Chapter 6

Surrounded by enemies, Cain raised his sword to beat down the ones in his way. His arms felt weak, and he couldn't move his legs properly. Stumbling forward, shoving men out of his way, he had only one goal in mind; he had to reach Abel. Suddenly, a loud scream echoed through the trees, and Cain felt his heart skip a beat. He could see the green-haired cavalier kneeling, his mouth agape, staring in confusion at the broadsword that had pierced directly through his heart. Abel's expression warped into terrified understanding, and his eyes lifted to meet Cain's. "Why…? Cain… Why didn't you help me?" The dying man's voice choked out accusingly, and his eyes glimmered with hatred. Cain couldn't look away as the body slumped to the ground in a pool of blood.

"Abel!" Cain's eyes snapped open as he yelled, his mind delirious. He rolled off of the small bed he had been laying on and fell to the floor with a hard thud. Trying to scramble to his feet, he couldn't find his balance, and all he could see was Abel with the sword stabbed through his chest, his green eyes glaring at him with that accusing and hateful stare…

Tears pricked at the edge of Cain's eyes as he mistakenly took the nightmare to be memory, and his breaths came out in choked gasps. "Abel…" Gritting his teeth, he pounded his fist on the hard surface of the bed in anger and frustration. Suddenly, two soft hands rested on his shoulders.

Cain's body jumped at the warm touch. He hadn't noticed before, but the room that he had woken up in was devoid of windows and very cold. Turning his head, he could see that gentle hands belonged to a woman of tall and thin stature, with purple hair like a pixie and deep green eyes that stared at him sympathetically. If Cain had been in a proper state of mind, he would have thought that she looked rather pretty. Instead, he stared up at her with blank, glassy eyes.

"You shouldn't be moving around," the woman scolded him gently. She hooked her arms under his and tried to tug him up. When Cain realized, he pushed up on his shaky legs, and she was able to sit him up on the bed with his back against the wall. "My name is Krystal. You've been asleep for some time." She used her sleeve to wipe away the cold sweat that dripped down Cain's face. Seeing that he was temporarily unresponsive, she began to unwrap the stained bandages that covered his chest, revealing an ugly and deep gash on his shoulder that had yet to fully heal. Scars littered his torso and arms; some were fresh and red, some old and pale. She tried to keep herself from rudely looking at them as she wrapped the fresh bandages.

Blankly staring at Krystal as she worked, Cain slowly began to regain his composure and the thoughts clouding his mind faded slightly. "Where's…. Where's Abel?" His throat was dry and it hurt to speak.

The purple-haired healer didn't respond immediately. "I don't know," she finally answered honestly. "But I can tell you where you are, if you haven't figured it out." Her voice came out bitterly as she threw a glance over her shoulder, looking through solid iron bars to see the dark silhouette of a guard.

"A prison," Cain answered in a low voice, his eyes following hers towards the thick bars that blocked their way out. Light bounced off of something and caught his attention; his dull eyes lowered towards something on Krystal's collar, and he saw a small pin with an insignia on it. "… Gra?" He squinted, trying to see it better. "Gra is… nowhere near where I was…" He raised his hand and rubbed his temple, confused.

Krystal immediately covered the pin, as if she was ashamed or embarrassed by it. "Well, you're not actually in Gra," she explained. "King Jiol has forts stationed all across this part of the land." Brushing her purple hair out of her eyes, she lowered herself delicately onto the hard bed next to Cain. "What happened to you?" Her voice came out as a murmur, as if she hadn't really meant for him to hear.

Cain grit his teeth as he struggled to remember what had happened. "I was attacked… No, we were attacked… Abel was with me." His eyes stared at nothing as he spoke. "I strayed too far from Abel during the fight, we should have been together, and…" He hesitated, trying to keep his voice steady. "I… I don't know what happened to Abel." He's dead. He's dead and it's my fault. Cain couldn't bring himself to say the words out loud.

Their conversation was interrupted by the door to the cell banging open, the metal hinges squeaking loudly as they moved. A large figure blocked in the entrance, and as he moved closer, Cain's mouth dropped open in shock. The tall, dominating man was no other than the ruler of Gra, King Jiol. "You're finally awake," the King spoke in a powerfully loud voice. As he took another step towards Cain, Krystal quickly got to her feet and shielded the stunned cavalier.

"Leave him alone, Jiol." Krystal put out her hand to stop him.

Laughing, Jiol didn't hesitate to grab her outstretched arm and yank her out of the way. She let out a surprised and pained yelp as he gripped her arm tightly. "If you know what's best for you, you'll stay out of the way," he growled in her ear. "Honestly, when you act like this it makes me even wonder whether you really care about seeing your brother again or not."

Krystal's breath caught in her throat, and she scowled. As Jiol motioned for the guards to move forward, her eyes widened in surprise and she realized what the King had planned. "Are you nuts?" She tried to pull away from him, but his grip on her arm was tight. "He just woke up!" Her green eyes desperately looked at Cain, and she hoped he would put up some kind of fight, but the red-haired man didn't move.

The two guards that had trailed behind Jiol approached Cain and gripped him by the arms, harshly yanking him up from the bed. For a moment it appeared as if he was going to try to pull away, but his legs were weak and he stumbled; if not for the guards holding him up, he would have fallen. Lifting his gaze, his eyes caught with Krystal's for a quick moment, but he didn't have time to register the emotion lingering in them before he was dragged away, out of the room.

Finally letting go of Krystal's arm, Jiol gave her a good shove towards the bed and she grunted as she fell on its hard surface. "You're insane," she spat at the tyrant. "Don't hurt him." Although she knew her words wouldn't pierce his thick skull, she growled them anyway, glaring at him with hatred.

Grunting in annoyance at her protective nature, the king turned his back and slammed the iron door shut behind him. Through the bars, his harsh gaze stared down at her as if she wasn't worth the dirt on his shoe. "Unless you want to join him, you'll keep your mouth shut and stop causing trouble." He turned on his heels and took long strides away, leaving Krystal alone in the dim room with nothing but her thoughts.