both my hands, and I bare my teeth as she smiles a sad smile. I stab again and again, over and over, screaming, trying to slice my pain away as she blinks slowly, holding my chin in her iron grip.

"Get out of my head! You are a fantasy, an conjuring of pain that I can't rid myself of! You are a pitiful warrior, you left and just decided to come back, and you got yourself killed!" I shout into her face, stabbing until my hands are covered in blood and my arms ache.

A child who was left without a father, a child who ran from her mother. A child of death, sheer will and poison. You will figure yourself out when the time comes, friend.

Drako taught me how to carefully package my past into one tiny little box and wrapped it up tightly, disguising it with a grim sense of determination and a big DO NOT TOUCH sign engraved into the dark box. I was released from my past, yet I couldn't forget it.

"Drako taught me to begin with nothing. To get by with just me as my sole defence from the terrible world we have made. There is a war, but the worst thing is that I don't know that I can fight my way out of this. I don't know what is becoming of me." I whisper to her, pleading for guidance.

She smiles sadly and sighs.

The elders said that 'Death is not the End', and I didn't believe them. I've stared into the soulless eyes of the dead and believed that their souls were still inhabitants of their bodies. That they just watched their portion of the sky change from day to night until they didn't see anything other than the dirt covering them in their graves. But you are alive, Liridia. A threat to everyone you cross paths with, a weapon of destruction that should be feared by everyone, including your mother. So get yourself off your knees and show her what hell really feels like, 'Gladius Magnus'.

I stare at her face, and lower her forehead to touch mine, leaving a smear of blood on her tanned cheeks. I drop my daggers and they clatter onto the wood.

"I am sorry I couldn't protect you. I failed. I don't know what to do now. I don't know how..."

You don't need to know anything. Other than who you are and what you were meant to do, whether that be killing the evil inside your mother or yourself, that is up to you, my friend.

I close my eyes as my hands start to tingle once more, trying to suppress the glint of Golden magic at my fingertips.

I open my eyes to thank her, but she is already gone.

Liridia? Come to me at the dawn of the next day. A friend of mine will guide you.

And with that, Hywel was released. He sat bolt upright, holding his throat and gasping for breath. I turn to calm him down, but he scrambles away from me, coughing up black.

"You are fine. You are well. Can you tell me what happened?" I ask soothingly, staying rooted to the spot near Aldwin.

You know well what happened.

"What-" I gasped, reaching for my ears.

"Something went wrong. Terribly so." He whispers, reaching for his hair and pulling. I hold my hands up in surrender, and slowly edge toward him.

So many voices. All at once. I can't keep them at bay. Help. He begs to me silently as his gaze fixated on my boots, which are now crossed in front of him.

I reach for his hands, which tug violently on his hair, and bring them away from his head slowly to rest in my lap, entwined with mine. As his eyes flutter closed my head fills with noise, all at once.

Begging.

Wanting.

Screaming.

You hear it too? His eyes meeting mine hopefully. I nod wordlessly, wondering how to think through the screams tearing me in half.

"What do you hear?" He asks abruptly, piercing through the sea of noise.

"Screaming. Pain. Suffering. What about you?"

Crying. Laughing. Shouting. Everything.

I place our grasped hands to his temples, and I feel it. All of it.

Children laughing, screams of pain, pleads for mercy, crying and smiling and living.

Breathing.

And in that beautiful, beautiful moment, I know what I need to do.

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Another chapter done and dusted. I'm sorry that I didn't update and went MIA for 8 days, but I went on holiday with the family.

This book is becoming interesting for me. What will they do next? Who will they meet? And the most important, Who will win?

Thank you guys so much for reaching past the 400+ views mark, so thankful for persistent readers.
Oh and last thing. I'm not great with horror films, but my family made me watch IT with them (the 2017 one), and it honestly was pretty funny. Richie Tozier is my spirit animal.

Quote of the day:
Richie Tozier: I hear the list is longer than my wang.
Stanley Uris: That's not saying much.

Until next chapter, which will be soon
Au revoir