Requiem II: Soul's Honor Lost

by Alisa Joaquin

Part 5: Caine's Ultimate Decision

Kwai Chang Caine woke to confusion. Thoughts and feelings ran through him that were his and yet were not. He thought he had dealt with them months ago, yet something inside him had split and was continuing to do so. As the night faded and dawn grew closer, the side that looked toward the great eastern sun and the light was suddenly aware that the darkness had not subsided but had grown since their last encounter. Realization hit Caine as he suddenly found himself back in the war with himself, but this time, his darker side would not be so easily subdued.

Looking around the room, Caine saw the devastation his darker side had done. No longer was the room neatly furnished but littered with shredded bed clothes and splintered wood that once had been a table and a cot; now turned to firewood. The door, the only point of exit or entry was mottled with dents. Caine rose and examined the door and found that each dent fit his own fist exactly.

'Did I do this last night?' he thought. 'What is happening to me?'

Caine rested his head on the door, closing his eyes and feeling the coolness of the metal. Suddenly feeling very weary, he let a deep sigh escape his lips. He tried to think as to what could be causing the darkness that was growing within, threatening to overwhelm the light. So far the darkness only emerged when the sun had gone down. During those times he had not even been aware that it had happened. Only when his father had shown him one of his shirts did he question that something might have been wrong. That shirt had been covered in blood, and the blood had not been his. Horror had entered his soul at the thought that he might have committed a heinous crime without any knowledge of it had driven him away from his father's cottage to wander as his grandfather had done. What did this mean? He had always fought against the darkness, even to the point of battling his own soul, but at what cost?

He had performed the ritual, battling his own self, but had it been enough? His darker side expressed his desire not to return but to remain free, but Caine had managed to persuade him to merge with the light and become whole. Had that battle been done in vain? Was his darker side fighting the light again, forcing him to do things that he would normally not do, even possibly to commit murder? If he had murdered, that was a shame far deeper than he could bare. It was the ultimate dishonor. Deliberate murder required retribution. Deliberate murder required he sacrifice his own life. It would not restore the life that had been lost, but in this way, he would cause no more harm to others; and perhaps, his soul would return to begin again and learn the lessons anew. And his son would not suffer the dishonor from his actions.

Tears filled his eyes as he thought of Peter at that moment. Opening himself up and allowing their link to form, 'Forgive me, my son,' were all the words he expressed. After that, he once again cut off the link and this time drew himself as deep within as he could go. It would take some time for him to prepare, perhaps several days. Then, afterward, he would have to perform that final act. To do so, he would have to find another ceremonial dragon knife. It would have been best if he had his, the one that Laura had given him on their wedding day, but that was not to be. He also knew on what day he would need to perform this final act. Long forgotten memories when he was a boy came to him, memories that involved his grandmother, she is telling him of a day where the wall between this world and the spirit world was supposed to grow thin. A day they called All Hallow's Eve. It would be on that day, on the last hour that he would perform it. It will be the day where his anguish would stop, and the evil would go no further.

Continues with Part 6