Eclipse On Luna

Chapter-5

[Irene Miles’ POV]

“Ridiculous! We knocked, how dare you bxtches not open the door on the first knock!” One of them said in a slurred speech. He hiccuped and smirked, looking at Thalia, who sat beside me. He smirked, “how is our princess doing?” She got up, panting, and stepped back.

He trudged towards her and continued in his slurry voice, “hey guys, no one will care if one maiden disappears, will they? Let’s take the princess to our place tonight. I wanna taste royalty for once.”

One soldier placed a bag filled with bread on the kitchen table. Although his steps wavered, he looked a lot in control. He stepped between Thalia and that freak. “Enough. Our work is done here. You won’t want to enrage Alpha Kage…” before he could complete his sentence, that freak punched him in the guts and crashed him on the table. The table broke from the centre as the soldier gasped heavily. Ladies around screamed and clustered in a group, hugging each other. 

Even Alana and Niya were tightly hugging each other. Thalia’s whole body was trembling and shivering as she hyperventilated. That freak trudged towards her, but the soldier, who was hit earlier, held his leg. “I said leave her… alone.”

I recognised him. He was one of Zane’s trusted soldiers. I didn’t expect that Zane would make his way so deep into the system so soon. My husband indeed knows what he is doing, but I had no time to be proud of him. That freak kicked him in his face. The third soldier drew his sword and pointed at Zane’s soldier. 

I held Thalia’s hand and pulled her behind me. “You heard him. He said to leave her alone…”

That freak scanned me from top to bottom. “Ok, I will leave her alone. You are more beautiful than her. If you are an obedient bxtch…”

“Alpha Kage will know about this and then both of you will be decapitated,” Zane’s soldier said, gritting his teeth.

“Fun fact. The more the princess suffers, the more we will be rewarded. Hahaha.” That freak was getting on my nerves. 

Good for him, or should I say, death time.

“Fun fact, you have lived enough. Time to die,” I said with a smile. Both the Umbra pack’s soldiers glared at me and then laughed out like devils. Their laughter soon turned into coughs, with blood spurting out from their throats. “Another fun fact. I don’t even need a sword for people like you.” I pierced my daggers into their throats and ran it down to their stomach, finally backing off from them. Their blood splattered everywhere on the ground, my clothes and a little on my face. 

Before they could know what had happened to them, their souls had been discharged to hell. Their bodies fell to the ground. I squatted, wiped my daggers on their clothes and also my hand. Clearing their filthy blood from my face, I shifted my gaze to Zane’s soldier, who peered at me with stretched eyes. And so did every other alive or dead in the room. 

Did I overdo it? It couldn’t be helped. They and their people have been getting on my nerves for a long time now.

Thalia had fallen on the floor. She wasn’t shivering but was shocked to her core, and so were Alana and Niya. I sighed through my clenched teeth. I can’t let out my identity, no matter what. “I think I remember now… I am an assassin. Haha. Uh… yeah. Professional assassin.” I tried to cover for myself.

Zane’s soldier got up and so did I. “An a-assassin?” He asked.

“Um-hm!” I shrugged with a fake half smile on my face.

“Kill him too! He will inform the others and they will beat us again!” One lady said in a trembling voice and others affirmed and supported her. I stretched my dagger to the one who suggested killing Zane’s soldier.

“Take it, do it on your own. I think I remember now. I hated taking orders and so I ran away. Come on, kill him.” I looked in her eyes and pointed towards the soldier with my eyebrows.

She lowered her gaze and stepped back. 

“Trust me, I will tell no one about this. Let me go this once and I promise nothing like this will happen again,” he said.

“Shut up! You people are planning to kill us in that stupid game of yours!” Alana yelled.

“Trust me, everything will be fine. Let me go just this once, ok?” No one except me knew he was telling the truth and not just lying to get out of there alive. 

