Chapter 47: Suicide (4)
The silence could be cut with a knife as Kurt and Victoria made their way back to their home to deliver what could only be described as a death sentence to the already broken Clark.
Listening to the occasional bumps from the carriage, Victoria broke the silence. "I still think we should let him heal from the soul dissonance dilemma first."
Signaling to the coachman, Kurt replied with a heavy sigh, "The soul dissonance was caused by all of this in the first place. He isn’t going to truly heal if we don’t tackle the root of this issue."
Victoria remained silent.
Placing his hands on her shoulder, Kurt suggested, "We could tell Koft to send him to Frovenia first?"
"But that place is basically the second dwelling place of elves, and we both know how picky they can be when it comes to humans." Victoria replied with furrowed eyebrows.
"Koft knows a few higher-ups there; he could put in a good word on our behalf." He countered.
Victoria nodded, and Kurt signaled the driver to take them to Koft’s home.
Clicking his tongue softly, the ground dragon turned sideways and headed in the direction of Koft’s home.
A few minutes later, the carriage stopped in front of an arched golden gate with two roaring lions engraved on it.
"That’ll be ten Miras, Mr. and Mrs. Valyn." The coachman addressed them with hidden nervousness as he saw their dark expressions.
Paying him off, Kurt and Victoria walked into the already opened gate.
A modestly sized fountain in the middle of the cobblestoned compound immediately came into view as they stepped in. Two guards clothed fully in armor stepped from the sides of the arched golden door they guarded and ushered in the pair respectfully.
"What a pleasant surprise it is for you two to come see me...or is it not?"
Straightening his red tunic with a solemn expression similar to the ones the pair carried, Koft offered them a seat.
"What is the matter?" Leaning forward and resting his chin on his interlocked fingers, Koft started.
Tapping his fingers rhythmically on the edge of the seat, Kurt started, "I’m sure you know, Clark?"
Koft nodded confusedly, wondering what Clark had to do with any of this.
"Just for formalities’ sake, we ask that everything said here today be kept under wraps, including the actions that will be taken in relation to this." Victoria butted in with a neutral expression.
Glancing at her, Koft hummed and clicked his fingers—making any hidden spies and informants withdraw.
Twirling his beard, Kurt continued, "We’ll go straight to the point. We need you to help us send him to Frovenia."
Koft’s eyes widened in surprise, and he immediately turned to Victoria to confirm what he was hearing.
Sighing heavily and leaning back into the chair as he saw Victoria’s reluctant nod, Koft spoke, "You noticed it too, huh?"
It was Kurt and Victoria’s turn to show surprise as they asked at the same time, "You knew?"
Pushing his dark hair backwards with an exhausted expression, Koft replied, "I saw it right from the time he submitted the heads of the goblin villagers east from here."
Victoria was stunned and turned to Kurt askance, "Clark wiped out a whole village by himself?"
"He must’ve had some help; I still don’t believe he has that capability." Koft harrumphed.
"That’s besides the point; let’s get back to what we were saying." Kurt interrupted.
"I’ve been a merchant for as long as I’ve known the both of you; before you two got married, it’s only natural I’d know how to read any customer’s microexpressions when he comes in." Kurt explained as he crossed his legs leisurely.
A flash of understanding passed through their faces as they listened in hopes of disproving their findings.
"Although the kid’s very good at hiding his emotions, he just so happened to run in with me." He shrugged nonchalantly and continued, "He looked like he was having an annoying conversation with someone, and I was sure it wasn’t me since I hadn’t even spoken that long."
"I watched closely as we continued negotiations and ascertained one of two things: either he has a spiritual being that none of you can sense, or the soul dissonance was in fact caused by his extremely unstable mental state."
The choice was obvious to them, but as if to reinforce the thought, Koft added, "Mind you, I also did a background check on the boy after he left, and I found out he was sold as a boy toy to Miriam Rothschild by Maira Decker." After a brief pause, he continued, "And we both know how... unorthodox the Deckers are when it comes to discipline. So it’s highly likely that could’ve been the cause."
