I'll come back later to fix the grammar goodies.

Enjoy.

The Suffering of Darkness

*Click* the door closes and Xe’Reth stares at the handmaiden.

“Is she ready to leave?” Taryna asked as she’s crouching while holding the hoof of one of the horses. To inspect the shoes of metallic, but she lets go of it as she straighten herself to not be stared down upon… by Xe’Reth.

“Not for a while. She’s cleaning herself up at the moment, so she won’t look like a complete ghost,” Xe’Reth said jokingly with a smile, but no smile is upon Taryna’s lips, only a scowl of conflicted thoughts pops up in her head; how dare he speak about her like that… He is a commoner in the presence of an Honored One, he isn’t worthy to be looked upon by her… I hate you for making her cry… Wipe that smug face off of your filthy expression.

But of course, she wouldn’t think like that. She’s for crying out loud a handmaiden to an Honored One! She has her own dignity to think of.

“Well, you can leave then, if you don’t have any further business with her,” she muttered with such an unpleasant face with those slightly lowered eyebrows of flaming color, and her eyes that’re squinting as her mouth’s curves are in a straight unemotional line. “Well… I will check if she needs help. Which she will need, I might add.”

‘Be calm, Xe’Reth… Be calm. This woman of thirty is just being jealousy because her Miss is not showing any attention to her,’ Xe’Reth thought as he talked to himself. ‘Like the common bitch that doesn’t have her master’s care, while her master is paying her devotion to another…dog. Ugh, I shouldn’t really call myself a dog.’

“Do as you please,” Xe’Reth said with a bob of his head as he walks past her to his broken door, only a couple of meters away… He’s impressed at how her parking was, neatly right beside the wall of his rundown house.

She had parked the carriage while she was outside and her Miss was inside the house, for when they first came here, Taryna wasn’t able to do it, because she hurriedly followed after the sprinting Malinda when she had seen the door… The door Xe’Reth is currently looking at, inspecting it to see if he can fix it, but he gives out an exhausting sigh as he scratches his slicked-back dark hair.

‘I should’ve fixed it before she came… But the reaction I got from her proves that it was worth not touching it,’ Xe’Reth thought pleasingly while nodding to himself.

The crowd stands there quiet, not trying to make a single sound as they stare in awe upon the golden decorated carriage, to not bother the Honored Lady who was crying for them.

As Taryna opens the door, Malinda gently turns her head to look at her, but her head turns immediately back to stare into the mirror, continuing with her powdering and painting. But from her cross-legged position, she unexpectedly stands up while she crouches a little bit, so her head doesn’t bump into the ceiling… again.

Malinda sits herself on the leathery seats as she raises her head a little bit, as if she’s awaiting for something. And with that, Taryna knows what she wants, so she goes into carriage to help to put on her Miss’s merchandise.

…………

“Luckily only one bolt to the door was damaged… And the other hinge just got crocked… Mmm...there!” Xe’Reth exclaimed as he fixes the door so it only hangs with one joint, but it’ll do for now.

“Excuse me,” an older man hesitantly said who’s brave enough to come up to Xe’Reth. A fellow man of poverty with his unwashed long hanging hair that moves with the slight breeze, his light-brown bearded face, and the over-worn clothes that’re in a grayish color, while the man himself holds his hands behind his back as he leans slightly forward.

As Xe’Reth stands up while turning around, he puts up a kind smile on his mouth, “Yes? Can I help you with something?”

“Many are… wondering. Is it really true that the guard captain was sent to prison?” he asked. “There is a rumor going around, or at least a laughing madman spewing out that the captain was dragged away by his own men.”

“It’s true,” Xe’Reth simply said while nodding once.

He sees that the crowd is starting to go their own ways; to spread the news about what has happened here; to tend to their own poor duties and going to their own various jobs on this glorious day of celebration.

“On the behalf of the people of the slums, I thank you… Xe’Reth…” the man said with a grinning curve on his mouth, but the way he said Xe’Reth’s name while smiling, makes him raise his scarred brow in wonder.

“I don’t think I’ve met you before,” Xe’Reth said being slightly suspicious as his eyes narrows themselves. “Who’re you?”

