Misunderstood Villain: Heroines Mourn My Death

***

{Outside The Projection}

Oh, indeed, it was fitting.

Poetic to an unusual degree.

But Malik was wrong.

He did not fail.

They, too, were so very wrong.

Malik really had done it, the one thing no Sultan could do.

The one thing all their thousands of years of history failed to achieve.

That wasn't all; a question that they all had since the beginning was now finally answered.

Malik's curved sword, the one everyone sang about before his coronation...

It wasn't rusting away in the Holy Palace's hidden vaults; it was in Hell.

In its most dangerous Gate, the only thing that had stood till this day, stopping the Fall from taking over.

Their Sultan had made a sacrifice once more.

This was the end of his journey.

And yet even as the title dropped...

{End Of Volume Nine: Beneath The Olive Tree}

Sat in bold and black, obvious to them all...

The projection continued.

They had yet to see its true end.

Like Second Sun, it had more to tell.

***

{Inside The Projection}

Malik walked, one step, two.

Never once did he turn back or pause.

Not even to look at the sword humming behind him.

It had done its duty, maybe more than it should have.

Corruption was cut, severed at its link.

This sapling of death had fallen.

He was done here.

The sky above him pulsed.

Malik glanced up, past the black of Zamhareer's ceiling, the branch itself, and through the streaks of death that clung to it, meeting a... Will.

A Will connected to 'Him.'

"Send me back to my most wanted place."

The words barely left his lips before he vanished.

Just a quick blink and he was gone, losing all sense.

Yet it wasn't death, for the next thing he felt was grass beneath his boots.

Warm air brushed against his skin, actual oxygen-filled air.

Blue skies stood high above him, not a cloud in sight.

A place that reeked of earth and old bark.

The breeze was clean here.

...This didn't belong to Hell.

It belonged to a most cherished memory.

A memory that stood at the top of a most gentle hill.

The green below swayed softly, stretching far, split only by the occasional tree.

One of those trees had a stone beside it.

It was rough and cracked, further breaking apart with every year that passed.

There was no name carved into the stone, but Malik didn't need one to know...

This stone wasn't something whose shape he'd forget, even if it changed.

After all... it marked the grave of his little brother, Sinbad.

The one made with bleeding hands and a crawling boy.

Slowly, Malik walked over and knelt beside it.

"Your body..."

The wind shifted.

"It wasn't lost in vain."

His fingers brushed over the surface of the... tombstone, feeling every crack and every brittle edge.

"I fulfilled them."

It had held on far longer than it should've... just like him.

"I fulfilled all my promises."

He slowly breathed out and lowered his head.

"...Will you allow me to join you?"

The question hung there unanswered, and the silence that followed lasted longer than anyone would've tolerated, until finally...

Whoosh!

It cracked.

Something had taken his attention.

A shadow, one that passed overhead.

It was familiar... a bit too familiar.

Malik's head snapped up.

His eyes met the shadow.

Or rather, the black owl.

It sat on the branch above him, feathers puffed up, wings trembling.

Tears clung to the corners of its beautiful pink eyes.

"Don't you dare say that again."

Naturally, it was Sinbad.

And his voice was so very angry.

Malik stared at him, taking a moment, then nodded.

"Then... when the day of my Silent Requiem comes..."

Sinbad didn't hesitate.

"Yes. I'll bury you here. I promise this upon my soul."

Malik smiled, though barely, and, of course, it wasn't with joy.

It was an acknowledgment, maybe even a tiny apology.

He stood up, brushing off the dirt from his robes.

"Would you like to visit my flower?"

Sinbad wiped away his tears and took off.

There was no need for him to answer.

Malik followed.

In seconds, they were already before the lake.

Before a grave, this one cleaner with a relatively proper headstone.

It, of course, belonged to Jasmine, whose name was engraved.

Sinbad landed on Malik's shoulder as they stared down at it.

Neither of them said anything, preferring to relive their memories.

And so, they stared at her for long, each lost in their own world.

The quiet here was different.

It was peaceful.

So much so that Malik, the one who was always on guard, actually relaxed.

In turn, his body began to tremble... a barely perceptible series of shifts.

This... this tremor was currently his most emotional state.

Even now, even in peace, he could not let loose.

His mind had reached a point of no return.

Understanding that completely, Sinbad leaned in.

He wrapped his wings around Malik's head, giving him a soft hug.

Malik appreciated that hug, his trembling ceasing after a few moments.

Eventually, he sat down, his back finding a tree next to the grave as he let out a sigh that felt like it had been waiting centuries to escape.

Sinbad ruffled his feathers and settled deeper into Malik's shoulder.

"You were gone but a few minutes, yet I suspect you spent a millennium or more in the Below."

The bird murmured.

"And yes, I felt your presence the instant you stepped into the First Layer, so I came here."

Malik nodded once, and Sinbad continued:

"Well done, Elder Brother. The Zaqqums disappeared completely. All of them. I saw them go seconds before you arrived... Somehow. Perhaps it's the bond. That link between us. It's still there. Weaker, sure, but there."

Malik looked at him.

"Did you see anything... on the people?"

Sinbad's eyes dimmed as he nodded his head.

"Yes, I saw eyes. So damned many."

"Lotuses?"

He shook his head this time.

...Malik's eyes widened.

So that was how it was going to end?

He leaned back, unconsciously pushing the back of his head against the tree.

"I failed..."

A soft thump followed.

An olive fell, settling beside him.

He stared at it for a long, long moment.

Until eventually...

"Ahahahahahah."

He laughed.

"Ahaha..."

Or rather, he mimicked one.

"...I lost Spine Splitter for nothing."

Another laugh left him, this one sounding much sadder.

"Absolutely nothing at all."

Broken.

{Complete End Of Volume Nine: Beneath The Olive Tree}