The couple turned silent as they digested the new pieces of information that further solidified the false notion of Clark in their mind.
"...Since you knew all this, why didn’t you tell us?" Kurt asked after a moment of silence.
"Why would you believe me? Heck, even I wouldn’t believe myself if I just had that small piece of evidence to back my claims." Koft replied matter-of-factly as he took a sip of his drink.
With nothing else to refute with, Kurt asked, "So are you going to help us with our request?"
Thinking for a moment, Koft clicked his tongue and glanced at the large clock behind him. "The tournament’s coming up soon, so the elves and the other kingdoms will be there. I’ll talk to some of the people who owe me favors and see if they’ll help. But it’ll have to wait until after the tournament."
Victoria nodded immediately. "We can wait till then; I’m sure we can figure out a way to keep his psyche under control."
Kurt just sighed and pressed his head against his forehead.
Studying the pair for a short while, Koft shrugged and suggested, "You could always stay for some drinks, and we could catch up?"
Shaking his head with a wry smile, Kurt pulled Victoria to her feet and replied, "Some other time. The spell my wife cast should be wearing out by now."
Nodding in understanding, Koft escorted the couple to the gate and bid them farewell as they boarded a prearranged carriage.
Watching the back of the carriage disappear into the distance, Koft muttered something under his breath and walked back to his home with a thoughtful look on his face.
Alighting from the carriage and entering their home with brisk steps, Kurt hurriedly opened the door with a pensive expression as Victoria followed closely behind.
The sight that met them was a young man at the window, his blank gaze fixed outside as he reached out a hand to catch a flower drifting down from a nearby tree.
As he turned his head slowly toward them, a low whimper slipped from Veronica’s lips. The sight of his sunken eyes, ringed with dark shadows, and the horrendously forced smile twisted across his face made her chest tighten.
"Welcome home, Kurt and Veronica," a hoarse voice called out.
Kurt groaned—not from his own pain, but from the sight of the boy who looked as though he bore the weight of the world, already buckling beneath it.
Licking his dry lips, Clark turned back to the window and watched the setting sun.
"The days never went this fast when I went on my adventures." His voice carried a melancholy so heavy, it felt like the kind only those who had lost someone could ever recognize.
Kurt coughed dryly as he opened his mouth to speak, "Clark—"
"You used to call me kiddo before," Clark interrupted as he stared outside absentmindedly.
"Your manner of speech changes depending on your mood—it’s uncle-like when you’re happy and normal when you’re serious." Turning his head once more with a weak smile on his face, he continued, "Which is it, Uncle Clark?"
Victoria had already burst into silent tears the moment she saw Clark’s face, but the expression he was making right now was nothing short of heart-wrenching.
Kurt used all the willpower he could muster in trying to hold back the urge to burst into tears as he spoke, "It’s not all that serious... Bwaha...ha."
The silence was deafening, and apart from Veronica’s stifled sobs and the unconcerned chirping of the blue birds in the sky, no one spoke a word.
The weak smile on his face crumbled, leaving behind nothing but emptiness. His voice flat, his eyes hollow, Clark asked, "What is it, Kurt?"
Kurt gulped audibly, and Victoria trembled harder as she covered her face with her hands.
The old Clark would’ve rushed to console Victoria’s tears and ease Kurt’s troubled mind. But the Clark before them now was nothing more than a hollow shell.
The only emotions that lingered within him were rage, frustration, and an endless emptiness.
"W—we did some digging after you...and we discovered that you weren’t in the best state of mind—"
"Weren’t or aren’t?" Clark interrupted as he stared at the ceiling.
"... Aren’t. You aren’t in the best state of mind, Clark." Kurt answered with great difficulty.
"We want to help you! Just stay with us until the tournament is over, and then we’ll take you to someone who can get you fixed."
