Holding his wife with one arm, Barloschios’ heart throbbed as he stabbed Mana and heard her gasp. Not daring to breathe or close his eyes, he pulled the blade out of her chest. She gasped again and choked but did not convulse as her body was under Barloschios’ control.

He thought that was the initial pain she was supposed to experience. However, the young lord slowly stared at the bloodstained object in his trembling hand and then the ugly hole he made in his wife’s chest from which blood gushed unabated. Mana closed her wide-open eyes and winced in pain before she drew her last breath.

Barloschios felt something was wrong and embraced his wife harder than ever. Few yet seemingly long minutes have passed; the sun rose, filled the horizon with its golden light, and slowly crept to Barloschios’ room and to where he sat, embracing Mana.

With a restless mind and violent heartbeats, he stared at her silky white clothes soaked in blood, the trace of tears to one side of her pale face, and her chapped lips slightly apart. He was sweating profusely and felt nauseous at the horrifying scene before him.

His wife was dead in his arms, and the magical blade looked green in color, despite the sun’s brightness. The moment he stabbed his wife, she was supposed to heal, not bleed and die. The blade was supposed to look pure and transparent in the sunlight, as he knew and witnessed twice, not green.

Barloschios’ eyes widened in horror, and with his trembling hand, he lifted the blade and turned it in the sunlight in disbelief while his other hand firmly embraced the dead body of his beloved wife. It was already clear, but he wanted to torment himself further.

Feeling alarmed, the young and naïve Barloschios did not know what to do and began to gasp for air as his wild eyes were glued to the pale features of his dead wife. He arched her body and placed his head flat upon her bloodied chest but could not hear her heartbeat. It was useless. He felt his tongue heavy and could not find the strength to utter her name or say anything to her.

Barloschios did not realize the blade was fake until it was too late. The Fiyana blade had been replaced with an ordinary one during the time when he was busy watching his old gardener, who recovered five days ago. It was too late; his wife was dead in his hands because of him.

Barloschios began screaming wildly nonstop; his magnificent fangs protruded, and his bloodshot eyes glistened with tears. He became vehemently mad and frenzied. He came out of his room carrying his wife in his arms, running through the long corridors of his vast white mansion amidst the expressionless faces of his servants and slaves.

He was still bawling and breathing heavily with every passing second, and none of Barloschios’ servants and slaves uttered a word of solace, and none stood in his way. They all prostrated before him, feigning sadness and shock as they realized what had happened to their mistress.

***

Barloschios ran out to his outer courtyard carrying Mana’s lifeless body and teleported himself to his physician’s house. The young lord, who looked distraught, stood facing his physician in his living room after interrupting his morning meal and shattered the table with one violent kick. He laid Mana’s body on the nearest sofa while shouting in incomprehensible words that he wanted help.

In his shock, the physician stood gaping at Barloschios, who looked mad, wild, and demonic. The intensity of his rage was enough to burn down the whole city. However, the physician exhibited no other emotions save impassiveness.

After examining Mana, the physician determined that her death was from one fatal stab wound. He also confirmed her poor health and organs due to heavy poisoning with a high concentration of narcotics he had neither prescribed nor knew where it came from.

“Her heart was already wasted, my lord,” the physician, in a matter-of-fact tone, concluded, but Barloschios saw that statement as utter arrogance and a blunt confession of the physician’s negligence. Hence, he grabbed his neck with his right hand and lifted him off the ground.

“I entrusted her life to you,” Barloschios spoke with eyes wide open and in a hoarse voice, “but you failed to detect all those drugs in her blood. You failed to keep her safe in my absence and presence,” pressing harder, “I haven’t seen you in my house even after my return!”

Barloschios forced the physician to choke on his blood before dropping him dead. “How dare you ignore Mana and me? How dare you ignore us!” He panted.

Barloschios sat down on the same sofa and gazed upon his wife's dead body. “What— am I —supposed to do— now, Mana?” Barloschios whimpered.

That was Barloschios’ first crime following the death of Mana. Blinded with grief and a sense of great loss, he disregarded the good old relations with his physician, strangled him, and broke his neck without much thinking.

