Capítulo 157: - The Roar of the Fall
Lia bit against the fear and the scream in her voice rising from her lungs as her stomach rose to her throat, the wind racing against her face as they descended rapidly down the cliff side. Cain was calm and steady, holding her over his shoulder as if she were a potato sack, though a potato sack never quite squirmed as much as she did.
As they descended below the clouds, Cain saw through the mist of rain and thunder, past the gray curtain that covered their vision, a ridgeline made of mud and water. In one quick motion his hand was against the cliff face, large black claws spouting from where there were once fingers and knuckles, embedding themselves deep within the rock as sparks flew from his hands.
By the time his feet planted themselves on the muddy ground, they had come to a complete stop as he carefully let Lia stand, pulling his newly formed talons from the wall. But as he turned to face Lia with an excuse already on his tongue, he felt a hot burning sensation to the side of his cheek, and it took him a moment to realize he had been slapped.
Lia's heart was a mess, and for one she did not feel that repelling down the side of a cliff face nearly hundreds of feet below was the best for her already beating heart that ached in her chest. For one she wanted to continue hating Arnold, but after what he had done to buy her the time to escape, she felt it was no longer justified.
Did she look at him as a hero, or as a villain within a heroic act.
But before her mind could decide on one or the other, her thoughts flashed back to the moment she saw Cain in the midst of rain and clouds, and her suspicions were fueled once again.
"What was that for?"
Though the slap did not hurt, and in fact Cain didn't even bother to flinch from the attack, he still rubbed his hand against his cheek, peering deep into Lia's angry eyes.
"Why didn't we stop him? We could have helped him, we -"
"If we had stayed, the Dragon would have followed us."
He took her hand without much more of an explanation and began moving her away from the rock face, walking down the muddy trail.
"He provided a good distraction."
Lia felt her mind snap at those words and as instinct she pulled her hand away from Cain, taking a step back as she did to distance herself from his presence. Cain didn't even bother to turn around, but he did stop as his feet sank into the mud, a bit annoyed.
"A distraction? A distraction! Arnold is dead now Cain, and you won't even bat an eye!"
"It's what you wanted is it not? You wanted Arnold dead?"
His voice was calm, but Lia felt her heart shrivel up with each word he spoke. He acted as though this was her fault, but what infuriated her was how she couldn't refuse what he said.
"...yes, I wanted him dead. I wanted to kill him with my own hands, but that doesn't make this any better!"
"How so?"
He snapped, turning his back to the distance as his eyes stared deeply into Lia's, a mirror of his own.
"Whether it's by your hands or some monsters, he's dead now so you got your wish."
She didn't know what to say as they stared at one another, watching the cool misty air pass between them as their eyes glowed in the dim light, like two burning embers.
Suddenly, an idea formed in her mind, a suspicion that made her stomach twist and turn inside.
"You planned this, didn't you?"
Cain said nothing, he only watched her as she slowly shook her head, as if she couldn't believe the unspoken acknowledgement between them.
"I can't believe this. I just…I can't."
"Then don't."
It was all he said, his harsh tone snapping Lia's mind back to the present, her chest burning with surprise and shock, fueling her anger like kindling to the fire.
"So, let me get this right. You first have us fight one another after I wake up, even going as far as to kill me, then you fill Arnold with ideas and memories of his past making him depressed, all so that he'll be more willing to get himself killed?"
She stuttered as she brought a hand to her forehead, wiping the sweat against her hand as she felt her mind pound against her skin.
"...what is wrong with you?"
Cain said nothing again, turning to look up as the faint images of red and orange flashed above them, some distant roaring like thunder pounding in his ears.
"He always wanted to die. I just gave him a reason to, a purpose so that he could die a warrior, not a coward."
"...you're a monster."
Cain's head snapped to Lia as his eyes mirrored that of a demon's, and for the first time Lia felt fear pounding in her chest. She had never once been afraid of him since the moment she saw his face, since the moment she took his hand in agreement.
"I'm a monster? Is that how you see me?"
She shook her head like it was some instant to give in to the more powerful to insure upon her survival. Lia saw it as fear, Cain saw it as weakness.
"...you…the contract says you can't hurt me."
He took a step forwards, closer to her as she took a step back, her heart pounding with some sense of an awakening like a fire rupturing in her lungs.
"The contract? You think I'm going to hurt you?"