That slip of the tongue shattered the fragile balance Kurt and Clark had been holding together.
"Fixed?" Clark repeated, his voice a low tremor. "For something to be fixed... it has to be broken first, doesn’t it?"
"N—no, I didn’t mean—"
"Then by your own words..." Clark’s lips curled into a crooked smile as his voice cracked into a hollow laugh, "I’m broken, am I? Hahaha..."
His hand rose to cover the side of his face, as if to hide the twisted grin. From the corner of his eye, he watched Victoria’s shaken expression with quiet, bitter amusement before speaking again.
"Maybe if you experienced being smashed into a bloody pulp under the hammer of the only person you trusted...the only real person you trusted...then maybe you’d understand."
"Clark I didn’t mean to—"
Interrupting Kurt, Clark continued, "Try listening to the sounds of your bones crushing continually, the pain of your eardrums bursting with each shockwave, the feeling of your blood pumping through your eyes with each pound, and the unending twitching of your body as you heal only to be mutilated once more. Over and over and over again. Then maybe. Just maybe. You’d understand how foolish you sound."
’We were truly foolish.’ Kurt reflected as he stared at the maniacal-looking Clark.
’We focused too much on the future and forgot about the boy living in the present.’
Rubbing the ring on his finger, Kurt wanted to speak but was interrupted by Victoria’s deeply saddened voice.
"I don’t remember where I heard this from, but I have a feeling I have to let you know."
Successfully gaining Clark’s attention, Victoria gulped and then spoke, "The burden you bear is far more daunting and pitiful than that of a mere hero, and there is no reward or glory for the path you will take."
Kurt’s eyebrows raised in surprise as he heard Victoria’s words, ’She didn’t tell me this at the inn’.
Clark on the other hand, showed no visible change in expression for a some time. Then as if his brain finally processed the words, his emotionless face cracked into an eerie smile.
Muttering the words to himself repeatedly, Clark glanced at Victoria and Kurt and...
"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha"
An unnerving bout of laughter followed.
Cleaning the tears that had gathered at the side of his eyes, Clark studied the uncomfortable expressions of the couple and exclaimed.
"What am I supposed to do with that information, huh?!, did you expect me to just whip myself into shape and start training or something?!".
Kurt covertly placed his finger on his storage ring as he watched Clark’s increasingly violent behavior.
Maybe it was the instability of his mind or the fact that Kurt was too shaken up to hide his moves more expertly, but that small movement didn’t escape Clark’s eyes.
"You....you saw me as a threat, didn’t you?". Clark asked as he slowly got off from the bed wobbly.
Despite being caught, Kurt didn’t try to defend himself but instead left his finger on the opening section of the ring.
Walking closer to him with their eyes locked, Veronica immediately stood in the middle of the two men with puffed up eyes that showed nothing but resentment and anger at Clark.
Clark was taken aback for a moment, a bitter smile forming on his lips, Clark spoke, "I’ll leave your home today, and to show I still have a remnant of my soul left, I left a thank you present on the table".
Clark gestured and walked past Kurt as he picked up his scythe and placed the books in his storage ring.
Turning his neck to face Kurt’s back, Clark spoke with an empty smile, "Just know that I never blamed you for any of this. Neither do I blame you, Victoria, I’ll always be grateful for the short time all of us spent together".
Without waiting for their responses, Clark walked out the door as he declared coldly, "This whole predicament is because of some stupid robe and a tournament, so I’ll destroy the tournament and everyone in it".
With a hollow grin, Clark stepped past the threshold. The door shut behind him with a final, echoing thud.
For a moment, the house was silent—until Victoria’s muffled sobs filled the empty space.
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Hello, extremely happy author here!. I just received tons of collections for a story I never knew would ever see the light of day!. I just want to say thanks to anybody who read this far and that your value as a reader means a lot to me.
Don’t forget to drop a gift or powerstone for this peasant! ✌️