The old man says nothing. But the smile on his bearded face is rather gentle as he looks at Xe’Reth with his light-brown eyes and bushy eyebrows which’re raised to show such gratefulness.

“I am a simple man of poverty, like everyone else here, including you. But of course, no more… It seems?” the grin never leaves his face as he speaks. “Don’t forget the people of the slums, Xe’Reth.”

He then turns around and walks in a calm pace down the street opposite to the graveyard, which is if you came out from Xe’Reth’s house, it would be on the right side, for the door entrance points to the west if you’re inside, and the graveyard is to the north, while the man is going to the south, seeming not to have any worries in the world as he strides.

Xe’Reth’s brows lowers as he scowls at the grinning man who now disappears, ‘Weird old man…’

“Hmm,” Xe’Reth looks up at the sky to see the brightly lit sun that hangs over this kingdom, making him squint as it’s too much for his eyes to handle. “Mother should be waking up soon.”

*Screech*

*Screech*

“It will do,” Xe’Reth said as he tests the only hinge of the door; he closes it and opens it a couple of times to see if anything else is wrong with it. But it screeches wonderfully as he cringes with his eyebrows while hearing it.

Then, with a glance down to his bare chest, he sees that he’s indeed bare. So does the other people who has remained to stare at the glittering armor of the horses, the golden carriage of wealth, and the now troubled Xe’Reth who sees them watching his blood-bandaged chest.

“Better put on something to wear,” he whispered.

While leaving the door open, he goes inside to get some clothes.

‘Why did I need to rip my only good shirt…?’ Xe’Reth sighed as he browses through his closet of clothes; all worn-out, stained with slight smudges of dirt, and all he can think about is his good shirt that’s now in the trash.

“Well, my armor will do,” Xe’Reth said as he goes and puts on his black leather and red light-plate upper armor, while also changing out his lower clothes also, because it would look so atrocious just walking with thin pants while having only the upper armor pieces on. But, before he puts on all of his pieces, he checks his bandaged wounds, to see… if they’ve healed.

“What am I… really?” Xe’Reth asked as he sees the smooth surface of blood stains, but no injuries are showing. He touches his left brow. “Wonder why my eyebrow never healed… Was it because that was the first time I bled? Hmm, never mind… Time to prepare mother so I can leave for the mountain garden to get more herbs, which I need to pack down when I… move, heh move... Oh… And thank you, Ebon Wall, for allowing me to sneak in my illegal merchandise without being inspected… Through the victorious battle, the celebrations are held in your glory. Heh, look at me, talking to myself.”

“I really got to wash myself, too. Hmm, I’ll do it in the spring of the mountain while I am there… It shouldn’t take more than two to three hours to return home… If I run fast…” Xe’Reth said as he suddenly drops to land on his palms… He begins to do pushups while in his armor to get the feel of the leathery touch. After about fifty of some downs and ups, Xe’Reth lowers his arms to the floor, and with a fast push upwards, he extends his arms so he flings himself to stand straight, not even feeling exhausted at all.

Xe’Reth breathes out a long sigh, “Better take my bow with me.”

The Ebony Bow, which is hidden away, is standing on one of its tips while it is behind one of the shelfs inside his and his mother’s room. The string of the bow is in its black color and the bow itself also.

He goes and places his bow on the kitchen table, then he goes back into the bedroom since he forgot to take out more arrows that he has made through his own effort. Xe’Reth would buy the arrowheads at one of the outer layer’s Arrow-Smiths, which would cost less than buying already made arrows. And when he’s in the mountains to tend to the garden, he poaches birds, to take their quills, while getting something to eat for free.

The shafts he makes are from seasoned wood, which is called Ellenwood, named after one of the deceased Queens because it’s covering most of the kingdom with its leaves of emerald and its thick tree trucks of dark brown.

After the wood is seasoned he would begin to make the shafts with a regular razor-sharp blade, for his hand movements are extremely precise that he only needs to stroke with his hands as he cuts them to long and slight round arrow shafts. A hobby that he does while sitting in the bedroom as he watches his mother who would be moaning unbearably in her sleep.

