Nicolas felt a sudden pinch in his chest, “How could I just sit here and watch you die? What kind of a— What kind of a—”, A heavy feeling washed over him as he fell back to the wet floor, rethinking what he’s about to say.
“Why are you acting like a hero? You don’t even know me.”
He can’t explain why, but he’s growing irritated and angry at himself as he once again stood, “For some reason, I can’t accept that”, Nicolas muttered as he turned his back towards Matthew and started walking.
The gentle yet restless fall of the rain, popping into crowns as they met the ground, complimented each pitiful step of Nicolas. Matthew watched him stumble and slam his fist to the ground before standing back up once again to continue. He reached his hand towards him, stretching it as far as he could until Nicolas finally disappeared into the dark, rainy night. And as his vision began to fade, a memory suddenly made things clear for him.
“That’s why everything felt familiar”, he weakly smiled, “You’ve always been like this, prioritizing my safety more than yours.”
He felt the surroundings getting cold as his vision finally went blank. All he could hear was the fading beats of his heart as everything that he saw finally made sense.
“Don’t you remember Nicolas? This is where we parted ways, me sitting here beside the dumpster as the trash that I am and you leaving me here to die. I never really wanted anything else. I did not want you to save me. All I wish you could have done was to be here by my side. This was not the first time that I have felt death so I grew accustomed to it already. But dying here alone, it’s another kind of horror”, he closed his eyes as tears ran down his cheeks.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“You could have at least seen me off. Tell me to wait for you in the next life. I’m scared, Don’t leave, Don’t leave me here alone, brother.”
Nicolas, who’s already far off in a clearing, felt like he heard Matthew’s words as he felt the boy’s presence slowly fading. The sudden rise of his heartbeat made him decide to go back urgently, as if he’s forgetting something of utmost importance. But he was too late; his body could no longer keep up with his injuries as he stumbled to the ground.
Tears began to skid down his cheeks as he desperately tried to crawl back, dragging his useless legs as all the memories that Matthew had seen came back to haunt him. With one last pull, he felt cold metal spanning miles into both his right and left. He could only laugh as he felt the ground beginning to shake. As bright light shone on his right side, all he could do was curse his fate.
All of their passed lives flashed through his vision as the source of the light hit him, dragging him for a few meters and battering him to the ground as he felt his body get torn to shreds.
“I’m sorry, Matthew”, he cried before he was finally thrown to the very root of their existence.
He drifted and drifted into the endless spiral of the countless lives he lived, zooming through it with haste as he hurdled towards the epicenter. A small single speck of light surrounded by nothing but the void of darkness.
As he entered, he was greeted with a palace. A palace painted with silver and gold, extravagant and truly magnificent. It’s walls we’re decorated with paintings, weapons, trophies, and statues of a King that he could not recognize. He had a wide grin in every one of it, raising his sword with pride.
“Stop this, Liam, please”, said a boy, He had no face; he had no distinguishing feature except for one thing. He was glowing, radiant from the strands of his hair to the tip of his toes. A personification of pure light himself.