The Dawn of Malice

Second Chances

Elaine walked listlessly around the grounds of the cathedral.

Crowds of citizens walked to and from the cathedral doors to get blankets and warm broth. The nights have grown colder over the past few days. Winter was approaching faster than anyone had expected it to. She and her father had decided to move near the cathedral to avoid the now recent roving bands of looters that found themselves in Fox Street. The cathedral was now the only beacon of hope they had of surviving the siege, but the future seemed bleak for all of them.

She stared up at the sky.

It had been nearly a week since the siege had begun. The blood on the streets has been washed away by the torrent of rain that passed through the city hours ago. But the miasma of shed blood still floated around the city streets from time to time. A light dusting of snow had blanketed some parts of the wide cathedral grounds, whilst the able-bodied men stood watch on the cathedral’s streets anxious – as always – of their impending doom.

She moved with a deliberately slow pace. Depression had managed to claw itself tightly in her heart. The days had not been kind to her. And the man she’d met weeks prior had triggered a longing for Caerus. But there were more pressing issues to account for. In her reverie, she felt a tug at her dress.

“Older sister?” a small child said. “My grandma’s been asleep for too long.”

Elaine’s eyes grew wide as her anxiety spiked. This little girl, Edith, was the one who gave her a doll on the previous day. Her once rosy cheeks were now sunken with hunger. Countless men and women have died giving their meager and limited rations for their children to eat. Hoping that their children may be spared. While others chose to simply end it all. She took the girl’s trembling hands in her own and walked with her. Tears forming in the corner of her eyes. She knew what she would find even before she reached the infirmary.

She saw the old woman as they crossed the threshold, her face seemed as if it were in peaceful slumber. But her chest did not rise with her breath, her cheeks were not flushed like the living, and her hands were still as the air inside the infirmary. She had truly passed. Elaine dropped onto her knees and the weight of their situation struck her. They – the citizens of Liliosa – were doomed.

“Sister?”

Elaine looked at Edith beside her and took her into her arms. She hugged her tight. Her tiny frame was so fragile in her embrace as Edith now realized what had happened. She was now an orphan, like many children in Liliosa. Her sobbing started, then her tears, her outright bawling began. Kicking and screaming, calling for everyone she knew. But no one to hear her.

Elaine thought of Caerus and how he too was alone throughout his childhood. And how she had left him. How he sacrificed his life for hers. How his chest stopped moving, how the arrow that pierced his flesh marked her as well. She wailed in tune with the child in her arms and hugged her tighter.

It had been hours later before Elaine was able to leave the infirmary. The caretakers of the infirmary had taken the old woman’s corpse while the child begged for them to not take her grandmother. As the child began to struggle, Elaine quickly picked her up and moved to a wooden chair that sat on the corner. She held the child in her arms as she bawled and screamed. Elaine held her close, feeling her tears beginning to dampen her bodice. The little girl was now sound asleep in her arms.

Marseille quietly observed his daughter walking listlessly from person to person, pouring bowls of broth they’d made earlier in the day. The shop owners of their once proud city had managed to gather some scrap vegetables and meat to feed the displaced families on the cathedral grounds. Marseille had to make do with what they had. Most people were happy to get what they could to fill their stomachs, but some still demanded better treatment knowing full well that there was no better treatment to be had.

“Can I ask for something to eat?”

Marseille turned to look at the voice that spoke to him. The young man who stood before him looked incredibly familiar to him. For a moment he felt like he was staring at Caerus’s father – Thomas. Similar to his friend, the young man had raven black hair with steel gray eyes that felt like they stared into his soul.

“Sure,” Marseille said in wonder, still surprised by the incredible similarity between the young man and Thomas. “The meal is free, but can we ask for your help? My daughter needs to carry some crates of vegetables to the kitchen tent.”

The young man paused, a fleeting uncertainty crossing his features before he gave a determined nod and walked away. Drawing closer to Marseille’s daughter, he noticed the girl freeze, her movements abruptly arrested. A palpable wave of revulsion washed over Elaine, her features contorting in a mask of disdain, and a barrage of cutting words and colorful expletives tumbled from her lips. Marseille’s instinct propelled him to step forward, seeking to mediate the tension unraveling between them.

However, his intentions were abruptly derailed by the sharp sound of a kettle crashing against the cobblestone. The scent of spilled broth hung in the air, the liquid pooling at their feet. As he shifted his gaze, Marseille’s eyes widened in astonishment. The realization struck him like a lightning bolt – the young man was none other than Caerus, alive and well, standing before him.

Caerus clutched a cherished relic – the journal he and Elaine had filled with pledges, dreams, and intricate plans during their youth. Its pages held scribbles of their shared promises and pressed flowers that had now withered. It was a time unburdened by their initial separation, untouched by the chaos of the siege, a time before all the pain.

Overwhelmed by emotions, Elaine’s eyes welled with tears, her trembling hands rising to shield her open mouth in astonishment. A surge of recognition and nostalgia swept over her, unraveling the threads of time to unveil the echoes of their past. Elaine moved forward, her heart propelling her into the embrace of the young man before her, their connection transcending the lies that had separated them.