Hehehehhehehehehe~~~~~~~~~~~! We have finally reached Chapter 13. Coincidentally, I wrote this Chapter on Good Friday, which is on Friday the Thirteenth! Okay, not coincidentally. I deliberately planned it this way. You can call me an idiot or think that I have too much time on my hands, but what the heck, it's not bad to be an idiot sometimes. Alright, alright, I know that you want to read the story instead of this nonsense, but just before that, I will remind you one more time to email your suggestions for a Chapter title to the email address below. Ciao!
Ulaine was furious. She was DAMN furious! She was so furious that she could barely stop shaking with anger. She clenched and unclenched her teeth, almost snapping them with the sheer force. If she didn't do so, she was afraid that a spew of profanities might come forth from her mouth. She didn't want that, for there might be children reading about her, she thought. She also wanted to practise her self control, which would be more fitting for her Mother God image than ranting and raving like a mad human.
Instead she tried a more subtle method. Like frying the brain of the Hated One. She directed her stare at her son's eyes, beaming both his brain and his eyes, until he almost became blinded. Arian tried to look away, but was unable to break the powerful stare. The powers of the Mother God far surpassed his own, for she had been the Head of Yisheigai Gods for millions of years. You had to have pretty strong powers to be able to do that.
"Mother, Mother......why are you doing this to me? I am your son! Don't you feel pain at grilling your son like that, one that you have borne and brought up so painstakingly? I wasn't at fault! It was Eva..."
"Shut up!" Ulaine growled as she continued grilling, emitting alarming amounts of heat to his brain and eyes.
Blood started to flow out of his eyes, nose, mouth and every visible orifices of his body. It was then that Ulaine finally stopped. He was right. She did feel pain at punishing her son. But she felt even more pain as she thought of Eva.
"And you dared to complain! If you compare what I did with what you did to Eva, if that's even possible, then you might get it into your thick, useless brain why I am doing this to you! For Goodness' Sake! Why did you have to torture her like that? The more I think about it, the more disheartened I feel! Why do I have such a son! It is not enough that he is mentally retarded, he had to be a sibling murderer! Go......get out of here! I disown you from this minute on! You will cut off all ties with the Yisheigai Gods! You will have no part in Operation World Domination!" Her self-control finally collapsed, and her angry words came forth like water gushing from a broken dam.
"Bu...but that was my plan in the first place, how can you cut me off! It's so unfair......"
"UNFAIR?!!!! YOU DARE TO SAY UNFAIR TO ME? SO WAS IT FAIR FOR EVA TO HAVE HER SKULL BROKEN INTO MANY TINY PIECES? WAS IT FAIR FOR ME, AS A MOTHER, TO SEE HER DAUGHTER TORTURED TO THIS EXTENT? YOU TELL ME, YOU EXPERT OF THE UNFAIR! NOW THAT THE FIRE GODDESS IS DEAD, WHO IS GOING TO TAKE HER PLACE? TELL ME, IF YOU THINK YOURSELF SO CLEVER! UNFAIR, INDEED!!" Ulaine was so furious that her eyes seemed to spew fire, which indeed would have been possible if she had the powers. Instead, she just resumed to frying Arian's brain.
Arian, dumbstruck by her passionate speech, finally realised the impact and consequences of his foolish act. If there was no one to carry on as Fire Goddess, then wouldn't Operation World Domination just be a waste of time?
"I have an idea, Mother. Why don't you retrain Skylar as Fire Goddess then? Since she's the only one left with enough potential."
"My, my......you have thought out everything for yourself, haven't you? So if I retrain Skylar, you can have control of two of the Main Powers? Well, let me tell you, power greedy son, powerful as I might be, I cannot retrain anyone with powers I don't have myself. Why do you think, then, that I had to practically BEG Mariteus to join us in Operation World Domination, if I can retrain someone else with his Sea God powers? Now Eva's powers are lost forever, unless she can come back from the dead! You have really done a good job this time, Arian!" Saying which, she turned away before he could see the tiny trickle of tears flow down her face.
