Painting of a Thousand Flowers

Standing in the middle of dead knights and creatures of the night, a lone woman with silver hair but crimson eyes glistened. She looked at the zone of war that has run for almost two years now. Looking at it, it felt gruesome and at the same time lonely. Then the lone woman, let go of her bloodied sword and dropped to the ground. "It is over," she said with a tired voice. She held her abdomen which had blood gushing out from it. A single tear dropped in her eyes. "They will not bother our family anymore and I finally avenge your death," she whispered again to herself with a sad smile on her face. "You fool, look at what you have done to me. I have become a war maniac now. I even have scarier titles than you now," she continued to speak as she looked at the starry night skies. Her breathing started to become heavier. Mirages of the past lingered in front of her This was her sixteenth life, born as Evelyn Roseguard, daughter of the esteemed Duke. And like her usual life, she was a villainess again, destined to have a life of suffering and gruesome death in the end. In her previous lifetimes, she tried to play and act out every bit of defiance against her fate. However, the pull of fate was so strong. That no matter what she does, it would still end in different acts of her doom. And this life was no different either or what she thought at first. Her condemnation in this lifetime was to be married to the leader of the human's mortal enemy- the vampire king, Urien Acheron Azerrad. She expected her death for the sixteenth lifetime, however, he gave her a life she didn't expect to have. She thought he would badmouth her, but instead, only caring and kind words came out of his mouth. She thought he would hurt her, but he was gentle and warm. And in the end, he sacrificed his life, in order to save her enemies. With his death, she found out that her heart could still beat for something that was called love. She loves him, and when she realized this, he was already gone. Evelyn raised her right hand in the air, towards the sparkling stars. "For the first time in my life, I have a life that is after my condemnation as a villainess. And yet, it was taken away so easily. Why did you have to leave me like this, Urien?" The bloodied Urien flashed in her mind. As he let out his last breath, all Evelyn could do at the time was cry as she embraced him. "To whoever deity or god who keeps me reincarnating in this unfortunate life, I hated you, deeply. But please just this once, let me see him again in my next lifetime. Please, I beg you." Evelyn's hand dropped to the ground as she breathed her last for the sixteenth time. *** {Your threads finally connect with each other, and yet you still can't be together.} Evelyn opened her eyes when she heard a very sad voice of a woman. And for some reason, it felt very familiar to her. However only infinite darkness shrouded her line of vision. "Where am I?" {You are at the border of life and death.} "Life and death?" Evelyn narrowed her eyes. This was the first time that she experienced this kind of place in all her lifetimes. "Then does it mean are you some kind of God, if you can bring me here?" {You can call me that.} The female voice answered. "After all this time, why did you bring me here and only talk to me now?" Evelyn clenched her fist, trying to stop her emotions from bursting out but in the end, she exploded. "What more did you need from me? Those lives, why do I need to go through all that? What have I done, and when do I think everything is going to finally change. That I will have a life that is not a villain anymore, it perished just how fast everyone condemned me for everything. Why did he have to die?" No tears came out of her eyes, but her voice was full of anger. {Evelyn, you might not understand this, and I can't explain it to you yet, but this is what you choose to take.} "My choice?" Her voice came out hoarse. {You will continue to live a hundred, no, perhaps a thousand lifetimes more. In the next lifetimes, you will finally meet him again since your strings of fate finally became connected again. He will not remember you and you can't be together, for if you tried to be with him, he would only suffer in that lifetime. And this will only cause you more suffering. But if you want to be with him for eternity, from now on, in each lifetime that you will live, you must paint a different thousand flowers. And the flower's image you will be needing to paint in each world will appear on that pendant.} Evelyn was not given a chance to speak when a faint light shone on her neck. And soon, she found out that there was a locket on her neck. When she opened it, there was only a blank frame on it. {This is the only thing I can do for you, Evelyn.} The woman's voice said with unexplainable sadness in her tone. For some reason that Evelyn couldn't explain, despite this being the one who might cause her to suffer, she couldn't have more energy to get angry at her. Rather, she could even feel the pain of this unknown being. "Just who are you?" She clutched the locket on her neck. {We don’t have much time now. But I am someone who wished for your happiness, Evelyn. I really wished for you to be happy.} {Eternity to the peach blossoms of the North.} "What are you trying..." Evelyn tried to speak again, however, when she blinked her eyes, she found herself in her next seventeenth lifetime.