After he had armored himself up, he had now placed the bow, the brown-leather quiver with arrows that’re covered and tied with a cloth piece so they won’t jump around while he runs, and a sheath that goes along with the dagger, which he had held in the boss’s mouth, is fastened behind his waist.

He also takes out a black hooded-cloak that he uses for when he needs to do something… illegal, and to not make people see him, for where he’s going, he can’t let people know who he’s. A black bandana, too, he places on the kitchen table while he ties the pouch of silver coins to his waist.

‘I can’t let Malinda’s handmaiden see what’s in the other room. She seems like a very decent woman who doesn’t break any of her codes of… moral, though she’s rather annoying to speak to,’ Xe’Reth thought as he leans with supporting hands on the table. ‘She would most likely have me flayed for just speaking to Malinda openly.’

The door to the bedroom is widely open since Xe’Reth wants to notice the exact moment when his mother wakes up from her slumber. To be awakened to her agony once more.

After he had come back from the graveyard, he had awakened Theresa with an herb, which can even awake someone from a dreadful coma, and that’s the hardest illness to handle, since the victim will starve to death, for their throat passage won’t be able to take any food. But thank the Divine that his mother isn’t lying in a coma, only in her groaning sleep.

As Xe’Reth straighten himself from his leaning position, he walks into the bedroom while seeing his bandaged up mother with the disease proclaiming themselves on her body. He begins to grind the Yran’Gilis in the pestle while moving out to the kitchen to prepare some hot water for her awakening. The hot water makes the flower’s effect spread faster as the steam will seep into places as it goes down her throat.

With the Yran’Gilis flower and some other herbs now lying in the pestle in a gooey dark purple color, he begins his waiting, for his mother’s awakening. Xe’Reth had seen the sun high in the sky, and he kind of knows when and where the sun will be at, at a certain time of the day.

As it’s now midday, he awaits to pour the steaming water into the pestle, then go to his mother, though it’ll be a little hot, but she has gotten used to it because she’s always preoccupied with her other pains that riddles her body.

Xe’Reth touches his lip and lets out a sigh… The wound has also healed entirely and his bruises, which isn’t good, because if Malinda would notice his healed state, well, it would direct suspiciousness upon him. Not in a bad way though, more of a medical manner. He greatly doesn’t want to be dissected by the healers

“Like I said, don’t be so grumpy and take it out on Xe’Reth. He didn’t do anything, I decided it on my own,” Malinda scolded as she steps out of her carriage. “You’ll just have to live with it, that certain changes are going to happen.”

“But Miss, you just met him yesterday as you just said, it is moving too fast. It is… unwomanly, it is shameful to fall in love with a man this fast, which you’ve,” Taryna said as she comes out right behind Malinda with a rather demanding voice. “Shouldn’t you be taking it slower, I mean, moving into the castle? That’s completely absurd. Please Miss, think it through more carefully, it isn’t normal.”

“You’ve said enough, Taryna. Why can’t he come to the castle and live with me? It has too many rooms that’re vacant, it’s almost creepy sometimes, you know?” Malinda said as she turns around to scowl at Taryna for not giving in, while her hands are on either side of her waist, looking rather unamused. “Sigh… It doesn’t matter, I’m saying that he’ll live with me, so suck it up and prepare the horses for departure, we’re going to the city’s prison. Then to the DLO to put out an arrest on the captain’s brother… That monster who tortured Xe’Reth.”

But as Malinda is about to go into Xe’Reth’s house, she turns around and frowns at her handmaiden who doesn’t obey her, “I said, tend to the horses for departure. Now go.”

“You shouldn’t be alone with—.”

“Go… I said…” Malinda demanded with an overbearing voice as her eyebrows lowers immensely.

“Fine, but we’re not finished with this conversation, yet,” Taryna added as she does a spin of her body, then she walks with stomping feet to the horses to turn them around for departure.

As Malinda was going to retort, she sees the remaining crowd staring at her; she puts up a smile as she gives a graceful wave of her hand while at the same time she walks to peek into Xe’Reth’s house, but she doesn’t see him in the kitchen. She takes a deep breath to air out her worried emotions, and with a slight lowered head, she heads inside to peek into his and his mother’s room.

