The After- End 08

Sisyphyra is now available on Webnovel

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He had being shouting for ages yet no soul came by, he was almost giving up as his weak strength began to fail him. He knew that he will soon die at any moment.

"Help me please!" He gave the last outcry.

Who can help you, no one can? You expect so much after only giving so little. Your life is a joke, just release those tiny lanky fingers of yours. Slip into the quietness you've always craved. What's the essence? You are a joke. The voice once crept into his mind.

Ignoring the workings of those words on his mind, he tried again to cry for help. "Help me please, I don't want to die" His eyelids felt heavy as his voice cracked on the last two words.

Then as his hands slipped off, strong calloused hands grabbed him and pulled him out of the water. His vision now blurry, he could barely see the person looming over him. He was turned on his side and After being patted on the back, he vomited the water from his lungs.

"I hope you can stand on your feet, we need to leave before nightfall, this place is not safe," the man who had helped said.

He could barely understand what he was saying as he was helped to his feet. Feeling dizzy, he slumped to the floor murmuring a word that sounded like "brother".

Slightly awake from his slumber, he felt his nakedness against the warm rocky floor. When he opened his eyes he realized that he was in a brightly lighted cave, he saw a bunch of twigs splintered in a blazing fire almost touching the stalactite of the cave. His eyes roamed and wandered about, then he noticed his garb on a wooden staff hanged in a corner, he quickly puts it on. He could hear the soft snore coming from the man sleeping by the fire who wore the Grand master uniform. He shuddered when he remembered his last predicament.

He must have dried my clothes. His eyes lit up in appreciation.

But as the man turned on his side, his face came down in a frown for he saw his Norman craftsman dagger attached to a sash on the man's waist. Then he perceived that it was a trap and needed to dress up and act fast as he was stirring awake.

"Who are you?" He pointed the dagger on his back.

"What do you mean, who am I? a few moments ago you called me your brother, now you say otherwise it seems the time you spent away from home has caused you to lose your memory". The man sounded unfazed but was clearly offended.

Lose my memory? Yes…"I woke up in a battle, I don't remember fighting in. When I got home, mother had died then father too," he paused and swallowed.

"My wife and sister-?"

"Yes, now you're looking for my niece". The man cuts him off.

"How did you-?"

"How did I know, for crying out loud, I am your brother. The one you forgot to take home leaving him at the mercy of a crocodile. Can you recall when we made a trip together to the stream? Just because I slept off while waiting for you to complete your glorious swim. You left me at the mercy of the crocodile. I'm also the one you allowed your friends to bully because I limp with a stick even though the source of my injury was all your fault. I'm the one who gifted you a beautiful satchel full of juicy red apples that you love and this dagger you are threatening me with, all this I gave you when you decided to join the monks at the Temple. I was so happy you had turned a new leaf. But it was your plan all along you scheming freak!" He yelled at him, his anger unleashed and fought for dominance.

"What the hell are you saying ?”

“I know that trick, playing pretense. Please, try something else”

“You believe you know me, was that why you saved me?”

“I was never like you. I saved you because you needed help. Who would have believed that I would see you again. Oh! Let’s see, -” He looked at him assessing in harsh scrutiny. “You are trying to pick up from where you left off, to see if your family are truly dead and wanting to keep them so?”

“What is your deal? I am not that person I can't be so cruel" He stood in front of him puzzled at his declaration.

"Oh You are, you stole from the grand master now we all are paying for it."

"Stole? I would never, why would I go against my belief. This is just too ambidextrous" In a blind rage, he held the dagger firmly in his fist.

"Oh please, save me the speech. You didn't steal? then why are his men looking for you? Why are our parents dead? Do you think you can save us when you can't even save yourself? all this you're doing is all an act. I know you, you are nothing but a coward."

In a blink of an eye, he pounced on his brother and swung his fist stabbing him on his chest with the dagger. His head cleared off like puff! As soon as blood gushed out, the blind rage he had earlier felt began to clear off, his memory with his brother came back in forceful heavy jolts that sent him sprawled against the wall. He clenched his head wallowing in pain.

All of a sudden, the light in the room began to fade.

"What have I done?" He gazed at his blood-stained hand holding the dagger. "Why does this feel like have done it before"

I killed my father, my brother too. Despite all the monk's teaching instilled in me. I erupted in a wave of intense anger I didn't know I had.

What did I tell you, you are a joke, a crazy one at that. The voice mocked him once again.

The burning twigs had turned cold leaving the smoke to rise in dark misty fumes that seemed to form the shrouded figure. Seeing this, he leaped to his feet and left the cave immediately the dagger with him.