Chapter 56: Friends to Foes

"There is no nation in history that has not experienced bloodshed and murder. We all have committed the same mistakes in a different manner."—M.F. Moonzajer

"I am becoming a tyrant, threatening in place of convincing. Unstable instead of steadying.

I am suited to the shadows, to the art of knives and bloodshed and coups, to poisoned words and poisoned cups. I never expected to rise so high as the throne. And I fear that I am utterly unsuited to the task." —Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air, #3)

"He'd seen a lot of blood today. That was all right. Blood was the wine of the spirit, was it not?" —Ottessa Moshfegh, Lapvona

***

At that point, Pack knew immediately that Arlan was a threat to Xenia's life, thus putting herself at risk when Arlan desperately tried to go past her.

"Do you see me as your friend, Pack?"

He looked towering with this piercing pair of eyes staring down at Pack. She could only put her hands out to block his path whilst praying for things not to turn sour.

She gulped before answering Arlan's question.

"Both you and Xenia are my dear friends! So, he can't possibly do what you just said!"

"I'm grateful for being your friend, Pack. Really... I know that you'll do the same for me if Xenia and I switch positions. Truly an admirable friend."

Suddenly, Arlan turned around and began walking away. Seeing Arlan do so, Pack, of course, let her guard down, relaxing her nerves and whole body. But that was when Arlan once again shifted his whole body and swerved, passing Pack almost instantly.

"No, Arlan! You can't!"

Arlan was much faster than Pack.

"I won't reach there in time! Arlan's fast!"

Pack needed to rely on her gift once again in order to catch up to Alan and somehow save Xenia from imminent danger, which Arlan possessed.

He harbors ill intentions to his best friend, enraged by the words spoken by Xenia when he was regenerating.

[Revival]

Arlan's gift is a unique one and can be classified as one of the rarest. His gift does not allow him to die whatsoever. However, he would still feel the pain when being killed.

But how would one steal his gift? Or would he ever die? What about aging? Will Arlan age through time, physically? Any of these questions are unanswered until an individual breaks the secrets to this particular gift.

Upon activation of her gift, which reinforced her whole body, and gave her the speed she wished for, Pack burst into acceleration. Instantaneously, she caught up to Arlan in a matter of seconds, but collided with him, for she does not have control over her speed.

Both of them flung away in a direction, rolling vigorously on the ground and further covering themselves with dirt and dust. Plus the slightly wet blood that was spilled on the ground.

"Ow, ow, ow! Pack! Stop getting in my way!"

"Like hell, I would! Xenia is my friend! So are you! I can't have my friends hold a grudge against each other nor see them try to kill each other!"

She could feel her eyes beginning to burn, on the verge of tearing up. But she tried her best to suppress her emotions to properly think and make decisions. She has to stop Arlan from his evil intentions, and from taking revenge.

"I've already made up my mind, Pack! I'm doing this because it hurts! And the only way to relieve this pain is by taking Xenia's life! It hurts so much! I trusted him! He was my best friend! I chose his life over mine and even put my brother's life in danger just to save him... but what did he do? He fucking killed my brother despite everything! So, it's only possible that I kill him, right?! Right?!"

After all that talk and venting out of anger, Pack turned a deaf ear to Arlan's words. She was keen on defending Xenia, even if the kid really did kill Thaniel. He would have a reason, she thought. And he saved her life, plus Xenia gave him the revenge she yearned for.

"No, no, no, no! You are not killing anyone! I won't let you kill him nor die! No one's dying! Not on my watch!"

By force, he shoved her and Pack fell on her butt on the ground. Disregarding Pack's feelings, Arlan proceeded to walk towards the unconscious Xenia with the intention of taking what Xenia supposedly took from Thaniel. Everything.

He shook her grip on his leg off when she grabbed onto him to stop Arlan. Pack was desperate to prevent any more deaths, unaware of the condition to leave the island and survive.

"You've already dragged this long enough, Pack. Cease this ignorance at once."

"Nooooo!"

Once the hurdle was cleared, Arlan got on top of the square stone slab with dry blood on it and Xenia lying down. He was severely injured, on the verge of death, only hanging by a thread. Despite the huge amount of blood he lost, Xenia was still clinging to life.

Staring directly at the pained look on Xenia's face, Arlan bit his lower lip. He was on top of Xenia, putting on weight on the kid. He had Xenia's obsidian knife in his hands, ready to stab the sleeping kid directly in his heart.

"How easily you tarnished our friendship by killing my brother... I didn't want to believe it until I saw it with my own two eyes!"

He screamed and let the knife descend upon Xenia. He put everything in it. His rage, pain, and strength.

"Ah, what—?"

Xenia woke up to see the predicament he was in. His vision was blurry but he definitely saw his blade falling down on him, so he had to prevent himself from getting stabbed, thus using his lower half to throw off Arlan's balance.

This made Arlan slightly move, causing the knife to miss when Xenia used his right hand to defend himself by redirecting Arlan's attack to the side, wherein the knife struck down on the stone slab.

"I just woke up and someone's already trying to kill me! My body's also killing me right now! Give me a break!"

Xenia successfully threw Arlan off of him by pushing him to the side. His friend fell to the ground and hit his head but immediately stood back up.

"Xenia! You killed my brother!"

"That voice..." Arlan's voice registered in his ears. "Is that you, Arlan? H-How are you alive?! W-Wait is that your gift? I see... I get it! So 'that' gift goes back to this day!"

"I don't fucking care what you're saying! You killed my brother and you're gonna pay for it!"

Arlan was screaming for vengeance whilst Xenia was falling into silence. He knew his sin and didn't try to deny it.

"My transgressions are irredeemable. I betrayed you and I shall pay for everything."

~