Afterward, rumors spread throughout the empire that the brilliant Treasurer Barloschios, son of Tosckas, had returned from The Edge of the World, a cursed lunatic, and had killed his mad wife because he ran out of patience with her. As for his old physician, he killed him on a whim and without a justifiable reason.

At that time, the emperor overlooked his crime and provided him immunity from legal procedures and investigation. The courtiers dared not question or speak of the emperor’s intervention and protection of Barloschios for the obvious reason that he was worthy and important enough to be protected by the whole nation. After all, Barloschios was the gifted and brilliant mind behind the glory of the empire and its increasing riches.

The emperor even allowed Barloschios the time to grieve the loss of his wife, during which Barloschios shut himself off from the outside world and spent his days and nights with Mana, either crying or apologizing nonstop.

Barloschios buried Mana by himself in her favorite corner of the garden, where she liked to spend time in his company. Her body was placed in a sarcophagus surmounted by an elaborate ciborium, both of which Barloschios carved himself. He enclosed it with iron grilles and built-in sharp-pointed structures rising high above the ground and without a door so none could set foot inside.

***

One night, while Barloschios was kneeling at the head of Mana’s tomb, he was startled by Deeda’s appearance from behind the grille. Coming down from the mountains after the news of Barloschios had reached him, Deeda extended his great arm to the grief-stricken young lord and spoke words that Barloschios had not forgotten for decades.

“Barloschios, you fool, the over-attachment to others is death for you and them—look! Your excessive love for your wife and attachment to her ignited envy and greed amongst others to the point of plotting to destroy you.” Deeda spoke in an authoritative but wise tone. “They took what you once had and pushed you to the brink of madness.”

Barloschios crawled on all fours toward Deeda. They were no longer separated except by the thin metal bars. “Who are you?” he asked with a croaky voice as he held the bars with both hands.

Deeda did not waste time; he immediately placed his big palm on Barloschios’ face and said in the same tone, “Don’t close your eyes, son of Tosckas. Look at your hell.”

Barloschios did not close his eyes but thought he was shrouded with a darkness that gradually opened to dark red space. In front of his eyes, all the conspiracies that had been plotted against him and Mana in the dark unfolded.

Clear images of the masterminds behind those wicked deeds appeared before his eyes. They were none other than his five associates working with him in his private office in the Imperial Palace. He saw their faces and heard their voices as they spoke about him and Mana.

It felt like Barloschios traveled through time, possessed their minds, and knew what they did. He knew that those high officials organized secret visits to his mansion in his absence to bribe the slave woman to cast her malicious spell on Mana and be the cause of her strange illness. They bribed other slaves to keep her secret, to assist her in hiding any evidence against them, and to keep secrets from him.

Barloschios also discovered why his wife could speak one night before his sea expedition to The Edge of the World. It was a quirk of fate that a priest passed by his mansion that day and sensed the presence of the evil spell. Out of the goodness of his heart, the priest wanted to dispel the effect of the evil spell. So he sprinkled some magical potion over the outer walls of Barloschios’ mansion and walked away. That did not last long against the strong spell, but it allowed Mana to speak and Barloschios to hear her voice he missed so much that night. Barloschios saw that in his mind and knew the intentions of the unknown man.

He was shocked that Mana was pregnant with his baby, and she lost it five months later. She suffered for a long time, all alone. She cried, grieved, and became ill; he did not know. She waited for his return, words of comfort and embrace, and he was not there. No one told him anything about the baby and Mana’s depression. Not even after his return.

The servants began feeding her more doses of narcotics that weakened her body, heart, and mind until she suffered a constant state of semi-delirium, completely lost her appetite, and turned to the skin and bone he saw upon his return. She became completely weak to the point where she could not hold a pen and write to him about anything she had been through.

Barloschios was about to collapse when he saw the five conspirators violate his beloved Mana in her drugged state by turns in one single night. That happened weeks after she lost the baby, and the slaves were the ones who facilitated their entry to his private quarters behind his butler’s back. Barloschios wanted to close his eyes and shake his head to break free from this strange state to which Deeda subjected him, but he could not. It was too late to escape or try to stop.

