Heartbreaker

by V. Romas Burton

  Chapter 35

  Another crack of my crumbling heart exploded in my ears, and I cried louder than I ever had before. Screams bellowed out of my mouth as tears flooded my cheeks.

  My screams only encouraged Ophidian as he dug his claws through Silas’s bleeding chest, ripping out his pure half heart with a jerk. Ophidian’s grin widened, his eyes bright and more snakelike than ever.

  But I didn’t care. I couldn’t take my eyes off the gaping hole in Silas’s chest. The man who had cared for me when no one else would. The man who had always been there for me. The man who I loved more than anything was gone.

  The weak beating of the broken heart inside my chest sent pain coursing through my body. I couldn’t think, I couldn’t feel.

  I watched helplessly, too weak from my heartbreak as Ophidian dug his claws into his own chest, pulling out his black heart, still fused with the other half of Silas’s pure red heart.

  "One more thing," Ophidian said, holding the hearts in his hands. "In case you were wondering, all those little ‘outbursts’ your love had, those were caused by me." Ophidian grinned again, showcasing his sharp, grotesque teeth.

  "You see," he explained as he peeled his half-black heart away from Silas's. "My heart was fused with your dearly beloved's, creating a direct connection to his other half. While you only heard Time unraveling and some encouragement from my ward, your king heard thoughts of murder, rage, and violence." Ophidian weighed the black and red heart halves in his hands. "It wasn’t too difficult at times. He already had his own doubts and fears about you, and those were easily amplified until he reacted.” He tossed the black heart half onto his throne. “I don't know how many times I had to tell his heart to kill you before he actually conceded. Quite the stubborn one."

  I thrashed, trying to tear away from the siti who had taken hold of me again.

  That was why Silas had been acting so violent and rash. Ophidian had been seeping darkness into his heart, luring him to destroy me. But Silas didn't destroy me. Even though he had his own doubts, he tried to fight Ophidian over and over again. But Silas’s struggle against the Beast was hard on both of us. Still, I wished I realized sooner that we had both been frightened of what was to come.

  "There was that one time he unleashed his fury on that idiot lord.” The Beast barked out a laugh. “That was humorous, and the lord ended up being useful in the end."

  Ophidian readied the two pure halves, his eyes big and bright with joy.

  It was over. Once Ophidian had the power of Silas’s pure heart, nothing could stop him. He would easily conquer all the Lands of Decim, condemning our realm to darkness as he began his immortal reign.

  “This has gone on long enough, Pulchar!” a voice boomed from behind me, sending the siti fleeing like cowards.

  Their sharp claws left my wrists, and I fell forward. I didn’t care whether the impact of the red ground killed me or not. I would rather be dead.

  But as I wished for my own demise, two strong arms wrapped around my waist, saving me from myself. Tears continued down my cheeks as I weakly lifted my head.

  “Oh, Addie,” Eman said, pushing a lock of hair out of my face as he held me in his arms. “You’ve gone through so much.”

  I tried to speak, but nothing came out. No words could emulate my pain. Eman nodded as if understanding what I couldn’t express.

  “This will be over soon,” he said, seating me gently against the wall.

  I blinked a few times, unsure if what I was seeing was right. As Eman strode toward Ophidian, a white glow surrounded him. When I blinked again, it was still there.

  “End this. Now,” Eman boomed again, facing the Beast without the intent of backing down.

  “Today is just full of surprises, isn’t it?” Ophidian seethed through his serpent teeth, which had elongated. “My pet, my heart, and my dear friend have all been returned to me.”

  Ophidian held one half of Silas’s heart, still bright and beating in one hand and the newly severed half in the other.

  “There's no reason for the death of the boy,” Eman said, pointing to Silas’s motionless body.

  My throat grew dry as I stared at Silas. The hole in his chest was growing larger in the absence of his heart. His back arched in pain as Ophidian squeezed both halves of Silas’s heart. But what was worse was that Silas’s eyes were wide open, as Claire's had been, suffering through every ounce of torture.

  Ophidian cackled, but the menacing glint stayed in his eyes. “My dear Eman, it’s so like you to continuously fend for these weak humans. Just like you did before.”

