Katherine
I was captivated by Lord Victor's story. The memories were so vivid, the characters so real, and the emotions so raw. Deep in my heart, I knew that Lord Victor was telling us the truth. But it didn't make sense; how could there be two groups of the Rosewood Seven? Why didn't anyone tell us this? How come no one knew about the first group from centuries ago?
Lord Victor was entirely preoccupied with telling his story. Aaron watched the memory playback with wide eyes, his wound forgotten. I pulled myself forward, little by little. The hilt of my sword was only a meter away now.
The memories continued to play. Marcellus and Victor, two previous heroes of Crystallea, were now the most wanted criminals in Crystallea and wanted dead or alive. Elder Kendric had more power and influence than any of them previously realized. He was personally overseeing the manhunt. He knew that Victor and Marcellus knew the truth. He could not let them live.
"We didn't dare go far, because Annalise was still in Kendric's hands. We knew he couldn't kill her without a believable reason since she was also one of the Destined Three," Lord Victor continued to narrate. "But we all underestimated Kendric's ruthlessness. When we kept evading his pursuits, he used Annalise as a hostage to force us to surrender. We knew something was wrong the moment we saw her.
"Annalise was bound with her hands behind her back when Kendric pushed her out. With Annalise's abilities, she should be able to break free without much trouble. Yet she couldn't even resist Kendric's shove; it sent her falling to the ground. Why couldn't she fire a spell to escape?"
Indeed, in the memory, Annalise's eyes searched the area frantically, but she didn't speak. She and Kendric were in a clearing in a forest, while Victor and Marcelllus were hidden among the trees. She managed to rise to a kneeling position. Her hair was a mess, and her clothes were ripped in many places. Bruises and wounds of all sizes covered her body. Her throat moved, but no sound came out. Her face was too pale, and her lips were purple. Was she poisoned?
"Marcellus, Victor, I know you're there! Surrender, or else Annalise will die here today." Kendric unsheathed his sword and pointed it under Annalise's quivering chin. Her eyes screamed, Don't come out! It's a trap!
Up amongst the leaves of a nearby tree, Marcellus gripped the hilt of his sword so hard his knuckles were white. "He hurt her," he muttered angrily, his gaze murderous. "She can't speak. She can't use her spells. What did he do to Annalise?!"
Beside him, Victor looked just as angry. "I'm going down there," he said with determination. "I'm going to murder that son of a bitch and get Annalise out of there."
"Victor, wait." Marcellus put a hand on Victor's shoulder. "I'll go; you stay hidden. After all, it's you that Kendric really wants. You're the only one who talked to Bianca before she died, and you have the orb now. If you go out there, he'll kill you for sure. But I'm different; I didn't do anything except help you escape. Hell, I might not even know what's really going on. I'm just helping my best friend. Do you understand what I mean?"
"But, Marcellus—" Victor tried to argue. Marcellus held up his hand.
"Nuh-uh. I know you're the mastermind, but trust me on this one. Worst comes to worst, I can fight my way out. There's only, what, one Elder and twenty of his closest followers? You stay here and be our reinforcement." Marcellus patted Victor's shoulder. "You're my best friend. You should know what I'm capable of."
Victor looked conflicted, but finally nodded. "Be careful." With that, Marcellus carefully climbed down the tree and circled around to be in front of Kendric before emerging into the clearing. All weapons were trained on him immediately.
"Let Annalise go," Marcellus stated coolly, but his eyes were murderous. "You can take me instead."
"Where's Victor? I know he's with you." Kendric said, scanning the surrounding trees. "Tell him to come out."
"He's not with me. We split up. He's already halfway across the kingdom with the orb. I'm here to rescue my girlfriend, and then we're meeting Victor at Doveport." Marcellus tilted his head with a smirk. "You're too late, Elder Kendric."
"Victor's gone? Is that so?" Kendric's eyes flared. "If that's the case, then...get him!"
