Chapter 104: Shattered Bond
The cold winds flowed quietly through the city, brushing against the empty streets while midnight had already slipped far behind. The town lay silent in its slumber, most of the stores long closed, their wooden shutters drawn and doors barred, and even the lamps that lined the paths were mostly extinguished, leaving only a few pale glimmers to hold back the darkness. It was on such a night, where silence pressed against every corner, that two figures walked side by side toward a bridge on the edge of the town, their path lit only by the dim glow of the moon, for no magic lamps reached this far.
The first of the two was a woman whose black hair, cropped just short of her shoulders, shifted slightly with each step she took. Her hands were clasped firmly behind her back, and she walked with a steadiness that seemed untouched by the chill of the night, as though the winds that bit into bare skin had no claim upon her. Even the skirt she wore, which hung loosely above her knees and left her legs exposed to the cold, did not hinder her stride in the slightest.
Trailing behind her was another woman who fared far less against the night's air. She held her hands pressed tightly against her chest, clutching a blanket about her shoulders in a desperate attempt to keep herself warm. Her black hair streamed behind her like flowing silk, catching faint fragments of moonlight, and from time to time she flinched when the wind bit too sharply against her skin. This was Eska.
She let out a small breath, watching the mist curl faintly into the night, and called toward the figure ahead. "Hey, where exactly are we going, Effie? I mean, I don't mind walking with you, but isn't it a little late for this? We're already leaving the town, and you do know there's an abandoned ghost house further ahead, don't you? Wouldn't it be better to show me this beautiful place of yours in the morning instead? At least then I could actually enjoy it without freezing. Hey, are you even listening to me?"
Effie, the woman in front, gave no sign of turning back. Her steps carried her steadily onward, and then, as if her silence were not enough to irritate, she began whistling into the night air with a tune that seemed entirely careless. When she finally did speak, her voice carried a strange tone. "No, Eska. Morning would be too late to show you. What I want to show you only arrives in the deep of night. I just happened to notice it yesterday, and if we keep walking we should arrive soon."
Eska broke into a light sprint to close the distance between them, her blanket trailing slightly behind her. With a weary sigh, she muttered, "What am I supposed to do with you?"
Effie still offered no reply. She only kept walking, the rhythm of her steps unbroken, which left Eska to follow whether she liked it or not. What troubled her more than the silence was the biting cold. She could not begin to understand how Effie, who wore so little, showed no sign of discomfort while she herself was shivering even with the blanket wrapped around her. Perhaps it was some strange quirk of hers, or perhaps it had something to do with the fact that Effie was expecting to become a mother one day, though how that connected to enduring cold Eska could not even begin to guess.
When they reached the midpoint of the bridge, Effie finally stopped. She turned to one side, leaned her back against the stone railing, and let out a soft sigh as though they had finally arrived.
Eska slowed, drawing the blanket closer about her body, and glanced at her with puzzled eyes. "So, this is the place you wanted to show me? Because honestly, I don't see anything worth the trouble."
Effie turned her gaze upon her, and there was a faint smile on her lips, though it was unlike any Eska had seen before. It was a smile that carried something cold within it, something distant. "Look carefully into the water, Eska."
Tilting her head, Eska stepped closer and leaned against the stone as well. Her eyes followed Effie's words, and what she saw was both strange and beautiful in its own quiet way. The river swayed gently, the currents catching the pale light of the moon and scattering it into countless ripples across the surface, making the water shimmer faintly with a hue that seemed almost blue. If the moon had been full the sight might have been breathtaking beyond measure, yet even now, with clouds drifting lightly across the night sky, it was enough to draw her in. A sudden gust scattered dry leaves across the bridge, some brushing lightly against her face. She tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear and allowed the silence to settle between them.
It was Effie who finally broke it. "Tell me, what do you think of the moon tonight? Isn't it beautiful?"
Eska gave the water another glance and answered evenly, "Yes, I suppose it is."
Effie interlaced her fingers, her eyes never leaving the shifting light upon the river. "Eska, do you remember how we first met? How the two of us ended up becoming such close friends?"
Eska looked at her, then back into the water, and frowned slightly. "Why bring that up now of all times?"
Effie gave a small shrug, her smile returning faintly. "No reason in particular. The thought simply crossed my mind. So, do you remember?"