  “We both know there’s something more you desire than the young blacksmith’s heart.”

  Ophidian paused, obviously intrigued by Eman’s comment. After a moment of consideration, he bore his sharp teeth, snapping ferociously at Eman. “I’ve been after this power for too long. You won’t take it away again, Eman! No one will.”

  Ophidian curled his fingers around the halves of Silas’s heart before he grasped his half-black heart from the throne. At first, I thought he was going to disintegrate it. But the other half formed in his hand, and Ophidian reattached the two together. In one fluid motion, the Beast snarled and impaled Silas’s chest with his own black heart.

  “Pulchar, no!” Eman screamed as he tried to stop his old friend. But it was too late.

  The cavity in Silas’s chest closed around the black stone, his body accepting it. His entire being shook, reacting to the darkness within it.

  “What have you done?” Eman yelled, staring down at Silas’s convulsing body.

  Ophidian held both pure halves of Silas’s heart in his hands as he grinned. “This heart will not respond to me if its owner is still alive. That fool was an annoyance from long ago. It was time to be rid of him. My heart will soon consume him, forever trapping him in darkness.”

  With every uneven beat of my broken heart, agony from Silas’s capture pulsed through my veins. But I willed myself to focus; to do something, anything, to save Silas from this terrible fate. But as I tried to move, the pieces of my heart throbbed, sending a new wave of torture into my limbs. I cried out, landing flat on the floor.

  Fighting through the pain, I glanced up to see Ophidian and Eman shouting at one another in a tongue I didn’t understand. Eman was still cloaked in white, while Ophidian was blurred in black. The only break in the Beast's darkness was the faint red glow of Silas’s pure heart, still beating in the palms of his clawed hands. I wondered why Eman didn’t try to take it from him. But when I saw the concentration on Eman’s face, and how his hands glowed brightly, I realized he was. The ground shook beneath me as their yelling intensified.

  Silas released a horrible scream, his voice mixed with a creature’s. His body ceased its convulsions. Terror crept down my spine as his limbs darkened to ash. My broken heart beat out another painful wave, but at that moment, I didn’t care. If this was the end, I was going to be with Silas, no matter what.

  Enduring as much of the pain as possible, I lifted myself on my elbows and dragged myself toward Silas. The tips of his fingers were already blacker than a starless night as the darkness crawled up his arms.

  Every move I made was a struggle. Each crawl was doused in agonizing pain and seemed to take me further from Silas. Using the last ounce of strength I had left, I reached out to Silas's blackened fingertips. They were cold as ice and hard as stone.

  “Silas, please,” I cried. “Don't go.”

  I prayed for a response, a tightening of his fingers against mine, anything to reassure me that everything would be okay. Instead, the darkness traveled up his arm, making its way to his neck.

  “Please, Silas,” I yelled, sobbing uncontrollably. “I love you.”

  Silas’s fingers didn’t move, nor did the shadows fade from his body. But his head moved in the direction of my voice. More tears fled down my cheeks as I saw that his face was the last free place before the darkness consumed him entirely.

  “Addie,” he said in his o
wn voice, barely a whisper. “I—”

  A heart-shattering scream erupted from Silas’s lips before the darkness covered the rest of his skin, turning his eyes completely black.

  “Silas?” I said, squeezing his fingers. “Silas!” I hovered over him, cradling his cold, stone face. “Silas, please answer!”

  Another loud crack resounded between my ears, and my heart shattered further. I screamed, folding forward. How many times could my heart break?

  “Quiet, stupid girl,” Ophidian growled.

  Streams of black shadow from Ophidian lashed out at Eman, whipping him ferociously until he fell to his knees. Two siti held Eman steady as the Beast slashed his skin. Eman’s white shirt draped around his limbs in strands, shredded from the attack. Ophidian looked on with delight as the shadows marked Eman’s flawless bronzed chest with red lines, splitting his skin.

  “Eman,” I croaked, reaching toward him. Why wasn’t he fighting back?

  The siti then gathered around my friend, their claws ready to kill. Eman’s wails smacked against the domed walls as the siti repeatedly punctured his flesh.

