Chapter 335: Chapter 335
Three young men could be seen standing alone in a field of corpses, human corpses. The three are all bloodied, but the blood doesn’t belong to them; it belongs to their enemies, who are now lying on the ground dead.
"Victor, we have avenged Lyla", one of the other two spoke, "She can now rest in peace".
The friends, along with another, tracked the people responsible for the death of Lyla and erased every one of them. They didn’t even let their families go. In war, there is no mercy. If they let their families go because they had nothing to do with the death, they would grow strong and one day come for them.
It would be a nuisance, a thorn in their lives. They eradicated the thorn early in life, so their future would be better—no need to worry about future troubles from this group.
"Yes", Victor muttered in agreement, but there was no joy in his face.
He avenged his lover, but that didn’t bring his Lily back. Whatever he did, he did for himself but gained nothing at the end. There was still a huge blank inside him that needed to be filled, something he had no idea at the time.
---
"Why?" the man asked, not in anger but pity.
He never thought the one he thought to be his best friend would backstab him.
"Luckily, I left behind some contingencies. I knew that Victor was not the same Victor anymore, not since he lost Lily", the man thought to himself.
Victor smiled in despair, "I am sorry, old friend. If you hadn’t refused my wish, we might not have reached this point. We might have been living like in the old days, all three of us".
The man sighed, "No, Victor, that’s not how life should be. She is dead. She was supposed to move on, not be like this".
Though he was stabbed in the back by his best friend, he was not angry at Victor. No, he was sorry for not seeing what was happening to him. He felt that he could have stopped this madness if he had been observant of what his friend was going through.
Unlike him, who closed his world to outsiders after his parents died, Victor was pretty open to everyone when he lost his parents. It was one thing losing their parents when they were young and weak, but now, losing another loved one, when they are strong enough to stand among the top of the world, that hurt a lot.
"I am sorry that I couldn’t help you when it mattered", the man uttered his last words, breathing for the last time.
---
In the Castle in Ruins...
The body of a young boy can be seen lying unconscious for a while. It stayed there for a few days. If one sees the body, they might think that the boy is dead, as no one can detect a pulse from the boy.
There is a pulse, a very weak one, almost making him appear as a dead person.
A few minutes later, the body stirred, "Ah, that hurts", the boy clutched his head in pain.
"What the fuck was that? Are those memories of that black smoke? Why did it show me those memories?" Aaron sat up, still clutching his head.
He shook his head, "The better question is, why does Victor look like someone I met before. I definitely saw that face before. Even that third person who joined the group, I saw that face recently. I am sure about that, but where?"
No matter how much Aaron thought, he couldn’t think of anything that could clear those doubts.
"Hmm, who is that first one whose friend betrayed, and why did he betray? The memory is fragmented and I couldn’t even see how the first one looked, though I am sure that the smoke is the first person, or used to be, that I am sure".
"I saw the memories from the first man’s perspective. So, that makes me sure that those memories belonged to the smoke person and the first one. The question was why I was shown those. Does exiting this ruin depend on those memories?" Aaron scratched his head as he started to analyse the situation.
---
Rock City...
"Hmmm", a shadow stirred in excitement, "He is back... he is back".
The shadow wanted to shout out in joy, but feared that it would disturb the residents that it was protecting. It was a personal mission that it undertook, as it recognised the priorities of its master and his weak point, too.
As long as the weak link is appropriately protected, it knew that his master would soon rise and be what he was supposed to be. So, instead of following his master on his mission, it decided to keep an eye on his master’s parents.
Things were going as usual, but that day, it felt something, something that it had not felt since the day its master died. It felt a vague connection months ago, but now, the connection strengthened and was almost as if it were back then.
"Ah, my time as this shadow is coming to end. I can finally stand alongside my master, and fight as we used to", the shadow muttered to itself.
If anyone can discern its shape, they can see a smile on its face.
---
Near Deathlands...
"Hmm, something is definitely wrong. My senses are practically pricking me", the man muttered to himself, as he looked at the Deathlands.
"Maybe I will fail, as I did back then. Even though I failed then, I was able to gain some time by halting them. The bond is building up slowly and they would find what I did. So, I have to act soon, but if I fail again...", he shook his head.
He then looked at the dark coffin beside him. "It doesn’t matter anyway. Don’t worry, Lyla, soon we will be together again," he muttered with a genuine smile, something he had forgotten a long time ago.