Twin Tormentors By RARE

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 black 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 and laid my head on his lap; 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 flashed through my head, I saw a better place, a better life where I had a loving father who played 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 very last time; and then

began unchaining his body. I picked all the remains of him and laid 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.

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 planted 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 planted the tree while I was blinded by hatred and vengeance. Now, now I saw what kind of a monster

laid 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

him. I didn’t have that power to watch as the flames licked the remains of him, scorching him to the bone until nothing but ash and

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

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

And I crawled.

en

eyes couldn’t see because of the darkness that had befallen the world. I

arrived at that secluded pond. The warm water welcomed 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

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,

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

carrying for all my life, I let it all out! I

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

Light from the burning corpse and tree glimmered through the night, the stench of burned flesh very heady and

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

my pain; they cleansed me. I was a new person, the

brother to his

and soul mate to

who cherishes