CHAPTER 44

  BEFORE THE DAWN

  Silent, drowsy and gloom streets coated in dampened moon’s light, a fragrant reminder of how quickly life can be flipped upside down without any warning . Lino carefully scurried through the alleyways barren of a living soul, recalling the events that had transpired here today . Though he may have left Valor with a confident sweep, he hardly felt so truly . Today he’d gleamed at the Purity Realm Great Demon, someone who would easily be able to discover him were Lino to slip up even slightly . Enrobed in the black cloak with hood hiding his face, his steps were slow and careful, wary of alerting any unwanted eyes .

  The rubble was spread out and about, concrete proof of a city that was handled a catastrophe just recently . There were more than a few corpses here and there, with blood trails wailing against the thick, bricked walls . On more than one occasion, he had to look away . Just yesterday, the city housed entertained lot who’d know not day or night in their delirium . Today? It is a grim shadow of yesterday . Treading over the battered grounds didn’t come easy for him, even less so when he’d ran across the three girls he’d ’hired’ to keep a lookout on for any ’red eyes and such’ .

  Taking a deep breath, he forcibly calmed himself down before glancing toward the Palace . He was still a couple miles away as he didn’t dare approach candidly, yet its destruction was quite visible, even from back here, and even so during the night . Tattered walls hung barely on the edge, innards exposed to the shining moonlight . As he was about to look away, his eyes landed on her, standing on the ledge, draped in a beautiful, white gown, her silver hair cascading down her back like a waterfall . Her eyes peered toward the sky, air about her melancholic . There are some wounds that neither time nor care could ever heal; Lino imagined that seeing the city you grew up in - the city you were a Princess of - razed and beaten to such a degree would be one of those wounds . For better or worse, she was still alive, Lino wagered as he ducked back into the shadowed alleys, making his way over .

  Freya stared at the clear, night sky, seeking the glitter of stars and drawing a picture in her mind . Hands beneath her gown were shaking, her nails digging into her skin, bleeding crimson . She didn’t dare look down . It hurt too much . Just a mere glance would remind her of what she had seen today . It would bring about the rebirth of a crimson-dyed image she had worked the whole day on forgetting . It happened too quickly to process it properly, yet slowly enough to be imparted directly into one’s psyche, and she had the front row seats for the whole ordeal . Seeing Valor being blown backward like a cannonball was one thing, but the ensuing chaos was another . Her father is dead . Her mother is missing, as is her second brother . The Palace is wholly silent, drowned in drowsiness of emptiness, melancholy, an odd, eerie feeling creeping into its thinly veiled walls .

  "You look as beautiful as ever . " a gentle voice which, just yesterday, used to bring a smile to her face, jolted her from her dream, causing her to bite her lower lip before turning around and smiling .

  "Brother . You have come . " Freya said, bowing lightly toward the newcomer; Prince Yox stood a few paces away, wearing a royal garb adorned in golden threads and complex patterns, with a glittering scabbard strapped to the side of his belt . "Is it time?" she asked .

  "Not yet," Prince Yox said, smiling faintly . "We have some minutes to kill prior to being required to descend . It is a beautiful night, is it not?"

  "It is," Freya said, turning back toward the sky . "I hardly ever remember the stars shining so brightly . "

  " . . . are you afraid of me, Freya?" Prince Yox asked .

  " . . . I do not know . " she replied as he slowly walked up and stopped next to her . "Ought I be?"

  "I will readily admit I am far from what one would call a good person," the Prince said . "Events of today should attribute to that, after all . But, whether you wish to believe me or not, I hardly had a choice, Freya . "

  " . . . choices are all we have, Yox . " Freya said . "You are the one who taught me that . "

  " . . . do you remember when we visited Anna and Joan?" the Prince suddenly asked, surprising Freya . "I believe you were eight at the time . You loved their garden, and stayed there for the most of our visit with Joan . Meanwhile, Anna and I were inside with Royal Father and Duke Yolk, who were excitedly recounting the plans they had for our marriage . "

  " . . . I never knew you were engaged with Anna . It must have hurt you when she died . "

  " . . . back then, I had a choice to save her," the Prince said, his voice cracking halfway through . "In return, I only had to stab you in the heart . "

  " . . . " Freya shifted her head sideways and looked into his eyes, depicting only honesty .

  "I have been given similar, impossible choices throughout my life, Freya," Yox continued . "Assortment of choices laid before me, all I had to do was pick whichever I wished . "

  " . . . allow me to venture a guess," Freya said, looking away . "Most of those involved my life, one way or another . "

  " . . . "

  "I have always known you loved me Yox, and not as a sister," Freya said . "However, I had never ventured a guess your obsession with me would lead to this . "

  " . . . so you do resent me?" Yox asked, his voice trembling slightly .

  "No . . . I just sympathize," Freya said . "That you had to sell your soul because you saw no other way to wed me . Father, I assume, refused your proposal every single time, mother hardly ever had any interest and told you to do whatever you want, and Relish . . . well, Relish must have pretended to have never noticed anything . Among us, you were always the one shining the brightest, Yox, yet you always also cast the longest shadow . My hand in marriage . . . do you truly think it was worth it?"