Ten of Kendric's followers rushed at Marcellus and overpowered him before Marcellus could even summon a snowball. They pinned his arms behind his back. Marcellus resisted, trying to use his snow powers, but Kendric pressed his blade harder against Annalise's neck. "If you move, your girlfriend dies." Marcellus stopped struggling, his gaze locked on the sword on Annalise's neck.
"Don't you dare touch Annalise," he forced out through gritted teeth. "What have you done to her?"
"Oh, nothing much. I only fed her a poison to suppress her magic and make her mute so she couldn't use spells against me." Kendric said dismissively. Upon hearing the word "poison", Marcellus tried to lunge out again. His captors pulled him back roughly. Kendric glared at him and barked: "Break his leg!"
A man wielding a large heavy knife brought it down, hard, on Marcellus's leg several times in quick succession. I heard a sickening crunch. Marcellus dropped to his knees, groaning in pain. Annalise opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. Kendric walked to Marcellus, his sword by his side. "You're meeting up with Victor at Doveport, eh? That's nice to know. Except, I'll be there instead of you."
Kendric's eyes glinted dangerously. "I didn't want to kill him at first, but Victor has tested my patience once too many times. He knows too much, so he must die. And you, Marcellus? You were such a great student. You and Annalise had such great potential, especially since returning as the Destined Three. But since you chose to work against me, there is only one fate for you both."
Before anyone could react, he raised his sword and swiped it across Marcellus's throat. As blood splattered Kendric's white robe, Marcellus fell sideways, his eyes wide open. He didn't even have time to fight back.
"!!!!" Ashley gurgled and writhed behind Kendric, her eyes red. She couldn't speak, but her expression was full of anguish and heartbreak. Still on her knees, Annalise began to crawl towards Marcellus. Kendric nodded to one of his men behind her, who stepped forward with his sword raised.
"STOP!!" Victor screamed as he leapt from the tree, a dagger already flying out of his outstretched hand. He was still a split second too slow. The man's sword stabbed Annalise from the back, hard enough that the tip of the sword protruded three inches from her front. She fell to the ground just as the man toppled back with Victor's dagger stabbed in his heart. Victor landed in a crouch next to Annalise and reached out to shake her shoulder.
"Annalise...Annalise..." Victor's voice trembled. His hand shook. "Annalise, we came back ...Please, say something..."
Annalise remained silent, her hazel eyes forever looking toward where her boyfriend had fallen. They were only a few meters away, but neither would ever be able to reach the other. Victor hesitantly tested for a pulse. He drew back with a choked sob.
Ignoring Kendric and his men, Victor stood up and ran to Marcellus, kneeling beside his best friend and shaking him as well. "Marcellus, talk to me. Talk to me! You can't leave me here by myself. You promised you'll accompany me to the edges of the universe. You promised!" Victor tested for a pulse again. His anguished scream told us that there was none.
"Why? WHY?!" He glared up at Kendric, who brandished his sword at Victor. "It's me that you want. Why did you kill them?!"
"Because they betrayed the Elders. They are the enemy of the state." Kendric said calmly. "But if you had shown yourself sooner, Victor, perhaps your friends could have avoided their fates."
"What Elders?! What state?! Damn you all! You all deserve to die!" Victor screamed, his eyes burning. He stood up slowly, and his body shook all over. "People like you should rot in hell! You deserve to be killed by Evils! After all that we had done to protect this kingdom, to protect you, this is how you treat us! You forced us on this path of no return. You, and all of the other cold-blooded Elders who have no right being the Elders!
"Caspian. Gemma. Hugo. Atticus. Bianca. Annalise. Marcellus." Victor named all of his fallen friends, his chin quivering with every name. "They all died because of you! Because of you!"
Kendric's men were slowly surrounding Victor, whose blazing gaze held only Kendric. Victor reached into the folds of his shirt and pulled out the orb. "Today, I'm going to avenge them. I will commemorate my friends with your blood!"
