Karadra's Shipwreck

The Ship - Chapter 20

Arsik sprang up, eyes blurry, lips twitching. The veins on his forehead bulged with anger. Maestra looked at him with compassion. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

“What kind of sick world is this?” he shouted, making her feel even worse. “What do these people want? What are they? Elves? I don’t think so! They’re worse than monsters, worse than dragons! But what am I talking about? A dragon would never do such a thing, their minds are incapable of conceiving such actions.”

Maestra was crying. Arsik softened at the sight. Bending over, he embraced her. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “It’s just… I haven’t experienced something like this before.”

She blinked. “I know… I know, my sweet Arsik…” she whispered.

He prompted her to continue her story. “You said almost all the children died?”

Maestra wiped away her tears. “Yes… One of them survived.”

“For how long?”

“Almost forty years.”

Arsik startled. “That long?!”

He couldn’t process it – almost forty years he’d spent in this world himself. That child had never known anything other than torture.

Arsik seethed with anger. He felt like Karadra or like that time up on that cross. He wanted to kill everyone, go into their tunnels and slit their throats one by one. He wished it with all his heart. It was more than a desire.

It tasted like a memory.

Maestra went on. “That child had exhibited an unprecedented resilience to her magic. She was impressed. She promised him that if he endured it a little longer, then she’d let him go.”

Tears rolled down Arsik’s face as he listened to the story. His hands had clenched into fists.

“He was a sweet child, Arsik. Raven-haired, beautiful at first. His cheekbones, his face. I still remember it.”

Arsik was surprised. “You’d seen him?”

“Many times…” Maestra’s throat constricted. “At nights, I would go outside his cell, in secret. It was nothing but a hole in the ground, with a crack on top of it. He was there, waiting. He lived alone, listening to his friends’ voices fading as time went by. Insects were his only company.”

Arsik breathed heavily now, frowning. In his mind, this image seemed familiar. He’d seen this tunnel, the insects through the cracks, behind pale fingers.

“But time changed him. I could see his form withering with the years, his soul breaking into pieces. His movements, Arsik… They were like an insect’s. It was the only thing he’d seen, the only thing he could mimic. He didn’t look like a child anymore – he looked like a nightmare.” Arsik shuddered. “I remember his long black hair. Much of it had fallen off; he’d never had a proper meal.” Arsik thought of Karadra’s head and the pain she endured. “But in his eyes, there always was a piece of innocence. It remained there till the end.”

“What happened to him?” Arsik asked quickly.

“Every night, the Queen visited him. It was her favorite pastime. She threw her spells at him and watched him react like a cat in the water. During her every visit, she sang him a melody, the same one, always, to herald her coming.”

The melody, Arsik thought and remembered Maestra’s words that first night. Every evil in this world starts with a beautiful melody. He shook off the thought like chasing away a fly.

“The song had taken residence inside his mind. Every time he heard the notes, he cowered in the corners like a scared animal.” Arsik shook his head. “Until one day, she let him go.”

He flinched. “She did?”

Maestra nodded. “She kept her word, whatever that was worth after so many years. Perhaps she felt something. Perhaps a flower grew in the blackness inside her.”

“A thorn, you mean,” Arsik added firmly.

“I was the one who led him to the surface, you know…”

“You?”

Maestra nodded. “I wanted him to see his home again. He wasn’t lucid anymore; he was talking to himself, hearing voices, his mind a shattered crystal. No cure, no magic could heal it from the Queen’s curses. When we reached the surface, the light burned him, bothered him even more than it bothered me. His skin turned red at once; he was screaming from the pain. In that state, he begged me…”

Tears rolled down her face again.

“He begged me to stop it, Arsik. To lead him back to his cell. He promised me he’d be better, that he would sing the melody, he begged for more curses, Arsik…”

They were both sobbing now. Arsik tried to shed this horror but it was useless.

“I tried to bring him back to his senses. I wanted him to see his family again if they were still alive. After many attempts, I managed to find out his name. It was Endorious.”

“Endorious?” Arsik echoed. The name left him a strange taste.

Maestra stared at him. “Then, a small miracle occurred.” Arsik frowned. “For some reason I still can’t understand, for a few minutes only, his mind came together again, as if being lit by peace and wisdom after a lifetime of madness.”

“What do you mean?” Arsik asked.

“He became sane for a while, spoke to me. He understood me and answered me, just like when he was younger; he’d briefly become human again.”

Arsik was impressed. “And what happened?”

