Dance of the Damned

Looping Memories

"Your majesty." Orit walked to Alexander seated in front of his table, fast asleep. "Your majesty."

"Yes?" He asked, looking up quickly. "Is something wrong, Orit?"

"Outside." he pointed to the windows of the study as Alexander walked to them, noticing the flowers in full bloom.

"The first signal," Alexander said, raking his hands through his hair. "We are in the final stages of Phase Three already. I find it hard to believe it is already here. It has been a long week."

"I agree, your highness," Orit said, standing in front of the window as Alexander walked back to the table. "You have worked extremely hard."

"You think so, Orit?" He chuckled. "It has been a while since I participated with my courtiers this much in discussion. I am still amazed that they believed me."

"After your highness's older brother, if you say that you know something is going to happen, I believe they will believe you, your majesty."

"My brother, huh?" Alexander stared up at the ceiling, sighing. "I know many people in the court still believe that he should have been the king and not me."

"Their words need not matter so much, your highness," Orit reassured him, hands on his back while he stood in attention. "They are irrelevant."

"For you to say that, Orit." Alexander chuckled as the flowers lit the outside world along with the moon. "You have changed."

"I believe we all have."

"You are not wrong about that." Placing his hand on the glass, Alexander stared at the sky. "Roshi ... have you heard anything from him?"

"The servants we placed in the house have told me that the young master's birthday is close approaching and that is leading to the agitation of both the lord and lady of the house."

"But they will not be brave enough to do anything. If they are smart anyway." He said, frowning. "What about the guards we placed there?"

"They are keeping an eye on him as well as they can," Orit reported.

"Good. Make sure to keep a good distance from him. We don't want him to notice that we are keeping an eye on him."

"I believe he knows already, your highness," Orit said looking only at Alexander. "He is too aware of his surroundings to not know when someone is looking at him."

"Unless he tells me to stop, I will not," Alexander said, turning to Orit. "Do you think your king is becoming crazy, Orit? It will appear like I am obsessing over a child."

"Not at all, your highness," Orit said, walking to Alexander and stopping right in front of him. "This might be overstepping, but ... does the young master remind you of someone?"

"He does have that air about him, doesn't he?" He chuckled. "Everyone I have met has said that he reminds them of someone they know.

"Perhaps it is just that mature aura about him." Alexander looked at the clock on the wall and began to walk to the door. "Shall we go?"

"Are we visiting him first?"

"Don't we always?" Alexander gave him a soft smile as the two walked out of the room into the empty hallway.

______________________

Standing in front of a bed with a translucent shield over the top, Alexander stared at the man lying on the bed.

His dark blue hair had grown all the way to his feet now as he laid there with a peaceful look on his face.

Alexander wanted to fix his hair for him but he could not enter the shield around him. He didn't know how to nor did he wish to risk his death if he did open it.

"Just like before, I can never reach you in the end, can I, Rome?" He mumbled, looking at the man with anger and sadness.

"Alex!" He could still hear him call with a book in hand, it was always a book of maps or cities of long ago. "Come with me!"

It was because of his older brother that Alexander developed such an interest in other countries and also history.

He could randomly open a history book and begin to tell him about the lives the people like, comparing it to how they are living now.

"You need to remember, if we do not learn from history, it will repeat itself." His bother would always tell him as the two would read every day.

His brother always explained it best, "In one of my old lives, I would run around these specific courtyards. There was a hidden pathway somewhere. I believe we hid there but were killed by protestors."

Alexander envied his brother for having this extensive knowledge. He was able to draw the attention of everyone around him because of the things he said.

People would come from all over the world to talk to him and leave praising his intellect and gift.

Perhaps, that was also what lead to his downfall as well. The praise he got made him feel like he needed to know more, have new things to talk about with new people.

So he kept researching about other places, trying to see if he could uncover some kind of memory about them.

Most of his memories were vague, just little glimpses of the past but the more he tried to uncover, the worse his memories got.

He began to remember every death, every incident and they kept growing even clearer, seeping into his dreams and then into his mind every time his mind even wondered a little.

Rome did not have the strength to even change out of his dressing robes in the morning, he could not even let the maids touch him.

Slowly he deteriorated and no one could help him anymore. All his other brothers and sister had to avoid him because he could suddenly lash out without warning.

The line between memories and reality blurred, making him find it hard to distinguish one from the other. Rome attacked one of their sisters by mistake one day, shoving a pen into her neck.

She died not long after with the black ink pouring out of her mouth. Once he realised what he did, he locked himself in his room, refusing to go out or even eat.

That was when he asked for the physicians and their father, the king at that time, agreed to this idea. Rome was too dangerous to be allowed loose.

No one was there for him the night he was put to sleep, no one except for Alexander. And the entire time, he put on a brave face trying to make sure he sent him away with a smile.

To this day, Alexander could not understand why he did that in the first place. There was no indication that he knew he was there or even knew where he was, yet he stood by his side until he closed his eyes completely.

Sighing, Alexander touched the shield, feeling the warmth on the translucent glass. The only indication that he is still alive.

But isn’t this worse? He thought every day that he went to visit him. He is now forever stuck in the world of his memories that he had released from, albeit only when he was awake.

Alex chuckled when he remembered the day he finally met Micah. His father had been talking to him about this ‘colourless boy’ and his interest grew until he met him.

He thought he would only see him as a freak of nature, something that is not normal and should not exist, just from the way his father had been speaking of how weak the boy is.

If a leaf can cut him as well, why bother trying to live? Wouldn’t it be better to be dead? He thought on the way to the house.

Never in his life did he immediately feel drawn to the boy the moment they made eye contact. Soul Flames. He remembered his bother talking about that once.

A deep connection and a complete understanding of the person before even knowing them.

At first, he believed that she could be his brother, reincarnated. They have the exact same eyes and everything about him reminded him of his brother.

Especially when he talked to him about his 'past'. The boy seemed as surprised as Alexander felt when he mentioned this.

"You- you know?" He asked, pointing to him. "About ... about that?"

"Well, reincarnation is not my forte but I know about it." He said happily but the boy's expression fell instead.

"Oh, you mean reincarnation." He mumbled, smiling up at him once again. "Why don't you tell me what you know first?"

The two talked for hours that day, Alexander even spent the night in their house because he was too immersed in talking with Micah and Micah too seemed intrigued.

That was the first time since his brother that Alexander showed any interest in anything and it was not out of obligation.

__________

"I found someone like you." He said, looking at the man on the bed. "Well, not entirely like you. He is stronger. And I am going to prove to you that you are not weak."

Moving away from the bed he walked to the root.

"Watch as I place him at the top of the world. If he can do it. So can you."