The sky darkened. Lightning flashed. Thunder boomed. The orb flew into air and began to glow blood-red, blinding everyone in the clearing. There was shouting and yelling, and everything descended into chaos as Victor made the power within the orb his own. Then came the massacre.
"I killed every single one of Kendric's followers, but I kept Kendric just barely alive. Death was too easy for him. I wanted him to suffer a thousand-fold of what he put me through. I wanted him to witness the destruction of everything and everyone he loved." As he said this, Lord Victor's lips turned up in a cruel smile. I shuddered involuntarily. This was the merciless evil lord that we all knew. This was where he began.
"I buried Marcellus and Annalise together. If they couldn't be together in life, they deserved to be together in death, at the very least. Then I summoned all the Evils in the kingdom and we headed for the Academy. Of course, the Elders were waiting for me. But I had unlocked the ancient power from the orb. They were no match for me. I killed them all, one by one, with my own hands. The Evils took care of anyone else who dared to stand in my way." The cold smile widened on Lord Victor's face as he spoke.
The memories were gruesome. Blood ran in rivers. The screaming never stopped as the people were slaughtered. The Evils were like starving wolves that descended upon a flock of sheep; no one could stop them. The Academy burned. Students, who once studied alongside Victor and perhaps called him their friend, were killed by the dozens. Victor hovered in midair, watching the destruction and massacre that occurred below. He was laughing manically.
Beside him, Kendric was covered with blood and thrashed in his invisible bonds futilely. He could only watch and plead and scream as Victor found his family and personally killed them one by one in front of him. Each died in a different grisly fashion. When Victor finally turned on Kendric and unleashed his final wrath, I turned my eyes away. The screams were ringing in my ears. I wanted to throw up. There was so much blood. So much blood.
"Do you know why there are no records of our group, or this event?" Lord Victor asked, but he didn't expect an answer from Aaron or me. "Because I killed everyone who knew. I burned all the books and records that contained this piece of history, because they had the story wrong. Bianca was never a traitor, and neither were Marcellus and Annalise. We were not heroes who descended into villainy; that was the Elders. So instead of having their names be forever tainted, I made it so that no one could ever speak ill about my friends. They were heroes, and they will be remembered as such.
"I rebuilt the stronghold of the previous evil lord. I chose to stay in the Northern Mountains, where it snowed eternally, because snow was Marcellus's power and winter was Bianca's favorite season. It gave me the illusion that they were always with me.
"People said I was evil, cruel, and ruthless. So I satisfied them; I became the evil lord they all feared." Lord Victor's face, illuminated by the flames in the memories, was frightening. "But who forced me to become this? Who forced me to live alone with the memories and the truth for centuries, forever trapped at the age when my entire life shattered? Is it wrong of me to seek revenge on those who killed the people I loved most? Is it wrong of me to fight back when they were trying to kill me?!"
Lord Victor turned and glared at Aaron and me, both still lying on the ground. His angry voice echoed in the empty throne room. The memory playback shrunk back into a silvery wisp and disappeared. I was still reeling from all the information I just received and the tragic story I just learned. There was a long silence.
"Now you know the truth. Do you feel cheated? Angry? Regretful? Do you hate the Elders for lying to you?" Lord Victor strode back to us, peering down at us.
"No. Kendric was bad, and you killed him. That's justified. But that was a long time ago. The Elders now are good people; they have never lied to us." Aaron said firmly as he raised his head from the ground. "You said it yourself that you erased that piece of history from the books. No one knows that another group of Rosewood Seven existed, or that one of the past Elders tried to take the power from the orb for himself. If the Elders knew about this, they would've told us."
"They would not," Lord Victor crossed his arms. "They are all the same. They act as if they are righteous and just, but if given the chance, they will turn against you to protect their own interests. Wake up, Aaron. You're living a lie."
