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.

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

the dry log, and secured his dead body with the ropes. I fished for a lighter in my pocket and then lit

fire to cover him. I didn’t have that power to watch as the

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

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

And I crawled.

en

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

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

pitch-black 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

I screamed. I didn’t stop until everything was out. My tears mixed with the pond water, all the hatred left my body,

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

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

tree glimmered through the

nothing came, I took giant strides back to the castle. A

I was a new person, the imperfect son of the

to

lover and soul

man who cherishes those around