Yuer's POV

“You said for now his situation will continue to be stable as long as I feed him my Echo. How long until that won’t be enough?” asked Yuer while gently cradling Ivak’s head in his hands.

“In the previous timeline, it only took seven summers. In the current one, with your help his lifespan can be prolonged to ten summers but no more than that.”

Yuer’s eyes snapped to the serpent, “previous timeline…” The idea of his return to the past had always remained an unanswered mystery to him so he grasped the chance to understand the truth of it, “How was I reincarnated exactly?”

The creature began to explain, “Rather than you being reincarnated, time itself was manipulated. The Harmonious Will of the Great Void reversed the flow of time, causing it to travel backward. With your two Echoes, you have always carried the mark of the Harmonious Will within you, however you were never meant to be imprinted by the Destructive Will. During the moment of your death in which your consciousness was transferred to the Great Void, the Destructive Will acted of its own accord and ‘tainted’ you and that is how you ended up in this peculiar situation of carrying both, opposite Wills at the same time.”

Yuer fell silent for a moment, pondering the words he was hearing. Eventually, he broke the silence and inquired with furrowed brows, “If what you say is true and time was reversed. Why is it that I retain the memories of my past life? Shouldn’t I have forgotten them?”

“No, that would have defeated the purpose of your reincarnation. The Harmonious Will offered you another chance at life for a purpose.”

Yuer bit down his lips, “Purpose? What purpose?” Urgently he added, “Also, What happened after I died? Wasn’t Ivak eventually beheaded by Jarak?”

The creature tactfully ignored his first question, “Three days after your death, this young soul lost control while being held in the Palace’s dungeons. The Void had already festered long enough within him. At that point, it had succeeded in annihilating his consciousness. His corruption was already set in motion. He could no longer resist the Destructive Will’s call. He went on a rampage and destroyed the palace and the entire capital. In a matter of four days, he had swallowed the entire Empire whole.”

Yuer frowned, his jaws already beginning to clench. “Is there any way to stop that from happening?”

The small serpent didn’t reply immediately and instead pinned him with its empty and chilling gaze. Eventually, it uttered. “There is.”

“What is it?” Yuer’s heartbeat started to grow steadily louder in his own ears.

In a voice bereft of any semblance of emotion, the serpent said, “You have to kill him and you have to do it as soon as possible. That is precisely the purpose as to why you were reincarnated.”

Yuer’s heart stuttered in his chest. His hands which were unconsciously tracing the sleeping Ivak’s scars froze.

The serpent didn’t seem to care for his reaction and continued on, “This young man is not meant to live. If he does, it will spell the doom of humanity as a whole. You are the only who is capable of stopping him and saving every living soul in this realm. If anyone else attempts to do so, the Void within him will react instinctively and tear them to pieces. You, on the other hand, already carry the same power within you, so his Void won’t lash out at you.”

Eyes unseeing and voice oddly impassive, Yuer asked, “Are you telling me the reason I was reincarnated was to murder an innocent man? To save the realm, you say?”

The serpent didn’t hesitate to point out what it thought to be a flawless reasoning, “And why not? This young man’s fate is already sealed. He was born with the Void within him and his ending will be the same whether he lives or dies. The only difference is if he dies now, he won’t drag the rest of humanity with him into the abyss.”

The creature paused for a moment, almost as if it was trying to let the weight of its words sink in the thin air between it and Yuer. It unhurriedly added, “Moreover, You don’t need him. With your knowledge of the past and your identity as an Alikana-marked in this realm, you can easily topple the ruling clan and seize full authority of this empire. You could turn it into a religious nation and rule over it as the head mandated by the Mahatir herself. By then, no one will ever think to harm, abuse or walk over you ever again. You would have achieved your deepest desire and annihilated your sworn enemy and his entire lineage from existence.” The serpent cocked its head, “Isn’t that what you are seeking? Isn’t this what you are already toiling so diligently for? Isn’t this what you wanted to be reincarnated for?”

At first, Yuer didn’t say anything. He remained where he was, motionless and stone-faced. A moment later, a laugh tumbled out of his mouth, followed by another and then another. Soon enough, the youth was bawling with laughter, his slender body almost folded itself in a half with the force of his cackles. There was no joy in the sound. It was jagged and harsh, like shards of glass grating against each other. A ring of insanity clang to the sound, and reverberated through the walls of the room.

