Farren

The Moreau Island remained a shadow of grey and doom even as it grew closer. Scattered around the black beach were tall jagged rocks and beyond it stood a castle so old I feared it may crumble at any second. White tents surrounded the castle with campfires here and there, their flames swaying through the violent wind. Even with the green of the forest, it was a dark and dreary sight, lacking any charm. The strong gusts of wind made the sails crack and ramble and shriek causing a slight panic of the ship tumbling over, but it also blew the sea's comforting sweet smell right into my face.

The ghost who stood behind me, her eyes were burning in my back. Ever since she struck me I'd done everything to avoid her, not because I was angry or scared she'd strike me again, it was because I didn't think I was brave enough to hear what she had to say. I knew I ran from the inevitable, no matter where I turned or went she stood there – like the armies – waiting in silence.

Turning my head slightly, I tried to peek behind me from the corner of my eye. Come on, Farren, she's just your aunt. Grow a spine and face her. There I was, bold enough to fight an army without a single trace of fear yet too terrified to face my aunt. After a long moment I realized this couldn't go on forever, so I took a deep breath and turned around. Blood still shimmered bright red on her throat, the cut so deep I could see a hint of bone, and it didn't appear to dry and turn into a dark crust, it just stayed wet forever. As her eyes peered deep into mine, I swallowed and looked down.

"Hello, Aunt Poppy. I really missed you." When there came no answer, I looked up and met her furious scowl. The feeling of unease grew worse and I looked around and licked the sea's salt off my lips while trying to figure out what to do. "I missed you, auntie."

Her firm mouth loosened and opened up into a smile, but it was not a pleasant smile. It was one of those smiles which Krol used to give me, cold and callous. "What do you expect me to say, Farren? That I missed you too?" Aunt Poppy took a step forward. "That I am proud of you?" And, she took another step forward. "That I am happy to see you?" With the last step she took, we stood face to face as close as could be. "Because none of those things is true."

"Tell me... what you want me to know."

"I want you to know that I am disgusted by what you have become. And that I hate you... for killing Frank." Her lips began to tremble and tears trickled down her cheeks. "Your sweet brother was the one good thing left in Chrim, and you caused his death. This is not on Loreen." She shook her head. "Oh no, this is on the war you started. You killed Frank. It was you!"

This person, it was my aunt, yet it wasn't. I'd never seen her like this, cruel and resentful. The cane I leaned onto clattered on the deck and I fell down on my knees and, pressing my ears, shook my head. "No, no. Stop. Please, auntie, stop." Tears wetted my cheeks as I shook my head and begged for her to stop, but she didn't listen. Time had come for me to listen.

Her nails dug into my wrists as she pulled my hands away. "Don't you dare cover your ears! For many years I was forced to watch you, and I screamed and cried, and you could never hear the things I told you." She grabbed me by my collar and pulled me to my feet. "Now you can, and you will damn well listen to what I want you to know. If you even for one second ever believe you're a hero, I have bad news for you."

"I... I'm not a bad person." I sniffed and wiped my eyes. "All I did was because I thought it was best. I didn't know... I didn't know she'd kill Frank."

Poppy tilted her head aside. "What did you think was going to happen, then? All you cause is death, Farren. Name one person whose life you have saved, can you do that?" A silence followed where she waited for an answer, and where I remained silent. "No, you can't," she continued. "Thousands have died at your hands in the arena. Wren nearly died because of you, and yes I saw her burn, and the Ordinance died because of you, and Frank died because of you, and there is not a single person you have saved from death, all you do is lead them to death." New tears streamed down her cheeks. "If anything, you're the Angel of Death. Not a goddamn hero." She leaned really close to me and I felt the ice-cold radiating off her dead body. "No matter how hard you try to convince yourself, Farren, there will never come a day where any of your actions are justified." Aunt Poppy turned away from me and stared out at the sea. "Oh, you can run now, turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to all your sins, but you can't run from death and on that day of your reckoning I will be waiting to drag you down to Hell myself." She faced me. "You weren't just my niece but also my daughter, my world, I loved you and Frank more than I loved myself, but I will never forgive you for causing Frank's death, and when you finally die I will be right behind you, for so help me God, I will not rest until I make you pay." Her cold fingers clasped my chin, sharp fingernails digging into my skin. "Run baby, run hard. Just remember that your sins will catch up to you, as will I."