“No…”

“Go,” I said, and he looked at me in disbelief. “At least you tried to stop them, so get lost. Before going, clean this mess.” I pointed my dagger at the two dead bodies in the room. He bowed and dragged the two out of the cottage. It was impossible to clean that amount of blood quickly, so he stayed a while longer, cleaning it and fixing the door. He might have buried them or set them ablaze, I cared less.

After that, Alana, Niya, Thalia and the others looked at me with fear-filled eyes. “Why let him g-go?” Niya asked timidly.

“Because I think he will keep his word. We assassins recognize people accurately and quickly. Trust me, we should be fine now until Alpha Kage interferes.” Thalia and the others went to the first floor to rest. Thalia was literally traumatised. I witnessed it with my own eyes. 

“So… Miss assassin… Do you remember your name now?” Alana asked cautiously.

“I won’t harm you guys. I just can’t stand men that think they are superior just because they are men. The same goes for women. If they think they are inferior to anyone else just because they are women, they get on my nerves. Being a woman should fill a lady with pride and confidence, not with an inferiority complex. I like you because you were, at least, trying to save yourself and others from this hell.” Name? Forget about that. I would tell no one my name.

“Good to know. Trust me, I have lived with that misery of being a girl, but I don’t want to be stuck in that delusion, so I changed my thought process and now I feel like if Luna Irene can sit on the throne of the largest pack in Lycanaria, then I can also make it to the top. Because I deserve respect, a good life and rights as much as a man does. Here ‘I’ stands for all women.” Alana’s voice and texture in her tone spoke of her confidence. I knew the moment I saw her, she was a strong one. All she needed was a little training and she would be unstoppable. Hearing my name with such respect and admiration from her mouth was how do I put it… I was humbled.

“You can call me exactly what you called me a moment ago. I don’t remember my name. I will have a little chat with Thalia.” I walked upstairs.

“What should I call you? Miss Assassin?” She asked loudly. I looked at her and nodded while chuckling. “This lady changed the way I looked at her within a few hours.” I heard her say that before, I looked for Thalia in almost every room.

“If you are looking for Thalia, she is sitting on the tiles of the roof.” A lady informed me. I bowed to her slightly and climbed the ladder leading to the roof, inclined on both the sides.

“Thalia?” I called out to her, and she looked at me. She was sitting on the roof, gazing at the starry night. She hugged her knees, which were curled up to her chest. I knew that position. I used to be in that position almost every time until I met Zane. It was a simple position, but it spoke a deal. It said, ‘I am lonely, I am scared, I don’t want to see anyone in my life, so leave me alone.’ But if you understand that position deeply, it said, ‘I am dying inside, please help me.’

I sat next to her in the exact same position. “Do you want to talk?”

“About?”

“Anything you want.”

“Where are you from?”

“I don’t remember.”

“You are lying. I can catch lies faster than anyone else.” She was still gazing at the stars. She opened up to me faster than I thought she would. Indeed, her body was screaming for help.

I chuckled. “Anything that isn’t related to me or my past will do, I suppose.”

“Have you ever been beaten up for no reason?” She asked.

“No.”

“Have you ever slept hungry, even though your house was filled with food for everyone except you and your brother?”

I looked at her and I don’t know why my eyes turned misty. I gulped, shook my head and said, “no.”

“Has your mother ever looked at you with disgust and tried to burn you?”

“No.”

“Did your brother ever steal food for you and be almost beaten to death because of it?”

I clenched my fist and, with a lot of trouble, managed to say, “no.”

“Were you forced to sleep with a man?”

I closed my eyes and let the lone tear fall from my eyes. I clenched my jaws and said, “no.”

“Were you and your sibling thrown in front of wild animals just because it was amusing for your stepfather to watch the two of you try everything to keep on living?”

“Please stop.” I took a deep breath, feeling my throat tighten. 

“And you wanted to talk, huh? You can’t even listen to what my brother and I have been going through since our childhood. Keep your sympathy with yourself. Assassins shouldn’t have sympathy. If you are an assassin, that is,” She said in an obnoxious and distant tone.