“Aware now of what was happening, he asked me to wait for a while. He remembered the city, his parents, everything. He told me about himself. It was incredible – there were memories, fractions of his life before the abduction.”

Arsik looked at her, surprised. “What kind of memories?”

Maestra stared through him, as if he were a ghost. “Music, Arsik…”

Her words pierced his bones. “M- Music?”

Maestra nodded. “The child knew a lot about music. He’d been studying how to play the violin before he was abducted.”

Arsik closed his eyes. For some reason, he’d been expecting to hear that. A strange sensation stroked his chest and tickled his mind.

“He asked me to escort him to a special place, his secret place: a specific tree outside the city. It used to be his hideout when he was little. I led him there.” Maestra glanced at the violin. Arsik did the same. “Under the tree, Endorious started digging. I helped him. That’s when I saw it for the first time.”

“The violin?”

Maestra nodded. “He had saved it there for some reason. When I saw it that first time, it was already old, Arsik. I could feel the magic inside it even though I’d never touched it.”

Arsik gazed at the violin with shining eyes. How many secrets can possibly be hiding inside such a small thing? His mind couldn’t contain the history of the musical instrument in front of him.

“The moment he took it into his hands, everything changed once more. His mind started slipping again, I could see it. I thought the right thing to do was to hurry up. I didn’t want him to completely lose control now that we were so close, and therefore, I led him into the city.”

Arsik sat back down. They exchanged a look. Maestra’s hair fell in front of her face. Arsik brushed a strand behind her ear. Her expression didn’t change. A moment later, she lowered her head.

“Tell me what happened next,” he asked.

“We arrived at the city. I hadn’t been there in years. Not as many as him, but a lot of years, nonetheless. I had concealed my face. I couldn’t predict what kind of reaction the presence of someone like me would elicit, and I didn’t want to find out. The city seemed the same, but heavier somehow, as if the Queen’s curse had soaked its land and was weighing it down – at least, that’s what it looked like to me. I asked him if he recalled where he lived. At the square, he kept telling me, and so, we moved forward.

”We passed many smaller squares, but he kept going. I assumed he remembered where he used to live. If he remembered the tree, it was possible he remembered the house as well. I tried to find out information about his parents – a last name, a coat of arms, anything. A child that received musical education most probably belonged to a noble family – it would be easy to find them if they were still alive. At the square, he insisted, and so I followed him as he led me to an enormous, circular square.

”It looked like an amphitheater. I remember the blocks of stone, piled between mansions. Nobody recognized us; we were just two shadows from another world, another era. Endorious turned and looked me in the eye, I’ll never forget it. Leave me alone for a while, he asked me and when I didn’t move, he insisted. Not here, go further away. I want to sit on my own here for a while. I pretended to agree – I left and hid behind an empty carriage.

”Endorious simply sat for some time, and then he stood up. I tried to figure out if he was looking for me, but he didn’t seem to be looking at anything. He removed the violin from its case and placed it against his neck.”

Arsik shivered. Something about this description frightened him. “No…” he said, not comprehending why. “Please… Don’t tell me anything further…”

Maestra burst out crying. “I have to, my love… I have to do this,” she said and Arsik retreated to the corner of the room.

In her eyes, there was terror. He could hear her sobbing. A strange fear had come over him. He’d never felt anything like this powerful, absolute terror that coursed through him. “Please, my lady…” he stuttered, unable to understand why he called her that. She was crying now, crying for his pain and because she couldn’t go near him to hold him.

She turned her heart to stone and went on. “And then, Arsik… He started playing, and people heard the melody and started gathering in the square…”

“No!” Arsik protested.

“But, Arsik… You see, Endorious didn’t know any songs.”

Arsik thrashed violently in the corner, crying. His arms and legs bent at odd angles, like an insect’s.

“He only knew one song, one melody – the same he’d been listening to every night, his entire life.”

Maestra was crying with him. She watched his body painfully breaking into pieces, felt the horror of what was inside him fighting to break free, to come to the surface. “Arsik,” she whispered with whatever voice she had left. “You are strong, my love. Please…”

She couldn’t be certain that he was still listening, but she went on. “When the melody started getting louder, everyone had gathered there. Thousands of people, the entire city of Evergrace had come to see the mysterious visitor who played the otherworldly music, as if everyone had been enchanted. And then, in the span of a moment, everything changed.”

Maestra’s gaze was removed from the present. She was reliving the memory alongside Arsik now.

