Chapter Three: Soft Spoken Last Words

            "You came to me in a dream, oh great guardian, and told me my time has come..." Alexander whispered under his breath as he looked at me deep in the eyes...deeper than I'd ever seen him look at me. He put his forehead on mine and closed his eyes. I closed my eyes and began to cry and speak with him.

            We both recited this poem simultaniously: "You told me once, twice, three times that I will soon feel numb. Together as one, we will walk towards the light and leave behind tomorrow. The seperation at the end of the tunnel; you're the only one who can understand my sorrow. The feeling of death is like a dying flame... It grows smaller, colder, and black as the air grows tame. Death is a beautiful passing, and despite others' belief, rebirth is no sin. I will not let this seperation drive me mad, for we will meet again..."

            Tears flowed down my cheeks, and the smoke in my throat along with the pain of crying was immense. I coughed and hugged my brother for a last time before he walked away. He kissed the top of my head and then took off his necklace. He gave it to me, then took the pallidium. "I love you." He said to me one final time.

            "And I love you too, my dearest twin brother, Alexander. I always will..." I said back, using as many words as I could in an attempt to delay his death.

            Alexander turned around. "Run Ambrosia. Take the path under our home and get out of here quickly...the flames will collapse this building any moment now."

            I nodded, slowly turning around and walking out towards the door. I would have ran, but I wanted to save my lungs and energy for until Alexander was gone. I held his necklace tight in my sweaty palms as close to my heart as I could possibly get. Once I got out the door I turned around to witness his final moments.

            "I know your tricks, Diomedes." Alexander yelled. His anger then died. He threw the pallidium at the war lord, which Diomedes caught as if it where nothing. "Sadly you are right...I stand no chance. I'm smarter than you think I am, war lord. I refuse to go down without my dignity."

            Diomedes laughed. "I should have known as much."

            "May you be damned to an eternal suffering at the hand of Hades himself, you demon." Alexander spat calmly.

            Diomedes smiled and put his blade to Alexander's chest. "Of the two of us, you're the demon...now go where you belong." He thrust the blade into my brother's body and it took all the strength I had not to turn around and stop watching.

            Alexander fell, turning to me. He looked up at me with a hopeful look...as if there was something I could do about the pain. He looked up at me, and all I could do was smile at him as I cried, letting him see me as he wanted to remember me: Happy.

            Diomedes saw my brother crawling towards me with a hopeful smile of his own. Diomedes didn't want him to die without suffering, and thrust his sword into Alexander's back three times before the war lord officially decided that my brother was dead.

            He didn't stop there, however. Diomedes smirked and took one look at me and I knew what was coming at me. I panicked and froze in fear as he ran at me. "I have an honor code. I'll give your brother his dying wish...but at a price." Diomedes grabbed a dagger out of his belt and held it to my neck. "I know you'll come for me one day...so here's your mark, the mark of the warrior. Every time you see your reflection in the water, may you know who killed your beloved brother, and one day will slaughter you as well." He pushed the tip of the blade into my upper right jugular, towards the bottom corner of my jaw, and traced it down my shoulder.