Humans are strange…But the kindness that Josie showed me and her mother-like smiles and the worry in her eyes gave me a different kind of warmth that was so good. It would be nice to stay with her longer and listen to her talk about her daughter and her stories about her work but then I don’t want her to get involved in the trouble I am in and if anything bad happens to her, I will never forgive myself. The rain was starting to recede and the smell of the fresh forest overwhelmed my nose. I started to run again, mostly to regulate the heat in my body as I feel my lungs expand and burn more oxygen. My body shivers under the cold but Josie’s jacket gives me extra heat to fight it. The water splattered under my feet as I stepped on the wet grass, looking for the place where it all began. To find any trace of a door to another world where I must really belong. A place where I can find my mother… and the man in my memory that is called Benny. Maybe I’ll remember everything when I am fi
So many things happened but this is the most unexpected for me.To finally see the man who brought agony in my heart ever since he molested her! I will never forgive him to the deepest of my soul!“Motley!” Xeno screamed, his eyes are full of anger too, and just like me, there is deep resentment in his voice and I know immediately that he must be the one that Phillius ordered to kill his brother.As I call upon my remaining strength in my body, I spread my arms wide on both sides, and with the mana from the surrounding living things; the trees, grasses, the small animals, and critters around us, I called for their help to lend me their lifeforce so I could replenish mine. “Oh god, Here she is,” I heard Frix murmur and that gave me a different kind of confidence like they are expecting so much from me. As the mana swirled around me in green luminescence, the mana I gained overwhelmed my body and it lifted me a meter from the ground. My silver hair floated behind me as I absorbed the p
Xeno looked at me with a small smile on his lips, his mesmerizing eyes staring straight to mine as our hands slowly reached for each other, intertwined together like in a prayer."Are you ready?""Where you go, I'll go Xeno…" I lovingly replied to him, my eyes teary with unexplainable happiness. Yes, it's true. I'll go with him wherever he wants. I'll face everything that will try to separate us from each other again. And then I realized, that when I'm with him, I forget all the questions in my head. My past, my memories, everything. It's like I am whole brand-new when I'm with him. Existing only for him… And everything is just behind us now. Because I am excited to know what the future holds for both of us.Xeno and I stepped closer to the old, dark wall that was covered with molds and vines. As we got closer, only then did I notice that there was a circular door behind it made of old, almost rotting wood. My heart started beating faster… faster… until all I could only hear was the
W-what…The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes as it adjusted through the darkness was the silhouettes of human figures sitting on rocks in front of me. My head hurts so bad I could feel the throbbing of the veins on each side of the temple of my head.I tried to shift my position to stand up but I just realized that my feet and my hands are both tied behind me. Thankfully, the raincoat that Frix gave me is long enough to not expose too much of my thigh.Oh no… please… not again…!Did Phillius's men also jump desperately to the portal behind us? Where’s Xeno and the others they should also be here with me!Panic-stricken, the heavy breathing I made suddenly caught the attention of one of the men sitting in front of the fire between them. Their backs are on me while I am under a tree with strange thick red leaves that are surrounded by small flying, illuminating orbs circulating it.I watched the man walk towards me slowly, his feet dragging on the dusty ground. I couldn’t get a g
The ripping sound of the rope being cut by the sickle made me open my eyes in surprise. I quickly propped my hands on the ground to sit and crawl away from them. The expression on their faces changed, from being hostile looking to laughing, insane ones while all of them were cracking up. “Oh goodness, that was GOOD!” Markan exploded in laughter, so hard his nose snorted. His hands, on his belly. “You saw her face?! HAHA!” “Yeah, it’s like she’s going to have a heart attack!” Jasper cackled, wiping the edge of his eyes with his fingers. “Oh, Sherman! You scared the sh*t out of her!” “It never gets old, HEHE!” Sherman replied with a chuckle, his lips stretched into a wide grin that I could clearly see the gold on his teeth. He kneeled in front of me and took the rope from the ground, his eyes gentle and staring at my bewildered face. What the hell is really happening here?! “What’s going on!?” I yelled at the three of them. The surroundings are getting darker and the cold breeze se
“Kelly! Kelly, wake up!” Uhhhh… I could hear the ringing in my ears as I propped my arms on the hard, rough ground. I felt warm sticky liquid above the left side of my ear. Great. I’m bleeding. Grimacing in pain, I slowly opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was my little brother’s worried face. My brows furrowed. I hate when I see him looking so vulnerable like this. It’s been years since I stopped telling him not to cry like an eight-year-old kid but he still couldn’t help himself when it comes to the people important to him. “Stop crying, Frix,” I murmured in pain and winced after I leaned against a cold boulder behind me. “You are making yourself look ridiculous,” “I-I’m sorry… It’s just—” I weakly lift my face to look clearly at Xeno who is busy fishing something in one of the rucksacks in front of me. The boulder served as a good cover for us, away from the eyes of any hostile creatures in this area. We can’t afford to be too careless when Phillius’s men are still hunt