Yuer laughed and laughed until his throat turned hoarse. He gazed down at Ivak and a surge of something warm yet bitter wallowed up in his mouth. It tasted like self-pity and like sorrow, a sorrow with a touch of loathing. At that moment, Yuer loathed himself, the fates, this serpent, the gods and everything.

Oh how he loathed it all.

He grabbed the serpent with a hand and crushed it with the force of his fist until it disintegrated into black ink and then dissipated into nothing.

In an icy, chilling voice, he spoke to the empty air, “No. I never asked to be reincarnated. It was your mentally fragmented god that decided so. Now, it wants me to be a pawn in its internal strife, a disposable blade to brandish against itself. It wishes to use and manipulate me. No. You have chosen the wrong person to play hero.”

Yuer clenched his hands around Ivak’s black tunic, voice growing sharper, “I vowed it to myself before and shall vow it to myself again. I, Yuer Ayaseen, won’t be used; I won’t be taken advantage of ever again, neither by men nor by gods. If I live, I shall forge my own path and if I die, I shall die on my own terms. Never again, never.”

Yuer’s hands unclenched from around Ivak’s clothes and slowly traveled to the Reznali youth’s face. They gently caressed the skin of his disfigured countenance before resting over his closed eyes.

“Oh, how alike we are, you and I.” Yuer murmured softly. Back in his previous lifetime, Yuer never got the chance to know Ivak. There was neither need nor opportunity for them to form any form of connection. They were two people who were preoccupied fighting on at the front of their own personal battles. Each struggled to survive within their little corners of the world and each ended up losing everything.

When he met Ivak at the Temple in this lifetime, Yuer’s plans changed and he thought to bond him for no other reason than to use him. Bonding Ivak was akin to killing three birds with one stone. If he bonded the most powerless and nonthreatening brother out of the four Reznals, neither the Rezas nor Jarak would be suspicious of his motives. Had he bonded Mayir who already had a powerful maternal clan or Sinrad whose concubine mother was a Rihuri princess, it would have had painted a target on himself and brought him unwanted scrutiny from the Reznali clan. Secondly, Ivak had ties to the Tewekaga which made politically maneuvering the black-haired Reznal much easier. Lastly, he would have direct access to the source of his Alikana-mark’s disruption which he could decode and study at leisure thanks to Tamine.

In all of his previous calculations, Yuer never bothered to take into account the kind of person Ivak was or what sort of relationship they might develop. In his head at that time, all that mattered was that he had an ‘ally’ he could use and who could use him in return. That was all they were supposed to be to one another. Yuer had no plans to trifle himself with Ivak’s life, whom he took in into his harem or how many heirs he wished to have. They were meant to be bonded in name only and nothing else. Anything outside of their political alliance wasn’t supposed to matter.

But Ivak was unexpectedly kind, and achingly so.

He had shown Yuer kindness when he needn’t to. When the world was starting to fade and his lungs felt as they were failing him, Ivak was there for him. He held him and offered him a sense of safety which Yuer had never known before. Ivak antagonized his far more powerful brother for his sake and put himself between Yuer and his abusive sire even when he knew Yuer was more than capable of defending himself.

He was kind, honest and charming and Yuer didn’t know how to be indifferent toward him. Few people had ever shown Yuer kindness. He was so accustomed to being abused, neglected, betrayed and schemed against that cruelty became all he knew. Even as he died, he wasn’t afforded a humane death. He had to die in the most gruesome and merciless ways. He thought his heart too weary and damaged to afford sympathy for anyone else. He thought himself too worn-out by his past life to ever know true warmth again but Ivak did prove him wrong.

The little time Yuer had with the Reznal sparked a small fire in the former’s heart but it wasn’t only Ivak, Sakina and the little Valquari boy had wormed their way into his heart too. They made Yuer feel again, they made him human again and Yuer decided he would never lose a thing again in this lifetime. He wouldn’t lose any of his people and that now included Ivak.

To Yuer, Ivak became a kindred soul. As a child, the Second Reznal never knew the embrace of his birth mother. As a young preteen, he had to lose the only father figure he had ever known. As a growing young man, he had to endure as he was blatantly ostracized by own blood and treated as the laughingstock of his clan. However, despite all the hardships and the suffering he had to live through, he still had kindness in him, kindness for Yuer whom he shouldn’t even trust. The mere thought of that made Yuer’s heart wince in his chest as he gazed the sleeping young man lying in his lap.