Eska let her thoughts drift back, and after a moment her lips curved into a gentle smile. "Of course I remember. It feels like a lifetime ago. I was still a child back then, still learning how to serve tables, struggling to carry trays properly as if that was all my life was meant for, and yet the customers adored me. Then my sister brought you along one day. She told me to befriend you, to guide you in the work, and from that point we were together. You were so shy in those days, always standing in the corner as if the world itself frightened you, hardly speaking to anyone at all. And whenever my sister raised her voice at you, you would break into tears instantly. Gods, how could I have forgotten? You were a disaster with dishes too, always breaking them whenever you got startled."
Effie gave a wave of her hand in mock protest. "Hey, I wasn't that bad with dishes. It was just… difficult at first, that's all. I wasn't used to such things back then. Come to think of it, I never actually told you how I ended up working there in the first place, did I?"
Eska shook her head. "No, you never did. And I never pressed you either, because I figured you had no wish to speak of it. But we're no longer children now. If you want to tell me, then I'll listen."
For a moment Effie said nothing, her gaze fixed firmly on the rippling water. When she finally spoke, her voice carried a weight that had not been there before. "Very well. Since you've always been honest with me, I suppose it's only fair that I tell you as well. You see, when I was little, I had what you would call an actual family. I had a home of my own where I grew up, and though I rarely spoke to others, I had my world. My father was an adventurer, a kind man, one who earned us a good living by hunting monsters and bringing back his earnings. For a time, everything was well… until…"
Her voice trailed off, leaving the words hanging between them.
Eska turned to her quickly, concern etched across her features. "Until what, Effie?"
Effie hesitated before she finally continued. "In my father's party there was a woman, older than me of course, whom I knew well. She was beautiful, graceful, the sort of person who could draw attention with ease. At that age I did not understand the things that were unfolding, not even when Father began bringing me along to meet her. I thought of it as nothing more than a happy time, for he would buy me ice creams, cakes, little dolls, and toys, and I believed he was simply spending more time with me. But in truth he was hiding what lay between them, and I was too young to realize it. One day, Mother discovered the truth on her own, and when she confronted me she scolded me harshly. She even struck me across the face, asking why I had never told her anything. I was only a child, all I could do was cry. If it had ended there perhaps I would have grown with fewer scars, but..."
She grew silent once more, her lips pressing together before the corners twisted into a faint bitter smile, "But my father chose that exact moment to run away with another woman, leaving us behind as though we were nothing more than a burden he could discard. You see... it might have been fine, perhaps even my mother would have endured it somehow, but soon after that, out of nowhere, many people began arriving at our door and demanding the debts he had left behind. And the funny thing is... at first he abandoned us completely and left us in silence, but before doing so he borrowed so much, and because so many people trusted him, they gave what he asked without hesitation. My mother never even knew about those things, so when the truth came crashing down it was unbearable. She tried desperately to find a job so that we could survive, but no matter how much she searched nothing came, and meanwhile the food stored at home was already running out, and all of it together with the burden of the debts placed such a heavy weight upon her that she could barely breathe. At times I had to go hungry for days, and in those moments I watched her break little by little."
A faint and sorrowful smile lingered on her lips, "At first she simply shouted at me, and it was for no reason at all, yet her frustration grew worse with time, until one day she began striking me whenever she felt like it, hitting me just because she wished to, and all I could do was cry. But that was not the end of it. The debt collectors pressed her harder and harder until she could no longer endure it. And many times I saw her when she thought I was not watching, alone in her room, crying as though the world had collapsed upon her, even though just moments before she had beaten me without mercy. I could not bear to see her like that. I did not believe she deserved any of it. She had tried in her own way to keep me alive, yet she was slowly failing, and perhaps losing her mind in the process. One night she embraced me tightly, whispering an apology into my ear, and then she pushed me into a room, locked the door, and set fire to the house. I screamed and pounded on the door again and again, but nothing opened, nothing gave way, and I could not save her no matter how much I tried. To tell the truth, it was not as if I thought I would live either, so I simply crouched on the bed as the fire crept closer, crying until my throat hurt while calling for my mother's name, yet no answer came. Soon, though, I heard her voice again, broken and desperate, calling out her apologies even as the flames devoured everything. And then, somehow, I ended up in sister's hands. That is all I remember clearly, because back then I had no idea how I survived such a fire, while my mother did not."
The silence that followed clung heavily to the air until Eska's eyes blurred with tears, which she quickly brushed away before whispering, "I'm sorry..."
