TBATE - Ghosts Of The Past

Chapter 41: The Aftermath

Seris POV:

"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS! HIM! WHY ARE WE WORKING WITH HIM!" I roared, waving my hands frantically at Arthur who just stood there with an apathetic look.

"A deaf commander isn't a good one, so can you please stop screaming?" he replied. I could practically feel my veins bulging out of my head.

"We need him to take down Kezess." Arthur said annoyed.

"BUT HIM! AFTER ALL HE DID! HE KILLED CAERA! AND BOTH SYLVIES!"

"Whatever it takes." He replied with a higher tone.

"YOU! DID YOU GO INSANE OR SOMETHING! THERE HAS TO BE ANOTHER WAY! I CAN'T BEL-"

"OH SHUT THE FUCK UP!" He roared stunning me into silence.

"You think that I don't know what he's done... believe me I do. Every time I look in the mirror, my appearance is a constant reminder of my failure. You think he isn't planning to betray me?! Or that I'm not going to betray him?! Or that we both don't know that?! Bullshit!" He ranted.

"Still... this is just too far." I said as I lowered my tone in sympathy.

"I don't care... I will do whatever it takes... until they are all dead. I don't want to overthrow the Indrath clan, I want to destroy Epheotus." He continued.

"W-What?!" I exclaimed perplexed.

"I don't care if they are blinded by propaganda, I don't care if they are ruled by fear. 

I will kill all of them... 

men, women, and children... 

And I will enjoy every single sword slash, every single drop of blood, every single cry of agony... I will be the bane of the deities... 

and Agrona... I will give him what he wants most, only to kill him then and there. 

I want to break them Seris..."

This... this was no man. It was as if evil incarnate was ranting in front of me. Who the hell even is this? This isn't Arthur.

"Arthur... what the hell happened to you when you were missing?" I asked both intrigued and afraid to know.

"I found the truth... I can never have what I want... I can never have a happy ending... all because they won't let me... all because I went soft..." He answered... kind of...

"You are going to lose more than you'll win." I said as he started to walk away. He stopped at my statement and looked back at me with pain filled eyes.

"Look around Seris... I've already lost too much..." He answered before taking a deep breath. " Now if you'll excuse me, I have an angry fiancé and a depressed sister to deal with."

Tessia Eralith POV:

Finally, today's search was over. It seems that a nice warm bath was all I needed. Grandpa's death is tearing me apart, but he'd want me to be strong. I can mourn later, because right now the people of this continent need me.  My father has the same mentality. Grandpa wouldn't want us to give up and sink in our tears. Arthur wouldn't want that....

It's been a week and nothing. Not one sign of him anywhere. Some call me paranoid for holding out hope. After all, news of the battle in Alacrya spread even here. They say that cliffs and mountaintops fell like sand. They say that Cardigan is now nothing but a bottomless pit of eternal purple fire that destroy anything it contacts. Hell, the lava from Mount Nishan is still spilling everywhere.

They say that in a battle were deities have died, there is no way that Arthur could've survived. Seris' report further confirmed this as she said that his ribs were poking our and half his face was melted off. I could only choke incoming sobs as I recalled her detailed explanation.