Building My Guild With A Blank Scroll
Chapter 39: Waking Up

Chapter 39: Waking Up

"BIG BROTHER!!!"

On the bed in his room, Zlatan’s eyes flew open upon hearing a familiar voice. His gaze fixed above, he could see a face, one he couldn’t recognize as it had been years since he’d seen it- and much more since he recalled it being so young. ’Belle?’

*THWAP!

He watched without blinking as she slammed into him, her arms and legs outstretched. However, though his body bore the impact of her weight, he felt nothing at all, no pain of any sought. This only brought a single thought into his mind.

’This is not real, it’s a dream and I don’t want to have it.’

Shutting his eyes, all he wanted was to remain as everyone he ever knew was- dead. There was nothing he could do about it- he wasn’t feeling any part of his body anyway.

"Brother is so bouncy!!" The voice came again. Yet all he did was ignore it, as he tried to reach out to whatever would take him out of this dream before it tortured him.

"Heheehe, this is where all the meat you’ve been getting goes." The voice continued, sounding exactly as it was hundreds of years ago.

*THWAK!

A hand slapped his tummy, yet once again he felt nothing at all. ’Why am I still in this dream? Does the heavens seek to make me suffer so badly?’

"Ooo, massagy soft, soft." Belle was now rubbing his tummy on her face. "I want to be like Big Brother! Bouncy Bouncy!"

’Why?! Why torture my soul after I died, I ended it all for peace- yet why am I facing more pain instead? Isn’t death the end?’

"WHY?!"

"Eh, brother is awake?" Belle turned to look at his face having heard him yell out.

’I spoke? She heard me speak?’ Opening his eyes, he could see her staring, but her face was upside down instead. His younger sister now sat above him and having locked his head between her knees.

"What are you doing?" Zlatan said, his words slightly muffled and distorted since he couldn’t feel anything, though her hands were on his face and were also moving up and down.

"Big brother doesn’t want a massagy?" Belle questioned, her eyes on her brother’s when her expression turned from a lively one to a puzzled one. "Is brother ok?"

’I can’t stay in this dream, it’s too much. How can I be able to look her in the eye? After all that I did.’ He shut his eyes, only to be hit with one of those memories which hunted him for as long as he could remember making them.

*********

In the midst of a room covered in flames, the area was under attack, not by anyone else but Zlatan Elmore and his allies.

"How dare you, Zlatan?!!" An older version of Belle could be seen, her face full of rage and disdain towards no one else but himself.

"You killed them. Why?!!!" Belle yelled out at him, her gown tattered and her body bruised all over. "What did I do to deserve this?!!" She broke down into tears, with all he did was watch her cry her soul out before him as the flames approached. "I always did all you asked, never wanting anything in return."

"I had no choice, Belle." Zlatan’s voice was finally heard as he spoke, his tone cold and throaty. He looked young and in his middle age, probably around the age of hundred. Wearing a set of Lord Tier equipment, blood stains were all over his body and that of the two figures who stood beside him.

Hearing his words, Belle spat at his feet, her eyes burning with rage greater than that of the flames around the room which seemed to be preventing her escape. After all, how would she with her feet crushed, being at the mercy of her brother? "For Power!"

"You always had a choice, there’s always a choice!!"

*******

’All I did was watch her, with no shred of mercy running through my veins, not even towards someone I called family.’ Zlatan was lost in his memories, unable to feel the tears streaming down from the corners of his eyes. Unable to hear anything else, the scape he currently found himself in fading away.

*******

"Be quick about it." Zlatan gave the order to the two who stood by him, his voice cold. As with that, they began to walk forward, licking their lips as if they’d received a delicacy they always wished for.

"No, no. You can’t do this to me too." Her eyes widened, the fear on her face unlike he’d ever seen being mixed with disbelief. She’d been beaten badly and had those she now considered as family gutted before her very eyes. "Wasn’t theirs enough, brother?!" Belle began to crawl backwards, frightened to the core.

Backing away from the approaching men, she was now closer to the flames, yet she wouldn’t stop moving away. The pain of her flesh burning couldn’t compare to what she already felt within, her tears weren’t flowing anymore since she’d cried enough to finish up any storage left.

Still coming at her, she finally hit the wall as her gaze shifted from the two to that of her brother’s. His eyes were glued to her, and the look on her face brought a single thought to her head. "You are not my brother." She mumbled under her breath.

"YOU ARE NOT MY BROTHER!!!" The two pounced her like hounds, one trying to hold her down, eventually overpowering her while the other ripped off the rest of every piece of fabric on her.

"BROTHER!!!"

"BROTHER!!!"

That exact word was all she came from her lips, as she was split open by the two figures. Despite all he’d done, he was the one she called out for help right to her very last breath. "Hahah, Boss. We’ve got you her heartcore."

"Mmm, can we have the rest of her?"

"Boss?" The two called out as they saw Zlatan drop down on his knees. "What have I become?" Zlatan mumbled, his eyes fixated on Belle. He stared at her, having her head against the wall with her lifeless eyes on him.

"I’m- I’m a monster." It came again, that feeling after he’d already done the deed. When there was no going back anymore. He regretted it once again, yet all he ever did was do it despite this.

"Not a monster, not a monster." Zlatan’s breathing became heavy and rapid. "I- I- I am worse than that."

"AAAAAAHHHHH!!!"

********

"Brother!" The soft voice came once again. "Please don’t cry, I won’t hit your tummy again. I’ll stop the massagy. Please brother don’t cry, else I’ll do the same."