Chapter 80: Memories

According to a certain professor of mine,

Human memories are convoluted.

He stated that human beings see what they want to see and not what actually is.

He said that a person could sit in a room containing a table, chair, a pile of books and a painting but only end up taking notice of the painting, ignoring everything else.

When I first heard of this, I thought he was being absurd. My self at the time couldn't understand how human beings could look at a painting and see different things.

I thought everyone else was wrong and I was right.

...

"Sister! Sister!"

I called out in excitement as I rushed down the stairs, carrying a beautiful mosaic in my puffy, little hands.

"What is it, Marta?", my older sister, Mary, put down the novel she was reading and turned to me.

"Sister! Sister! Look! Look at this painting!", I beamed in excitement as I showed her the mosaic.

It was a framed antique mosaic made from shards of bone and glass; it seemed to have been conjoined with magic.

"Look! It's a horse!"

Mary leaned forward, a hand on her chin and narrowed eyes.

"Hmm...I don't think so Marta..."

My face fell.

"What?"

"It's a chimera, not a horse.", she said in a matter-of-fact manner.

Instantly, my face flushed with anger and I pointed my plump finger at her, "You and your know-it-all attitude! I hate you!"

With that I stormed off, throwing the mosaic aside and leaving my sister perplexed.

My little six-year-old self couldn't admit to such a fault, a mistake.

Why?

Memories.

I firmly believed in my own perception of reality and refused to see it from another perspective.

Leading to a wounded sense of pride.

...

"Am sorry, Marta."

Wha-

SHUNK!

The world seemed to stop as I momentarily looked down to the source of the sudden anguish I was feeling.

Buried deep in my abdomen was a sharpened mass of vines, having taken the form of a halberd.

My face was one of stark horror as I slowly began to realize what had just happened.

Williem had stabbed me.

I had been stabbed by Williem Nightingale.

Hu-

Before I could even muster a thought, Williem withdrew his halberd, tearing it out of my side in one violent motion.

SPLATTER!

Blood spurred forth from the ghastly wound as I fell to the ground like a broken marionette.

BAM.

My body bounced off the ground once before settling in a growing pool of red. My expression remained frozen in one of shellshock as my blood continued to spread.

My breathing grew hitched as my lungs struggled to absorb air. My heart pounded in a barely audible rhythm; it's once healthy rate rapidly declining.

My blood was going cold as my skin grew pale.

I was dying.

Williem...stabbed me...?

In the background, I could hear some furious noises but I couldn't make sense of them.

I felt too cold to bother.

"Uhh...uhh...", I stirred slightly, my vision slowly declining.

B-but...why...?

I barely managed to muster out an incoherent thought as my body struggled to turn itself.

Ack!

I let out a stifled groan as I twisted myself to look in the direction of the muffled sounds.

PLIP!

Through my blurry sight, I could vaguely make out a couple of figures moving, they seemed to be fighting.

Two seemed to wield long rods while one seemed to wield a green one, and the ground beneath them seemed to be coated with green.

In fact, everything seemed to be coated with green.

Green...

My gaze began to blacken, dyeing the world of green in a shade of pitch-black.

Will-

But before I went out, a loud yet familiar dry voice yelled,

"MARTA!!"

It was Galter.

...

Truthfully, I have no concrete recalling of the events that occurred in Lord Boetus' court.

My memories of them are heavily vague and disjointed.

My words when I confronted Galter over the matter of Williem were starkly different from what I recalled.

And I could barely remember whatever happened when Williem and I left the amphitheater.

Even my memories of the amphitheater incident are vague as well.

I could recall the memory of a woman named Elise but I could never fully testify to having met any person bearing the name Elise.

Memories...

Are indeed...

Convoluted.

...

PITTER! PATTER!

I awoke to the sound of rain, striking heavily against the pavement.

CRACKLE!

The booming sound of thunder quaked in the distance, immediately jolting me awake.

"Uhh...what happened?"

I rubbed my eyes with my hands as I looked around, taking in my surroundings.

Everything...was destroyed.

The audience hall of Lord Boetus' manor as well as the manor itself had been utterly devastated.