The floor of the house creaks as she steps on the wooden foundation. She didn’t even hear it before, but now that all of her attention is to keep quiet, she hears the squeaking sound loud and clear. For every step, she cringes with her eyebrows, until she sees Xe’Reth there sitting next to his mother on her bed, with the pestle of steaming grind up herbs in his hands, holding it like a bowl.

“It isn’t nice to sneak up on people, Malinda,” Xe’Reth said as he turns his head while smiling, knowing that it’s already her. Because he had heard everything which was said between her and Taryna, and that’s why he knew that she wasn’t going to come along with her, so he doesn’t feel worried at all.

“You… You caught me, hehe,” Malinda giggled slightly as she comes into the bedroom, not bothering to walk carefully anymore. “What is… that…?”

“My prepared mixture of various herbs. I know it looks ghastly, no, it is ghastly, even the taste, but no matter what I add, the Yran’Gilis takes up all of the other flavors, though not their medical effects,” Xe’Reth said as he holds it in front of her so she can see the purple goo of water, though not to close. “Careful, don’t breathe in too much, it’ll cause you to pass out, which I’ve had the pleasure of feeling.”

Xe’Reth stands up from his seated position on the bed as he puts down the bowl of steaming goodies on the bed table. He sprouts forth a smile as he gazes at Malinda whose face is now back to its perfect condition, which she was before leaving the castle; black sharp eyeliner that brings out her lovely yet lethal eyes, her now powdered face that makes her slightly paler than normal, and her red filled rose petals.

“Malinda, you’re spectacular as always, I see. I am truly blessed, and truly ashamed, for I’ve stolen you away from someone who’s more worthy of you than me. But, I am not complaining since I can only feel joy,” Xe’Reth admired while nodding his head a couple of times while standing in a pondering position; hand on chin and the other hand holding his elbow.

“Come closer,” Xe’Reth said while turning sneaky, which makes Malinda look around herself awkwardly, but she complies. She takes a few steps as she leans in while turning her head so he can whisper something in her ear. “I need to leave and get some more of THOSE… herbs. So I’ll be gone for about two to three hours. And I am going to re-put my mother to sleep when she wakes up, then I’ll hastily go to the mountain; you know that one which looks very high, but not so expansive?”

“Mhm,” she nods as she turns her head to stare at him while she too whispers in a low voice. “I know which one you mean. Is that where you grow your… umm… you know, THOSE… herbs? B-By the way, why’re we whispering? Taryna is outside tending the horses.”

“No reason,” Xe’Reth said as he straightens himself while grinning as he strokes his slicked-back hair. “It just seemed right, because you’re the only one who knows my secret. I am at your mercy… my love, my Malinda. And I would like to keep it like that.”

As Xe’Reth is about to lean forward to steal a kiss, she puts her index and middle finger on her rose petals, then pushes them onto his, “No more kissing, I don’t want to fix myself up again, alright?”

“Mhmhm” Xe’Reth said as his mouth is covered by the two fingers, but he’s only jesting, for he can easily speak with two fingers pressing on his mouth. Though, as she tries to remove her fingers from his lips, he instead takes ahold of her hand that has slight red frills around her wrist. “As my Honored Lady commands of me.”

He does a graceful bow of his upper body. His one hand hurls to the right, holding it in the air as if he’s preparing to fly like a bird; bending one of his knees while putting the other leg slightly in a straight line outwards, and his other hand is holding hers as he lightly kisses it like a noble gentleman greeting a noble lady, which he isn’t, but he can act like any gentleman she wants him to be.

“But enough with joking around,” Xe’Reth said with a relaxed smile as he lets go of her hand. “Where were we? Ah yes, after I’ve gotten my mother to sleep again, and after you’ve left, I’ll head to the mountain. But if I don’t return in two to three hours, please do stay here and wait for me. I’ll return as fast as I can, but you’ve your own business to attend to, so we’ll see each other later, alright?”

“Okay…” Malinda said as she grows quiet while her eyes and eyebrows scowls with clenched teeth. “I’ll find the brother of that… of that pig who hurt you. I even met the pig’s daughter on my way here when she stopped us in the inner layer. I am afraid that she’ll do something stupid to get her father out… She was so rude, yelling at me to release him.”

