Two depressed souls

Basura extended his hand towards Astra for a handshake. Astra looked at his face, wanting to punch it. But he controlled his urges and eventually shook his hand.

Basura was a fit-looking man. He wasn't buff but his body's outline could be seen from his shirt. He wore the university uniform but without the blazer. His height was slightly taller than Astra's and his hair was golden as the sun. Seeing his perfect face and teeth, Astra wanted to punch him even more.

Aura broke their handshake and stood between them "What do you want Basura?"

"You can at least pretend to be happy," said Basura as rolled his eyes.

"Just get to the point" Aura said sternly.

"It's obvious I'm not welcome here so I'll skip the greetings" Basura's expression turned serious "Our fathers are meeting to discuss the marriage date. They want us to be there" After relaying the news he left.

Aura sighed and sat down on the bench. Astra sat down next to her. She leaned closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder "Let's run away..." Astra wasn't surprised that she said this because he has also had the same thoughts. But this was just wishful thinking.

Aura and Basura'a grandfathers were strong enough to destroy entire galaxies. Even if they did run away, they would have to live in constant fear of getting found. This was not what he wanted for Aura. He wanted her to be happy, not scared every second of her life.

They sat in silence for a few minutes. She lifted her head off his shoulder and looked seriously into his eyes "You should forget about me. After I get married I don't even know if we'll be able to meet again or not. I don't wanna hurt you more than I already have to fulfill my selfish desires".

Seeing Aura cry, shattered Astra's heart. He wanted to kiss her and tell her that everything was going to be alright, that he was always going to be with her. But that would be lying. He was weak and couldn't even give her false hope. He could only hug her and provide a shoulder for her to cry on.

__________

Astra lay awake in his bed. Every time he tried to sleep, thoughts about Aura filled him with anger and despair. He had felt this way before. It was when his grandfather died, he thought that he would always stay alone after that. But everything changed when he met Aura, but even she was leaving him now. Maybe he didn't deserve happiness.

Astra decided to go outside for some fresh air. While walking around the campus, he stumbled into the noble housing section. This section had huge mansions that only members of the nobility of both, the divinity race and the Rakshasa race could reside in.

There are three main races, The divinity race, The rakshasa race, and the mortal race. There are also millions of different sub-races scattered throughout the three realms. The divinity race and Rakshasa race were the strongest of the three due to their ability to manipulate mana. Only a chosen few mortal races had this ability but they still couldn't be compared to the other two races.

The biggest and the only difference between the divinity race and the Rakshasa race was their difference in Mana sources. There are two kinds of mana sources. First is The Spirit Of Sin aka demonic mana. The rakshasa race uses this type of mana. The second type of mana is used by the Divinity race. They use the Zeal Of Faith or Holy mana.

No one knows the real source of these two mana types. But some theories state that mana is released by emotions. Some theories also state that one's emotions can even influence their mana signature.

Astra walked alone through the noble section and stumbled upon a party. People with formal dresses were coming in and out. He also decided to go to the party, hoping to find some alcoholic drink to numb his brain. After ascending and becoming a member of the divinity race. Normal drugs and poisons stopped having any effect on him.

Astra noticed Raven standing beneath a tree a few meters away and staring at the party. He decided to surprise her. He sneakily approached her from behind "BOO"

Raven had, for the first time in her life, received an invitation to a party. At first, she decided to ignore it but ended up going anyway. She wore her robe to hide the crystal in her forehead and headed out. After reaching the party, She got cold feet. She wanted to go inside and have fun for once in her life, but she was scared.

As she was about to return to her room, Something jumped at her.

She punched the thing that jumped her out of instinct. Astra had forgotten that not everyone would scream when scared like his grandfather. Since he wasn't expecting it, he went flying and crashed a few meters away. It's good that she didn't use magic or he would've died.

"That didn't go as planned" Raven heard a familiar voice coming from the crash site. She was surprised to see Astra walking towards her while rubbing his bruised chest.

"What do you want?" Said raven, rude as ever. Astra didn't think much about it. "I came here looking for some drinks. What are you doing here?" Not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable, He didn't go too close to her.

"I was invited," said Raven.

"Then what are you doing out here, so far away from where the party is?" inquired Astra.

"I do not wish to attend". Although this didn't answer his question. He was happy that she was at least talking to him. Astra sat beneath the tree and patted the ground next to him, signaling Raven to sit there.

"Why should I?" asked Raven

"Cause I wanna talk to you," Said Astra with the most friendly smile he could make. This surprised Raven, Not his straightforwardness but that he wanted to talk to her.

After suspiciously looking at him for a second, she gave in and sat next to him. Astra smiled and asked "Why were you staring at the party and not going in"

"As I said I do not wi-" Astra interrupted her in the middle of her sentence. "I want to know the real reason. If you didn't want to go inside, why did you even come all the way here?"

When Raven didn't say anything for a few minutes, Astra thought that maybe he shouldn't have asked that. But after some time she said.

"I- I was scared" Raven pulled her knees up and hid her face in them. "I was scared they would say horrible things to me again. Tell me to die again" after a brief pause she continued "call me a monster... again. Maybe I should just die as they all want me to." The more she spoke the harder she pressed against her knees.

Astra didn't say anything or tried to console her. He leaned back and rested his head on the tree. A sad smile appeared on his face "The girl I love is getting married to someone else". Raven picked up her head from her knees and looked at him.

"Her marriage was decided before she was even birthed. Even though we love each other we can't be together. I have never felt so powerless and pathetic before" Astra hid his Depressed expression in his hands. He truly regretted his decision of drinking Ichor and ascending. At that time he thought that he would find someone else. But the more time he spent with her the more he fell for her. After his grandfather, she was the only person he liked spending time with.

No one was ever there to console Raven whenever she cried. She always tried to put up a brave front but inside she was just a 17-year-old kid. She also wanted to be loved and be told false words of hope. When she looked at Astra It reminded her of her younger herself.

She wrapped her arms around his body and whispered words of comfort. She treated him like she wanted to be treated whenever she was crying.

Astra was surprised when Raven suddenly hugged him and started whispering 'Everything is going to be alright' or 'I'm here for you. He was even more surprised when she started crying. He smiled and wrapped his arms around her shaking body. He laid her head on his chest.

Both depressed souls sat under the tree, trying to comfort each other.