THE RETURN Of the LEGENDARY KING of WAR

A Hollow Mind

Still worried, Lizzy tries to return to sleep. It was one of those nights when sleep hardly came by for two reasons:

One, It was cold as it started to rain again, and the fact that each time she shut her eyes, the nightmare replayed in her head, sending cold chills down her spine.

For some reason she just couldn't shut that feeling out of her mind. Lizzy thought about how serial all of this was going. It was really a matter of time before it all fell apart.

Still right there cuddled under her duvet, she tried to relax but couldn't. She kept twitching from place to place, while the rain pattered outside against the windows pane.

When she can't stay asleep anymore, Lizzy drags herself up from bed and makes way to the dinning.

There, her mom was. Apparently, she is having a hard time sleeping as well.

"Can I have a glass of water?" She requests suddenly and immediately, her mother passes one to her.

She watches as her daughter gulp down the tasteless liquid at a go, her tension and anxiety not oblivious.

"Are you having trouble sleeping too?" She asks.

"Can I have another?” Lizzy requests instead again.

"Here," she says, filling her glass with the cold water.

"Thank you." She replies after emptying the content down her throat. She re-fills her glass the third time, and just like the first time, she emptied the contents.

“Do you want another?"

"No, thanks. I'm filled now." She drops her glass.

"Alright, now tell me what is in your mind and don't say it's nothing, cause I just watched you take three glasses at a go." Her mother quizzes.

"Well, it is nothing…Nothing much actually. It is just that I am, you know, worried about everything." She shrugs.

"Is that all?” Her mother asks with narrowed eyes, and she nodded in response.

"Well I don't know, everything has just been falling apart since I left you know who." She mumbles.

Lillian didn't say anything, out of shock or anything, but lately, she's been giving all these some serious thoughts herself.

Releasing her weight on the chair beside her daughter where she had settled, she sighed.

She spent the next few minutes watching Lizzy sigh, and relax back to one of the chairs, while they sat in solace.

For a moment, no one says anything. Confused on what to do, Lilliana rises from the chair, and then, begins to dart her eyes around.

"We need to be sure that she is not listening to us?" Lillian mutters as she hurries towards the door only to return back to her side moments later.

“Well, all I can say is that everything will be fine, I don't know how long all of this would take, but that, I assure you of." Lilliana promises with certainty.

"But for how long, Mom? How long would it take?" Lizzy asks when she finally finds the tongue to do so.

"It will be fine." She mumbles.

"I am just frustrated about all of these.” Lizzy snaps, already making her way towards the door.

“You can't keep going out each time you are angry, young lady!" Her mother hollers.

“Why?" Lizzy rages. She needed to walk it out as she normally does.

"Why? You're asking me that? Because it's too freaking early. Can't you see?" She reminds her.

"It's already four a m." Lizzy fires back, nodding at the wall clock hanging above the bed.

"But… It's still raining outside. Plus remember what happened the last time you did."

"Why is this an issue?" She barks. “I am just frustrated!"

"Come on, don't say that." Liliana groans, clearly hurt with her utterance.

"I'm being sincere here. Both of us know nothing is going to change, it's just a matter of time."

"Lizzy…"

"Yes, nothing is going to change whether it's sooner or later." She interrupts.

Pursing her lips, she begins to pace around the room with her hand on her waist. At least, she can let it all out this way.

When she heard footsteps, she turned around—

“Don't you guys sleep around here?" A woman drawls, yawning.

Back in Andrew's apartment…

The storm outside is raging, but it doesn't hold close to a candle like his heart. He is mad… mad with a bitter rage, as hell has already broken loose.

He was tense, because even at this moment, there was no news, nothing to explain Beatrice's sudden disappearance.

The sharp click of his boots echoes across the marble floor as he paces around the room, one hand clenched, the other shoved in his pocket. His jaw ticked, as he thought about it over and over.

The door opened and when Mason made it to the room, it took one look to know everything wasn't right.

“Yes?!" Andrew hollers.

“She’s gone,” Mason says quietly, but it did nothing to calm the fire in Andrew’s chest. Matter of fact, all it did was make him more mad with fury.

Andrew turned, his eyes growing darker while trying to understand the state of things. “That is not a word I like to hear Mason. Not from you.” he grits out.

Mason stands firm, but even he looks rattled. “She slipped past our men. It was clean and I still think that she got some kind of inside help.” Mason chimes in. "Their security was tight.”

“Clearly not tight enough,” Andrew growls.

The windows rattled slightly as thunder rolls in the distance, and all that fills the room now was this coldness even as the anger persisted.