“Please continue,” I said.

“Why do you want to hear me? There is no use of all this now. I am at a stage where death is a blessing for me. I tried killing myself so many times, but my brother always saved me. He said giving up on life would be the worst decision I would ever make. He said death is inevitable, but dying a meaningless death is a sin.”

I subconsciously tried to ignore everything she said that was related to Virgil. But I couldn’t because he seemed to be her hero and her story was incomplete without him. “Don’t you want to die in peace?” I asked.

“Yeah, I want to.” She said in a dreamy and thoughtful tone.

“So please tell me everything you want to say in your life. I promise your story will remain locked in me.”

“Well, I will pretend I am talking to air then. First thing that I want to scream to the world is — my brother didn’t deserve to be called evil, a monster or anything like that. He had just returned to the world that the world had ever given to us. Hatred, wounds, pain, injustice, abuse and a lot of suffering. We are twins. I am five minutes younger than him. When we were born, Kage took our pack over because our father abandoned his wife, who was pregnant with his children. Kage not only married my mother, but all the ladies from the former Umbra pack. My mother hid her pregnancy until she couldn’t. She lied to Kage that we were his child, and he allowed our birth. Had he known we were Adbeel’s children, he would have killed us in the womb. But once we grew up, it was clear from our appearances that we weren’t his kids. Both of us resembled our blood father.” She took a pause and caught her breath. 

Her every word was filled with immense hatred and bitterness. “Who is your brother?” I knew the answer, but I wanted to confirm again.

“Virgil. You must have heard about him and what he did…”

“Y-yeah. I know better than anyone else. I know what he did!” I controlled my anger in my fists. He was the reason Zane almost died. He tried to mark me against my will. It was because of him, Theo wasn’t with us anymore. He killed Calix. He stole Ajax’s wolf. It’s because of him we could lose Ajax anytime. Surya died because of him. Thousands of people from all the packs lost their lives, family and friends because of him. My life was put in turmoil because of him. I hated no one more than him, but… 

But I couldn’t take his crying face out of my memories when Ryu dragged him. He was trying to reach out to me and tell me that if I helped him, he might change. He might become a better person. All he needed was one chance I couldn’t give him. I didn’t want to give him that chance. How could I forgive him after all that he did to me and my people?

“You must have your grudge against him. Probably everyone in this world has a grudge against him. Everyone saw what he took away from them, but no one even cared to notice when everything was being taken away from us. We starved every day when we were kids. They forced us to sleep in the dirtiest and filthiest room. Our mother tried to bring us food, but Kage came to know and after that, mother never came. Our stomachs would ache from hunger. Virgil always pretended he didn’t need food and could feed on air. But I couldn’t. So he used to sneak out and find food at night…” her eyes were filling and emptying with tears continuously as she spoke. Remembering all those traumatising memories wouldn’t be easy for her.

I placed my hand on her back, “it’s ok if you don’t want to talk…”

“No,” she snuffled and wiped her tears from her cheeks. “I want to tell this story to someone. Because even if both of us die, at least someone would know that we weren’t wrong. My brother wasn’t wrong.” And she told that story to someone who had been wronged by her brother the most.

“Virgil would try to find food within the palace because we weren’t allowed to go out. Once, he went out and hunted for us, and the next day, Kage broke his leg. He kept begging for mercy, kept saying he wouldn’t do it again, but that deaf didn’t listen. He was only a ten-year-old kid when that happened. With his condition, he used to crawl out and search for food from the fodder of the horses. They kept us in a stable. We were trying hard to survive every second of our lives when once the room we stayed in was set ablaze by our mother. Maybe she thought death would be better than the life we were living. Virgil hugged me as we saw the fire spread its arms to embrace us. Trust me, it would have been so peaceful if we had died in that fire.” Her voice trembled, but she was controlling her tears.

“Did…” I gulped and licked my lips. “Did… Virgil save you?” I asked, blinking away my tears.