"Honestly, I think you overreacted, Lord Victor. I can understand why you killed Kendric and even why you killed the other Elders. But why did you have to kill your classmates and innocent villagers? They didn't kill your friends. They didn't do anything to you." As Aaron spoke, Lord Victor's eyes widened with anger. I prayed that Aaron would stop for his own sake, but he kept going. "You blame the Elders for the deaths of your friends, but it was really only Kendric. He also only killed Marcellus, Annalise, and Bianca. Your other friends died on the quest and from the previous evil lord. Why are you projecting your anger onto innocent people?"
"Shut up, you ignorant child," Lord Victor spoke through gritted teeth. His eyes glinted dangerously. "You don't even know what you're talking about."
Aaron ignored my desperate gestures to get him to stop talking. "And it's been, what, hundreds of years? Everyone from that time has died and turned into dust. Why are you still killing innocent people? Why can't you let it go?"
"You don't know what it's like!" Lord Victor finally exploded. He brought his boot-clad foot onto Aaron's back, pushing Aaron back into the ground. "Marcellus and Bianca were my world. I grew up as an orphan, and they were the ones who showed me what family was. To see them die in front of you and see them condemned for something they did not do—"
"But the Elders—" Aaron started to argue again. This time, Lord Victor's boot came down on Aaron's head. I shouted out and tried to push myself to my feet, but fell down. Aaron coughed out more blood.
"The prophecy is wrong. Don't you understand? We killed the evil lord, but did it accomplish anything? No! If it wasn't for the Elders, we never would have believed in some stupid prophecy. We never would have gone on that useless quest, and all of my friends would not have died! Marcellus would've got to live the rest of his days with Annalise happily, and I with Bianca! It's all the Elders' fault! Their fault!" Lord Victor was enraged. With every exclamation he made, he applied more pressure on Aaron's head and grounded Aaron's face harder into the floor. Aaron struggled and tried to pry Lord Victor's foot away, but couldn't. Blood dribbled from the corner of his lips onto the floor. I feared that Aaron's skull would crack at any moment.
I stretched my arm and grabbed the hilt of my sword. Finally! Using my sword as a cane, I managed to stagger to my feet. Lord Victor turned his head slightly to look at me. "You too, Katherine? You think I'm wrong, and the Elders right?"
I gripped Retribution with both hands and stood in a wobbly defensive stance. "What happened was very tragic. I'm sorry that you had to go through all of that, but that doesn't give you an excuse to kill innocent people for hundreds of years. You became the very thing you once swore to destroy."
Lord Victor tossed his head back and laughed maniacally. When he stopped, his eyes were blazing and crazed. He took his foot off Aaron's head and took a step towards me instead. My heart pounded. "So what if I killed 'innocent' people? Everyone condemned us. Everyone believed the Elders' lies. So everyone deserves to die!" He took another step. "The prophecy is a lie. You never could have defeated me. The power that I received from the orb is something no mortal can ever match. Your little quest ends here, and so do you."
His green eyes bore into mine. I felt a streak of pain run through my body as cold, wailing voices slithered into my brain. I dropped Retribution to clap both hands to my head, but the voices only increased in volume. "Join us," they said. "You have been lied to and betrayed. You are worthless and powerless. You cannot defeat the evil lord. You cannot save your friends. Hear them scream as they die! Hear their screams!"
"Stop! Stop! Make them stop!" I dropped to my knees again, bowing my head as the voices surged, accompanied by a pounding headache and wave of pain through my body. Dimly, I heard Lord Victor laugh again, like a madman.
Suddenly, the voices disappeared. The pain receded. I looked up, my body still shaking. Lord Victor's eyes were wide with disbelief as he looked down at the five-inch blade that protruded from his chest. Blood splattered to the ground.
Then the blade was retracted, and Lord Victor toppled forward, his head hitting the floor mere inches away from me. Behind him, with a face of grim determination and a bloody sword in hand, stood Indigo.