The Beginning After The End : Fate [dropped]

Elena Marlowe: An unrelated brother.

As he approached me, a smile crept across my face, a genuine one. I felt at ease, even though I could feel his overwhelming presence and killing intent directed at me. All I could think of was that he was going to take all this suffering away from me, to make me feel something, to make me feel peaceful.

Instead of fear, I felt gratitude.

The air was heavy and with every step he took the ground beneath him crumbled, unable to withstand the pressure he was exerting. His face came into view, his blonde hair swaying across his face, his eyes, which were the same colour as his hair, radiating with absolute power. Each and every feature of his face was remarkable for its perfection.

I stared at his face as the distance between us grew smaller, and at last there he was, standing in front of me in all his glory.

Naturally, when you meet someone stronger than you, you kneel down to respect them.

But that won't be enough, I thought to myself. I thought to myself.

I threw myself at his feet. Both knees were in contact with the ground and my forehead was at his feet.

I had no idea his next move, simply because I had no sight of him. The only thing I could see was the green of the grass, and I'd never seen it so green before.

And suddenly he spoke.

His voice was...

Soft, but threatening.

Low, but clear.

Childlike, but with the maturity of an adult.

"Are you a slave trader?" He asked, and I didn't dare to lie.

"Yes." Before I knew it, the next words came out of my mouth without my permission: "Please kill me." My plea was uttered in a fragile voice that could describe the state I was in at that moment.

"As you wish."

I didn't dare move. Not that I could.

There was the sound of the sword slicing through the air before it came to a halt.

I'm not dead? I asked myself.

I couldn't see where the sword stopped, but I could feel it, it was above my nape, a few centimetres from letting me die.

"Why?" I asked, my voice sounding more forceful than I had intended it to, perhaps he would kill me for showing such disrespect.

But my expectations weren't met.

"Let me ask you a question of my own, please raise your head so we can have a normal conversation." I wouldn't dare to raise my head on the same level as his, but at the same time, I wouldn't dare not to obey his orders.

I slowly got to my feet and had a full view of the situation. The beautiful lady called Sylvie extended her left hand and a portal was created. I watched in awe as she picked up the unconscious child that was lying on the tree before she disappeared into the portal.

The only two people left were me and Arthur.

"W-why won't you kill me? I'm a slave trader." I said with a series of hand gestures as a sign of my frustration. In response, he just hummed to himself and asked me a question.

"Why is it you wish to die?"

"I-I" I paused as tears streamed from my eyes instead of words coming out of my lips. I wiped away the tears as Arthur waited patiently before I began to speak in a trembling tone of voice. "I was always told that the whole point of living is to create memories, memories that you can take with you to Hades and live through them again and again for eternity."

Hades was a shadowy realm in which the souls of the dead floated endlessly, reliving the memories they had created when they were alive.

"Hades, huh?" he repeated, amused. "Normally one would want to live longer to be able to create memories, wouldn't you agree?" Right, to a bystander my action would have seemed contradictory.

But...

"Live longer, you say." I repeated with a laugh. "And what creates more horrible memories, in this useless life I had more bad memories than good ones to the point I forget the good ones." I lashed out, which surprised Arthur, but he immediately returned to his apathetic expression.

What the hell was I doin'? lashin' out at a kid.

I began to speak again, but this time my tone was low. "The moment my family was massacred, the moment I was sold as a slave, and the moment I became a slave trader, I realised that those good memories weren't anything but a distant dream. So..."

"You decided to end everything, thinking it better to drift with those bad memories than live and create more." He continued for me, and I nodded meekly as he finished.

"Selfish, right? Well, I don't care. Right now, I'm just... tired." Arthur started to walk away from me, but for some reason, I had the urge to continue the conversation.

"Even if you don't kill me here, I will eventually kill myself, or I will probably be killed by the rest of the slave traders, after all, they don't trust me and will probably think I am the one who killed my team," I said with a laugh. At my comment, Arthur stopped in his tracks, but he still had his back to me.

Had I managed to provoke him?

"I see." He said, sounding cold, as if he didn't care about me at all. I could feel the anger welling up inside of me at his cavalier attitude and I conjured up a blade of pure fire and turned my fury on him.

Truthfully, I didn't have what it took to commit suicide. I've always wanted to live and I used the excuse of revenge to keep myself alive, but it's really exhausting. This thing called life is pure torture.

If I'm going to die, I'd rather die at his hand than at the hands of these filthy slave traders.

Without even bothering to augment my body, I ran towards Arthur with the blade I had conjured up in my hand. Time seemed to slow down with each step.

Arthur simply turned to face me. Instead of trying to defend himself, he reached out to embrace me.

My memory flashed back to my younger brother. He used to wait outside our house and whenever he saw me, he would open his arms in a similar way, waiting for me to hug him.

The mana around my sword returned to the atmosphere and the distance between me and Arthur was only a few inches - the sword of fire faded into nothingness, but I didn't stop in one fell swoop - both my knees hit the ground and I was at the same height as my brother.

And before I knew it, I was returning the hug.

We both fell to the ground because of my brother's small body.

Notes

Sorry for the short chapter, I didn't have the time to write it, I'll make up for it in the next chapter :)