How did you grow up to be so honorable and kind? How is it that the blood that runs through your veins is the same as the monster’s who destroyed my life? Why would the gods sentence you to a world of pain and madness? Why do you have to pay the price for crime which you have never committed? How could the fates fail you so? How could they?

Before Yuer could fully realize it, the skin of his face heated and his vision grew blurry. Angry tears streamed down his cheeks and pooled down his chin. Some of them disappeared down his throat and others fell down his face and gathered upon Ivak’s black tunic. In a matter of moments they got soaked by the fabric, drying in up and only leaving dark spots behind. Despite the teary eyes, Yuer’s gaze blazed with determination and strength. A fire had already begun to burn within his heart, a fire that would continue to burn for a long, long time.

In the silent room where Ivak was none the wiser, Yuer took another vow upon himself: a vow to see Ivak live, prosper and wear the Semani crown. He and Ivak will usher the Empire into a new era in which their names would resound throughout the ages to come.

For that to happen, they would have to build up their strength, surround themselves with the appropriate talents, face Jarak, rearrange the political board of Sema and stand up to a god if they had to.

The true war was yet to be waged.

After calling in the twins to help him move Ivak to the bed, Yuer reminded them to remain stationed at his door and left the room. He walked the hall with brisk, hurried steps. The moment the assigned guards of the residence noticed him, they straightened their postures and saluted him with a bow.

Yuer merely nodded in their direction and moved. Shortly before he reached his destination, his path was intercepted by the very person he was looking for, Hasha.

She offered his a slight bow and purposefully swept her gaze around their surroundings. Yuer understood instantly that whatever matter she wished to relay to him had to be related to her secret assignment. He gestured to her with a look to follow him and she silently did so.

The two of them ended up in a secluded room of the residence, located at the end of the main hall. Yuer performed an Earth Echo sealing spell, cutting off the walls from the rest of the residence.

Hasha didn’t waste time, immediately speaking in her native tongue, “A peddler passed by the residence. I pretended to buy some fruits from him and he has a message to you.”

Yuer looked pointedly at her empty hands and raised a brow.

Hasha appeared to have understood his unspoken question because she slightly shook her head, “No written letter this time. It was an oral message. The Shakoura said that they are ready to meet you at the agreed location and are waiting for you.”

Yuer pondered for a moment and lightly shook his head, “Send a message back to the peddler. Tell the Shakoura the meeting needs to be delayed to tomorrow’s noon. His Highness must attend and he is not feeling well. Also, there are more eyes around us than expected.”

Hasha looked around them suspiciously, “Can you feel them?”

Yuer clarified, “Yes, my Echo-reading ability has pinpointed around ten Listeners in the vicinity. Some of them must be disguised as either servants or guards. The rest of them are lurking outside, pretending to be commoners. I can’t tell which of them are the Rezas’s people and which are the Malhada’s. ”

“It must be because it is the bonding ceremony tonight and the Kumatani will be coming to escort you to the Temple. Are they truly that afraid of you meeting them openly?” asked Hasha.

“Yes, they ought to be. What they are more anxious about however, is the Kumatani meeting Ivak and forming an alliance with him. Whether the Rezas belittles the fact or not, the Temple still has an armed force and the possibility of his least favored son having access to said armed force is causing him some worries. The same goes for the Malhada who wants no competitors to his future throne.” explained Yuer.

Hasha sneered, “Reznali scum.” She added with a creased forehead, “What I don’t understand is why is the Malhada so nervous about his Second Highness’s gaining potential power? Shouldn’t he spend his time on holding back his actual competitor the fourth Reznal, Sinrad? He is the one with the Rihuri princess as a mother and the backing of an entire nation outside of the Empire.”

Yuer frowned. Hasha’s words were right on the mark. He had always found it peculiar how obsessed Jarak was with bringing Ivak down in comparison to Sinrad, who posed an actual threat to him. Ivak was technically the least threatening Reznal out of all of his brothers but Jarak had always been hell bent on destroying him. He spared no effort in Yuer’s past life to fabricate the rebellion scheme and in cutting Kersa off from the rest of the land. He went as far as freezing their supply line of food, leaving the Kersasi to starve. He even colluded with the Mash’kanta merchants to deny Ivak’s any form of trade, specially his pleas for grains.