Effie shook her head, laying her hand gently on Eska's shoulder, "Please don't be. I only wanted to share it with you, that is all. And besides... that is not everything. There is something else you should know."
Eska raised an eyebrow, confusion softening her grief, "What?"
Effie withdrew her hand, turned her gaze toward the pale moon above, and her voice drifted with a strange distance, "I am sorry, Eska. Please, forgive me if you can."
Eska tilted her head, clearly not understanding, and asked slowly, "Why are you apologising all of a sudden? As far as I know you did nothing wrong."
For a long moment Effie said nothing, but then her tone hardened as she spoke, "I love Caelum as well, Eska."
Eska's expression twisted in disbelief, "W-what?"
Effie inhaled deeply, her voice now cold, cutting like a blade, "Just as I said. I am in love with your husband as well."
Eska's entire body froze, her fists clenching as she stammered out, "What are you saying, Effie? This is not the time for such a cruel joke... why are you pouring salt into wounds that already bleed? Please, do not do this to me, Effie."
Effie only gave a careless shrug, her voice sharp and merciless, "It is not a joke. It is the truth. A truth so harsh it might sting you more than anything else you have heard, Eska."
Eska stepped back, still unwilling to believe, yet she drew a long, trembling breath and pressed her fists tighter until her knuckles turned pale, "If that is the case... then what exactly are you trying to say?"
This time Effie turned her eyes fully toward Eska, her face dark and distant, her tone like venom, "Nothing more. I slept with him yesterday, that is all."
That single line pierced her so deeply that it felt as though her heart stopped altogether. Breath failed her chest as she stared at Effie with a cold, broken gaze, then without thinking she struck Effie's cheek with a sharp slap and cried out, "Effie... do not tell me... please, do not dare to say this is true. You are lying, are you not? Effie, you would not dare..."
Effie only sighed, her face twisting as though she carried no shame, "But I did. And of course he was not very gentle with me either. You saw the scars on me this morning, did you not?"
Eska's hand rose again and she slapped Effie with all the strength she could muster, but then her voice died. Nothing came from her lips, no sound, no cry, as though grief itself had stolen her words.
Effie did not stop. She continued, driving the knife deeper, tearing apart Eska's world piece by piece, "Since you refuse to say anything, then I will tell you how it all happened, and then perhaps you will believe it. To tell you the truth, even I did not know how it came to this. Somewhere along the way it simply happened. Ah... where do I begin? Perhaps it started when he became our regular customer, those mornings when you were not present, and he suddenly gathered the courage to ask me about you. Slowly, awkwardly, we spoke, and although it was different from how he spoke with you, I responded. And you know better than anyone, Eska, that I rarely talk to anyone, so I had no idea when it happened that I began to draw closer to him. It was foolish, I know, smiling to myself just from watching him at a distance, but even so I could not help it. And before long I realized that my feelings had become something I had not expected, much sooner than I thought. But the moment I understood, I asked you about him as well."
She touched her chin while a wide smile slowly appeared across her face, her words carrying both amusement and pain, "If I remember correctly when I asked you about your feelings, you declined it without hesitation. However, I was not a fool either, I noticed the way you acted around him, the little gestures and the restless air that gave you away, and so I knew what you truly felt. I never told you about it because I feared it would break our friendship into pieces. Instead, I tried to keep a wide distance between him and myself, yet the more I tried to distance myself the more it hurt, as though I was tearing something from inside me. At some point I could not hold back anymore, it was strange and bitter, but I did the one thing I should never have done... I forgot everything about our friendship and tried to make him mine, though I did not go too far. I only acted like another woman would, wanting to feel what it was like to fight for him. Funny thing is, he never noticed me at all, not once. The only thing in his mind was you, Eska. You did not even need to try so hard, you did not need to struggle to make him yours, you had him without lifting a hand, and that alone cut me deeper than I can explain. But I grew silent, forced myself into silence after so many failures, and still it hurt, it kept hurting until I could hardly breathe. I knew how hard it was to suppress one's feelings, and even though I forced myself to endure for years, now I can no longer hold it in. It is too much, Eska, too much, it is just so damn hard."
Eska stayed silent, her lips pressed tight, her eyes shifting to Effie's expression which trembled with something far beyond grief, something close to madness. Her voice was low but sharp, "You have become mad, Effie. You have completely lost your mind. Just look at yourself... look at your face."
