Requiem Act IV: The Last Tear

*Visions*

I keep slowly walking trough my castle.

My steps are becoming heavier and heavier and living is becoming very difficult.

The agonizing screams of my prisoners are the only things that keep me company day and night.

One of the few things that distract me from the pain of immortality.

What else should I do now? 

Should I call Alexyus here... to speak...? 

No... It would be nosense...

I'll let him fill his destiny... for now... by controlling his actions... and giving him a small glimpse of my power...

But, for some reason, I still think that it is not what I truly want...

He's a step in my plan to see my beloved... but... but...

I know that Alexyus is... somehow special.

In our first meeting, he made my heart beat again , even just for an instant.

I let him touch my bare skin...

I let him... speak to me...

But... Still... he's not him...

I sensed a primal fear when I saw him for the first time...

I saw Azrael... But a gentle one...

And since then, my time on this land had become more confused...

I don't know what I'm feeling right now.

I don't know what else I should do now.

I don't know what day it is anymore.

Time has lost its shape.

The moon still rises,but I no longer count how often.

It comes.

It leaves.

It forgets me.

Just like the world did.

I'm thinking about to many things right now... 

I don't know how to express them.

I don't know.

I need... I need... I'm hungry... I'm hungry for...

love...

There is no sun in my prison.

Only cold marble,and the echoes of memories that do not age.

I walk towards my music hall... but not towards the harpsichord...

...I walk towards another instrument: A Piano. 

A White one.

I sit where Mark once sat.

The Piano he used to play has rotted.

The strings are dust.

I close my eyes, losing myself in silence...

...But sometimes- - Ah...

...sometimes I can still hear him play.

Not with my ears.

With my soul.

And that is how I know...

...I am slowly dying.

I'm going crazy... haha...

Like a candle slowly consuming the wax.

Not like humans do.

No.

The gift of forgetting everything was never mine.

But I can feel something withering.

Not my body.

Not my power.

My purpose.

Maybe Mark wouldn't have wanted me to kill all those people...

For centuries, I clung to vengeance.

To the thirst.

To my hatred.

I believed that if I killed enough,if I screamed loud enough into the void…

the Gods would bring him back.

Even if just for a moment.

But they never did.

Not when I burned the temples.

Not when I slaughtered cities, villages...

Not even when I begged them in my prayes.

They always stayed silent.

And now…so do I.

Morevoer... Mark would've probably said : 

"I'm more than happy to die for you, my dear sweet. At least, I died knowing a beautiful soul. Don't hate them. Instead, guide them to the happiness." 

I feel it every night now.

The slow unraveling of the curse.

As if the darkness that once empowered me is now… abandoning me.

I know that Azrael is still out there.

His will and soul are still alive... in Alexyus.

He wants to kill me, to end the humanity's suffering.

And I…I won't run.

Let them come.

Let them end it.

Let them put to rest what should have never breathed.

But still…

There is one thing I cannot silence.

One memory that still bleeds.

One name that still echoes.

Mark.

I still remember the way his hand trembledwhen he touched my cheek.

Not from fear.

From awe.

"You're not evil,"he whispered once."You're just alone."

He was the only one who said that.

The only one who looked past the teeth,past the blood,past the name the world cursed.

He saw me.

And because of that…

I cannot diewithout seeing him again.

Even if only in a dream.

Even if only in the dark.

I rise from my throne.

My steps are quiet now.

I no longer float—I no longer reign.

I walk like a woman.

A tired, hollow woman wrapped in a queen's illusion.

I descend into the heart of the castle.

A place no one has touched for centuries.

There…beneath the altar of shadows…lies a mirror.

Not made of glass.

But of magic.

It was forged from the first blood I ever spilled.

It reflects not what I am, but what I was.

I look into it.

And for the first time in centuries...

I see her.

The child.

The girl with white hair,blue eyes,and a mark she never asked for.

She stares at me.And I—

I cry.

I fall to my knees.

Not from weakness.

From truth.

Mark…

If your soul still wanders…

If the wind still carries your voice…

Come.

Even just for a second.

Let me see you.

Let me feel you.

Let me remember why I fought so hard to stay alive.

The door opens.

I don't turn.

I don't need to.

I already know who it is.

Alexyus.

His breath is steady.

His boots echo like thunder across the marble floor.

He stops behind me.

Silent.

Waiting.

He doesn't draw his blade.

He doesn't speak.

Because he sees what I am now.

Not a queen.

Not a monster.

Not a god.

Just a woman kneeling before the past.

I whisper:

"If you're here to kill me…do it. But let me cry first. Let me say goodbye to the only thing I ever loved."

A moment passes.

Then another.

And then—a voice.

Not Alexyus. Not Azrael.

His.

"You're not evil, Maria,"he says,as warm and broken as I remember."You're just alone."

I close my eyes.

And I smile.

For the first time…

I feel peace.

The requiem has ended.

And the silence has become beautiful.

The End.