Kersa had always been a harsh land with an infertile soil. Their winters were hard and long, lasting up to eight months. Their summers were far too short to yield any substantial harvest. Combined with the poor quality of the land itself, the Kersasi seemed to never have enough food. Their only source of actual income was the Black-iron mine. They smelted the iron and converted it to Black steel. However, because the overwhelming majority of the Kersasi were unblessed common folk, the quality of their metal crafting was below the standard which made their income far less than it could be resulting in a vicious cycle of being barely able to meet its people’s needs, specifically their need for food.

Jarak took advantage of this and had succeeded in driving Ivak to a corner multiple times before finally snaring him in the trap he designed with the help of the Shakoura traitors. In this lifetime, Yuer had to solve this problem and make sure that Jarak could no longer take advantage of this particular weakness of Ivak. He had to make Kersa a strong land to be feared if he wished to seat his bonded-to-be on the throne.

Taking his silence as her cue to leave, Hasha turned but Yuer stopped her with a couple of words, “Once we reach Kersa, I will have their blacksmith design a custom-crafted armor for you. Things could get dangerous in the future and you will need every extra layer of protection you can get.”

Hasha stared back at Yuer. A toothy grin spread across her face, pronouncing her bold features. “There is always the thrill of pleasure in danger. We, the Mesrin, are born to fight and strive. I fear neither pain nor death. Whatever comes my way; let it come.”

Yuer couldn’t help the smirk that tagged at his lips as he looked into the redhead’s blazing ember eyes. He truly admired such spirit, the Mesrin raised their children like warriors and that showed. He nodded at his personal guard. She nodded back at him before walking out of the room.

Shortly after he and Hasha parted, Yuer changed his path to the western servant quarters where Sakina and the little boy were staying at the moment.

As soon as she realized he was there, Sakina rushed to him. She performed a deep bow and proceeded to say, “I woke the Valquari child up to eat and drink some water. I also applied some of esteemed young master’s personal medicine on his back as your esteemed self asked of me. After that, I cajoled him back to sleep. He has been resting approximately for less than a quarter of a candle-hour. Do you wish me to wake him up for you, esteemed young master? ”

Smiling, Yuer shook his head and walked further into the room. He stood by the little boy’s sleeping bed and simply gazed him at him. The child’s color was already much better, he appeared to be resting well. He was sleeping on his stomach so Yuer slowly and gently lifted his tunic so he could take a look at his wounds. The reddening around the closed scars had lessened significantly and apart of those faint marks, there was nothing else to hint at the fact that his back was nearly whipped to pieces. Just to be safe, Yuer led a hand against the boy’s exposed skin and poured out some of his Light Echo. The puffiness around some of the scars decreased even further before his eyes and the skin gradually turned smoother and healthier looking.

Yuer retrieved his hand and turned to Sakina. In a hushed voice, he asked, “Did the Temple send anything?”

The brown-eyed girl answered with an equally lowered voice, “Yes, a letter stating that if esteemed young master has any special request regarding the forging of his bonding earring, he is free to make them known to the Kumatani envoy.”

Yuer nodded and turned to another topic, “And when are they coming?”

Before Sakina could answer, their conversation was interrupted by a polite knock on the door.

A female servant that belonged to the Palace stood before the threshold of the open door. She didn’t cross it, remaining outside with a bowed back and a lowered head. In a gentle voice, she conveniently announced, “Exalted One, the envoys from the Temple have arrived. They came to deliver the ceremonial robes and wish to meet your most exalted self. They are waiting at the main hall.”

Yuer smiled, “Good. Offer them refreshments and tell them I shall come to meet them.”

The servant bowed even further, shuffled backward and then left.

Yuer turned to Sakina and said in a pointed tone, his gaze meaningful, “Look after his Highness. Once he wakes up, explain to him that the Kumatani envoys came and that we have to prepare for the procession. Don’t let any of the Palace servants, especially the head eunuch into his room. Check everything the kitchen sends him, whether drinks or food. It’s better yet than you cook him his meals yourself from now on.”

Sakina nodded vehemently, a glint of something sharp and hard flashed in her deep brown eyes. Yuer noticed it and understood that this kind of work was nothing new to her. During his entire stay in the Ayaseen residence, she would examine every meal sent to him and make sure it wouldn’t be his last. Back then, he didn’t realize it, the lengths this young girl had to go to in order to protect him but now, he understood. He truly owed her his life ten times over.

In that one aspect, he was truly fortunate then and he still felt truly fortunate to have her by his side. This time around however, he would lessen her load tenfold.