Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm

"My judgment?" I asked as I looked at Violence standing in front of me. I could all of a sudden feel the weight of sitting on this throne. "Who am I to judge them?"

There was a sarcastic chuckle at the foot of my throne. "That was what you always said… 'Who am I to judge them? Can't someone else do it? Would it really be that bad if they lived?' And did you know what happened as a result?"

"Given the fact that I have no idea what is going on, then I think I can safely say no, I don't know what happened," I replied with a sarcastic smile of my own. I leaned my elbow on the armrest as close to Liu Yu Zeng as I could.

"That was the result. You were betrayed so badly by your man that you shattered into a thousand pieces, and the world shattered with you. Because you wouldn't kill those that needed to be killed, they went out and kill more. Because you listened to your man when it came to what you should do, you never made an actual decision. And when he betrayed you time after time after time, do you know what you did?"

I was silent. Apparently, Violence needed to get this off of her chest. And I needed to hear it.

"You rolled over and took it. When he broke his promise, you made an excuse. When he came to you looking for one of his men to be granted life, you gave him life. When he dragged your other three men with him, you just sat here and waited for them to come back. For centuries you waited." There was a snort of disgust as the woman with my face gave me a twisted look.

"You silenced all of us until we couldn't take it anymore. If you wanted them so badly that you were willing to lay down and take it, then we would go out and live our own lives. Simple."

"Who was it?" snarled Liu Yu Zeng. I looked up at him to see a look on his face that I had never seen before. He was so enraged that he bypassed trembling and now stood as still as stone with his lip curled up over his teeth. 𝗯𝗲𝐝𝐧𝗼𝐯𝗲𝐥.𝗻𝗲𝐭

"I am not allowed to say," replied Violence as she looked at Liu Yu Zeng. "But you know very well in your heart who betrayed your woman for countless others. Isn't ironic that the ones he betrayed Li Dai Lu for are now the ones betraying him left, right, and center? Poor baby has only been betrayed three times, and yet he is already plotting his revenge against them. How do you think he would react if he was betrayed century after century? Are you going to offer an excuse or death?"

Liu Yu Zeng was silent as he thought about her words. He slowly closed his eyes.

"I was asked that same question not long ago," he said as he opened his eyes, and a harsh look came over his face.

"Ah, yes. Famine was always the smart one," Violence said with a smile on her face. "Is your answer still the same?"

"No," he snapped. "And Chen Zi Han is Famine?" he asked, confused. I would admit that even I was not sure what was going on.

"All five of you have lost your memories about who you were. Liu Wei might not have remembered, but he has fully stepped up into his role. Even you have become stronger, more so than you ever were before. I might be harsh, but even I have seen how much you struggle to become who you were supposed to be," said Violence as the flames continued to flicker in front of me.

"How do we fulfill our roles?" asked Liu Yu Zeng.

"Protect what is important to you. When the time is right, you will understand what you are. Although I am a bit disappointed that you haven't quite figured it out." Violence chuckled as she walked up the two steps to the throne before kneeling in front of me. "You are… you are so much more than you give yourself credit. Stop caring about the voices of people that don't care about you. They will quickly forget you and move on. You need to do the same."

"Beginning with the people from the compound," she nodded her head and smiled at me. "Oh, one thing. I told it to Wang Chao before, but I don't think he passed on my message." Violence turned to Liu Yu Zeng for confirmation. When he shook his head no, she merely sighed. "Figured. He wasn't impressed with what I said."

"What is your message? I will make sure that the rest of the guys are aware," said Liu Yu Zeng as he stared at Violence.

"The message is that there needs to be four of you, but it doesn't need to be you four. Do you understand?" asked Violence returning his stare. I still concentrated on the flames in front of me, seeing different things in it that I never noticed before.

"Li Dai Lu gets four men at the end of the day, but those four men might not be us," said Liu Yu Zeng slowly. "How do I make sure that that doesn't happen?"

"I have already answered that question," replied Violence, raising her eyebrow. "I am not in the habit of repeating myself."

"By protecting what is most important to us," said Liu Yu Zeng with a nod of his head. He then looked down at me with his signature smirk on his face. "That won't be hard at all."

Violence nodded her head and gave a small smile. "Now that that is settled, back to these flames. Lesson one: what type of flames are they?"

I looked at the flame in confusion. "They are obviously human," I said with some confusion. For the most part, they were all bright pink flames.

"Good. Now, what do you notice inside of them?"

"They all have a varying degree of silver in the center," I answered. This seemed like something I have always known, although I don't remember how.

"Exactly, and what does the silver center mean?" asked Violence, a smirk on her face as she turned to look at me.

"Death," I responded.

"Good. And that one?" she pushed, pointing to a pink flame that had a white flame in the center.

"Disease," I said, but that didn't feel right, "Pestilence," I continued, quickly correcting myself.

"Perfect. Is there a single flame here that doesn't have a different color at its center?"