And yet, it looked strangely enchanting.

Large piles of debris were coated with beautiful plants, several mutilated corpses could be seen sprouting with tasteful foliage and an intricate webbing of vines could be seen populating the edges of a gaping hole in the ceiling.

The once majestic throne of Lord Boetus had been ruined, only serving as a host for a certain blossom – the Wailing Bloom.

Williem...

Strangely at the thought of his name, I didn't feel any anger nor any sorrow. I just felt an empty coldness.

Why?

Because I just realized.

Who is Williem Nightingale anyway?

At first, I simply wanted to have one night with him, next I yearned to understand who he was then I wanted to save him and finally, I wanted to feel his touch, his heart.

SHIFF!

I rose to my feet, taking off the thick wrap that had been used to coat me before turning to the giant hole.

"Williem...I'll have to be the one that kills you."

I spoke with frightening resolve, ready to take flight before a voice suddenly called out.

"And why?"

My head slowly turned to the source and unsurprisingly, it was Galter Droet.

TMP.

"Why don't you stop and ask yourself...what do you want to do?"

The man spoke in a hoarse voice.

He seemed pale and haggard, sickly even. Blood dyed his head and a couple of cuts on his body, he cradled his left arm with his right as if it were broken and quite obviously, it was.

He needed help, without it, he was definitely going to die.

But why should I care about the life of some commoner?

If he was going to die then let me at least say this.

"I depise you, Galter Droet. These are words from the depths of my heart. I hate you, never in my life have I met a man as distasteful as you. The world would be better off without men like you."

I spoke, my voice dripping with barely-concealed venom.

Galter's head hung low, his gaze obscured by darkness and his hair soaked with the falling rain.

"Is that all?"

Huh?

I stared at him with a raised eyebrow, "What?"

CRACKLE!

Thunder struck again, briefly illuminating the world before darkness devoured it once more.

Galter raised his head and stared at me with his obscured face, " Is that all you feel, Marta Droet?"

"All that hate, all that rage, all that anger...that's it...that's all it is? Words?"

I tensed my jaw and clenched my fist.

CRACKLE!!

A greater flash of lighting streaked through the sky as I saw Galter's face, he spoke,

"How disappointing."

SNAP!

In that instant, something inside me snapped.

Something inside me boiled.

It rose from my core and spread through my entire being, filling me with a powerful heat.

Like an inferno.

It was rage.

Pure, unbridled rage!

"RAAAH!!"

With loud cry, I lunged forward and...

BOOM!!

My fist collided with Galter's body, caving in his flesh and sending him flying.

"RAAAH!!"

I screamed as I grabbed his leg mid-air before tossing him through the wrecked doors of the audience hall.

CRASH!!!

The doors completely collapsed in a violent fashion – shards, debris and rain droplets exploded in all directions as Galter's broken body brutally hit the ground.

Without even giving him a moment of respite, I descended on him like a falling comet, sending ghastly tremors through the ground and forming a giant crater.

Blood splatttered out of his body, but I didn't care, I sat atop him and raised my hand up before bringing it down like a hammer.

BOOM!!!

Another powerful tremor and another douse of blood but I didn't stop, my mind had gone mad with anger.

"RAAAAAAHHHH!!"

I continued to scream as I smashed my fist down on Galter, brutalizing him with each passing moment, each passing second.

"WHY?!"

BOOM!!!

"WHY?!"

BOOM!!

"WHYYY?!!"

BOOM!

With each why, my fist came down, crashing down on Galter's skull.

Each 'why' represented a mishap in my life.

The death of my older sister, my lack of talent, Galter's betrayal, my own incompetence...

"WHY?!"

BOOM!!

A powerful shockwave emanated from my blow, raising large torrents of wind and displacing several tons of debris and rain.

I continued to rain down my fist as blood and viscera spewed forth, staining my face and dress.

Yet I didn't stop.

I didn't stop until my limb finally went numb.

BUMP.

A weak fist connected with the remains of Galter's skull as I let out a short breath. I finally brought my hand to a halt as I closed my eyes and stared upward.

My expression was oddly calm, almost peaceful.

PITTER! PATTER!