  “No!” I shouted.

  “Enough,” Ophidian said, and the siti ceased, revealing the pierced and bloodied body of Eman, hanging limp between the two creatures.

  Eman’s head hung between his shoulders like it was too heavy for him to carry any longer.

  Ophidian held his chin high as he trampled Silas’s lifeless body. He gripped the halves of Silas’s pure heart and rendered them whole. A golden line spiraled around the whole heart as it thumped in the Beast’s palm.

  Glowering, Ophidian stood over me as his features shifted. His large teeth grew to the size of a true beast’s as his eyes grew brighter and unblinking, resembling his snake form.

  As he clutched Silas’s heart in his claws, Ophidian laughed menacingly, vibrating the red dome.

  “‘Run, Addie, run,’” he mocked. “Isn’t that what my old comrade told you?” He whipped around and grabbed Eman by the throat. The heartmender didn’t make a sound as blood rolled down his temples from the siti punctures.

  “No, please,” I said, barely above a whisper. I had already lost Claire and Silas. I couldn’t lose Eman, too.

  Without hesitation, Ophidian smashed Silas’s heart into his own chest with an animalistic roar. His thick claws elongated to the size of swords while his body grew, darkening to charcoal, as all aspects of humanity left his being. Breathing heavily before me was no longer a beast disguised as a man, but the Beast himself.

  “Well, Adelaide,” Ophidian said in a voiced mixed with others as his neck extended from his shoulders, taunting me as the arenam had. “There is nowhere left to run.”

  Ophidian sneered at Eman, whose body was slack in the monster’s grip. “Sorry, old friend, you know how the prophecy goes.”

  Before I could plead again, the Beast held Eman in front of me as his long talons impaled the heartmender. A ground-shaking cry escaped Eman’s lips as blood pooled from his chest and back. The pain in my heart reacted before my mind could. What was left of the pieces of my heart imploded in the empty cavity of my chest.

  Ophidian flung Eman’s body off his claws before letting out an earth-shattering roar. Fierce, midnight wings spread out from behind Ophidian’s back, and he flapped them furiously before breaking through the stone ceiling of the blood-stained room.

  The pieces of my heart could only beat in agony. My body stilled as shock consumed me. Silas’s lifeless, shadowed body laid in one area of the room while Eman’s bloodied, dying body laid in the other.

  “Addie,” a gentle voice croaked. Forcing myself toward Eman, I crawled to his side.

  “I’m here,” I said, trying not to focus on his blood-soaked shirt.

  From its crimson shade, I never would have thought it was once whiter than snow. Eman had always helped me. He had always believed in me even when I didn’t believe in him. There had to be some way to fix this; some way to heal him and Silas.

  “Addie,” he whispered, looking at me with the same kind eyes he always had. “There’s nothing you can do. All of this had to happen.”

  “But why?” I cried, my tears bathing his shirt. “I don’t understand.”

  “You’re not meant to,” he replied weakly. “But remember, you are not alone.”

  Before I could sob another tear, the ticking stopped. And Eman’s body disintegrated into ash beneath my grasp, leaving me completely alone.

  Chapter 36

  The ground shook as if the entire realm was erupting. Instead of bracing myself against the quaking ground, I let my body crash and roll through the red room. Claire was gone. Silas was gone. Eman was gone. My heart was shattered. I was alone.

  Another earthquake shook the foundation, and I landed next to Silas. Pain vibrated through my body at the sight of the darkness that claimed his limbs. Reaching out, I took hold of his hand and squeezed it tight. Tears barreled down my cheeks as I realized that he wouldn’t respond. He would never respond. I would never feel his touch again. Or see his crooked smile. Or hear his laugh.

  I fell upon him, not caring about the pain, and cried. “I love you, Silas. I always have. Please, please come back.”

  The loud moans of the siti surrounded me, but I didn’t care. Let the siti come.

  I tightened my grip around Silas. He had never left me; I wouldn’t leave him.

  The clang of metal replaced the siti moans before sturdy footsteps approached. With my strength gone and my heart bearing nothing but pain, I couldn’t move. A hand gently touched my head.

  “Bellata,” Romen’s deep voice said. “We need to leave.”