‘Oh yeah, that girl. His little princess. I wonder if I should tell her… Yes, it’ll be to Malinda’s advantage…’ Xe’Reth thought while pondering with his scarred brow raised.

“The mother… of his daughter… She committed suicide because she was raped by that pig,” Xe’Reth uttered while showing such disgust upon his frowning eyebrows. “When he was still young, he had taken a liking to a young woman of poverty. But as he was in a higher standing than her… He, well. He raped her while threatening her that if she spoke about it, he would kill her. Because, who would miss a poor woman?”

“But… When she got pregnant with his child… She tried to commit suicide openly while trying to jump off the high wall of the outer layer. But as guards were there, they restrained her… Though a man miraculously came to take her home, and that man was him. He had kept her in his house from there on, until she gave birth, but she couldn’t take it anymore. One day she ran as fast as she could, and well, she did manage to jump off from the outer layer’s white wall.”

Xe’Reth has his eyes closed as he finishes speaking of such an atrocity. It had been a well-known rumor that everyone in the slums knew, for she came from here, but no one had raised a finger to help her. If they did… They would’ve gotten the wrath upon themselves, no shining knight, no parents, no friends, just a woman that was taken advantage of, because the pig had connections with the city-guard back then too.

“That… That is completely dreadful!” she shouted but she instinctively covers her mouth as she thought about Xe’Reth’s sleeping mother. Though as she quickly looks at her, she sighs since Theresa isn’t changing from her groaning sleep of pain. While lowering her voice, she gains such a grimaces on her eyes and eyebrows. “That pig… He… He shall not escape justice… He’ll spend the rest of his life in prison if I’ve anything to say about it.”

Just thinking about the daughter’s poor deceased mother sprouts forth Malinda’s eyes of venom that will not give any quarter to a man whose filthy hands has been branded forever in wicked marks of disgust.

Malinda turns hastily around as she walks out of the room with a lowered head that shows the eyes of a true verdict which has been judged by her alone. Even if she hasn’t met the woman, she can picture the scene in front of her eyes, and she’s appalled, she wants to throw up, she wants to...

While turning back to look into Xe’Reth’s dark eyes, Malinda can see that he agrees with her, such a man has no right to live out his life in joy. Xe’Reth gives a simple but ice-cold nod of support, then she turns around and begins to stride with womanly legs while saying, “I’ll return when that bastard sits in prison for life!”

As she disappears out the front door, Xe’Reth breathes out his gathered air of humorous emotions, “Dear Malinda, you’re so easily distracted, heh.”

“I’ll have to purge the city-guard later from its rot. Its plague has spread through the whole union, but that can wait… It can wait until I have my grasp on more power, more sway to decide things. Be glad, my fellow people of poverty, I’ll aid you in eradicating your troubled uncertainties.” Xe’Reth said as he turns to attend to his mother while showing a motionless face as he looks upon her. “Just wait mother… You won’t be the only one who suffers today.”

A clench-teethed-grin grows on his expression, showing his white teeth of marvel.

*NNEEIIGGHHH*

“There she goes,” Xe’Reth said as he hears the horses of terror, the grinding of wheels, and the metal shoes of sixteen hooves bombarding the mud-cobblestoned ground; in the process showing the might of such beasts of pure muscles that can ride to the beyond and back.

A slow shuddering whimper begins to wake up. A shaking of utter stinginess attacks the body of its owner. The throbbing of the simplest moving touch sends such agony that can only be put out by one entity, the appearance of a son which has been with her through the dreadful times of constant insanity that eats away at its possessor’s soul. Through thick and thin. Through melting lava and ice-making blizzards. Through everything that comes and everything that goes.

A hand raises up into the shadowy darkness that blinds her sight, a sight that’s filled with tears that has laid itself onto her eyelids. A blindness that she doesn’t want, she wants to see, her eyes, her eyes, OPEN!”

“Xeee…… Ree-tthhh……” the now seeing woman’s voice of pure agony whose eyes are open, sees her man, her love, her son standing there holding that raised hand of hers in complete affection.

“I’m here…” Xe’Reth said peacefully while wiping away the tears of his mother’s overflowing eyes.

