Echoes of Cain
Asir POV :
Asir stood beneath the blossom arch, cloaked in silver-white, the same shade as the snow that once covered his clan's graves. His flute rested in his hands-He danced gracefully holding it. Then he shifts it, holding it, not as an instrument, but as a weapon.
They called it the Festival of Victory- a celebration of past wars, of Prince Cain's absence, of a kingdom free from weakness.
The irony dripped like honey.
Mei walked past the seated nobles, her silk sleeves trailing behind her like wings. She served plum wine with a bow so graceful even the stars wept.
Hua plucked the strings of her guzheng, each note hiding a signal. It was a countdown.
Lian smiled shyly as she offered sweets- each one laced with powdered nightshade.
Every girl in white was death dressed in beauty.
And no one noticed.
Asir moved slowly through the hall, dancing like mist across water. The song of the guzheng shifted just slightly. A darker chord hidden under the melody.
One.
A noble slumped forward, face first into his rice.
Two.
Another choked on a laugh, then on blood.
Three.
A blade whispered from Mei's sleeve as she drew it across a general's throat with a lover's embrace, always smiling gracefully.
They died with confusion painted on their faces, never understanding how the ceremony became their execution.
Asir reached the throne. The warlord sat like a monument of cruelty, draped in crimson and fur, his eyes sharp and unblinking.
« Play us a song » he said, smirking. « Like your mother once did »
Asir raised the flute to his lips. And then played the song she'd written before she died. Hoping that one day her son would deliver them all. In harmony with Hua, they played the « Lotus » song as a last requiem for their clan.
A slow song filled the hall with pain while tears flooded some of the girls eyes while they kept on smiling for their final vengeance.
The notes echoed like sorrow in the bones.
Every girl played her part in the ceremony. The guests were high from the incense and the poison in their food. Nobody had registered what was really happening to them as they were falling one after the other in a slow and peaceful dance led by Hua song.
Asir then plunged.
The warlord was fast-faster than memory, faster than grief. His blade carved through the music, shattering the flute in Asir's hand.
« You think I didn't know ? » he snarled, slashing again. « I knew. I always knew. I let you dance for me, boy. I let you hope. »
Steel screamed. Blood flew. Asir moved like a ghost unchained, every strike a painfull memory, every dodge a whisper of the past.
But he was weakening.
The warlord grinned through the storm of blades. « You've come far…but you are not her. »
I screamed in pain as his blade plunged to my shoulder.
But the pain in my memories was way more painful. He was right. The day Alya fought him to stay alive, she fought with all her might.
Even when that same blade that was now reaching for my head, plunged to her stomach, she still fought like a furry. She was only eight but the rage in her eyes never died. Even as she whispered to me as her last breath grasping her little hand in mine. « Your safe, I'll protect you … always…by your…side… »
And then- just like that, I'll reach to meet her one last time. I'll stay forever by her side, she promised.
I felt warm in her embrace.
My eyes filled with tears. It was over…
I flinched, feeling someone's hands around me, saving me from the blade strike.
« You fought well…I am here now, you can rest » This voice…could it be...
« Cain ? » I whispered not sure if it was real or if I was hallucinating.
Cain stepped in front of me and my legs gave out in relief.
Behind us, Kais and Roshan cut down the guards attacking the members of my clan, like thunder splitting threes.
« You dare betray your kingdom and now your blood ! » his father screamed at him, his words resonating all around the hall. The time had stopped for a moment. My body froze.
Cain walked forward, unsheathing the blade that once bore his family's crest. « I am protecting my family, my kingdom… »
His breath was filled with something like rage, he was finally fighting to break free from his shackles, from destiny. He was writing his own history.
The warlord fell, his blood spread across the ceremonial floor like ink on silk.
The petals kept falling. The music, though silent, still played in the trembling air.
Asir collapsed on his back, breathing like a broken bell.
Cain caught him before his head met the ground.
« I told you, » Cain whispered, brushing a strand of white hair from Asir's face. « You don't belong in chains. You are free to be who you are. »
Asir didn't cry while the girls collapsed one after the other finally relieved from the weight of vengeance.
He had no tears left.
But his hand curled into Cain's, just once.
Just enough.