Lia took a deep breath, gulping down the water that had formed in her mouth. She was afraid and wanted to run, but she knew Cain would follow her everywhere. She had nowhere to go.
"You killed Arnold without any care. Why wouldn't you kill me too?"
To these words Cain stopped, silently watching her like a hawk watching his prey, taunting them before they consumed their flesh in a moment's notice.
"Is that a joke? We're bound by universal law; I can't hurt you. What would even be the point?"
"...I don't know. The same reason you showed me all those visions. The same reason you helped me in that forest-"
"What forest?"
Then he was before her, his breath against her nose and Lia cursed herself for feeling her heart fluttering as she looked into his eyes, mesmerized.
"What forest?"
He asked again and Lia found her voice stuttering in her throat as she spoke, careful to be calm and mighty against his fast approach, but inside she was screaming in fear.
"T-The forest. The one with Al Shir, my teacher. He made me fire a bow and - and shoot some tree but…"
"But you couldn't."
It wasn't a question. It was an answer, and the moment Lia looked up into Cain's eyes, she saw something she never believed was possible to appear inside of him.
Fear.
"Cain? Is something -"
"You're right, I did show you that. It was meant to give you courage when you had none."
Lia took a step back, surprised by how quickly the fear in his eyes disappeared and was replaced by some false mask he wore. A mask Lia never knew him to adorn.
"You were so willing to die that I had to do something. Having you die here was of no use to me, so I changed that. Call me a monster, call me a villain - call me anything you want, but your life is in my hands and until you can keep yourself from dying, I will keep you alive."
He spoke quickly as if he needed this fact to remain in her head, like a teacher trying to feed as much information into their students as possible in time for their leave. But it only broke Lia's heart piece by piece.
"Even if I have to kill everyone around you."
It took him a great deal of effort to say this last bit, and even with all the strength he put in his breath and lungs, the words only came out in the form of a mumble. A small, quiet mumble that Lia barely caught, but it became the breaking point for the floodgates of her tears as one slowly fell down her cheek.
She had hope, love, kindness and comfort in his arms, but now he no longer appeared as the mystical and mysterious prince charming that he made her believe he was.
Now he was just a monster.
Cain saw the look in her eyes and at once the spell was broken. He reached out his hands and his mask fell away revealing the worry and regret that stained his face, unable to be seen by the poor Lia as she ran away from him, wiping the tears from her face as she disappeared behind the clouds of mist and rain.
He watched her leave; he watched as his lonely little hand reached out to stop her but only found air as his feet remained where they were. His heart beating his chest like a pounding drum, but his mind remained cool and calm.
A cursed trait of his he could never get rid of. His emotionless state.
Even as he watched her disappear into the farthest reaches of his vision, around corners and behind rocks, he didn't move, he didn't chase. He didn't feel sorry.
"Do you think I was too harsh?"
He asked into the open air, feeling his shadow morph and change as Kal appeared behind him like a shadow from the depths of the abyss.
"Permission to speak freely."
"Don't bother with that respectable bullsh*t right now. I need advice from a friend not a servant."
He was harsh with his words, but Kal knew his feelings were running amuck inside. His emotionlessness was his most cursed and hated trait of himself, yet he always allowed 'fake' feelings to burn like embers in his mind.
They were the only things he had in terms of "feelings."
"Why did you lie?"
Kal asked as the shadows morphed and fizzled around him, adding like wisps of smoke into the wind and air. But Cain never spoke, he just silently watched the mist retrace the girl's steps as his eyes watched the endlessness of the darkness unseen.
"Because that is the only truth she needs right now."
***
Tears blurred eyes and feelings pained the heart as Lia ran through the mist and rain, now ceasing to appear in the sky as mud splattered across her pants and skin. She was in no condition to appear before anyone, let alone a caravan full of people.
But she couldn't remain around Cain any longer. She felt comfortable with him, once felt like he was the only one in the world who would even understand her, knowing all she knew and more. But now all she felt was betrayal and hatred, like the feelings she knew of so long ago with him.
'He's right.'
Her mind told herself, pounding in her skull as she rushed through the clouds that seemed to warp into her greatest fears. Everywhere she looked she saw his eyes staring at her, every time she closed her own she felt his breath against her skin.
Every time she asked him out of her mind, she felt in her heart the pain of losing him.
'Cain was right. He's just become a crutch to me, and now I don't even know what to do.'