Why oh why did you do this to me, Mikamiko? Is it something I had done in my previous life to you? Even if so, the consequences should befall on me, and not my daughter! She repeatedly cursed the author until yours truly's eyelids twitched so voilently that she couldn't concentrate on her writing.
All this while, Arian was trying to sneak out of the room, to escape any further punishment that Ulaine might want to mete out at him.
Her emotions are so unstable now, I might really die if I stay in this place! He thought in fear.
He had almost reached the door when it suddenly opened to strike him in the face.
The culprit stormed into the room and saw what he had done to Arian. But he did not feel apologetic that he had caused a bruise at the corner of Arian's forehead. In fact, he was cursing himself that he did not fling the door open violently enough. There was nothing on Earth that could appease his anger.
When Arian saw the culprit, his heart skipped a few beats and then proceeded to beat in an erratic manner. However, he quickly tried to curb it, as his mind-reading mother was in the room too. He could not afford to let her know about his feelings. (At this point in time, it was unknown whether Ulaine knew about his...admiration for his brother)
"YOU...YOU SCHEMING, NO USE NO HEART LOWLIFE! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO EVA! SHE'S YOUR SISTER, ONE WHO SHARES THE SAME BLOOD AS YOU DO! I WONDER WHAT YOUR HEART LOOKS LIKE! IS IT CLOUDED OVER WITH MOULD, 'CAUSE YOU USE IT SO LITTLE? I FEAR THAT YOUR BRAIN IS ALREADY HALF EATEN BY FUNGUS TOO! YOU...... MONO-CELLED NO BRAIN MUCUS-SUCKING PARATISM! CELLPOOL-DWELLING EXCRETEMENT-SAVORING GERM-INFESTED PERVERT!" Mariteus spewed forward some of the most vicious insults he had ever uttered in his entire life.
Arian, on hearing those words, became increasingly wounded by them, such that he forgot to curb his thoughts from running wild. Especially when he heard the word Pervert.
Who would be happy if the one he loves calls him a pervert? If he knew of my feelings for him, what would he think of me then? He thought in distress, before realising his foolishness in giving full reign to his thoughts.
He sneaked a glance towards Ulaine to see if she had been listening to his thoughts. To his relief, she seemed unaffected and he thought that he was on safe ground.
In actual fact, Ulaine had known long ago about his special feelings for Mariteus and she couldn't be bothered to read him mind now. She couldn't be bothered about him, period. Who cares about him anyway? He can be killing himself over this, and would gladly hand him the knife to do the act.
Mariteus had by now exhausted his vocabulary and could find no words to describe his detestable brother anymore. But it did not mean that he had stopped inflicting pain unto his brother. Instead, he converted his anger in actions, throttling his throat with his large, powerful hands. Arian could not budge an inch from his grasp, being in his weakened emotional state (after being insulted by Mariteus by those hurtful words). His face gradually turned purple due to his lack of oxygen, and he kept opening and closing his mouth to voice his protestations, but no noise came. He looked just like a goldfish, with his mouth opening and closing like that, and eyes bulging out of their sockets.
Mariteus still could not be appeased by strangling his brother. The more he looked at his struggling face, the angrier he felt. In particular, the black leather mask which Arian adorned irked him to unimaginable levels.
After what he had done to Eva, he still had the gall to be vain and put a mask!
He flung off the leather mask and threw it to some unknown place. Arian's disfigured face was exposed, revealing angry red burn marks that ran across the left side of his face.
Mariteus did not feel shock, or pity for Arian when he saw this face. Instead, all he could think of was how negligible it was next to what Eva had suffered. There was another small detail that annoyed his too.
"You still have the time and gall to feel sorry for yourself? Sometimes I wonder how can anyone be as pathetic as you! You already have a small brain, and you make up for it by feeding your conscience to the dogs! I do not know what is the structure of your brain, but I sure do not want it as a transplant if I was dying from a brain tumour, and it was the last brain available! Can't you just use your Chi and heal your face? You, who have Chi so much in excess that you had to use it on your sister? And what's with this mask? Why do I have you as a brother? From this day onward, I shall cut all ties with you. Don't ever let me see you again, or......" Mariteus threatened and grabbed Arian by the collar of his suit, his saliva splattering all over his face. All this while, his lips were very close to Arian's, and it was all Arian could do not to.....
