The Emperor's Concubine

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I stand in the palace halls confused.
The palace halls glow a deep red colour, smoke fuming through the hallways as the palace burns.
I look around scared, until I hear a scream.
I quickly run down the halls to see a massacre of maids and butlers. Their body parts and blood spewed everywhere.
Running up to a maid's body, I try to reach out.

"Are you okay?" I exclaim.
I reach out to feel her neck for a heartbeat, yet my hand moves through her.
I jump back surprised.
"W-What happened?" I stand up, confused as I look at my hands.
I hear voices in the distance and run to the room. I turn the corner to see Cabel.
He stands in front of the previous king and queen, who lay on the ground shocked.
"C-Cabel-" I cut myself off.
I freeze noticing his body.
His shirtless torso injured and dripping blood, along with steel cuffs wrapped around his wrists. The chains connected to the cuffs broken. His body emits an electrifying red fog.
I pause, feeling a heavy overwhelming aura, weighing me down.

"You... You were supposed to be our gift." The king brokenly talks.
He coughs up blood, his arm severed and his eye bleeding.
"I am not your puppet." Cabel's voice deeply growls.
The room doors fly open, knights and a man dressed in a royal uniform runs in.
"Cabel! Enough! You aren't fit to run a kingdom!" The man shouts.
Cabel slightly grins.
"You're right. I'm not fit to run a kingdom... However, I am fit to run an empire. Emperor Cabel has such a better ring than King Cabel, doesn't it?"
Cabel shoots his arm up.
The shadow at his feet shoot out, transforming into spikes.
Instantly, the spikes puncture all the knights in the head.
The man looks horrified and steps back.
Cabel practically flies across the room, his arm stabbing the man through the chest.
The man coughs up blood, his body growing limp.
"You... You'll live remembering this. How will that make you feel?" He weakly speaks.
"I'll accept my fate, just as you should accept yours... This is goodbye, brother." Cabel calmly speaks as he looks into his eyes.
I look on shocked as Cabel rips his hand out of his brother's chest.
His brother's body falls to the ground lifelessly, Cabel holding his bloodied heart in his hand. He throws the heart, shaking his hand from the dripping crimson blood.
He looks back at his mother and father coldly.
"We protected you! We only wanted your powers to flourish!" The queen calls out.
Her knees both kicked inwards, she sweats from pain, attempting to crawl away from Cabel.
The king and queen both trapped as they lean against the foot of the bed.
Cabel approaches them.
"You wanted to create a monster for your own purposes. If you were trying to protect me, you should have killed that brat yourselves. If I was meant to be dead, you should have left me as that, mother."
Cabel swiftly runs up to his mother.
He grabs her neck, elevating her above the floor. Her legs and arms swing as she struggles to breathe.
Swiftly he digs his fingers into her neck, twisting it to the side. He rips out her throat with bloodied veins. Blood squirts from her neck as he throws her limp body to the wall.
Cabel turns, walking towards the king.
"The throne you sit on will be bloodied, and cursed. Y-Your life will be filled with tragedy. I curse you here for eternity, my son." The king speaks calmly, glaring at Cabel.
"I am no longer your son." Cabel lowly speaks.
His hand stabs into the king's chest, his other hand gripping his jaw. He pulls his arms away in opposite directions, ripping his father's jaw off, along with ripping his heart out.
He stands, watching his father's body fall over. His father suffers as he chokes, staring up at Cabel.
Cabel watches his father suffer until his body goes limp and lifeless.
A white light engulfs me.
I watch the king's heart drop from Cabel's hand as he stands in the room, surrounded with flames.
The scene soon disappears.