Rain continued to pour relentlessly, washing away the stains of blood over my face and soaking my hair.

I looked down at Galter, staring at the mutilated corpse which was utterly destroyed beyond recognition.

And yet...

Despite, the harrowing state Galter was in, his chest still inflated and deflated.

Galter's face seemed to let out what seemed like a smile.

My face cracked, "But...how?"

"It's my curse...I can't die."

I remained for a few moments and asked,

"Who cursed you?"

"..."

Galter didn't speak.

Silence soon engulfed the world later, only being held back by the boom of thunder and beating of rain.

Soon, Galter broke it with a question.

"Are you feeling better now?"

"Yes..."

We remained still for several moments before I asked,

"Why...why did you do this...for me...?"

"..."

Galter didn't speak, I thought he wasn't going to respond but he simply shrugged,

"I don't know. It was just a sudden impulse."

I stared at him for a second, "Huh?"

"What?", he seemed to tilt his head.

I stared at him for a moment before suddenly chuckling.

"Huh. Why are you laughing?"

"Pfft...so, you're telling me that you suddenly had an impulse to get beaten up?", I asked, barely being able to hold my laughter.

"I... presume?"

"Oh...then doesn't that make you a... masochist?"

Suddenly, I felt Galter's body shake.

"Outrageous! Am not some damn degenerate!"

At his boisterous words, I burst into laughter, infectious laughter, because soon Galter began to laugh as well.

"HAHAHAHA!!"

Our laughter filled the air, uplifting our moods and unburdening our hearts.

"AHAHAHAHA!!"

For the first time in a long while, I laughed wholeheartedly.

"HAHA...haha..."

Soon our laughter died down, inviting the beating of rain.

I looked down at Galter and asked, "Umm...what are you going to do about...your body?"

"Ah...oh, this. Don't bother. I'll heal it in a second."

I widened my eyes momentarily.

Healing Magic, while not exactly rare wasn't common as well and many could only heal light wounds and scratches. Only a few were capable of rejuvenating a body from such a broken state...

Er...

I scratched my cheek awkwardly and spoke in a meek tone, "Umm...sorry...for tearing up your body like this."

Galter seemed to stare at me for a moment but then laughed, "Ah, don't worry about this. Tis but a scratch."

I chuckled and yet, I couldn't help but catch the ominous meaning behind his words.

I've suffered much more than this.

I felt terrible, to have beaten a human being to this state...what...what if he ha-

THUD!

Suddenly, a strange sound interrupted my thoughts.

Galter and I snapped our heads to the direction of the sudden sound.

It was a human – a person who seemed to have fallen from the sky.

HA...! HA...!

The human was still for a moment before he placed a hand, his single hand, on the ground and forced himself to his feet. He raised his head and peered at us; his face was heavily damaged but the unmistakable blossom growing from his eye gave him away.

The human was none other than Williem Nightingale.

He froze for a moment simply staring at us before twisting his lips upward to reveal an eerie smile.

The once charming smile of Williem Nightingale was gone replaced by one of utter madness.

"Marta...", he purred as he crawled forward, supporting himself with his one remaining hand. His other hand was gone, replaced by a bloody stump.

It seemed that whatever battle Williem was previously fighting was a truly violent one.

Not that I cared though.

SHIFF!

I rose up from Galter's body and approached Williem Nightingale.

"Marta...", he repeated once more as his smile grew much more eerie, the flower in his eye which had seemed like a beautiful ornament once, now looked nothing more than a parasite feeding on his bloodied flesh.

I had a thousand things to say.

A thousand questions.

But...at the moment, I couldn't care to ask.

I simply wanted him to feel the same pain I felt while I was dying.

I raised a hand to him and instantly a mass of light began to accumulate before it.

The ball of light illuminated the darkness of the night, and brought a shimmer to the rain and Williem's eyes.

Williem's eyes suddenly widened as he realized his predicament, he opened his mouth to spoeak,

"Marta wai-"

But before he could even finish his words, a ray of light shot out of my palm, through his head and through his brain, killing him instantly.

And just like that.

On the 37th Day of Forge Moon, Year 1189.

Williem Nightingale became a memory.