Ooh, I forbid you to say out my secret desires, Mikamiko! I'll kill you! Arian threatens the author.
At this point, Mariteus had finished his rantings and flung Arian towards the wall with his superhuman strength. Arian's head banged against the wall and caused a crack in it (the wall, not the head!).
Mariteus then stormed out of the room as quickly as he had come. He had not said one word to Ulaine during the whole time there.
He did not need to, for he knew that she was as hurt, if not even more hurt, by Eva's death.
Dusk was approaching in a few minutes. A lone figure walked along the beach, reminiscing the memories he had of his sister. The setting sun painted the sky red and created a picture perfect setting if he had noticed it, but his heart was too full with sorrow to notice anything around him. He floated up to the sky and to the middle of the ocean, where he scattered Eva's ashes into the seawater below him, chanting a mantra to sooth her spirit, for hers was a wrongful death. He had hoped that the Sea God and Sea fairies of this world could help him to protect her in the afterlife, if he scattered her ashes in the water.
After scattering her ashes, he took out his flute, which had not been used in a long, long time and blew a tragic tune to accompany his sister's journey to the Underworld, and to express his own feelings at her death. The previously peaceful ocean (relatively peaceful, that is, with a few small waves now and then) was now raging with huge waves that were ten stories high and could have easily wiped out the nearby city if he had not restrained them (for he did not want to harm anyone in his sorrow)
Halfway through his tune, a wispy figure rose up from the ocean and floated towards him. She looked suspisciously like Eva, only she was now a translucent Eva. Mariteus could see the motions of the waves through her.
"Eva! I have been thinking of you! Do you know how sad..." He could not continue his words, for Eva put her finger on his lips to quiet him.
"Kor-kor...you must carry on with your life. I am happy in the Underworld, really, for I no longer have any secrets kept in my heart. You have to get on with your life. You still have Claudine, remember. You came all the way for her, and now you mustn't neglect her just because I'm no longer by your side. Women get jealous easily, you know. Don't waste the chances I have created for you. Then I will really be angry, and I can't reincarnate into the next life."
"But I can't forget you! You are my soul mate, how am I supposed to carry on without you?"
"I'm not asking you to forget me! I just want you to stop grieving for me! If you lost your soul mate, go and find one! I'm sure Claudine would be more than glad to fill that seat! You should tell her more of your secrets, instead of telling them to me. Sometimes, I pity that girl......" She smiled wryly.
"Does that mean I won't ever see you again?"
"Maybe, if I get reincarnated. I might get a chance at a new life, where I won't be so infatuated by someone who doesn't love me......" She joked outwardly, while her heart bled inside.
At her words, Mariteus felt a stab of guilt, for he could not reciprocrate her feelings. And he knew that somehow, he was the cause for her death.
"Don't sport that look on your face, Kor-Kor. It's not your fault, really. Don't beat yourself up over that."
"Bu...but..."
"No buts. You have too many buts and ifs, and that's one of your few faults. You should enjoy life and not think so much of the past or present! Promise me that! And promise me...that you will not forget me! Farewell, my Brother...I have to go now, to a faraway place...and I love you no matter where I go, or what I am......" Then she disappeared into thin air.
"EVA!" Mariteus shouted and tried to chase after her, but she was already gone.
He floated down from his position in the sky to the ground and knelt on the sand, punching the ground until his knuckles and the sand were stained with red, sticky blood. But the pain in his knuckles was far behind the pain in his heart......
Author's Notes: Erm...This chapter is not very smooth to read as I was experiencing writer's block at this time...completely no inspiration! It was as if I was writing a school assignment, with no feelings whatsoever! I hate this! When will this phase with over......? Must be retribution for ill-treating those Yishegai Gods......
Before and After this chapter......
Introduction
Chapter 1 - The Beginning
Chapter 2 - The Awakening
Chapter 3 - Claudine = Mikamiko?!!
Chapter 4 - Journey to the Centre of the Jungle
Chapter 5 - The Second Condition is......
Chapter 6 - Skylar
Chapter 7 - Old Flame Attack!!
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
The Yisheigai Gallery