The grieving lord saw his enemies mount his wife like beasts out of hatred and malice toward him. They were rough and vicious. She bitterly wept but was unable to stop them. She howled in pain, disgust, and hatred but could not escape. She could not speak nor call for help - how could she when everyone was the enemy? How could her pain and suffering end when Barloschios was oblivious to all that, away from home and out of reach?

The last blow was witnessing who replaced the magic Fiyana blade with an ordinary one made of jade. It was one of his servants who infiltrated Barloschios’ bedchamber, taking advantage of his master’s preoccupation with his wife one night. After stealing the blade, the servant handed it to one of the five traitors in the Imperial Palace for a large sum of gold.

Deeda removed his hand as Barloschios began laughing hysterically. He then wept bitterly and grunted as his head rested on the cold bars before him.

“What you have seen is not an illusion,” Deeda said with furrowed eyebrows. Unmoved by the wild looks of Barloschios, his weeping, and his rage, he went on, “I am Deeda from the Dead Mountain, and I want the price, for your knowledge, the Fiyana blade.”

***

When Deeda disappeared, Barloschios finally got up on his feet. His face was completely wet with tears and mucus, and his eyes were bloodshot with indescribable madness. His shoulders were arched in despair and rage. His breathing was loud and heavy, like a starved predator.

That night, Barloschios returned to his mansion, searched for the slave woman, found her, tied her with ropes without uttering a word, and dragged her with one hand around the mansion. She cried and begged her lord, all the while, to spare her life as if unconsciously admitting her crimes. 

Yet, Barloschios disregarded her attempts and ordered his butler to bring the register, which was used to record the household’s servants and slaves. Barloschios roamed the servants’ quarters, one room after another, and with the fake blade with which he killed Mana, he viciously stabbed the hearts of his 198 servants and slaves. His stabs were charged with resentment and rage; thus, they felt painful and raw enough to force savage shrieks out of their throats.

By dragging his slave woman with him to all those crime scenes, Barloschios forced her to witness all that wrath and gore, terrorized her, and rendered her cries unstoppable. The butler, on the other hand, followed his lord around and impassively crossed out the names of the deceased as ordered and directed. He was doing his job and made sure not to miss anyone, not even the young ones.

The butler, who completed his task that night, dropped to his knees and waited for his lord’s judgment. He was among the servants who shamefully failed to fulfill their obligations and duties. Barloschios then, in his mad state, stabbed him without hesitation.

That night, all the names of the register were crossed out save the name of the slave woman whom Barloschios locked up in the basement of his mansion, for he wanted to rob her of her sanity before ending her miserable life.

Barloschios did not sleep that night. He busied himself with hanging all the dead bodies of his servants and slaves outside the walls of his mansion and stained the white stones with the redness of their blood. However, his revenge was not over.

***

Barloschios desired his comeback to the Imperial Palace to be dramatic and bloody after leaving it to mourn the death of his wife. Therefore, he waited for dawn to come to take revenge on the five conspirators before the eyes of the emperor. He intended not to disrespect or challenge the emperor’s authority but to warn others against following the traitors’ example.

Therefore, Barloschios mounted his horse and rode to the Imperial Palace after combing his red hair and putting on the most luxurious of his suits, jewelry, and shoes. Despite his glorious look, the resentful lord reeked of blood after the massacre at his own mansion.

Upon his arrival, Barloschios openly disregarded everyone and stood next to his enemies in the court, waiting for the emperor to enter the hall through the door behind the throne. As bold and fearless as he was, Barloschios hid the same blood-stained dagger under his cloak, for carrying weapons was forbidden in the emperor’s presence.

The excited Barloschios waited.

He struggled to control his breathing.

He huffed.

He wheezed.

His heart thumped madly in his ears.

Finally, the moment the five conspirators bowed to the emperor, Barloschios took his dagger out. With a remarkable speed, he rushed forward and slashed at the lower abdomens of the five men he had awaited the whole night.

When they fell on their knees, screaming in pain and shock amid the astonishment of everyone, only the emperor looked collected and pleased. None dared to stop Barloschios, and the emperor himself gave a small wave of his hand not to interrupt the vengeful fanged man of his court.

Barloschios proceeded to paralyze their bodies on the tiled floor, rip their pants, cut off and stuff the five men’s genitals into their mouths.