“He did. After that, years passed, and we grew older. Kage presented a deal in front of me. If I slept with one of his guests, he would allow my brother and me better living conditions.” Her voice trembled as she tried to hold back her tears.

“What did you do then?” I asked impatiently.

“I agreed with his condition. My brother had suffered a lot because of me already and I had done nothing for him. That was a wonderful opportunity to get out of that stable. Good life in exchange for my body. That wasn’t a big deal.” From the feel of her voice, she had lost all hope in the world. All her dignity, pride, and confidence had been shattered badly. 

“So did you…”

“No. I didn’t. Before that, Virgil came to know about that nonsense and killed the man who tried to come near me. As a punishment for that, Virgil and I were thrown in front of wild hungry beasts while Kage and his men watched us from afar and laughed their guts out when Virgil was attacked, when his skin was ripped apart, when he was being dragged in their fangs. But my brother never gave up.” The way she spoke the last line gave me goosebumps. She was so proud of him and thankful that he didn’t give up. 

I nodded.

“Virgil never gave up. Neither on me nor on life. It was then he took his wolf form for the first time and killed all the beasts with his bare fangs. He always said that things would become better and we would get a better life. He would get me a better life, but one day, he vanished. When he returned, he seemed like a completely different person. Then he controlled those strange creatures and after that you know what happened to this world. I think they deserve it. It was put in the fire of war and deaths. Before that, he came to me and said that chances were he would vanish again for a very long time. He asked me not to wait for him. He asked me to improve my life on my own. He told me he trusted me and that a girl doesn’t need protection. All she needs is confidence. I didn’t understand what he meant by that, but now I know. He vanished again. I don’t even know if I will see him again or not.”

So that’s why he became so desperate by the end when Theo was sealing him and Ryu. I didn’t know what to feel after that. It was too complex. I could neither comprehend where my thoughts were going nor how my emotions were shaping.

“He said we might see our father and he could make things right by getting back control of the Umbra pack. He said he would become the most powerful person in the world. He said he had found someone who might understand him, but he also said that he expected little out of her because, after all, she had her people to cherish and protect. Why would she risk all of them for nobody like him? Maybe she didn’t understand him after all. And maybe she was the reason he changed the way he looked at women. Initially, I knew he was like any other man, protecting me because he thought I was a girl and I was weak, but probably after meeting her he understood women weren’t weak but stronger than any man.”

I closed my eyes and hugged myself tighter, placing my chin on my knees. “Maybe he didn’t know the right way to communicate things to others…” I said, lost in oblivion.

“Indeed, he never once said how much he loved and cared for me, but he showed it all in action. He was never good with words and communication. Things were different for me because, even in those tough times, he never let me lack anything. From food to friends. But now, when I need him the most, he is gone. He told me not to wait, but I keep waiting for him every second of my life…” 

“Don’t wait for a hero to show up for you. Become your own hero, Thalia. Your brother was right, find a better life on your own.” She looked at me while I glanced at her and then peered at the night, getting darker.

“You sound as if you had known my brother. How do you know he wasn’t good at communicating? I never mentioned…”

“I assumed… from what you said. I don’t know him and, honestly, I don’t want to,” I said.

After that, neither of us said a word, but it seemed Thalia had calmed down after talking to me. She had a lot more to say, I knew, but we stopped there. Because even though I sympathised with her, I couldn’t bring myself to say a few good words about her brother to comfort her. Even though it would be a lie, because her brother might have loved her, but he etched the world from its core. Forgiveness wasn’t even an option for him. He deserved what he got after he set the world ablaze. But he and Thalia definitely didn’t deserve the childhood they had suffered. Whose fault was it? Kage’s? Adbeel? Their mother’s? Or the society that saw everything happen and didn’t say a word? There was no answer to that question and I didn’t have the power to reverse anything, but I could make sure that other kids didn’t have a childhood like theirs. So that no more Virgils can be made in the future.