My body trembled and I didn't feel steady no more. In fact, I didn't even feel like I was there anymore. It was as if I hovered above myself and stared down at the disgusting failure who only managed to hurt and kill people, and for a moment I felt that I could turn it all back and make everything right again. I wasn't me, I was just watching me, this was all but a nightmare. But it wasn't. The clump of regret and shame blocked my throat and I couldn't say a word. All I wanted to say was I'm sorry, but I couldn't. No matter how hard I tried, nothing came out.

Aunt Poppy's face brightened, her eyebrows lifted and this time when she smiled, it was a true smile of bliss. "Well, what do you know... I see my light." She looked at me. "For a long time I thought the reason I couldn't cross to the other side was because I didn't know who killed me, imagine my surprise when I finally figured it out and it still didn't appear. I guess my unfinished business was you all along." She looked ahead at something I couldn't see and started walking.

"Wait, who killed you?" I asked.

"Ask Leodis who killed me, he can tell you." And, just like that, Aunt Poppy vanished.

Never in my life I would've thought that, upon finally seeing Aunt Poppy again, I'd be relieved at seeing her go. Though I still loved my auntie and held no grudge, the things she said would forever haunt me afterward. In fact, I'd be glad if I never had to face her again. But I also knew that she was right. Frank's death was on me, along with that of many others, and my every being soaked in the blood of innocents.

Footsteps approached me from behind, upon turning around I came face to face with Leodis. Raising his brows, he threw me a questioning look. I pursed my lips and gave him a nod to show that I was alright. Without saying a word, he turned around. It was not the time to question me about what had just happened, he knew that much, and I knew it was not the time to question him about Poppy's death.

Right now, it was time for war.

The moment our ship came to a halt at shore I pulled out the hatchet strapped to my back and climbed to the edge and leaped down onto the beach. Though the island appeared to be asleep in that starless night, I knew they were very much awake and watching us. My heartbeat throbbed in my throat and chest, I just wanted to storm them already and bash their skulls. These weren't innocents like the ones Aunt Poppy was angry about, these scumbags were the enemy and killing them was fair game, if not a rule. Even if it wasn't, the pile of my supposed sins surely stretched so high that there was no possible way I could find redemption even if I tried, and so seeing as I was damned either way I really didn't have anything left to lose.

Behind me trickled hundreds of warriors out of the ships, their feet thumping softly on the sand. With the hatchet's blade resting on my shoulder, I marched forward and searched the crowds of their army. "Oh, Loreen?" I began to walk down the beach and scanned the tents carefully. "Twinkle, twinkle, little star. How I wonder where you are. Down inside the dirt so low. Twinkle, twinkle, little vampire. How I wonder..." My eye caught white hair gusting in the wind, and I tilted my head aside with a grin. "Ah, there you are." I raised my hatchet and spun it between my fingers. "Remember how I promised I'd kill you? Well, some call me the Angel of Death, so consider this a divine intervention."

Loreen's body became a blur and she appeared in front of me. Red blotches circled her black eyes, of which I knew it meant she hadn't fed. "You talk too much, Farren. Last time I spared your life and made you a cripple, so having to listen to all this is completely my own fault, but this time I will finish it and shut you up for once and for all."

My laughter echoed through the thick silence. A gust of wind tugged at the loose collar of my combat uniform, a camouflage green and sturdy two-piece. Raising my hand, I gave the sign. Somehow Loreen had also understood the sign and before I knew she'd vanished. Their drums thudded through the air to announce our arrival to which we were welcomed with battle cries and explosions.

In a matter of mere seconds, the silence of the night turned into a song of screams and crashes and calls and cries. The Fynce ghosts seized the frontlines and stormed unscathed through the shots of fire and blue lines of magic. Even the blood-soaked children who had fallen victim to the massacre all those centuries ago turned into fighting savages, their tiny hands ripping anyone who crossed their paths to shreds, for on that night they were finally given a chance to reckon with those who they blamed for their slaughter.

Amidst blood and corpses, I took my time, strolling peacefully through the battling crowds while swinging my hatchet as I went. Their army was at least six times the size of ours, I noticed, yet they were shrinking at a far quicker rate than ours, collapsing onto the dirt as they attempted to kill the Army of Dead again and again, until slowly but surely the realization and horror dawned on them that this was no ordinary creatures they were up against, and right there on that night I learned that one of the most glorious things one can experience is witnessing the hope ebbing out of someone's eyes.