Chapter 47: Shouldering All The Burdens

"Saints have no moderation, nor do poets, just exuberance." —Anne Sexton

"The poet or the revolutionary is there to articulate the necessity, but until the people themselves apprehend it, nothing can happen ... Perhaps it can't be done without the poet, but it certainly can't be done without the people. The poet and the people get on generally very badly, and yet they need each other. The poet knows it sooner than the people do. The people usually know it after the poet is dead, but that's all right. The point is to get your work done, and your work is to change the world." —James Baldwin

"Blessed are the weird people:

poets, misfits, writers

mystics, painters, troubadours

for they teach us to see the world through different eyes." —Jacob Nordby, Pearls of Wisdom: 30

***

Grenoble has no sympathy. For him to succeed, he cast aside his humanity, further delving into the world of evils. His eyes shed no hint of hesitation, gradually approaching Xenia with his knife in his hand. He sees and looks at the child in front of him as nothing more than a sacrificial lamb, a small fraction of success. But what is this success? Complete eradication of Balmackians? Death to all evil?

"May your soul find peace in the afterlife."

This was Grenoble's last sentence for Xenia. He wished him goodbye yet it was empty. No feelings could be sensed from his words. It was as though he was omitting his emotions— the feelings that were supposed to complete his sentence.

Being just several inches away from Grenoble, his stiff body was on the verge of losing its balance. However, Xenia still endured his pretentious act to lure Grenoble near him. And as Grenoble leaned closer—unaware of the heinous disposition Xenia had—when he was about to inflict a quick and effective death on Xenia, the latter suddenly revealed that he could move all along.

"Blood?!"

Yes, the first thing he noticed was the blood on Xenia's hands upon abruptly moving, which caught Grenoble off guard.

Swiftly lunging to the side, unsheathing his obsidian knife, then stabbing Grenoble three times. All aimed at the man's right flank.

Grenoble groaned at the first wound, losing some of his balance afterward. Still, he didn't let the kid do as he pleased. He tried to catch Xenia but he was nimble and quick with it. His hand was impaled instead on the second strike, the knife going through his palm. This time, Grenoble had to utter a faint cry. And on the third time, as soon as Xenia roughly pulled out the knife from Grenoble's impaled hand, he finished it off with a deep wound on the man's left-right chest.

As a grown-up man, built to survive in the wilderness, honed like a fine gem, it should be easier for Grenoble to overpower Xenia who was just several kilos than him. However, being a trained soldier, surviving countless fights before; always being put on death's doorstep, Xenia knew exactly what to do in the situation.

It was a flawless execution wherein all Grenoble could do against the fierce assault of Xenia was blocked, try to grab the kid, and grunt as Xenia mercilessly and arguably showered Grenoble with a barrage of unstoppable stabbings all over his body. Basically, Grenoble's body became Xenia's punching bag but without the gloves.

"H-How did you...?" Grenoble faintly asked whilst being down on both knees, bleeding across his whole body, robbed of the strength he possessed earlier. "You shouldn't have been able to m— bleugh, move..."

"How you wonder? It was quite easy and I know you've come across the answer already."

Bloodshot eyes, clothes— his whole body covered in Grenoble's splattered blood, Xenia mightily stood right across Grenoble. He emits a different vibe, his immense bloodthirst stagnates in the atmosphere.

A kid could never possess such an intense desire to kill, Grenoble thought. And besides that, the thought of Xenia doing what needs to be done crossed his mind before he got what he deserved.

"You...! You didn't...!"

"Exactly, Grenoble."

"Haha..." Although feeling weak, Grenoble still musters the courage to laugh. "Whoever you are, you are crazy. But I have to admit, you are more evil than I am."

"Crazy? I was crazy once. In order to make progress, someone must fail. For me to survive, someone must die. And for me to defeat you, I must sacrifice everything, even if it means losing my humanity."

"How was the taste?"

"Of what? The human flesh? Disgusting, I'd honestly say. It's fucking chewy and full of fat."

"Bleugh! *Coughs* it sure was. I'm still surprised that you killed your friend and ate him to steal his gift. I don't know exactly what Thaniel's gift was but... I'm guessing it's the power to be unharmed by others' gifts or something that blocks off certain gifts' effectiveness." Grenoble continued to lose a lot of blood. "Surely, his consciousness is tormenting your mind right now. All of his emotions, the bottled-up remorse and sorrow. Everything Thaniel felt, you're feeling it too right this moment."

"It's the best fucking feeling! His negative emotions will keep me awake at night! In other words, Thaniel's hatred will make me have one eye open when I sleep."

Like an insane sociopath, Xenia crazily laughed his heart out, his voice echoing loudly throughout the entire forest. It was by far the most bone-chilling laugh someone made.

"Unfortunately, I am now unable to feel anything. It's... cold. So cold... I think I need a blanket. Ah... My vision is blurry. This is it for me... Forgive me. In the end, I still am the failure that I was."

Grenoble breathed his last breath, and he died right after extreme blood loss. He remained on both knees as his body dripped and bathed in his own blood.

"Pardon my unscrupulous action, but I will need some of your flesh, Grenoble."

His theory might be unsupported, all speculations and nothing but hunches, however, Xenia still believes that he holds the ability to transcend into a far greater being. Beyond the boundary.

"I don't need that much flesh. A slab of meat will do the job."

Now that the threat had subsided on Xenia's side at the cost of losing everything, he wondered where to go next.

"Satte... Should I head straight to the mountain or see how things would progress from here? Geh, there's no point in thinking hard. I'll just find a good place to stay for the night and rest."

An hour passed that night and Xenia found a safe and sound spot in a cave, made fire for himself, and spent the rest of the night sleeping with one eye open.

~