Chapter 65


    VERNERO POV


    A wall-shattering scream tore out of my lungs, as my body sunk into a deep bottomless sea of cold


    water. I watched as the air leave his body, his soul departing with his ck eyes still glued to my face.


    For the very first time since I have known my father, this was the time he looked at me with fatherly love,


    the one kind I have longed for, for as long as I can remember; and my heart hurt so much. I didn’t


    understand it! Why did it hurt so bad? Why did I feel weak in the knees for killing him while it has been


    the one thing that I have dreamed of?


    Tears streamed down my face as I turned the dagger, eliciting a squelching sound as it tore deeper and


    deeper through his heart. He was dead already because he wasn’t moving. But his eyes were as open


    and as clear as day! I screamed! God, I screamed so hard that my cry made the walls of the dungeons


    tremble.


    With a very defeated body, I slowly pulled the dagger from him, and then robotically watched as it


    dropped between me and his dead body! I killed him! I killed my fat me the same monster as he was?


    Didn’t that make me as wretched and as evil as he was? He told me he was sorry, he said it through


    tears that he was sorry and I didn’t listen to him. Instead, I jammed a sharp dagger through his heart, the


    one I had crafted a millennia ago. I have long prepared for this day, I had imagined the thrill and


    excitement as I watched the air leave his forsaken body!


    But what I felt right now was entirely the opposite of what I had thought!


    With that I dropped between his knees andid my head on hisp; then cried. There was no sound


    coming out, just bitter tears that didn’t seem to stop. It was as if the gates were open, and the tears just


    poured freely. I cried so much it felt like my body was going to grumble. I cried for his soul, for everyone


    he has hurt! For all the things he had done, to me, my mother, my brother, and my sweet, sweet Leigh-


    Ari. I let it all out.


    A wild imagination shed through my head, I saw a better ce, a better life where I had a loving father


    who yed catch with me in the backyard, and I saw a life where my mother prepared a warm dinner for


    all of us, and then tug us into our beds at night. I saw a life where I was the vet, taking care of the sweet,


    helpless animals. I saw a life where my brother was my everything! It all passed in front of my eyes,


    tearing my heart even further.


    I felt depleted, spent, so sated from crying. The guilt that consumed me knew no bounds. He asked me


    to forgive him, but I turned a deaf ear on him. Even after torturing him for that long, maiming him, and


    ensuring that he was tormented as I had been; I still didn’t find it in my stone-cold heart to forgive him.


    And in the end, I killed him. Didn’t that make me the worst?


    On the very trembling knees, I got up and closed his eyes for the veryst time; and then


    began unchaining his body. I picked all the remains of him andid him on the steel table, took all the


    maimed limbs, then began piecing them back on his body. After that, I retrieved a white cloth and


    covered him, wrapping it firmly around him so that nothing dropped. When I was all through, I took the


    secret exit that was at the end of the dungeons, walked robotically with his body in my hands until I came


    to the iron doors at the other side of Dark Woods. It was dark outside, as dark as it was inside me.


    Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    After cing him gently on the ground, I opened the iron doors causing them to creak painfully against


    the hard ground, the sound so abusing to my already tormented body and soul. I yet again picked him up


    and walked further into the woods through the night, then arrived at that one tree that I had nted for


    this very cursed day. Great self-loathing consumed me whole as I realized how evil I have been since the


    very first beginning. I had nted the tree while I was blinded by hatred and vengeance. Now, now I saw


    what kind of a monsterid just beneath the core of my being. :


    Iid him down, pushing him until he was leaning against the dry log, and secured his dead body with the


    ropes. I fished for a lighter in my pocket and then lit the cloth, setting it aze.


    I didn’t wait for the fire to cover him. I didn’t have that power to watch as the mes licked the remains of


    him, scorching him to the bone until nothing but ash and cinder was


    With that, I absentmindedly went even deeper into the woods. This side of the rest was still dense and


    thick, safe from the destruction caused by the explosion of the mines. I stumbled and fell, then picked


    myself up and continued walking.


    My whole body felt like it was still sinking deeper and deeper into the sea, the tears didn’t stop either. My


    throat hurt so much from keeping everything in, I wanted it all out. Because it hurt. It hurt so much I


    couldn’t breathe, my lungs were closing in on me, failing to take in the air I tried so hard to breathe. It


    was just so impossible. At one point, I dropped down on my knees, feeling so depleted. I tried to stand


    up but there was no energy left in my body. But I had to keep going, I had to. 1


    And I crawled.


    en


    Twigs and sticks snapped beneath my weight, but I didn’t stop. I continued crawling even when my


    knees were bleeding, my hands pricked by the sharp sticks. I continued crawling even when my eyes


    couldn’t see because of the darkness that had befallen the world. I bumped into trees with my head,


    causing my ears to ring louder and louder, but I didn’t stop. I needed to keep going!