“How long have we been staying here already?”“I-I am not sure. I don’t think there’s daylight here. I have no idea how time works here,” Frix answered, pulling the side of his mouth to his cheek. He does that a lot when he is feeling inferior to himself. His head is lowered as he looks down on the dirt while scribbling something on it using a small stick he must have picked up somewhere near here.I sigh. “I’m fine, Frix.” I looked at him as gently as I could. “You know I never like seeing you so upset like this.”“Yeah… I just… I was so scared when I saw your arm, Kelly!”I look at him on the edge of my eyes and chuckle, amused that even though it’s been years since I’ve been serving as one of the soldiers of the Clan, it still doesn’t sink to him that there are times when I get injuries far worst than this. “Well, it’s nothing compared to what I have dealt with, two years ago. Remember when I almost lost my left leg when I failed to dodge a third-tier demon claw?”He looked at me,
I feel bad that we have to leave Xeno but I left a small note for him, at the top of his rucksack. I placed a stone on top of the small paper in hope that it won’t get carried away by the wind. Good thing I can still walk without any help from Frix or the stranger guy who introduced himself as William. Xeno’s work on the tourniquet on my hand made it easy for me to move. The cloth that supports my arm prevents me from feeling the pain on the part just below my shoulder, a few inches where the infection stopped. There is this throbbing sensation in my arm which makes me scared. I never want to overthink but I hope this is not the kind of poison that ruptures the muscles and then bursts like over ripe papaya.I shivered at the thought.[Kelly? Are you ok?][Yeah… Don’t worry too much about me. We have to hurry so we can go back before Xeno finds out we’re not on the spot where he left us,] I replied to Frix as we converse in our minds, wary about the stranger. After we lied that we we
“Darn it, Sapphire. Stop ruining your make-up. Please hold your tears back until the end of the ceremony,” Kelly scolded me. It was a bit funny though because when she was the one whose tears flowed incessantly down her cheeks as she watched the problematic makeup artist reapply the foundation on my cheeks.“Oh Kelly…” I helplessly looked at her as she wiped her face with a white handkerchief on the mirror, “Please don’t make me too nervous. I feel like I am already sick in my stomach thinking about the expectations of the people outside,”“You don’t have to think about any of them, Sapphire,” Ava uttered as she arranged the beautiful bouquet of white roses in her hands, “You just have to look straight in the aisle and just focus on Xeno. Just focus on him and breathe slowly and calmly. You will be alright,” she advised and held both hers and Kelly’s hand to ease the nervous feeling in my chest. They both gave me an encouraging smile as they helped me with my gown after the makeup art
Everyone was busy preparing for the wedding and volunteered to decorate the whole garden with white roses because they all knew it was always my favorite. Kelly has been busy managing the event with Ava because they want it to be perfect for me. Although they never wanted me in the venue, I still insisted on helping With the decorating because there are not many things to do in this place for me and I never want to go shopping just like Kelly suggested. I would rather stay here and be with them after Felrim gave me the very good news that he will bring my parents and my brother on the day of my wedding.And Xeno has been very busy with other stuff but he decided to delay all his meetings and stay with me the whole day today, organizing and arranging things to my liking. Kelly has been a great organizer though. I guess it was a talent she has been hiding from everyone and I believe it will open a great opportunity for her in the future. She’s a reliable person when you plan parties and
“I have never seen you blooming like this before, Sapphire. What happened?” Kelly asked me teasingly while giggling after she wrapped her arm around my arm and we both walked inside the Clarkson Mansion's garden. After the long trip from the villa back to this place, Xeno became too busy from all the meetings he arranged with all the advisors and staff of their family business and the people of his Clan. He finally embraced his destiny as the new Alpha and many are pleased that he is back, believing that peace will be eventually restored for all the people of the Clan. The ones who were not happy, the people who were loyal to Phillius had already made their exit and that was much better because Xeno believes that opposition in this pack will not be tolerated, especially since those people rely on Phillius’s greed after receiving so many gifts from Phillius just to gain all their support against Xeno.But now that my fiance is in charge, there is no way Xeno would let them continue t