I gasp, opening my eyes.
I look around, to see I'm seated in the dining room chair. I look to see Cabel leaning against the window's ledge.
"Are you happy now?" He asks.
"W-What happened? What was that?"
"It was a memory transfer. You can travel through someone else's memory if they have the ability to use it. You asked to know how I ascended to the throne, so I showed you."
"W-Why did you kill your family?" I ask nervously.
Cabel pauses and smiles pitifully to himself.
"I was born dead."
I look at him confused.
"My mother gave birth to a stillborn... My parents were determined to have a great soldier though. Their chances of fertility were low after they had my brother, so it was rare for them to even conceive me. They were obsessed with black magic, and saw it as a chance to perform on their dead baby. The ritual was an exchange of souls; they borrow a demon's powers to take over a body, and they give their souls to the demon in return. They wanted an undefeatable soldier, one who could bring them immortality and protect them from any war that raged. The instant I was able to control some of my powers, they tortured me, performed rituals, and drank my blood for immortality. Sometimes it felt like I wasn't born... Maybe all I am is a demon inside a human's body." Cabel sadly smiles, looking back at me.
"Rumours won't explain it, but I was born to be their puppet. The day I killed them, I was chained and locked up for an experiment." Cabel stands up as he undresses.
He slips off his shirt, revealing his toned built torso.
I look at his torso to see a large faint scar down his chest, his arms covered in cuts.
"They cut my arms repeatedly to take my blood to consume. As I grew up, they aged, meaning my blood didn't give them immortality. They decided eating an organ should work, and then I did something that pissed them off, so they decided I had to be put down. They chained me up, and cut me open as I was awake so they could take my heart. My powers fully awakened that moment, and I broke free. I killed everyone involved with any ritual and ceremony, anyone who turned a blind eye to the abuse. My powers healed my wounds, but left scars as if to remind me of what I am, just a demon."
I stand up, surprised.
Cabel buttons his shirt back up, looking out the window.
"... Is that why you spared my life?" I ask, slowly stepping closer.
Cabel nods slightly.
"How foolish I was. I saw myself in you and pitied you. Executing whoever I want is bearable and simple, yet the thought of killing you while you were chained up made me feel something inside, I haven't felt before..."
I'm too shocked to speak, all I can do is stare at Cabel as I try to process his words and story.
Cabel smiles woefully as he stands up straight, walking towards me.
"We won't meet after today. You know the truth, and from the looks of your expression, you seem disgusted by a demon like me." He looks down at me with longing eyes, accompanied by a small poignant smile.
He walks past me towards the doors.
I turn to see his hand reach out for the door.
Something in me pushes me, making me run to him, wrapping my arms around him from behind.
He jumps, trying to turn around.
"I-I don't understand myself... I'd be lying to say I'm not afraid of you, but yet I can't judge you for how you are... Even when you take a life away, I can't bring myself to hate you or think less of you... You saved me regardless, even if it was out of pity or for some other reason, but you've been kind to me... You went through so much pain alone, and did what you thought was necessary... So, you aren't a demon, not in my eyes..."
I hold onto him tighter, giving him a bigger hug.
"You seem to be stupid to think I'm not cruel-"
"Possibly. But what I do know, is that your past won't effect how I think of the 'you' that's in front of me now." I interrupt him.
Cabel pauses, he looks at the door frozen, unsure of what to do.
"It may be stupidity talking, but your past was filled with torture and brutality, yet who you are now is someone who feels pity. Who doesn't act in ways to offend or hurt innocent people... I know you've killed many people in your life, but the future can be different, you don't need to follow these assumptions that you're a demon and ruthless. If you do have to execute more people in the future... I'll accept you, no matter how much blood you spill, in hopes for you to realize that there's no need for all the bloodshed. I'll be there for you, so you don't need to carry the burden alone, because I know how painful and heavy it can be..." I quietly speak, resting my forehead on his back.
Cabel gently removes my arms, turning around.
He pulls me in quickly, wrapping me in a hug.
"You've never hugged me before." He chuckles lightly.
I feel my cheeks go red as my face is burrowed in his chest.
"You seemed like you needed it..." I whisper, hugging him back.
We hug each other for a moment in silence. His chin gently leaning against the top of my head, his hand stroking my hair.