358 The Fire Will Soon Extinguish (1/2)
Only the dim family flame burned in the dark room. According to legend, this flame contained the spirits of the ancestors. Now, it flickered unstably like a candle in the wind.
Caligula, sleeping before the fire, opened his eyes and sighed. The dove in the cage beside him had felt the unrest and flapped its wings in fear. Caligula grasped it and slit its stomach open, taking out the thin intestines. He hummed the ancient song lightly and deciphered the obscure sign under the firelight. After a long while, he tossed it into the fire.
”The fire will soon extinguish.” He read the message from the heavens. Looking up, he stared in the distance blankly as if he could see the spirit far away in the temple, dissipating into flames.
”Your Highness, I hope your gradually leaving spirit will gallop through the starry skies just as you raced across the lands…But sadly, there will be no family flame for you to rest in…”
Caligula lowered his eyes as he murmured. Thick blood flowed from his nostrils and dropped onto the back of his hand. There, grayness spread with the smell of disease and sickness.
Scales slowly grew on his ankles like an awakening demon. The disease that had been hiding inside the Romulusians had finally awaken and broken out. His vision went black and he stumbled, almost falling.
”Has this day finally come?” he murmured to himself as he pushed himself up. ”Whatever, Romulus's era should have ended long ago. The ashes of the old age should be pushed into the garbage.”
Behind him, the door was pushed open cautiously, revealing a young face. Elsa had been startled awake from her nightmare. She clutched her doll and looked at Caligula.
”Daddy, I'm scared.”
Caligula smiled with difficulty. He hugged her and petted her long hair. ”Don't be scared, Elsa, don't be scared.” Wiping away his nosebleed, he asked softly, ”Do you still remember Mommy?”
”Mommy…” Elsa hung her head. ”I dreamed of Mommy. She told me not to be scared but I was still scared. Then she left. Daddy, will you leave too?”
”No.” Hugging her, Caligula hid his tears. ”Mommy won't leave you either. She loves strong children.”
Behind him, the family flame burned faintly. Wind seemed to blow. The fire would soon extinguish. Thus, a mournful song sounded in the flames.
-
The mournful song resounded over Auschwitz during the silent night.
”Come, let me tell you about the future, tell you the honors the descendants of god won, how your descendants will be…” This was a canto from long ago. It recorded the honors the saint had made on this land and the ballads that Romulusian poets had sung. However, these ballads were ineffably sorrowful and bleak.
As the song resounded, the Romulusians woke from their sleep. They saw the gray spots expanding on their bodies and the blood flowing from their nostrils. The family flames went out one by one as if the ancient souls living within them were dying. However, those dying souls were singing of the glory of the olden days, the city, and miracles that the Romulusians had once made.
Finally, all flames extinguished in the darkness as if their ancestors had burned to nothing in the fire. All was in darkness.
Then the earth started shaking. A terrifying rumble came from deep underground. The entirety of Auschwitz started trembling. Enormous slabs of stone collided against each other with shattering roars.
Under the deafening roars, countless cracks spread through the walls and buildings. Intense shaking followed one another.
The musicians startled awake from their dreams, sensing the changes in the world and the roars in the air.
”What's going on?”
They looked up reflexively to the sky.
”Grandmaster Koch?”
In the reflections of those eyes, the black clouds were burning. Pained cries sounded.
Behind the clouds, firelight surged. The frail old man turned into withered bones that fell apart in the air. Dust fell from the sky, bringing murderous intent from the heavens.