Chapter 48: The Scent of Lavender

As the two siblings happily raced across the fertile Illios Fields of the Luminous Empire, a very different situation was happening in the capital of the Eclipse Empire, as an air of impending carnage hovered over the entire city, forcing every man, woman and child to tread with trepidation as they timidly glanced towards the Imperial Palace, before quickly looking away again for fear of manifesting their dreadful thoughts into reality!

And no where was this air of oppression more prevalent than in Alexander's own office, from which he has reigned over his empire with brutal efficiency, ever since he's locked himself there after his extermination of the conspirators who dared target his family a week ago.

Yet today that same tyrannical pressure seemed to multiply exponentially, as a deep frown marred Alexander's face as his madness filled eyes read through a report that stated that the Kusuri Kingdom, a puppet nation of the Yue Dynasty and ruled by the descendants of the God of Medicine and Healing, have suddenly found several underground caverns that are filled with rare medicinal herbs, some of which were thought to be extinct!

It also contained it's own independent ecosystem that was perfect for further cultivation of many rare curative resources, greatly increasing the nation's diplomatic and economic might, an event that never occurred in his past life, signifying the beginning of his past life's memories becoming irrelevant in the future, as the world began shifting due to the blessings given by of the Gods in this life.

'It's happening faster than I had anticipated!' Thought Alexander as he felt the pressing urge to accelerate the progress of his plans, especially those regarding the southern border as soon as possible.

"Pardon me sire, but her highness Lady Esmerelda has asked if you'd like to join them for dinner tonight." It was then that his line of thoughts was broken by Kira, who was amongst the very small group of people who still dared to be in the same room as him, which mostly included Horus, Abraham, Darius, Isaac, Hamilcar and a few others.

"Not today.

Tell them I'm still busy." Alexander coldly replied, greatly saddening Kira as she left to deliver his response, as she like many others knew that he started suddenly and deliberately avoiding his family for the past week, and no one could fully understands why, since they believed that he might finally revert back to how he previously was if he spent some time with them.

A sigh escaped Alexander's mouth as he put down the papers, and exhaustedly rubbed his eyes, while remembering the events of the past few days.

In the beginning his mother constantly tried to speak to him, but Alexander refused to even meet her, and after many futile attempts she realized that her son needed some time alone, so she allowed him his own space to untangle himself from whatever he was dealing with, while only asking him if he wanted to eat with them every night to subtly remind him of their presence if he needed any help.

Although Alexander fully understood that his actions were hurting not only his mother, but his brothers and sisters as well, especially after his mind finally emerged up from under the haze of his unquenchable thirst for blood and vengeance, he still couldn't bring himself to look them in the eye.

Not out of guilt, but out of fear! Fear that his family might realize just how dark and twisted he truly was. Fear of redoing the same mistakes he swore to correct this time. Fear of them not accepting him, like they did in his past life.

Nor will I banish you though, as I've learnt my lesson from the recent events, and I now realize that doing so would only leave me too slow to respond to threats, and too weak to obliterate any new ones that might appear.

So you will only be put to sleep, a sort of indefinite hibernation, but always ready to awaken when the time calls for it."

'WE REFUSE!' It malignantly roared, as it tyrannically declared 'We shall not submit to the whims of others, and non shall deny us our right to glory and power! Not even ourselves!'

Immediately afterward both parties became locked in mental struggle for dominance, which Alexander predicted would happen, after all this monstrous behemoth was the manifestation of all of his worst and most corrupted traits, such as his never ending greed, bone chilling ruthlessness, absurd paranoia, and his insatiable lust for power.

Sadly Alexander underestimated the latter's stubbornness, as the battle persisted throughout the entire night, with neither of them gaining the upper hand even after hours of conflict, which left Alexander mentally drained, and yet just as the sun was beginning to shine in the early hours of the morning, a fleeting waft of a certain flower sneaked through his open window and tickled his noise.

The moment he smelled that distinctive scent, an ancient, yet precious memory of a pair of proud, cold, sharp yet breathtakingly beautiful amethyst eyes flashed through Alexander's mind, and for the first time in hours both ceased their struggle, as he rushed to the window to catch more of that smell he so desperately longed for.

Swiftly activating his divine power, Alexander quickly jumped out of his office window, which happened to be on the third floor, before lightly landing on his feet, and then immediately dashed towards the source of his desire.

Seconds later he found himself before the Imperial Garden, were a myriad of different flora were grown to produce a harmonious scene of nature's chaotic beauty and man's artistic order.

But Alexander cared little for appreciating that sight right now, as he continued searching for his intended target for a few excruciating minutes that felt like hours to him, before finally finding it as he stood in front of a few blooming lavender flowers.

Reaching down slowly, he picked one up and deeply inhaled it's intoxicating scent, as a young woman's angelic face that was framed in her long pale golden hair, and further perfected by those same haunting amethyst eyes and her full cherry red lips seemed to propagate itself through out his consciousness for a few seconds, as he drunkenly swam down his turbulent river of precious memories, before he hesitantly muttered "My love."

Alexander's previously madness filled eyes, finally returned to normal as the tyrant happily, and willingly entered his slumber, while Alexander passionately vowed "A little over three years and we shall meet each other again my love.

Just three years, and this time I will treasure every blessed moment I spend with you, and make right all the grievances of the past. This I swear to you my darling Eve."