“Fires broke out, Arsik. A fiery tongue covered everything. It escaped their bodies, their aching hearts, and turned their flesh to ashes. It was an inferno of punishment and justice, for the years he’d lost, the life that’d been stolen away from him, him and the rest of the children. The violin has the power to turn our emotions to magic, Arsik, an inconceivable power. The entire city was engulfed in flames. Old and young, men and women, knights and lords and slaves; no one was spared. A mountain of ash was forming underneath them, their bodies became a cloud from hell, along with their houses, their livestock and the entire city.

”There, in the shadows, I could see it all unfold, I could hear their cries, paralyzed. The flames were everywhere around me. I couldn’t move, couldn’t do anything. I knew my time had come. I was crying and screaming, Arsik, I didn’t want to die. It was so unfair; I hadn’t done anything. But the flames would claim me regardless. And then, I shut my eyes and called for help.

”I prayed and prayed. I wished for it with all my heart. I believed it. And when I opened my eyes again, I saw a woman in front of me. She looked human. I’d never seen her before. She was beautiful, naked as the day we are born, but her eyes were totally blue, with no whites, two blue crystals in the dark. She touched me and I felt her power. Do you want my help? she asked me, and I accepted immediately. I will save you, she said, but we will make a deal.”

Arsik had stopped thrashing. His body had quieted down, and his eyes had found her again. With his skin sweaty and aching, he had slumped down in the corner, helpless against the story.

“I traded my soul for my life, Arsik,” she admitted. “I agreed to shelter her eternally inside my body, give her space and time from my life, share this body as if it belongs to both of us. I had no other choice.”

Arsik felt lost, drifting. He’d forgotten about the sea and the ship, the crew and their mission – his mind had emptied.

“When everything ended, there was nothing left – only ashes. I remember myself walking through a veil of dust, sulfur and smoke, the ruins of a world. Only the violin had survived the fire. I saw it on the ground, through the ashes. It was waiting for me to pick it up. I did, and it’s been mine ever since. Its magic and I are one. Through the centuries, I learned how to use it and rein in its magic, in a way.”

Arsik regained a morsel of his strength and sat up. He leaned towards her, snaked his hand around her neck and touched his forehead to hers.

“Endorious died that day, Arsik… but not entirely.” Arsik grimaced, puzzled. “His spirit was too wronged, too enraged.”

Arsik felt fresh horror course through him. He remembered Karadra, her words about the spirit inside him – the boy who never became a man, the atrocious, unforgivable act which was, however, partly justified. His world was a broken crystal struggling to get back together.

“That night they put you up on that cross, the violin recognized you.”

Arsik got to his feet. His body ached all over. “What do you mean, it recognized me?”

Maestra stood next to him. “He is inside you, my sweet Arsik. Endorious, his spirit – he found you. Through the centuries, through humanity’s rage, he sought a vessel, a Host. Like the she-demon entered my body and maims and tears my flesh to pieces, he entered yours. For some reason, he found you, he chose you, and made you his Host.”

Arsik hung his head. He didn’t know what to think. The anger, the music, the suppressed rage, the violence; everything he’d known in his life, all of it could have been different. He was trapped in a nightmare he hadn’t opted for, as deceived as Karadra and Maestra. He had shouldered a burden he had never asked for and now he had to carry it forever.

“I know what you are going through, my love,” Maestra told him and their eyes met. “I experience it too. Something inside me saw something inside you.”

Her words pierced his soul. He burst out crying again. They embraced tightly; an embrace burdened by centuries.

“I will help you carry your burden,” she whispered in his ear and he held her even tighter. “I will guide you,” she said. “Do not fear. I will be here.”

Sobbing, he tried to say so will I, but couldn’t get the words out. He held her face and kissed her. She responded, and he went on to kiss her neck.

“Arsik…” she hesitated. “I don’t think it’s a good idea, after all this. There’s too much on the surface right now…”

Arsik started removing her clothes. “I want you,” he said in her ear, feeling a new intensity coming over him.

“Arsik…” she attempted to stop him. “Arsik, no… I don’t know…”

But in the end, she surrendered to her desire too. Something burned inside her; electricity penetrated her flesh. She leaped onto him and wrapped her legs around his waist. He lifted her up and they fell on the bed together.

There was a mysterious harmony in their union. Their hands traveled on their bodies, but when their eyes met, they saw shadows from other worlds. They knew this was a mistake, they knew it wasn’t entirely their choice. Arsik made love to Maestra and the man inside him made love to the woman inside her. Two bodies and four spirits joined flesh and soul, bridged centuries and worlds, death and immortality, justice and injustice, sea and fire.

That night, their world changed, forever.