The Legends of Kartas | Ongoing

34. DIVERGING PATHS

Adrian couldn't believe his eyes.

He was standing in the middle of the street in the Dark Lotus's base, letting the chatter swirl around him, trapping him in a cocoon yet never fully reaching his ears. For the past few days, he wandered and drank aimlessly, awaiting Lucius's summon that would break him from his drunken stupor and force him into sobriety. And when the note came in the form of a hooded bandit who stole his pouch of coins and replaced it with a sliver of paper, Adrian was too drunk to protest.

The prospect of another mission with Two didn't bother him as much as he would've thought. But it was most likely the alcohol at play, muddling his mind, melting his mask, erasing what and who he was. It didn't matter. Nothing did. Not until he reached the underground city and noticed the commotion flooding the streets.

That was when he saw it: Lucius's dead body.

The first thought that came to mind was that it must've been a setup, another one of Lucius's cruel tests, but the body appeared too real for that. And the people were too noisy to be staging an act.

So Adrian stood there, studying the body and blood, tempted to prod it to check if it was truly dead, as old memories of a hand lifting him away from the darkness and onto his feet raced through his head. A lone savior who came with the promise of revenge, who handed him the dagger he still carried to that day. The jaded dagger that waited for a master to ignite the fires of ambition once more.

"Zuraias!"

The grating voice drew his attention away from Lucius's body, and before he knew it, a hand clapped his shoulder.

"It is good to see you after all this time!"

The man was familiar, bearded and sturdy with a muscular build, but his name escaped Adrian at the moment. Adrian didn't mind. He was too occupied with wrapping his head around the fact that Lucius was dead.

"Yes, it is a pleasant surprise." Adrian pointed at Lucius. "But is that. . . ?"

The man nodded solemnly. "Aye. Two and another boy's doing. What happened was a mystery. One moment there was peace, and in another, there was chaos when they dropped in the middle of this street here. Lucius was long dead."

"This was Two's doing?" Adrian thought Two was loyal to Lucius, his little soldier who murdered on his command, his beast who slayed the burdens out of his path. But she was the one who killed him?

She was the one who set Adrian free?

At the realization, Adrian had to hold back a laugh as triumph tingled through him. He was free. His debt was long gone. Lucius was the only one who knew of his true heritage as an heir of the House of Leontas, but now that the bastard was dead. . .

A choked end of a laugh escaped Adrian's lips, but the man beside him must've read it as a sob because he patted Adrian's back.

"We all know you looked up to him."

Looked up to him!?

Adrian covered his mouth, blocking the laughs that threatened to burst out, and when tears started to roll down his cheeks, the man finally left him alone. The world was spinning around him as Adrian made his way through the ever-growing crowd, bumping into people who sent him grisly threats with one eye and others that shoved him to the side. Once he was freed from the ensnarement of the throng, he tilted his head back and breathed.

And he couldn't help himself. He laughed as tears of utter joy blurred his sight, as people gave him weird looks and avoided him, as his heart beat out of his chest and threatened to suffocate him with excitement.