“This, for raping my Mana,” he said gruffly.

Barloschios finished his revenge by squatting over their chests and cutting their heads off.

“And this, for your very sinful existence,” the mad lord spoke before bowing again for the emperor, who allowed him to use the court as his revenge stage.

The whole court echoed and trembled with objections and protests at what they considered a gory and brutal scene, but the emperor put an end to that when he stood up and clapped passionately in approval.

“Brutal, crude, and vicious, but I do not see wrong in avenging oneself, Lord Barloschios,” the emperor was an advocate of extreme methods and considered Barloschios' crimes an act that restored the reputation of the Imperial Palace that was inclined in the last few years, to employ lenient methods in dealing with transgressions.

To gratify Barloschios, the emperor ordered the five corpses of the conspirators to be hung on the walls of the Imperial Palace after he authorized Barloschios to keep their heads.

Returning to his mansion, Barloschios proceeded to torment the slave woman. After he locked her up for many days, he only fed her the drugs she fed Mana. Feeling thirsty, hungry, dirty, and cold, the woman was howling in his mansion’s dark, cold basement all by herself until she finally collapsed.

Barloschios’ revenge did not end there, for when he decided to release the woman one afternoon, he intended to kill her in a public place. Therefore, he left all the doors of his mansion unlocked and waited for her to muster her strength to stand up, walk out of the basement door and run out of the estate.

The lord watched every move of her thin limbs with cruelly vigilant eyes and smiled not at her dirty clothes, torn bare feet, and hysterical screams. He followed her with calm and confident strides down the capital’s streets.

Barloschios wanted the end of his judgment to be wild and gory. So he waited for her to reach one of the capital’s main squares. When she did, he vanished and appeared in front of her and then beheaded her with one strike from his dagger amidst the amazement and screams of the people.

Not disconcerted by the screams and chaos in the streets, Barloschios walked back to his mansion, holding with his gloved hand the head of his slave woman by her blood-stained hair. Gaining new accusations and rumors overnight, Barloschios seemed unaffected by and indifferent to what the Arkosians had said and made of him.

Thus, in addition to the bodies of the servants and slaves, which were hung on the walls, Barloschios had hung the head of the slave woman on a spear inside the courtyard of his mansion to the right of the entrance while to the left, he hung the heads of the five officials who conspired against him. All that gory and dark display of the lord’s wrath remained untouched and visible to the onlookers for decades.

When Barloschios recovered the Fiyana blade, he handed it to Deeda, who appeared before him one day out of nowhere as the price for the truth he had revealed to him. When Barloschios asked him about the reason for his help, Deeda refused to gratify him with an answer. That rare and fateful visit of Deeda was the beginning for Barloschios to learn about him and his abilities.

***

Barloschios did not end his life after the death of Mana though he wanted to, for she once made him promise her not to do himself any harm. Indeed, Barloschios kept his promise to her despite centuries of sadness, loneliness, and depression. How could he when his love for her was so wild and profound?

That blood-stained history began Barloschios’ drastic transformation from a loving, warm-hearted artist into a ruthless, cold-hearted demon. Barloschios’ revenge and hatred could have ended at that point, but he genuinely saw no need to start a new page in which he would forgive himself and those who had hurt him. Nor did he see that his desire for revenge was over, as he sincerely believed that neither slaves nor servants should be trusted and that he should exterminate them all from time to time, so none of them had the chance to betray him.

I don’t regret it.

I’m not wrong.

I’m a hollow man filled with nothing but resentment.

This was what he kept telling himself every time he committed a murder. Despite this dark side of Barloschios, he continued to find pleasure in hunting for treasures, carving stones, and having fun provoking Vermon, for these three gave him solace, he believed, until the time of his last breath.

Barloschios’ metal hammer fell from his hand. He looked at it but did not pick it up. “Mana, I’m working on a new sculpture. You’ll definitely like it, but it’s lunchtime. Let’s go.”

***

End of Chapter (36)

* End of Book One*

 Notes

The first illustration of Barloschios is done by Taeoh (https://twitter.com/Taeoh707)

The second illustration of Barloschios is done by Sophie (https://twitter.com/sophiecva)