Chapter 2: Succumbing to Fate

Heli's Point of View

IT WAS a bad idea to go to the private sitting room. I should've gone to the library like I originally intended to do. Now I'm forced to endure my mother's neverending reprimanding.

"What were you thinking, going to the human world dressed like that?!" Mother frowned at me. "Don't you know how much attention that cape would attract? No one wears that kind of clothing anymore!"

I refrained myself from sighing because that would irritate her even more. Father might lock me in my room if Mother came running to him, telling how much of an insolent child I am acting again.

"No one saw me, Mother. Everyone's inside that house," I said.

"Still! What if someone comes out?" Mother insisted. "You have to be careful when going to the human world, Helios. You should know how to blend with those humans. I'll have Hendrix and his mate teach you."

"What? I don't have time for lessons! I should be convincing my mate to come with me here," I protested, frowning.

"How can you convince your mate if you don't even know how to act around her?" Mother asked, which rendered me silent. "See? This is why I've told you before to learn some things about the human world. So when the time comes it's time for you to meet your mate, you will be prepared. But what did you do? You keep on playing with different people, sleeping around like a man with no dreams and aspirations in life."

I scowled, looking down on the floor. I admit I've lived so free and wild because my parents never restricted me to so many rules like they do with others— probably because I'm the youngest. So I took advantage of my freedom and did what I wanted to do.

But back then, I really hated the idea of the Crystal of Fate. I hate when someone dictates what I should do, which is why my parents have always been lenient on me. And when I learned that the Crystal dictates who my mate is, I hated it even more.

Like what do you mean I have someone fated to be with me for eternity? There's no way something like that exists. Why would I be with someone that a random Crystal with no knowledge of its origin says? Not even my parents dictated what I should do. So why would I follow this Crystal?

I didn't come home for three days when the Crystal appeared again after five decades to show who my mate was. I slept around with people, partying at the outer village, and even played in a duel.

But I couldn't pretend to not feel the strange pull on my chest. I know what it is because my siblings and parents told me all about it, but I still tried to resist it. There's no fucking way I'd let the Crystal win by manipulating me to see who my mate is. I will waste that month and let our connection break. I won't succumb to this stupidity.

What I forgot to account for in this world was that anything unknown to you is something you should fear and something you should never cross, because there's always something dangerous in anonymity.

So on the fourth day of not going home, I woke up after a strange dream, feeling so thirsty and something in my chest constricted. I couldn't remember my dream, but there was something about it that was urging me to go home. Of course, I remained stubborn about it. I drank on other people to quench my thirst, but I just spat out their blood. Their blood tasted so bad! I couldn't stomach it at all.

I got confused. I'm aware that everyone has their own taste in people's blood, but it's never been this bad before. There's always someone whose blood is sweeter and more delicious, but there was never a time before that made everyone's blood taste awful.

I came to one conclusion then: it's the Crystal's doing.

That thought enrages me so much that I went back to the palace to destroy it once and for all. I had forgotten why I hadn't come home since the Crystal appeared.

So when I entered the Royal Vault and saw the image of a very beautiful man on the Crystal, I froze. I just stepped inside the room and I had already been trapped by whatever magic the Crystal has.

I was just staring at the man as he laughed with so many people while holding a glass containing something which I assumed was alcohol. He was lifting it up while swaying his body along with the people surrounding him.

It took me a few minutes of staring before I realised my mate was dancing. He must have been at a party or something. All the people around him wear revealing clothes or those black shiny ones that I have no idea what kind of clothing, but my mate is just wearing a simple white shirt and jeans, his hair tousled in a way that seemed purposefully done.

He... looked absolutely stunning. He's so beautiful that it rendered me speechless and left me mesmerized for almost half an hour. I couldn't get enough of watching him dance and laugh even though a part of me wanted to strangle the people around him for standing too close and clinging on to my mate. How dare they?

I was jolted back to reality when I heard my mother's voice saying 'finally', and only then did I realise I had succumbed to the Crystal of Fate.

But even then, I still tried to resist its pull on my chest. The Crystal was urging me to come to the human world and meet my mate, but I resisted it for an hour before I eventually yielded. Without telling anyone else, I traveled into the human world and started observing my beautiful mate.

The image that the Crystal showed me didn't give justice to how he looks in real life. He's glowing among all those gray stones around him, and he catches attention everywhere he goes. He's always surrounded by different people at their school. When he's outside, he only hangs out with them for an hour or two before he goes home where he lives with his grandparents.

What ended my resistance was when I smelled his blood.

He's hanging out with the usual group of boys he's always with in their classroom. I was hidden at the back of the room using the invisibility stone that my grandparents invented three centuries ago. It could hide me but not my scent and noise, so I have to stay still and quiet.

A girl approached my mate, her face blushing profusely as she handed a drink to him. When my mate took it and thanked her, she fled without responding. Once she left the room, the boys had started teasing my mate and then they kept pushing him around until my mate fell on the floor and his hand grazed onto something.

My nose flared up at the strong scent of blood that surrounded the whole room. It was so alluring that I almost lost control, if it weren't for those boys apologising to my mate and checking the wound on his hand.

When I saw his wound was bleeding, I instantly fled from the room. If I stayed there knowing it was my mate's blood, I'd lose control.

The scent of blood is haunting me, as if telling me it's the only blood I'll ever need in this life. And then I realised, that must be why everyone else's blood tasted so awful.

Because my body will only accept one person's blood— my mate's. All because the Crystal decided it for me.

Much to my surprise though, I wasn't as enraged as I would've been before. My mind kept thinking, why should I drink someone else's blood when my mate's blood already smells so alluring and intoxicating? What more if I taste it? I'll just have to find a way to convince him to come with me to our world, because he has no place here in the human world.

His place is in my arms. Not anywhere else.

So once I cooled down my thirst, I returned to my previous place and observed him.

From all the tasks my parents have given, I think it would all pale when compared to observing my human mate’s life. They were difficult tasks, yes— but none of it had made me feel anything like this. My chest feels like there’s a tornado whirling around, wrecking every part of my heart and sending my mind into a frenzy.

Everyone that my mate interacts with is so fucking obvious about their attraction to him. May it be boys or girls— they’re all eyeing him as if he hung the moon for them.

My mate is this popular and beloved. Fuck, I’ll have to take him home as soon as possible. I don’t want to kill any human just because I’m fucking jealous.

And isn’t that ironic? What a slap of reality it is to me.

Just a week ago, I promised everyone— including myself— that I would never let the Crystal win. That I will not succumb to its manipulations. That I will not follow the fate it decided for me.

But here I am, cold-blooded in my anger and jealousy over these oversize infants who are salivating over my extremely gorgeous mate.

Now, I have a new promise to everyone. A promise I intend to follow at all costs.

I will bring my mate home. I will return to the palace with Akiro Valerian Freniere. No matter what.