The Beginning of the End

Vivian Conners awoke to a strange commotion downstairs.

Ever so gently, she tapped her husband, sleeping soundly beside her. Groggily, he awoke and glared at Vivian.

"How many times have I warned you not to wake me from my slumber, you moron?"

"My apologies…"

Vivian hung her head low. Edgar Conners scoffed and was about to raise his leg to kick her from the bed when he heard some of the ruckus downstairs.

Vivian flinched at glass shattering and screaming from the maids and guards in their home.

Edgar sprang from the bed and reached for his robe. His messy black curls fell over his face, and he swept them back to clear his vision. His face went pale with fear, and he silently crept to his sword on display above their mantle.

While watching him panic, Vivian couldn't help but be frozen in fear. Never had she seen this man scared or show any emotion other than anger. If he was scared, then she should be terrified.

"Shit, my armor is downstairs." He whispered frantically.

"What's going on?" Vivian finally found the voice to speak.

Hurriedly he turned to her with an expression she couldn't read in their dimly lit room; it was almost as of he forgot she was even there.

Walking over to the bed and stepping into the candlelight, she saw the furious look he gave her.

Vivian shuddered, remembering the other times she's seen that look before he beat her.

"Please… don't be ups-"

Her words were caught in her throat as he shifted his sword to his right hand and grabbed her by her hair with his left.

Her scalp was on fire as he dragged her down from the bed.

Vivian hit the floor roughly. She kicked her feet as he dragged her towards the door. Her silk blue sleeping gown accumulated the dust from the floor, and strands of her red hair were being pulled out from the force he was applying.

Tears sprung from her green eyes as she asked herself, 'Why couldn't he just love me the way he had promised?'.

"If you fucking think I'm going to go down there and sacrifice myself for you, you've lost your fucking mind."

After reaching and opening the door, he continued.

"After all, this is your fault anyways… maybe if I just hand you over, they'll spare my life."

'Huh?' She had no clue what was happening or how she'd started this. She was always the obedient wife… silently standing behind him with her head down as she was told. She hardly complained, even after they fell on hard times due to him losing his position as a knight that was second in command to the great Maximus. He dipped into gambling and then drowned in debt. If anything, the loan sharks were probably coming to collect on his debt! However, she knew better than to vocalize those thoughts.

He dragged her out to the hallway, where the noise was the loudest. Swords clashed, and people screamed. The sounds of terror and agony froze her body once more. Her arms hung loose; she didn't put up a fight. Edgar was always judge, jury, and executioner. Whatever he said always goes. To fight with him would only prolong the inevitable. Her tears stopped. There's no use in crying… her hopes to escape this tragedy were pointless.

Edgar stopped in front of the fighting and dragged her to her feet. Her eyes looked up to take in the tragedy at the manor. Pools of blood and bodies littered the hallway. Looking up from the bodies, she saw the royal knights he previously belonged to. The most prominent man leading the charge was the great Maximus himself. His dark purple eyes first widened in shock when he looked up and hardened when they focused in on Edgar.

Maximus stood tall; his muscular frame was much more significant than Edgar's. His light complexion was in complete contrast to his dark features. 'So this is the capital's hero? I never thought I'd see him myself.'

Maximus cleaned the blood from his sword and removed his Milanese plate armor.

"You have no armor, and now neither do I… we can fight fair and settle this, or you could simply return what is mine."

Edgar laughed and dug his nails into Vivian's arm so hard that it bled.

"I've taken so much from you over the years that you'll have to be more specific than that."

Maximus scowled. "I can't believe I've blindly trusted you all these years. You're not leaving here alive."

The men standing behind Maximus nodded in approval. The captain's anger was warranted.

Edgar took in the scene before him. His men slaughtered lay in pools of their blood. He smirked. "Seems like no one is."

Everything happened in slow motion. Maximus raised his sword, and so did Edgar, but instead of pointing it at Maximus, he slid it across Vivian's throat.

The darkness that consumed her was almost instant. 'At least Edgar has shown me this last act of mercy… instead of being tortured by these knights, he has given me a quick death. Maybe this is as much as love can offer….'

Her body fell to the floor, and a heavy feeling overtook her. 'This is so fitting for the idiot who clung onto his letters of the past.'

She had fallen in love with the man he was when he wrote those anonymous letters in the past, and she foolishly clung to that love no matter the terrors he put her through.

Vivian faintly heard what sounded like swords clashing and a yell of anger before that faded to nothing.

A faint light glowed in the darkness surrounding her… the light asked her a simple question. Before her consciousness completely faded… she replied yes.