  “No,” I whispered, too defeated to yell. “I won’t leave him.”

  Romen sighed, but not one of irritation. This one held the heavy weight of sympathy and pity.

  “I can’t carry both of you.”

  “Take him,” I said, without hesitation as I lifted my head. “I can carry myself.”

  His golden gaze was unconvinced, but he hoisted Silas up anyway. As the cold stone of Silas’s body was pulled from beneath me, I rolled off to the trembling ground.

  “We must hurry,” Romen said.

  Sweat drenched my body as I pushed myself to my elbows. A force within me fought against the shadows of fear and death.

  I couldn’t stay here. I had fought too hard and for too long. Lyle, Nana, Sana, and Doctor Magnum were still back in Ramni. And James, as far as I knew, was still alive. I still had loved ones that would die if Ophidian succeeded. I needed to be strong, if not for myself, for them.

  I lifted myself from the ground, the pain and aches of a thousand grieving pieces piercing the inside of my chest. But I would continue for Claire. I would fight for Silas. And I would live for Eman.

  Wheezing, I followed Romen down the crumbling hallway. I wasn’t sure how long we would be in Ophidian’s lair or if we would ever escape. But when I saw the light of the sun peeking through the end of the cave, the pain in my heart receded just enough to keep me going until we reached our exit.

  The sunlight warmed my skin but did nothing for the hollowness inside. I kept my eyes focused on Romen’s leather boots as they crunched rapidly through the gray pebbles leading out of the cave.

  As we rushed down the hill, the faint sound of water drifted through the air, caressing my throbbing eardrums. When I gazed up, the soft waves of the Patet ocean, gently beating against the charcoal ground, greeted me.

  “They’re around here somewhere,” Romen muttered, trying to adjust Silas on his back.

  “Addie!” Lyle shouted.

  I strained to see my brother, tall and strong, running toward me. Two canoes, manned by Brand and Gaius, laid on the shore. The two brothers stood closely together with another figure I instantly recognized as James. My heart throbbed. He was alive. The pain overtook me again, and I fell to the ground.

  “Addie!” Lyle shouted again, this time his voice laced with concern. Lyle’s voice muffled with Romen’s above
me. “Silas,” “heart,” “Eman,” and “Beast” were all I could make out before darkness rimmed the outer edges of my vision.

  “Addie,” Lyle whispered in my ear. “Addie, if you can hear me, blink once.”

  I blinked. A sigh of relief came from Lyle’s mouth as he cradled me in his arms and carried me.

  Each step Lyle took sent pain through my body, but I was too exhausted to care. I only had enough energy to watch the clouded gray sky and pretend that this would all be a bad dream when I woke up tomorrow.

  He lowered me until I hit the hard floor of a canoe.

  “Is she all right?” Brand whispered to Lyle.

  Before he could respond, Gaius said, “No. She’s not all right.”

  A thick blanket was draped over me, separating me from the low murmurs of Lyle, Brand, and Gaius. They spoke for only a few moments before the sound of stones scratching against wood vibrated beneath me, soon replaced by the slow bouncing of steady waves. A hand rested gently on my forehead. Slowly, I moved my swollen eyes upward to see James staring down at me. His face was badly bruised, but other than that, he seemed fine. The warmth from his hand helped soothe the throbbing in my head, and for a moment, the pain eased.

  “Rest, Addie,” he said softly as his hand glowed a warm white. The darkness clawing at the edges of my vision didn't need much convincing to fully lure me into sleep.

  Ages seemed to pass as I slept, only a dark abyss filling my dreams. But soon, the darkness shifted, swirling and changing into the red light of Ophidian’s lair, bringing me back to that same horrid scene. I screamed when Ophidian impaled Silas’s chest. I thrashed and wailed as I watched Eman’s body whipped to shreds. My heart broke over and over again, exploding in my chest. Every moment was torture. And I was always helpless to save them.

  A hand grabbed my shoulder roughly, shaking me.

  “Addie, wake up!” Lyle shouted. When I opened my eyes, my brother’s face stared down at me, his brows knitted together. He fell back in his chair. “Good. You’re okay.”