>>Amber
I couldn’t believe my eyes.
I ran through the forest, my heart pounding in my chest, driven by an urgent need to reach them. As I neared the clearing, the scene unfolding before made my breath catch in my throat.
He was there, his arms outstretched as his mother, already in a sitting position, began to fall forward. Just as she was about to hit the ground, he lunged forward, catching her just in ti.
I stopped in my tracks, watching him hold her, her frail form cradled in his arms. For a fleeting mont, it seed almost serene, but then sothing unimaginable happened. The light in her eyes faded, leaving only emptiness.
Wait, what is happening? I wasn’t far from him but I couldn’t bring myself to go to him at that mont.
"Mom," He called out to her and that surprised . There was a vulnerability in his eyes.
I noticed the blood going down from her throat, staining her pretty white dress, creating an eerie design on it that almost looked artistic.
"Mom?" My heart ached as I watched him wide-eyed. I have no idea what happened here but Hael looked so utterly confused and defeated, I could feel that it was traumatic for him.
Then to make things worse, sothing I could never have imagined happened.
Her body began to go limp, and before my very eyes, her skin started to crumble, turning to sand that slipped through his fingers.
My eyes went further wide. I watched, helpless, as he tried to scoop up the sand, frantically attempting to keep it together, but it was no use. The more he grasped, the faster it seed to slip away.
I could see his face, a mask of horror and despair, as he stared at his hands, now coated in the gritty remnants of what had been his mother.
I felt my chest constrict in pain that I felt for him.
The scene was surreal, like a nightmare brought to life. His mother’s form had dissolved into a mound of dust, pooling on the ground, leaving him with nothing but the mory of her final monts.
He looked utterly lost. The weight of the loss and the impossibility of what had just happened seed to crash down on him, leaving him kneeling in the clearing, his hands began to tremble as he kept staring at them.
I stood there,
As I watched him, I felt a profound sense of helplessness. His expressions were so raw, so overpowering, that it made want to reach out to him. I had never seen such a vulnerable face on him.
Never
He didn’t make an expression like that when I used the heart stone on him and he almost died.
The first drops of rain began to fall, cold and heavy, splashing onto the blood-soaked ground. The wind made our hair flutter and for so reason it felt extra cold.
And then I felt soone co and stand next to with her eyes on Hael.
I spared her a glance.
It was Helena.
Her eyes held anger, she balled her fists and the air around her crackled, "That bastard!!" Her eyes turned red in fury, "He killed her!"
She was ready to go and fight him and that scared the shit out of .
I ca in front of her, spreading my arms wide to stop her
"He didn’t do it," I said, "It wasn’t him!" I looked straight into her eyes.
Helena’s eyes moved to and I felt a shudder go down my spine, "It wasn’t him!!?" Her voice was thunderous and as she spoke, lightning struck the sky. The rain began to pour down, softly at first, "Then how the hell is she dead?!"
I shook my head at her, "I know it wasn’t him." I may not have seen what happened, "Look at him! He looks devastated!" I yelled, "If he had killed her, he wouldn’t be mourning for her!" Her fury filled eyes traveled from looking down at , to looking above , at Hael. It was also a mont where I realized how much taller she was compared to .
I kept my stance and turned my head around to see him.
He sat them with the bloody dress clutched in his hands. His head was down and his bangs covered the upper half of his face.
"That dagger," Helena said and I looked back at her. She had her eyes on sothing on the ground, "That’s Hestia’s..." Her anger seed to have cald down.
Hesitantly, and slowly, I let my arms down while I kept looking at the Queen. Then I turned my head and looked at the blade she was referring to. I noticed one on the ground near Hael.
It was made of silver and the hilt and the grip had patterns carved in it. Patterns similar to what I saw in the palace, there was delicate filigree.
"That’s right," I heard Callon’s voice. He ca and joined us and while Helena didn’t turn to look at him as he ca and stood beside her, I saw him and saw how his eyes were glowing like honey.
Looking at that surprised but I didn’t say anything.
"What happened here?" Helena asked, her eyes fixed on Hael, "Did she kill herself?" My heart jumped at her words.
Kill herself?
Well, that explains it.
"Unfortunately," Callon replied confidently. I stared at him and he noticed. He looked at , and pointed at his eyes, "I can see the events that happened until a few hours ago." The glow faded away, "It’s a special magic of mine."
"Oh," I then turned to look at Hael.
I’m glad
I’m really glad it wasn’t him who killed her. But at the sa ti, it was upsetting that she did that to herself. And in front of Hael at that.
She was the root of his problems and even at the end she seems to have given him trauma.
I watched Hael, he was completely drenched in the rain like the rest of us, but he didn’t dare move from his place.
Then, driven by an instinct I couldn’t quite na, I moved forward and approached him.
"Hael," I called out his na but he didn’t respond. He didn’t even look up at .
I knelt beside him and wrapped my arms around him, pulling him into an embrace. The cold from the rain seeped into us, but I held him tighter, trying to shield him from the world.
For the longest ti, he didn’t move. I could feel the tension in his body, the overwhelming weight of his grief. The rain soaked through our clothes, making the cold seep deeper into our bones. But I didn’t let go. I couldn’t.
Seconds passed just like that. Helena and Callon didn’t move, they chose to stay away.
Eventually, I felt his hands around , hesitantly at first, then tightening as he clung to . I felt the dress he was holding as well. He didn’t let it go
I felt his sorrow, the pain, and how cruel the world is to him.
The rain poured down heavily, a relentless curtain that seed to wash away everything but this mont.
I wanted to tell him that it was alright. But what was alright? Nothing. His mother died. And even though he despised her, I can tell that so part of him, so tiny part of him, hidden behind everything else, still wanted her.
Behind all his exterior, his poker and blank faces, that big build and being the most powerful mage, there was still a little child who longed for his mother.
I can tell because of how he called out to her when he caught her in her arms,
I couldn’t control my tears, I felt them sting in the corner of my eyes. I pursed my lips trying to stop them but they still ca pouring out.
The forest around us seed to blur into a hazy, rain-soaked landscape,
I broke the hug, pulling back slightly to look at him while he kept his hands on . His face was a mask of despair, his eyes empty and devoid of life. Gently, I cupped his cheeks with my hands, feeling the coldness of his skin beneath my touch.
"I’m here," I said, my voice barely more than a whisper. My tears mingled with the rain, streaming down my face as I gazed into his empty eyes. "I’m here, and I won’t leave you."
His eyes searched mine, the raw vulnerability in them almost too much to bear. I could see the pain etched deep within him, a wound that seed impossible to heal. The rain continued to fall, the sound of it a steady backdrop to our shared silence.
"You don’t have to go through this alone," I continued, my voice trembling with emotion. "We’ll get through this together."
His expression didn’t change, but there was a flicker of sothing in his eyes—maybe a glimr of hope, or at least a recognition of the words I was saying. I leaned in closer, my forehead almost touching his, my tears still falling.
"I promise," I said, my voice breaking.
The rain seed to intensify, a relentless downpour that mirrored the intensity of the mont. Our faces were so close that I could feel his breath on my lips, warm and uneven. The world around us faded away, leaving just the two of us in this fragile, intimate space.
We were so close that our lips almost touched. For a mont, I lost myself in the closeness, in the shared vulnerability of our connection. His eyes, so empty just monts before, seed to soften, and I could feel the pull between us, an unspoken bond that defied the chaos of the world around us.
Reviews
All reviews (0)