Chapter 24: Chapter 23 – The Massacre Of Pallantin

Titus approached Raviel, who stiffened in the hands of the mercenaries. He seized the young man's neck, savoring the incomprehension in his eyes. Raviel collapsed, gasping for breath when a knee hit his solar plexus violently. The mercenaries moved aside, and Titus ​​picked him up bluntly. He whirled him around, ignoring his muffled complaint, and tucked his arms gently behind his back before immobilizing him. Raviel couldn't hold back a grimace as he felt Titus ​​toying with his shoulder joints. An image flashed briefly before his eyes. A memory. He couldn't hold back a tremor. Titus ​​must have noticed this as he leaned slightly forward.

"Who is he?"

Raviel looked up at Aster, whose features were contorted with pain. His blood trickled on the gravel, but his gaze remained stubbornly fixed on Raviel.

“Don't hurt him.”

Titus laughed.

“If it amuses you, I'm willing to let him bleed out before your eyes... While I take my time to kill you.”

Aster froze. He had never seen Raviel so pale as if he had understood that he could not escape his fate. As if they were already doomed.

Titus ​​grabbed Raviel's wrist in one of his hands, while the other gripped his jaw firmly to prevent him from moving.

"So he's the gladiator you bought? Are you sure you didn't make a mistake about the merchandise? He doesn't look very good to me.”

"Five against one is a fair fight to you?" Raviel retorted.

It took him a lot of self-control to respond with such composure. His temporary calmness, which his terror took refuge behind, threatened to give way at any moment. If his memories overwhelmed him… Titus ​​tightened his grip on his jaw, forcing him to tilt his head back slightly.

"Does he at least know why he's going to die?"

Raviel grits his teeth.

“Oh ... You really did not say anything to him?”

“Shut your mouth!”

Titus ​​chuckled again and leaned his head over Raviel's shoulder.

“You never told him what happened to you?”

“Shut up!” Raviel spat, his body shaking.

Aster was watching the scene helplessly. He was boiling with an anger that he struggled to suppress. He tried to get up, but one of the mercenaries violently crushed his leg. A moan escaped him as he barely landed on his wrists. The gravel scratched the palms of his hands.

“Stop it!” Raviel yelled.

"You never told him how you were tried for murder?"

Raviel struggled in vain.

"I wasn’t convicted!"

"Of course," Titus sneered. “Because the emperor intervened to save your skin.”

“Let go of me!”

Titus ​​abruptly dropped him to the ground, but Raviel's relief was short-lived, as a kick sent him rolling in the gravel. He tried to get up, but Titus ​​didn't give him time and delivered a second blow in the ribs. Raviel gasped and a trickle of reddish saliva crashed to the ground.

“Stop!” Aster yelled.

Titus ​​ignored him and joined Raviel in a few steps. He put a dagger on the ground, and his hand suddenly lit up. A moment later, the weapon seemed to twist, before slowly melting. From the molten metal sprang two chains, which rooted themselves in the ground and imprisoned Raviel's wrists. He growled in rage.

“I made you a promise back then,” Titus ​​said. “The promise that I will dig your grave, and that you will suffer greatly before you joined her.”

"You caused what happened!" Raviel replied angrily.

Titus ​​grabbed his tunic and forced him to sit up. His fist hit his cheekbone violently. Raviel barely had time to look up when Titus ​​struck him again, then again, and again. His lip burst under the blows. A throbbing pain stabbed his jaw and crept up his face to his temple. A metallic taste filled his mouth. Titus ​​was hitting him so hard he thought he was going to pass out. He struggled to think, his mind clouded with fear, anger and the ordeal he was going through. He only faced emptiness. The void…

A flash of lucidity.

He looked at Titus, determined to play his last card.

"Does Helvia know what you're up to?"

Titus ​​interrupted his gesture.

"Are you hiding behind her now?"

“I doubt she likes what you're doing,” Raviel gasped.

Titus ​​burst out laughing. He knocked Raviel to his knees, and one of his hands slid into Raviel’s hair to jerk them back. The other brushed his fingertips over the burns left by Severus, which still marbled the fair skin. Again, Raviel struggled not to let his memories overwhelm him, but the fight was getting harder and harder.

“I don't think he stopped the Emperor from using his Gift on you…”

Raviel glared at him, but Titus ​​knocked him to the ground. The chains rattled.