Effie lingered, her eyes twitching before she suddenly laughed, the sound uneven and broken, "Mad? Well, yes, you are right. I am mad, I became mad the moment I met her, the moment everything turned upside down."
Eska clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms, her mind boiling with rage that screamed to end Effie here and now, yet her heart chained her still, unable to raise a hand against someone who had once been her friend. She did not even know what she wanted anymore. Perhaps she had already thought of leaving her husband behind, forgetting him entirely, so did it even matter what he did now? But still, even with that thought lingering, her heart ached in a way she could not bear.
Her gaze sharpened as she whispered coldly, "Well, did your mother not suffer and die because of another woman? How ironic, Effie. Today you have become that same woman, though in a different way, for a different man."
Effie tilted her head and lingered, then smirked faintly, "Uh-huh? And so what if I did? That was the past, and this is my present, and in this present I have done what I wanted. That is how the world works, Eska. You either change yourself according to it or you get broken by it. Although, you see, there were so many things I wanted to tell you still, so many confessions crawling inside my throat, but I am running out of time. You have to go now... now."
Eska frowned, her voice steady even as her heart trembled, "And where the hell will you be going? To his home, again?"
Effie's eyes narrowed as if pondering, then she sighed in mock weariness, "A good question, really, but instead of asking me where I am going, you should have asked where you are going, Eska."
Eska's brows furrowed, "What do you mean?"
Effie slowly raised her hand, and as she did so, something shimmered out of thin air, glowing faintly until it took the shape of a sharp rapier whose hilt curled tightly around her palm. Her eyes glowed with a murderous light as her lips curled into a mad smile, "You are going to hell, my dear friend. Ah, forgive me, I cannot accompany you there just yet. I still have some bastards to kill who keep getting in my way. But before that, let me give you a piece of news... your husband is now far stronger than before."
Eska's eyes widened in disbelief, her breath catching as she tried but failed to mask her face, her voice trembling, "Y-you are going to murder me, Effie. Please, get your head together, you are losing yourself, you cannot do this. Do you understand the consequences? You cannot do it. And where did you even get this rapier... this cursed blade..."
Effie laughed softly, the sound slipping into a cracked giggle, "I can, and I will. Oh, and this will be my very first murder, so will you not cheer for me, dear friend?"
The rapier's tip brushed against Eska's chest, the cold edge lightly cutting into her clothes, making her gasp. Her lips trembled as she pleaded, "Effie, please, listen to me. Please, we can still talk this out."
Effie tilted her head, her smile twitching, "Talk? About what? We have talked enough already, do you not think so? Let me kill you now before I go mad again. That way you will suffer less."
Eska instinctively raised her hands, her voice desperate but even, "Listen, Effie, just for a moment. Calm yourself. You do not need to kill me. I swear I will not tell anyone. I promise, Effie. Please, listen to me."
But Effie did not answer. Instead, she pulled the rapier back, her arm trembling, and then with a sudden motion the blade blurred forward, aimed straight at Eska's heart. Her voice came as a whisper laced with insanity, "Give me your heart, my dear friend. I will see you in hell."
Eska stared at her friend with a strange and hollow expression. She no longer knew what she felt toward her, fury, sadness, pity, contempt, or something else entirely. She could not tell anymore. She only knew one thing: she was not afraid of death. It was almost funny how much she had changed.
Her only wish was to see the little one again, yet that wish would be nothing more than a dream now. An emptiness filled her chest, and so she closed her eyes, surrendering herself to the embrace of death. Once, a young man had stopped her from doing such a thing, but this time there was no one here, no one at all.
Or so she thought.
Before the rapier could pierce her chest, it stopped somehow. She thought someone had intervened, but Effie herself hadn't struck her for some reason. Was it because she was regretting it?
But the next moment proved her wrong. Effie's hand twitched violently, her face contorting as she touched her temple and suddenly burst into wild laughter. Her eyes gleamed as she peered through her fingers, toward Eska... no, behind her.
And then Eska felt it too.
Behind her, above her head, two crimson flames suddenly ignited in the darkness, burning with a merciless light that aimed straight at Effie. Those eyes glowed with a murderous intensity, ruthless as a predator, a black coat swaying in the shadows as though wrapping the figure in darkness itself.
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(Chapter Ended)
To be continued...