Andrew stared at the table before him. There, a map of the city was splayed across the digital screen on the far wall, and his hands balls into tight fists! Inside that map… she could be anywhere!

Andrew runs a hand through his hair and exhales sharply. “She knows things. We can't just let her leave like that. She knows enough to make her useful to someone else.”

“You think she’s with Lizzy now?” Mason asks, voice measured.

The thought had crossed his mind and he had rebuffed it.

“I know Lizzy,” Andrew mutters. “If she finds the girl first, she’ll use her. Or worse, get emotionally attached like she always does when she thinks she’s in control.”

Mason says nothing. They both know Lizzy’s pride has already caused a mess once. If this girl had reached her, it was game over for them.

Andrew’s eyes darken as he thought about it.

“Send some of our men to check the street, we must find her!” Andrew orders.

“Yes, Master!” Mason replies.

“And sweep Lizzy’s apartment perimeter. Don’t go inside. Not yet. I want to know if there are any signs of her.”

Mason raises a brow. “Is that all, Master?”

Andrew didn’t answer right away. His mind was already racing.

“Yes, that will be all for now."

Mason salutes and matches out, leaving Andrew still in his dark state. His phone buzzed with a notification. It is from Baron.

He walks over to the desk and picks up a tablet, flipping through security footage that he had from the airport. His stormy blue eyes narrow at a still frame of the woman stepping into a dim alley.

“That is most definitely her.” he mutters, almost to himself. “We must find her.”

The other guard, Mace, watches him carefully as though waiting for an order himself. His heart is beating with fear from how murderous Andrew, mis master looks.

Andrew’s jaw twitches as he turns, commanding. “Leave no stones unturned! Find her, and If she’s out there, I want every corner flipped. Every shadow chased. If Lizzy’s keeping her safe, I want eyes on the apartment, roof to floor. If a curtain shifts, I want to know about it!”

“Understood.” he mutters.

Andrew stands still now, silent but boiling inside. He hated this… Someone has underestimated him again and this time, he had to put things in place. This time, it wouldn’t end with heartbreak.

It would end with war, if that's what they want!

Still alone, Andrew listens and watches as the rain has suddenly become a roar. He stands by the window and he can see the water streaming down the drain with the wind howling.

From the middle of the room, the sound of a crackling fire can be heard. He has started the fire to keep the room warm.

His jacket lay discarded on the back of a chair, his shirt sleeves rolled up. Veins and tattoos are displayed beneath his skin. The glass of whiskey in his hand had long gone warm, with the bottle empty and forgotten.

He stared down at nothing, just the empty streets that were vast.

Until now there was still nothing. Still no sign of the girl. Still no confirmation that Lizzy had her.

Somewhere in his heart, it feels like he has the answers. It is like he didn’t need the proof. He could feel it.

He turned, pacing again, slow.

"After everything I gave her, who gets a damn second chance?!" he mutters into silence.

He didn't realize he’d spoken aloud until his voice echoed off the stone walls of his luxurious room.

His lips curve up, a round of laughter slipping off of them. It is short, breathless. Not amusement. Something closer to anxiety and a certain realization.

Andrew thinks back to his days with her.

She had called him weak. Said he was suffocating her. Useless and all that. She said that he didn’t know how to love.

But what did she know about love?

Love wasn't warm hands and promises. It is like fire. It is power. It is the ability to destroy everything and still choose not to. Every single day.

And he chose her. He chose to be subjected to her torment. Again and again.

Even when she left. Even when she dragged his name through the dirt. Even when she pretended she didn’t still want him.

Even when she hated him, well, Andrew clenched his hands into tight fists. All that is in the past now.

Now, she has declared herself an enemy and he must treat her as such!

Now, she will learn what that truly meant. And she will learn the hard way!

He stops pacing, turning toward the black glass of the office window. His reflection stares back at him, distorted by the storm outside.

“She doesn’t understand yet,” he whispers. “But she will.”

He will take everything she cares about. Bit by bit. Till nothing is left.

He will unravel her piece by piece, until she beg to be put back together and he’ll be the only one who could. He’ll rip it all away.

She needed to learn. She needed to bleed. And he was going to let her do both.

Not because she hurt him, but because she thinks she can walk away and be free.

Lightning flashes again, and for a brief moment, his eyes burn with something dark and sinister.

Not rage. Not love. But this dangerous feeling that he himself has no name for.

He sets the glass down, picks up his phone and dials a number.

A pause, then a voice on the other end confirms the order.

Andrew leans back, exhaling slowly.

Then came the final command, whispered like a vow.

“Any news yet? Is there anything about her? …Is she with Lizzy?”

He asked all the questions all at once. Still all that came back to him was silence. Deep, disturbing silence.