"Your eyes won't kill me," he scoffed. “You would need a Gift for that.”

The cruelty of his words slashed at Raviel's heart, which tried to recover. Titus' sandal was pressed against his head.

Raviel cried out in rage, and his hand slid down his thigh to tighten around the hilt of his dagger. Despite the chains that bound him, he swung forward particularly sharply and felt the blade lacerate Titus’ skin. The pressure on his head immediately eased, and Titus ​​took a step back with an exclamation of pain.

“Son of a…”

The insult was lost behind Raviel's scream and the eerie crack that sounded. Imprisoned by a thick iron bracelet, his wrist had yielded under the force of Titus.

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“Raviel.”

Another blow struck his stomach. Paralyzed by pain, he couldn't get up. A red veil covered his sight. Titus ​​grabbed Raviel's throat, squeezing him tight enough to choke him.

“It would suffice to press a little more to end you ... But it would be too easy.”

Raviel's gaze was a tumultuous storm, clouded with hatred. His blood was slowly dripping to the ground. Titus ​​now took pleasure in prolonging the moment, savoring his suffering. A cruel smile tugged his lips.

“Three years of waiting, Raviel. Three years…”

Raviel spat in his face. Titus ​​didn't bother to wipe the saliva off his cheek and slapped him resoundingly.

“That's enough!” Aster shouted.

Ignoring the pain in his leg, he stood up, his sword held out in front of him. Titus ​​turned to him, looking annoyed.

"Get rid of him," he ordered the mercenaries.

“No!” Raviel yelled.

His voice was hoarse, broken. As an answer to his plea, the strange sensation he had already felt in Aster's presence suddenly manifested itself.

Magic crushed space.

Aster seemed driven by mad rage. His body radiated a power that Raviel had rarely experienced in his life. The outlines of his figure became blurred, and his magic exploded.

A huge lion threw itself on the mercenaries. His roar seemed to shake the ground, and he savagely tore apart any men within his reach. Raviel's eyes widened as the blood spurted out, spreading across the gravel in long scarlet streaks.

“What…”

Only Titus ​​remained. The massacre had only lasted a few seconds. The lion approached slowly, staring at its prey with a growl. Titus took several steps back, but the beast pounced on him.

Raviel closed his eyes, trying to shut out the pain and sickening sounds that were coming at him. He opened them abruptly when he heard his chains snap. The lion stood only inches away from him, its coat dripping with blood.

“Aster…”

Suddenly he began to glow. A few moments later, Aster found himself kneeling on the gravel, his body shaking. Raviel held out his good hand towards him but left his gesture in suspense when Aster stepped back. He looked lost.

"What… what happened?".

Raviel hesitated a moment before answering, for fear of rushing him.

“You… you have a Gift.”

Aster widened his eyes.

“What… what?”

Raviel's words were lost in the haze of his mind without managing to reach him.

“You have a Gift,” he repeated in a more assured voice.

Aster froze. A Gift… Raviel was wrong. It was the only explanation.

“ No… It's not possible… I can't have a Gift… I'm not from Massallia…”

"I didn't think that was possible either, but…" Raviel answered in a low voice.

Aster's fists closed abruptly on the gravel covering the ground.

“No. it can’t be!”

At that moment, Raviel felt something snap inside Aster.

“I have nothing to do with Massallia!”

“Aster…”

“No, I…”

"You have a Gift; It is indisputable. But whatever happens, you must not use it. Because if anyone sees you doing this, you will be executed.”

Aster stifled a sob. He couldn't have a Gift. He couldn't have such a bond with Massallia. It was impossible. He choked back his tears, but dark thoughts continued to lacerate his mind. Several minutes passed like this, until Aster nodded slowly, still looking elsewhere.

“What are we going to do?”

“We have to go home.”

“Your house? Your father…”

“We're going to Lana’s place. She'll know what to do, whether it's about your Gift or to make the bodies disappear... And Pontius can heal you.”

He was in no condition to think any further. Aster didn't answer, but he got up staggering. Raviel imitated him, but his legs buckled, and he suppressed a cry of pain. Aster had the reflex to catch him before he collapsed.

"You can't stand up," he whispered.

Raviel shook his head. It didn't matter. They couldn't stay here, surrounded by all these bloody corpses.

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