33 Risen#re - Chapter 356

The hours that followed Stanley’s departure was like a horror story, as carnage washed across the streets of the city.

People ran through the streets, some were fleeing… while others chased, horrid and gut-wrenching screams prevailed in the streets and alley ways, and even as one screaming victim was silenced, a hundred other screams constantly echoed to take their place.

The smell of blood pervaded the air, no where in the city was free from the gut-wrenching stench.

It sounded like pigs were being slaughtered in Lirian’s ears, as he staggered his way through the streets.

“Shut-up,” Lirian muttered under his breath as he kept a hand pressed against his temples, “It wasn’t me… I-I-didn’t-do-this,” Lirian said to the voice in his head.

It was there again, threatening to cripple his mind and body, its intensity was greater than ever before, it refused to relent, from the moment those first bolts were fired it never stopped.

‘Why am I being punished for this?’ Lirian groaned weakly and he stumbled against a wall on the road, ‘I didn’t kill them, I didn’t orchestrate this,’ Lirian complained.

It was true, he never expected this outcome, but then even if he did, why should he care?

Lirian ducked away into an alley as he noticed a group of nobles about to come his way.

With the way things were going Lirian wouldn’t put it past the nobles to start killing every person that came into sight.

He witnessed it happen a couple times already, random people who were running to their homes, were savagely cut apart.

It was like everyone had lost their mind, Lirian had noticed that most people were actually avoiding him, Lirian wasn’t certain if it was his charm or The Red Boar uniform.

The Red Boar was famous amongst nobles so it made sense that they would recognise it, but Lirian didn’t want to bank on that, one faulty noble and he’d find himself in a fight.

Currently, Lirian felt like his mind was going to explode, from the pain, he wasn’t in any condition to be fighting.

Lirian slipped into the alley and staggered into a hidden grove, where he fell to the ground as he grappled with Edith’s voice, that continued to rattle the inside of his mind.

‘Mercy…’ the voice cried; it was just like before, just like that day when she died.

Lirian tried to stop it, he tried not to listen, but the plea in her voice was one that he could not ignore, not anymore.

Her plea wasn’t for herself; it was for him.

Suddenly the world around Lirian lost all its colour, and Lirian found himself back in the centre of the rumbling storm, in the place where everything was calm.

It was the eye of the storm and he was its centre, only the sound of the roaring thunder reached his ears, but all the raging winds and rampant clouds, that were made up of all the worlds oceans, remained far away.

Not even the spurting magma dared to interrupt his final moments with her.

They had been speaking for a long time already, saying all the things they never got to say, for they knew that their time was short, and now only minutes remained.

Lirian held Edith tightly in his arms, but no matter how hard he held on, he knew that she would soon be gone.

“There’s something that I have to tell you,” Edith whispered while nestling her head on Lirian’s shoulder, Lirian could feel her grip around his neck slipping, so he didn’t dare to interrupt, these were to be her final words to him, and he had to listen.

“It’s actually something the other me asked me to tell you,” Edith whispered in his ear, Lirian relished those moments when her breath brushed his ear.

And slowly she began saying the words the other her asked her to deliver.

“I’ve been watching you, always, from the day you crawled in alleys and fed on filth to survive, I’ve been closer than you can ever imagine,” Edith whispered gently, she felt like she knew what she was saying, but at the same time there were to many new memories in her head to recall.

But as she saw Lirian’s shaking eyes, she felt there was a lot more to the words she spoke than she could currently understand.

But time was of the essence she had to say her piece and quickly.

“I watched everything, and your pain was my pain, so many times I wished to reach out and whisper some words to ease your heart, but as close as I was, I was still so very far away,”

“I know that it was hard, and no person should have to go through what you did, I know that you don’t want to hear my next words, its not fair that anyone should ask this of you, but I must say them for your sake, or you will fail just as you did before,”

“Mercy, my dear Samsara you must learn its meaning, you must accept it, you must show it, you must embody it,”

“Because,”

“Mercy is the way of true kings,”

“Without it you will be lost, and doomed to repeat what has once been done,”

“My love, you are capable of so much more than merely being a king,” Edith used the last of her strength to bring her hand to Lirian face.

There eyes met, both stained with tears, they stayed like that for a while, “I’m glad that I got to see your eyes again,” she whispered ever so softly with her final breath.

—

Lirian blinked and found that the world had gone dark again, he blinked again, and the world remained the same.

Lirian climbed up and noticed that his clothes were a little big, Lirian quickly realised that he reverted to his real form.

Lirian lay strewn across the hard ground in the alley, he activated ‘Gods Gaze’.

Lirian looked up to the sky for answers, “Mercy,” Lirian muttered, “What is it?”

“Is it a skill? is it an emotion? is it a law perhaps? Is it a dao all to itself? Or is it something more?” Lirian question without moving.

His gaze was fixed upon the stars that existed beyond the sky, he watched them twinkle and release their energy as he had spent many an eon in past.

Looking for the secrets that they might hold, looking for the coincidences that might lead to answers.

“What is mercy exactly? And how can it help me?” Lirian questioned.

He could no longer pretend that he didn’t hear her words, they were always going to remain deeply etched in his cold heart, denying them was like denying her, he couldn’t do that anymore.

As he looked between the stars that no one could see, Lirian wondered if he might ever hear her voice again.

“Is this last time I’m to hear you?” Lirian asked with a sense of loss.

But soon he shook his head, “Mercy,” Lirian muttered, “I’ll remember that word, it’s your word to me,” Lirian said with a smile forming on his lips.

In a place hidden.

In a place lost.

In a place that never existed to begin with.

The purple eyed woman felt her entire body tremble as she looked through the green haze that always clouded her vision.

Her spectral body rushed forward to the dark throne, and she placed her spectral hand just an inch over the silver eyed mans.

She would just pass through him in this form, this cursed form that kept them from feeling each other’s warmth since the dawn of this world.

Tears formed in her eyes, that splattered like crystals.

Her tears were not shed from fear, no, and they certainly were not from sadness, no, she was weeping with joy, for a change had occurred.

The silver eyed man for first time since the dawn of this wretched world, he smiled.

She remembered that smile, even after all this time, not even the stars could shine so brightly, not even the stars could make one feel so warm.