Finale ch.18

Finale ch.18

Chapter 18
The Other Side

At the same time Keldorix is getting stronger and training under the old man his companions are in hell.

Virxes is damned to an eternity of reliving all the time he’s sworn himself to those stronger than him. The first and last was the same man… Keldorix… Keldorix was the one that taught him how to fight, how to stand up for what he believes in… The man that taught him so much was the same one that betrayed him and sent him to this fate. His wrists and ankles were worn down almost to the bone. Blood ran down his body and dripped off the slab forming a puddle that told a story of torture and loss, the screams of family members suffering exploded from the puddle with each drop each one louder than the last.

“Damn that man… Damn him for sending us here… Damn him for leaving us… Damn his failure! Damn him!!!” Virxes cried out as he struggled against the restraints that bound him a stone slab. “I’ll kill him, I’ll kill him…! I swear I’ll kill him when he comes back!” He struggled even harder.

“Yes, this is so perfect…” a shadowy figure said from beside him. “… Too perfect almost, but whatever… Once he comes back he won’t have anyone to save…” The figure said darkly as it took the form of Keldorix.

“Damn you! Damn you! Damn you!!!” The bound man cried out in anguish as the only thing he wanted to do was taken from him. He wanted nothing more than to wring the man’s neck, beat him, watch him suffer then finally kill him. The form of Keldorix chuckled coldly at the futile efforts of the man.
* * *
Maya was forced to watch her father die over and over again by the hands of a man she once thought she loved… Keldorix… Each time she saw the scene unfold it was different but it always ended the same, Keldorix cut the old man down and his blood splattered over the young woman’s face and beautiful white dress. Some times Keldorix would be laughing as the old man fell, others he was crying. Sometimes he said he was sorry a hundred times over in an instant, another he raped her, still more versions had him on the verge of indiscriminate genocide where he would have killed anything that so much as breathed but he always left the woman unharmed. Was it because he loved her or because he loved to watch the anguish written all over her grow more intense with each kill?

Each time she relived the terrible moment it ended with the face of a new love dying at the hands of the same man.
* * *
Chandra, the Warrior of Two Souls had the luxury of seeing his other self again. His other self stood beside him and slit open his belly with a small hand sickle. Only to have it heal. The whole time he’s being cut he watches his first fight against Keldorix replay over and over again in his mind. The way he had to rely on this other side of him felt increasingly disgusting and torturous. Having no control over himself in that state made him hate everything about himself. The way he practically let Keldorix win disgraced him. But most importantly he resented hearing that voice in his head, begging to get out and fight, he hated the way Keldorix let him live. With every cut and drop of blood that spilled over the edge of the slab he heard the words he was told after the fight…

“… Because all life his precious, even yours, Warrior of Two Souls.” The voices rang out in his head over and over again but he never let it bother him, he cursed his existence ever since it first happened but he’s learned to understand and cope with it since then.

“I know he only wanted to do something good, I don’t care if he was selfish about… He’s helped all of us in his own way I just hope that the others don’t get too wrapped up in what’s happening to them… I know he’ll come through… He’ll save all of us no matter how we all feel about him.” Chandra said aloud trying to ignore the pain.

“This just won’t do… You need to give into how you really feel, how much you despise how much you resent your existence and how he let you live.” A shadowy figure said standing next to his slab.

“Ha! You really think that you’re going to convince me? You’ve seriously underestimated me.”

“Oh have I now…?” The figure asked coldly. “We’ll see how you feel after this little operation…” The figure held some kind of worms or leeches three in each hand. Chandra’s other self open the cut in the man’s stomach. The latched on to his organs and his body convulsed in protest but it didn’t help. The figure then forced his mouth open and shoved the rest of the creatures in to his mouth. “The two will reach you’re brain, the other will enter your heart and the rest will bond you to me forever… I will have you kill your friend.” The figure chuckled at the body’s convulsing and protesting.
* * *
Mira was forced to watch the man she loved over and over again transform in the creature the destroyed her life and tormented her childhood dreams, she wouldn’t turn against Keldorix she was made to always fear him to never return to his warm embrace that always made her feel safe.

“No! No!!! I’ll be good, I promise just don’t kill anymore!” She kept crying. “Keldorix please, this isn’t you! It never was you! Come back to me! Please, I love you!”

The pitch black griffin, its scrawny build was deceptive. Its true power was unbelievable. Its enormous talons ripped a part people she cared about, it flew over her just to drop blood on her from its beak or talons. The nightmare always ended the same, another Keldorix tried fighting it only to be run through by its beak then devoured or he lobbed off its head, its blood covered him and he slowly started to decay down to a skeleton then just ashes and finally from the ashes rose another monster just like the first. Every time she never stopped crying and praying for him. She still loved him.

With each tear that dropped onto the stone she was held to she heard Keldorix say something. Drop. “I love you.” Drop. “I’ll kill you.” Drop. “I hate you.” Each drop alternated, and overlapped over the ones before it.

“This is so beautiful, when he finally arrives the woman he loves will be too afraid to return to him and his other companions will only be able to hate him, fight him, destroy him… I can’t wait to see him suffer the way he has always deserved for his failures…” A shadowy figure hissed as it rubbed her gently and moved sweat and hair from her face. “All the pain and suffering here pales in comparison to how gorgeous you are… My dear…” The figure whispered in her ear as she struggled against the restraints.