A Vow
Vide's dreams were anything but peaceful. Despite how tired he felt, he was never able to fall asleep for longer than three hours at a time. Whenever he was able to fall asleep, he was haunted by recurring nightmares. He saw the eyes of Kaya staring murderously at him. He saw the image of his brother staring at him, betrayed. He felt like Arlan's last thoughts were ones cursing him for leaving him behind. He thought back to that time in the clearing yesterday, was there something else he could have done? If he waited just a few more seconds would Arlan be right here next to him? His body felt better, he felt strong, stronger than ever before. He thought that would make him happy, but all that was left inside him was a deep sadness. A grief so strong it threatened to consume him. He was alone. His mother, his father and his brother, all of them were gone.
He looked around the dark cavern, the altar was gone. Sometime during the branding yesterday it had vanished. He stood up, expecting the same kind of pain from yesterday to return with a vengeance, but it never came. He walked around listlessly, endlessly reliving his most favorite memories of his family. He began to cry again. He didn't think he had cried as much in his entire life than he had in the last two days. He walked over to where the altar had been the day before and saw more splotches of red on the floor, these ones looked more recent. It was his. Steam still rose from the hot blood. He turned away and began to walk. There was nothing left for him in the empty cavern. Picking up a few more of the blood colored plants, he made his way up the steps that glowed with the ghastly green fire.
The way back up the stairs felt like hours, just like the first time, but the man on them was completely different. The young Pyrean who walked down them the first time was weak, he was wallowing in self-pity. The man who now stood at the top of those stairs was like a tightly drawn bow, under a lot of stress and ready to strike. The silent walk up the stairs had been a pilgrimage of sorts to Vide, it had enacted a qualitative change in him. The all-encompassing sadness that threatened to destroy him just a few hours before, was transformed into a fiery anger. It gave him purpose, a goal to strive toward. He would kill that lofty king. He had only a name to go off of, but he was sure he would find him and repay him a thousandfold!
He made a vow to himself on his journey up the stairs, he would slaughter the man who killed his family. The arm that he had waved to summon that tsunami of fire would be cut off. The eyes that had appeared in the sky and terrorized Arlan and him would be plucked out of his very skull. He grinded his teeth and a glint of madness appeared in his eyes. He clenched his fists so hard he penetrated the skin and blood began to leak, Vide didn't notice nor did he care.
He walked forward towards the pool of water at the other end of the cave. A massive rumbling started to take place in the cave once again. The opening was starting to close and Vide got the feeling that it would never open again, not under any normal circumstances. The karma contained in this cavern had been exhausted. He didn't turn to look back at the stairs, he didn't need to.
He walked until he reached the water, he turned his back to examine what had truly happened. The shock he felt could not be put into words, the face he saw looking back at him looked eerily similar to his own. The only difference that he noticed was the face on his back had nine horns instead of one. Vide had never heard of a Pyrean growing more than one horn. He rubbed his hand along the burn scars on his back, considering they had been inflicted yesterday he thought they would sting if he touched them, but there was no pain. Instead he felt a sense of completeness, as if those scars were meant to be there. Vide pushed the strange feeling aside and dove into the water. Vide broke the surface of the water and climbed up onto the shore outside of the cave. He looked down at his waist to make sure the blood colored plants were still tucked into his pants. Confirming that they were safe, he looked in the direction of the clearing and walked.
Vide didn't know how long he had walked. It felt much longer walking back to the clearing than it had trying to run away from it. He thought it might be because he was in such a panic the first time, that everything seemed like a blur. He trudged on, keeping watch for wild magic creatures. The sun was high in the sky when he eventually reached the clearing where his brother had been killed. His eyes glazed over as he recalled that horrifying day, the brutal slaughtering of his parents, the internal struggle to sacrifice his brother, and the traumatizing branding. He unconsciously touched his back. He walked forward slowly, as if reluctant to see what had become of his brother. He reached a big indentation in the ground, where the pressure had focused on his brother. Fortunately, Vide was running on an empty stomach or else the sight before him would have caused him to vomit. Pieces of his brother were everywhere in the hole, the pressure from Kaya had blown him apart. That wasn't the worst of it though, the magical creatures that inhabited the forest had apparently gotten to him too. There were half eaten body parts strewn across the ground. There were even a few regular animals still actively gnawing on him. As soon as Vide jumped into the hole, the animals scattered.
In silence, Vide collected the bloody pieces of his brother. He carried whatever he could find out of the hole. He began to dig, not saying a word. He didn't cry, he promised himself he wouldn't, not until he achieved his goal. He dug with his bare hands. It took him several hours, whenever a rock got in his way he would dig around it to pull it out. When he finished it was getting dark. He picked up all that remained of his brother and gently placed him in the hole. He pushed the dirt back on top of him, Vide took one last look at Arlan, before completely covering him. He picked up one of the larger rocks he had removed from the ground and placed it at the top of the grave as a headstone. He walked around the clearing picking a few flowers that Arlan had liked. He placed them in the center of the grave. He turned his head to the side, where his family's cabin had been. The journey there didn't take as long. The ruins of the cabin were difficult to look at. He didn't remember what life had been like before the decree, this was his home. For as long as he could remember this was his safe place. Whenever he got scared of the dark or heard the howls of dangerous beasts, this place provided catharsis. Now, it was just a pile of charcoal.