With clasping of hands, the burnt scarred hand which no longer has strength flowing through its veins, and the smooth masculine hand which strength do flows through, are conjoined together. A mother and son holding hands as pain inflicts the body of both; the pains of an aching heart and the pains of a scorching frame that has been drained of its life energy for over four years.

As Xe’Reth sits there beside his diseased mother, he can’t show anything of his true self.

He has an imbedded smile on his curved lips that screams at him, those screams of seeing such a horrifying sight. But his eyes do shows some of his true feelings for they are completely dead of emotions like the absolute death that takes its victims to its graves of no-awaking. If his mother wasn’t so ill, if her eyes were true! And not in such shadows that clouds her sight of things, she would be frightened to death by such a terrifying picture that’s in front of her at this moment.

But she can’t see that expression of…nothingness, because her eyes are blurred from the awakening of torment.

“Mother… listen to my voice… follow it with your mind…” the blurred shade said in thorough tranquility. “Everything will be all right. I will soon figure out how to save you. Rest as you drink your sorrows away… Drink…the troubles away… Drink…so your serene sleep will take you away from the horrors you’re battling.”

“…Drink… …Drink… …Drink… … Drin—… …Dri—… …D—...”

This darkness... These shades of blackness are forever changing…

To the peaceful life of a village girl that helps with the nature, to grow it, to nurture it; to grow up, to train, to learn, to battle; to fall, to bear, to birth; to paradise, to obscurity, and into the light of the rising sun that burns forever upon the sensitive skin of this woman, this mother of one.

‘It burns… Help me… it stings. Mama… it hurts… Papa…where are you…? Why did you leave mama and me…? Where were you when mama’s last breath was upon her?’

‘Why… why is it boiling? Why am I burning? Ah… it hurts… Ahh…help me… Please…someone…help…meeee… Why…is no one…helping me…? Ahhh…. It burns always… Why must it burn me so?'

'Ahh… Ahhh… AAhhhhh… AAAHHHHH….. ’

‘AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!’

As Xe’Reth sits there quietly beside the now sleeping Theresa who wails as nightmares inflicts her mind, he can’t cry no matter how much he tries. He wants to cry for his mother… but can’t. His empty vessels of tears has already been dried up long ago.

“I’ll be back as always… Mother,” Xe’Reth said as he lays the bowl of gooey remains onto the bed table, then he leans to his mother and gives her a kiss on her forehead while stroking her head… Stroking it like he stroked Malinda’s hair…

Standing up, he takes one last look at his mother while biting his healed lip… desperately, then with a turn he goes out to the kitchen and swooshes his hooded-cloak on; ties the bandana around his face, making only his abyssal eyes show as they stare at the table where his bow and quiver lies.

He goes to shut the bedroom door, then drags a large shelf so it hides the whole entrance to his mother’s sanctuary.

As he’s about to leave with everything on, his armor, his bow, his sheathed dagger, his arrows hanging on the side, and he himself who’s darkness incarnate, Xe’Reth can’t help to feel worry.

Xe’Reth crouches down while his hands opens a small compartment in the flooring, taking out three hardened leather square bags; they aren’t big, only a fist sized, but as he’s holding the squares, Xe’Reth attaches them to his belt which is already holding the quiver, the sheathed dagger, and the pouch of silvers.

“They’ll be handy if I run into any trouble, and if I need to make a quick escape,” he murmured as he stands up to walk to the door that’s hanging with only once hinge. Though it looks like a regular door if a person were to see it from the outside.

As he’s standing out in front of the door, he closes it, then locks the many locks with his keys that’re also attached to the belt, which will rattle as he runs.

While pulling the door to test its strength, he nods in satisfactory.

The crowd has disappeared, only stragglers who’re walking to their own places are on the street of poverty. Xe’Reth takes one shuddering long muffled breath, then starts to run, fast. It isn’t anything special for people to be wearing clothes that covers everything, but it is suspicious to see someone run through the city at the fastest speed the person can muster, while avoiding the travelers in zigzag movements.

Xe’Reth disappears down the lane of the city, towards the east, to the outer layer’s gate, to journey to his garden of salvation.

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