    Finally, I arrived at that secluded pond. The warm water weed my body while I took a sweet dive


    inside. My eyes were snapped open, looking out for things, but I couldn’t see anything in front of me. I


    swam to the bottom of the pond and let the water carry me. And then I let it all out!


    Under the warm, pitch-ck water deep within the forest, away from the watchful eyes and ears, I let it


    all out. I opened my mouth and screamed. Bubbles formed in front of me but I didn’t stop. With each


    tormenting memory of my life, I screamed harder. Seconds turned to


    minutes with my body covered by the water, I screamed. I didn’t stop until everything was out. My tears


    mixed with the pond water, all the hatred left my body, and got carried away by the water.


    My lungs cramped up from theck of air from underwater, but I screamed. Everything I have been


    carrying for all my life, I let it all out! I screamed until my body began hurting from the depletion of


    oxygen, I screamed even when I began filling lightheaded; and then abruptly stopped.


    By the time I surfaced, I felt like a new person. By the time my head made it out of the water, I felt like I


    came back to life like I was just woken up from a deep, dreamless slumber. I slowly made it out of the


    pond and began my way back to the castle. The night had fallen, covering


    the whole sky. Light from the burning corpse and tree glimmered through the night, the stench of burned


    flesh very heady and sickening.


    I waited for the mind-fogging pain that sucked me in with the thought of my dead father, but nothing


    came. And when nothing came, I took giant strides back to the castle. A hope of a better tomorrow


    glimmered in the air, the promise of the new life upying my mind.


    The waters, they didn’t just swallow my imperfections, they didn’t just swallow my pain; they cleansed


    me. I was a new person, the imperfect son of the imperfect father died in the pond. A new man was born:


    A brother to his twin;


    A lover and soul mate to his woman;


    And a man who cherishes those around him!


    LORENZO POV


    It was done!


    Lorik Cattanio was no longer among thend of the living. Did it hurt? I had no idea. But one thing I had


    felt when the mes sparkled through the cold evening was a huge sense of relief. Did that make me the


    evil one in this? Did that make me so horrid and heartless that I didn’t even shed a tear for my father?


    The man who had birthed me? The man who created me?


    Instead of pain, happiness had clouded me. I so wanted to throw an ass party and celebrate his death!


    Because we were free. For the very first time since the beginning of forever, I felt so free, like I had just


    been released from a cold prison that was full of maliciousness of this world.


    When the me grew bigger and bigger, I found it hard to contain my smile. It was finally over. My


    brother would be free, finally! I would be free!


    I stayed like that with my hands tugged in my pockets, my eyes glued at the me that was raging deep


    within the woods. From this side of the castle, I could see everything despite the


    bitter darkness of the night. Minutes turned to hours and I stayed there, and then a shadow flicked from


    down at the ground. My brother emerged from the trees, I watched him as he made it to the entrance,


    then hurriedly left to the one room I knew he was going to go to first.


    I reached Ari’s room and found her sitting out on the terrace, very lost in thought. She was in her electric


    chair, the strands of her hair flying softly in the air. Upon hearing me, she turned and weed me with


    the biggest, warmest smile. I walked to her and dropped to my knees i n front of her, then ced my


    head on herp. It was finally over.


    “I am so sorry.” She whispered in a soft voice while threading her fingers through my hair, I didn’t have to


    say it out, but she knew that Lorik was well gone. I had no idea why she was apologizing, but that made


    a very strange feeling tug in my heart, then quickly leave. Right when I was trying to put a finger on it, the


    door busted open, and in came Verzi.


    Ari and I both got up and walked to him. My eyesnded on him for the very first time since h e handed


    us our freedom. He was wet, from head to toe, he was wet with water dripping from his body. His eyes


    met mine, and I saw it, the renewed version of him. The freedom in his eyes. He began stripping right in


    front of us until he stood with nothing but himself, all in his full glory.


    Ari opened her arms and he slowly walked to her, then engulfed her in a long hug. My heart clenched


    from his pain, the pain that had eaten him for day and night, for as long as I could remember. The two of


    them dropped to their knees on the floor, and I followed suit. Wrapping protective arms around them, I


    pulled them and kissed their heads, thenid mine between theirs.


    He did not just set us free, but he bared himself to us. He had shredded off the agony that gnawed at him


    through the night, and leaving himself, all in his purest form for us to ept him. And we did. We


    weed him into our hearts, our souls, our own beings, and three became one!