The Legends of Kartas | Ongoing

2. TWO

The Gods were surely mocking her.

All Two had to do was torture the location of her target out of a slave, but she ended up on a wild hunt capturing person after person until she arrived at the zenith of her aggravations: torturing a self-righteous Luxian noble. For the past hour or so, Adrian, her insufferable companion, had tortured the noble they had ambushed and dragged into a blind alley, but for those past hours, the noble uttered absolutely nothing except, "I don't know anything."

But that wasn't the worst part. Thunder grumbled, and sparks of lightning thrumming across the sky caused goosebumps to prickle on her skin, stirring her old nightmares from their deep slumber, making her more restless than usual. Subduing those dreadful memories that dared to surface, Two huffed out a strained breath and raised her head just in time to see that blond lunatic drive his prized dagger through the howling noble's chubby hand.

"I don't know—"

"Shut the hell up!" Adrian growled, twisting his dagger deeper. "We don't have time for your bull—"

"Adrian!" Two snapped. That blond lunatic was never of any help. He always rammed his dagger into whatever was breathing for absolutely no reason and let them bleed to their demise like an imbecile. It was sickening, and she was in no mood to deal with it. "Step away from the captive."

Adrian lowered his brows, his face contorting into a menacing glower, but Two matched it with a stern glare. This was no time for a petty dispute. A storm was brewing, thunder shook the night sky, time was running thin, and Adrian was nowhere near extracting the target's location. Instead, he was calling Lexitem upon the only lead they had in weeks. So when his sapphire eyes met hers, he clicked his tongue, wrenched his dagger out of the wailing noble, and sheathed it.

"Have your fun." He scoffed, shoving past Two and running a hand through his fair hair, and as Two's eyes fixated on his hand, on the moonlight glinting on splotches of blood, her breath hitched. Flickers of memories awakened, cleaving through the barriers in the crevice of her mind she sealed them in long ago, locking her in place until booming thunder snapped her out of her trance. Swallowing a sharp gasp and digging her nails into her palms, Two ignored Adrian's quirked brow and approached the noble.

A rope was coiled around the noble's bruised ankles and wrists like golden snakes, and dried blood flaked off the deep gashes that marred his once unsullied skin. Defiance shrouded his hollow eyes, matching his face that was knitted into an implacable scowl, but his twitching hands conveyed another story. The sky growled, and lightning flashed as Two crouched, grazing her finger over a fresh wound.

The noble's jaw tensed. "I don't know anything," he said, blood drizzling down his cheeks like tears. Exhaling deeply, Two applied pressure to the cut, and choked whimpers scratched the noble's throat as he repeated, "I d-don't know anything."

Two seized his chin, smearing blood all over his face. "Should I pay your sons a visit and see if they agree?" A gulp. "Well?"

A tense silence passed. As the noble's hoarse breaths reverberated through the alley, Two prayed, begged, that his resolve broke, that she wouldn't have to play the beast she was molded into. But the Gods were unforgiving, so when the noble—almost too proudly—announced, "I know nothing, and that will never change," Two didn't feel betrayed. As she wrapped her fingers around his fat neck, lightning tingled through them, and the noble cowered, the defiance waning from his widening eyes.

"Elemental," he whispered as thunder roared and the first drops of rain doused the earth. He struggled to jerk away, but as the first jolts shocked him, he only screamed. Blood dribbled out of his eyes and ears as his body convulsed, and Two didn't stop until he limply fell onto his side, drool pooling below his mouth as the last shocks twitched through his limbs. Blue sparks crackled around Two's hand, and the rain gained speed all around her. As she waited for the noble to get up, his eyes slowly found hers. A contemptuous smirk curled on his split lips.