Water blurred into her eyes as she desperately tried to wipe the tears away, neither stopping nor accepting in her mind that he had won.
She hated him, she loathed him, but above all what made her hate herself more, was how much she needed him. Her heart pounded for his warmth; her mind argued with her over the safety he offered. He was everything, and she was the nothing that acted as though she was something.
Lia would have fallen from the ridgeline if she had continued, but the hard yet soft surface of a body pounded against her as she stumbled back into the mud.
"Watch where your-"
"Lia?"
Lia looked up as she rubbed her head that snapped against the stone-like body, finding Rian standing before her with worried but relieved eyes.
"Oh, thank the gods you're alive."
He knelt in the mud as he placed a hand on her shoulder, watching as tears continued to fall from her cheeks and eyes, her features flushed and shriveled from the river that ran down her face.
"We thought you were dead. You and Arnold just vanished after Cain appeared and -"
At the sound of Cain's name, Lia threw herself against Rian's chest, smearing mud and tears against his shirt, but he didn't mind. He came to find himself, after the shock and surprise had faded away, wrapping his arm around her bring her in for a hug.
"What happened?"
Lia didn't answer, only her sobs were heard until they too died down leaving way for only the cool and crisp sounds of the wind blowing against the misty air marking the sounds of the mountain's silence.
When Lia had finally calmed down and Rian got the chance to ask her where she had been, she told him everything, not holding a single detail back. From the visions to the moment on the mountain, even the heated conversation with Can and the Dragon. She wanted to rant and to scream but she couldn't find the challenge in her voice to give way to her desires.
She only found silence that suffocated her in the knowing and the unknowing, the feeling of lost helplessness compelling her to this feeling of nothingness.
Rian helped her up and led her down the train some ways before they both appeared from the mist, and Lia got to lay eyes on a scene that dried her tears in an instant.
From Gilbert to Oliva, Emma and Treavor - even Abigail sat to one side, all bound in rope with arrows and sword held against their necks.
"What…what happened?"
Rian, who led her past the many eyes that watched her like she was some mystical being, turned to gesture to the prisoners from a distance.
"Once you disappeared the battle was easy. Too many numbers. They didn't expect it."
"Arnold was their insurance?"
"More like the only reason they were fighting. Once you two disappeared into thin air, they just gave up. It was like they weren't even trying to fight any longer."
Lia's eyes passed over the group, whose faces were turned towards the floor unable to see her watching them. Then her eyes came across Abigail and in a flash, she saw no girl kneeling there in the mud, but Cain watching her with dull and empty eyes.
She shook her head, trying to shake the image from her mind as she followed Rian deeper into the mess of carts and bodies. From the looks of it, everyone had fought minus those unable and too young to wield a weapon.
Though she had never intended for these people to fight in her war, she was grateful to them for doing so, even more grateful to hear from Rian that no one had died - thankful - and the only mention of harm was a few injured who had caught the wrong side of the blade.
Before she could run her eyes over the injured, she felt another body slam into her and at once she became alert, instinct rushing to the possibility of an attack, but when her hands found his back, she realized that she was hugging him back.
"Lukali…"
"Are you alright?"
She couldn't answer him, because as she looked into his eyes, she saw another flash of memories and suddenly Lukali was gone, replaced by the father whose eyes they both shared. She saw his sad face on the mountain peak, the golden rays of sunlight bathing his skin in a golden fire.
Lia couldn't answer, she only gripped his arms as their hands connected, and suddenly she felt lightheaded as images of Cain, Al Shir, Arnold and the Dragon all flashed through her mind.
"I think I need to sit down."
It was all she could say, but she never got the chance to act on this, as the sound of her name called above the sky.
"Lia!"
Totlac appeared from behind a cart, racing through the mud as Rian trailed behind him. From the look of his face, Rina had already told him everything about Arnold's death and the Dragon. He was laced with fear and terror.
But before he could even reach her, like the thundering boom of the sky, the ground shook with terror as the carts creaked and bumped into one another. Everyone's faces turned from relief and calm to looks of terror and fear.
Lia didn't need to know what the sound was that she heard from above, nor did she need to look up to see the wide winds and shadow that spread across the clouds above them, flying faster than anything anyone had ever seen.
Nor did she need to hear the sounds of the Dragon's distant roar as it flew over the Eastern Mountains.
She knew.
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