  " . . . I do," Yox said meekly . "Those people outside . . . they . . . they are irrelevant . They are like rabbits; no matter how many you hunt, they will breed quickly enough to compensate for the losses . But there is only one you and one me Freya . There is only one royal family . There is only one Umbra Kingdom . "

  "You are broken, Yox," Freya said, glancing at him and smiling faintly while her eyes grew moist . "I suspect you have been broken for quite some time now . You clearly do not think all lives beyond this place are worthless, yet you proclaim it with such conviction that a stranger would be none the wiser . I do not know, nor do I care to find out, whose hands tangled themselves around you, but I do care for my brother . However much you love me, you were always Prince first and everyone else second . And Prince cares about his people, as you do . Today, you have condemned the whole of Umbra Kingdom to a war that will not end until we no longer exist, Yox . You have invited spawns of darkness into our home and let them breed ceaselessly beneath our beds . You have let them dine with us, speak with us, guide us . You may have my hand forevermore . . . but, today, you have forever lost my heart . "

  " . . . Freya . . . " Yox mumbled, grabbing her hand . "I . . . I didn’t have another choice!"

  "Whoa, careful there, the commoner inside of you is showing . " a chirp voice startled the two .

  "Who goes there?!" Yox turned around as he drew out the sword from his scabbard and pointed it at the outline hidden in the shadow beyond the rubble .

  " . . . why are you here?" Freya, though, quickly relaxed and asked .

  "I have come for you . " the voice replied .

  "There is no need . You can leave . " Freya said .

  "Freya, who is he?! How do you know him?" Yox asked, agitated .

  " . . . as much as I admire your whole ’self-sacrifice’ spiel, I don’t think it’s helping anyone at the moment," Lino walked out, chuckling lightly, gentle, nightly wind blowing his hair . "You can’t save your Kingdom while being prisoner inside its rotten heart . "

  "Guards!! Guards!"

  "Don’t bother," Lino said, sighing . "The poor things were so exhausted they decided to take a nap . You really should be more attentive to them . "

  " . . . you were the one who saved Valor today . " Freya said, smiling lightly . "I should be expressing my gratitude for that . Valor is a good man . "

  "He is," Lino nodded . "As you are . "

  "I am hardly a man, do you not think so?"

  "Well, you’re certainly behaving as one," Lino said . "Stubborn, headstrong and, quite frankly, a bit stupid . "

  "Then you, being the sensible one, are a woman, no?" Freya said .

  "Enough!! Who is he Freya?!! Answer me!!"

  "Aaah!" Freya screamed out as she felt her arm being pulled, her feet stumbling over a piece of rock; her body fell to gravity, leaning sideways, while both Lino and Yox drove their arms toward her, but were to late . Yox’s sword was in the trajectory of her body, stabbing right through her sleep, dousing her white gown in crimson .

  "Freya!!" Lino and Yox exclaimed at the same time as she fell onto the floor, breathing faintly . "Hey, hey, look at me! Dammit, you fucking moron," Lino cursed, ripping of a piece of cloth from his shirt and winding it around her wound . "Hey, what the hell are you doing?! Is this really a good time to freeze up?! Go and fetch a doctor!"

  "R-right!" Yox exclaimed . "No, wait! You plan to take her away!"

  " . . . just go grab a fucking doctor if you don’t want her to die . " Lino growled at him, ignoring the Prince afterwards while tending to Freya’s wound . "You know," he spoke to her when the Prince left finally . "You really are like a man . What other woman would be insane enough to impale herself on a sword as means to an escape?"

  " . . . you figured it out?" Freya mumbled, chuckling faintly as Lino helped her up on her feet, holding onto her wound and pushing Qi in to prevent further injury .

  "Well, either that or you’re just a clumsy little girl," Lino said . "And I wouldn’t bet on the latter . How much do we have?"

  "A few minutes, at most . " Freya said . "How confident are you in escaping?"

  " . . . from your pervy brother? Quite so . From others in the Palace? Eh, we’ll take our chances . "

  " . . . he is not . . . he is not perverted . He is just . . . "

  "Whatever he is," Lino said, dragging her to the edge . "We can analyse it for days on end once we’re out . For the time being, he’s your pervy brother that we have to get away from . If you have any complaints, keep them in that pretty little head of yours . "

  "Oh, you think I am pretty?"

  " . . . right, now you decide to behave like a vain woman," Lino said, chuckling lightly . "Hold on tightly . "

  "I knew you would come for me, you know?" Freya said, wrapping her arm around Lino’s neck while the latter suddenly jumped off into the darkness beneath .

  "Oh? What gave me away?"

  " . . . nothing . I just . . . knew . In my heart . "

  " . . . still not the greatest idea to impale yourself on the sword to give us a chance to escape . "

  "Felt more assuring than risking detection by striking him . " Freya said . "Whereto now?"

  " . . . now? Onto a rather long journey . "

  "Will we ever come back here?"

  "We will," Lino said . "And even if I don’t, you certainly will . "

  " . . . thank you . " she said faintly, pushing her head into the nape of his neck . Lino landed onto the ravaged ground and carefully danced around the many craters while escaping Palace’s compound .

  "Well, I am your shadow," Lino said . "Aren’t shadows supposed to follow their source no matter where the latter goes?"

  " . . . "

  Just as he reached the three mile mark away from the Palace, a resounding roar full of anger bellowed out from the Palace . A mere moment later, Lino felt an overwhelming presence sweep over him, causing his pupils to dilate .

  "We’ve been made," he mumbled weakly . "This . . . is going to be rough . Better hold on . " Purity Realm?! Really?! You couldn’t have informed someone that can’t kill me with a glance?! Shit! Shit! Shit! Lino . . . think . . . think . . . right!! That place where that weird devil fought me! Maybe she’s still there! It’s a minute away . . . I should be able to make it . . . I hope . . .