"I can't believe it's almost over, Xeno. That I can finally sleep at night peacefully, without being scared someone would take me away from you again.""I will never let that happen again, baby. Never again, I swear," he whispered to me as he brushed away the strands of hair straying on my face. The party was a blast and I am happy that everyone finally got to enjoy their night even after Phillius suddenly appeared and surrendered himself to the Faes. And despite that Kelly declined Xeno’s offer to take over the Clan, I guess Xeno has no choice but to stay in that Mansion and manage everything until his father returns. I just can’t tell him that it’s ok for me if he would become the Alpha of his Clan but I know that he still has this trauma from his ancestors that he wants to run away from. But that pack was his legacy and so many of his people are counting on him for the changes that their pack needs. And I believe that Xeno is the kind of Alpha their Clan needs. He has more compass
“What is happening?”I didn’t notice that Xeno was already behind me when the three Faes came for Phillius. The confusion was etched all over his face as he looked at the three guards and then at his twin brother who batted an eye at the concerned expression on his face.“Don’t be too flustered, Xeno. I finally dare to face all the things that I did. You are right. Death is not the end of everything so I am hoping we could still see each other if I ever still have the chance to see both of you in the Realm of the Immortal,” Phillius smiled at his twin brother, his eyes full of peacefulness where I never saw any heavy or dark malice in them anymore. It was as if the antidote gave him a rebirth into a person that is now far from the evil’s grasp.“No Phillius… wait—”“No. Xeno,” Phillius furiously yelled at him, but there is no anger in his eyes but pain. I can see clearly that Phillius still doesn’t want to go and that he is scared that he will really be able to see Xeno once he enters
“Phillius—”Xeno’s hands quickly pulled me against him as if he had seen a monster from his nightmare. But I cannot blame him. Phillius indeed came back to his immaculate beauty. His hair was back to its golden color and shone under the lights of the chandelier, his body bulked and grew muscular once again, and his eyes were bright blue as if he had never experienced suffering from the curse all his life. He stood straight in his regal suit with all his focus on me while setting down the spoon and the glass of wine on the table. I never expected it but he smiled at both Xeno and me like he was a different person. All of us in the dining hall froze and even the musicians stopped playing music when all of them saw the terror on all of our faces.“I am sorry to interrupt the party but there is something I need to discuss with Sapphire,” he looked at Xeno with a humble smile which surprised both of us, “If that is okay with you, my twin brother.”Phillius' eyes were steady as he stared a
“Xeno.”“Kelly. I am glad you have already decided. Whatever it is, I want to let you know I respect it.” Xeno pat Kelly and William’s shoulder, “I support you guys whatever it is you want with your life. I am just happy that you’re here for Sapphire and me.”“You know we have been with you since the very start, Master Xeno,” Frix smiled at him and looked at me as he pursed his lips with a smile, “You have no idea how happy I am now that you’re both finally together again. You both have already gone through a lot, and we all witnessed your faith in each other.”“Wow, Frix, that was really touchy!” I chuckled at him and he just winked at me and pat Xeno on the shoulder. Kelly and I’s eyes caught each other and I knew right away that she was nervous to the core. She kept on pulling her fingers and puffing her cheeks as she blew out air, trying to ease the perturbation she felt in her chest. We all decided to make this night a formal theme to celebrate Kelly’s birthday. I didn’t know it
I can’t stay in the hallway and listen to what Xeno and the Fae talk about. I am too scared of what I might learn about Xeno’s past or maybe I just don’t want to hear the pain in his voice every time he has to explain it to the Fae to clear his name. I know this will not be easy for all of us now that the Immortal Realm is working on the matter after Felrim spilled everything to the authorities in that place. I cannot blame him though. He has to explain to them the things that happened to him and the reason why he was gone for so many centuries. I know that time was not too long for Faes who have eternity to live. But that must still be suspicious to them since they went here to check on me and make Phillius pay for all the horrible things that he had done to me and the other Faes that became his victim.Feeling lost in my thoughts, I found myself stepping inside the room where Phillius was sleeping. At first, I didn't know why my feet brought me here. It’s like my head was full of c
I can’t believe what Frix has just said.With a frantic heart, I quickly ran towards the house's main hall, expecting to see Felrim again. But why am I feeling too scared this time? Is it the fact that maybe they might not allow Xeno to go with me if they ever force that I have to go back to the Immortal Lands because I no longer should be in the mortal realm?My silver hair danced behind me as Kelly and I rushed to where the Faes that Frix was wheezing about. At first, I thought it was Felrim who was standing tall and straight in the middle of the hallway because he also had long silver hair as I have. But when the Fae turned to look in our direction, it was a different Fae and my heart suddenly shrank because there must be two reasons they are here. It is either about Phillius, or me. I didn’t realize there are two of them until I scanned the whole area.“Sapphire—”Another silver-haired Fae appeared from the other side of the hallways and was talking with Xeno, whose eyes automatic