Chapter 32: Chapter 32: Unbelievable reveal, who’s to bla?
Chapter 32: Unbelievable reveal, who’s to bla?
I had a nervous look on my face as I swam back toward him.
I just couldn’t believe it.
How could Artria and my forr mistress, or should I say, Persephone, be related?
They weren’t even the sa species.
Artria was a rmaid through and through, but Persephone was shark rfolk. Perhaps she was a half-blood?
"Not blood related, of course," Garin suddenly said, dispelling my suspicions before they could get even more wild.
He sighed, looking out into the blue haze of the distance.
"Look, it happened years ago. Back then... Artria’s parents were still around," he began.
His voice sounded like he was telling an old, sad story that he had repeated a hundred tis in his head.
"Those two were the kindest people in our village. Truly. They really knew how to cheer everyone up back then. If anyone was sad or hungry, they were the first to help."
I listened, trying to imagine Artria with parents.
It made sense; she had a big heart under all that grumpiness, so she must have gotten it from sowhere.
"They adopted Persephone when they had Artria," Garin continued. "Both of them were raised together in the sa nest."
" They grew up as sisters, playing together and eating at the sa table."
" Honestly, back then, Persephone wasn’t as terrifying as she is now. She was just a quiet girl who stayed close to her sister."
He let out a helpless sigh, as if he were recalling a past that would never co back again. I could see the other rn nodding slowly.
They all rembered that ti, a ti before the village was under constant shadow.
"But..." Garin paused, his jaw tightening.
"One day, Artria and Persephone had a fight."
" You know how kids are, it was probably over sothing small. But Persephone was always sensitive. She ran away from ho, hiding sowhere out in the deep cracks of the reef."
" Their parents went to fetch her... but..."
"Unfortunately, they ran into so trouble and didn’t make it," he finished softly.
"What do you an they ran into trouble?" I asked. I had a bad feeling about where this was going.
"They were killed off by a swarm of sharks," Garin said.
My heart hamred against my ribs.
Sharks.
Again.
It seed like everything in this world ca back to those mindless killing machines.
"It honestly wasn’t her fault," Garin added, though he sounded like he was trying to convince himself as much as .
"I don’t understand. What are you saying?" I asked.
This conversation was heading down a dark turn, and I didn’t know whether I wanted to keep listening or not.
It felt like I was digging into a grave I should have left alone.
"The sharks had co back then due to Persephone’s own ability," Garin explained.
"None of us expected her to awaken such a power. It was her ’Curse.’ But because her emotions were saddened back then, she ended up calling a swarm of them by accident."
He looked at , his eyes full of a strange kind of pity. "Persephone was crying when Artria’s parents ca looking for her."
"The poor girl had no idea what was going on. Her grief and fear were what drew in every shark within five miles."
" She herself was frightened by the sight and hide away in a cave."
" She was trapped in the back of a cave while a swarm gathered outside."
" She didn’t know how to send them away, and the more frightened she beca, the worse the situation turned."
"Artria’s parents fought just to get to her," Garin said, gritting his teeth.
"In the end, they were able to keep the sharks at bay long enough to save her. They got her out, but due to sustaining several grueso injuries, even the healers couldn’t save them in ti and....they unfortunately didn’t make it."
" They died right there in the water, protecting their daughter."
A trace of lancholy erged on all their faces. Even the rman who had been laughing earlier was looking down.
The silence that followed was heavy, like the weight of the ocean was pushing down on us.
"I’m sure you could understand what happened next...." Garin let out a sigh.
I did understand. It wasn’t hard to put the pieces together. Artria, left alone with a sister whose very existence had caused their parents’ deaths.
The grief must have been more than a child could handle.
"Artria refused to forgive her sister," Garin said. "She looked at Persephone and saw her parents’ killers. And Persephone, who was overwheld by her own guilt and grief, couldn’t handle the hatred."
"She left the village and refused to return."
He shook his head. "We tried reaching out to her. We really did. We didn’t want to lose both of them. But we couldn’t find her for a long ti. Years later, when we finally did find where she was hiding... she was already too far gone."
"She refused to listen to anything we said and isolated herself from us," he continued. "When we continued to try and bring her ho, she almost killed all of us.
Garin turned to , his expression earnest. "That’s why Artria was so sensitive when you said that back then. When you told her to kill you if you lost control."
I felt a wave of sha wash over . I had basically walked up to a girl who lost her parents to a "shark" power and asked her to be the one to kill another "shark" who was losing control.
I had triggered the worst mory of her life without even knowing it.
While Artria seed to hate her sister, it seed even she couldn’t bring herself to kill her, much less soone like
who was similar to her in more ways than one.
"She probably thinks just like her parents, you’ll end up throwing yourself away as well," Garin sighed. "She’s watched several of us get hurt trying to help her sister, and she hates it."
" And I’m sure she also blas Persephone for what’s happening now with the sharks. She thinks her sister is doing this on purpose to punish the village."
I didn’t know what to say. I rely floated there in silence, trying my best to digest all I’d just heard. My mind was quite blank right now.
But then, a thought couldn’t help but cross my mind.
If Persephone’s power was tied to her emotions, and she was currently unstable because she thought I was dead... then I was the reason the village was in danger.
Every shark biting at the hunters was a result of the grief I had caused her by "dying."
Did I want to go back to her though? Of course not. What if she killed
for real this ti.
That woman was far too dangerous to deal with, and until I found a way to make sure she wouldn’t kill , I had no intention of letting her know I was alive.
As for the sharks, I’d just have to deal with it myself.
I an, how difficult could it be to deal with a bunch of mindless fishes.
Besides that though.
To think my mistress and my new friend were actually sisters with such a past between them.
"Jacob?" Garin asked, noticing I had gone quiet for a long ti. "You okay?"
"I’m fine," I lied, though my voice was barely a whisper. "I just... I didn’t know it was that complicated."
"It’s never simple with those two," Garin said, turning back toward our path.
"But now you know. So when you talk to her next ti, maybe keep the ’kill ’ talk to a minimum, okay?"
"Yeah," I said, my heart feeling like lead. "Thanks for letting
know."
Reviews
All reviews (0)