8 UNEDITED VERSION

My feet begin to hurt me from all the running but I believe that I can manage.

Thank Boreas the man that is trying to hurt me by shooting ice from his hands keep missing his target.

I am his target.

What worries me is what if he manages to hit me, how bad will it hurt?

What will happen to me?

Will I freeze?

I follow Arcotos to use the similar twists and turns we usually used to lose Felicity in the forest whenever she's chasing me trying to get me to return to the castle to learn what the elders want to teach me but this man is proving difficult.

Now, I really wish I paid attention to the elder that teaches me and Selene with the scrolls of the knowledge of beings.

If I did by now I should have known exactly what this man is and I could have understood his powers and weaknesses, then maybe I could have been able to get away from him.

To be very honest I know about very few beings that live in Mu.

I don't know everything about them only their names and what they do but not their way of life and how they work on a day-to-day basis.

I'm supposed to know because as a ruler I would at some point when my people need certain things that we don't have on our land I would have to know which being to get it from.

It would be a major sign of disrespect to not have proper knowledge of the other being you want to deal with.

No wonder grandmother and Felicity are always telling me to learn and listen to the elders.

Even if I had learnt everything would I have been a good leader?

In fact, the real question is do I want the throne?

It's terribly difficult to be the queen. I can't play, I can't run in the forest with Arcotos and I won't always be allowed the opportunity to be around Aria, Selene, Grandmother and Dion.

I would end up like my dead father, uncle and his wife, they are almost never around only once in a blue moon that they would join the rest of us for dinner.

I don't know in full details exactly what they do that keeps them away from the rest of us for so long. Soon I will find out.

I think.

Soon the trees give way to the clearing with low grasses just like a meadow but with a lake in the centre.

I do my best to push myself forward to dive into the water before he sees me.

My legs and my chest feels like they're burning, I usually run in the forest but never for this long and especially for the reason of trying to get away from someone that wants to harm me.

Maybe we should have just waited in the hidden passage, I wouldn't be running now if we were safely in that place.

I swallow a huge gulp of air as I limp into the air and dive hands first into the water just at the right moment because any moment from now he too would break out from the confines of the forest.

The water is very dark and I'm not sure if Arcotos is hiding or if he's in the water too because I can't open my eyes underwater.

I just hope he's alright.

My lungs begin to hurt and burn the more I stay here, and I am not sure if I should come up to the surface yet.

He may still be in the area and I can't tell if he is or not because I can't hear anything due to the water I'm submerged in.

But if I stay in here for long there's no doubt in me that I'll drown, so I will quietly go up to take some air then go back down.

Slowly I do my best to move from the bottom of the shallow part of the lake to the surface without disturbing the water to the point it would draw attention to me.

I manage to get to the top and as much as I can I quietly release the breath I was fighting to hold.

My right hand comes out of the lake to clean the water droplets off my face that are blurring my vision.

Once my sight comes back to me and I could finally make out the surroundings I see no one and begin to make my way out of the water.

"Hey! You there!" Immediately I hear his voice I jump back into the water without looking at the owner of the voice.

I don't know why I would do that, he could jump in and find me.

I've submerged in darkness again but this time I wasn't prepared to take in enough air.

Strange enough he didn't dive into the water with me.

But he saw me in the water, so why would he not jump in to get me?

Maybe his kind doesn't like cold water? Or water at all?

My throat and lungs hurt a lot and I have no other choice but to come up for air.

I push myself upward and where there should be air above the water surface there's something solid and cold.

I use my body to push harder at it but it won't move.

For the first in my life underwater I open my eyes only to see white ice above me and directly on top the water.

The fear that grips me came so strong that I scream but instead of sounds to come out water flows into my mouth and chokes me.

I keep hitting the ice.

Maybe he would take pity on me and let me out?

If I stay in here much longer I'd drown! I'm not ready to drown!

Soon my hands begin to burn along with my lungs and nose. Water goes throw my mouth, nose and ear taking the breath of life that was given to me away.

Slowly and painfully my eyes begin to close as I feel myself lose strength and will to live.

My eyes close and darkness consumes me as I feel my soul leaving my dying body that's sinking to the bottom of the dark lake.

The last thing I think of is that I won't see my family again and no one would find me here.

Never in my life did I think I would die so early and in this way.

I accept the cold hands of death with open arms and I feel him lift my soul out of the water to dry land.

My body feels like it's floating yet still. Is this what it feels like to die? Is this what my father and mother felt when they died in the sea on their way back on a voyage?

Suddenly, I feel a large hand on my chest pushing into me with some force.

And then a mouth covers mine blowing air into my lungs that needs air and not water.

This continues for a while but I still feel sleepy and I want to sleep.

"Aadya!" What? Who's calling me? I can't see anything. What's going on? Why is dying so confusing?

If I'm dying early why can't I have a peaceful non-confusing death?

"Aadya please wake up! Don't go!" I know that voice but I can't remember where I heard it from.

"Aadya, please! I need you, don't do this to me!" Dion?

Does he need me?

What's Dion doing in my head? What's going on?

"Aadya please wake up! Open your eyes, if you won't do it for me then do it for your family!" My family?

My family needs me, it would completely crush their spirit if I die and how can I give up so easily.

With the very little strength, I have left I open my eyes but I can't really see anything.

My vision is hazy but soon I make out the night sky that has stars sparkling and it seems as though they are smiling down on me.

"Aadya! My Boreas! You scared the life out of me!" Before I could process anything further I feel him holding me tight against his body as he kept sending thanks and praises to Boreas.

My lips part to say something, instead water spewed out of my mouth and nose as I cough the water out of my body.

"It's alright you're fine." The skin on my back is well aware of the attention it's receiving from his hands.

"What happened?" My voice is unrecognizable to my own ears and I wonder if he heard me because it sounded so dry and my throat feels sore.

"Arcotos found me, I knew something was terribly wrong when I didn't see you with him, he then led me here and began to scratch the surface of the frozen lake.

Undoubtedly, I knew you were in there, I was so confused, I had an idea, so I used a rock to break the ice and I got to you just in time. I don't know what I would have done if I lost you." Dion is crying? I've never seen him cry before.

He's crying because he thought I would have died?

"Dion, I'm fine, I'm here now, you saved my life, I don't know how to tell you thank you." His arms reach out and pull me back into him as he engulfs my body in a hug while I sit awkwardly on the forest floor.

I'm beyond glad the man that shoots ice from his hands didn't see Dion, he could have hurt him.

"How did you get in there in the first place? And most importantly, how is a lake completely frozen over in the middle of a summer night?" My eyes on their own accord move from his green eyes to the lake to see every inch of the surface is covered with thick ice.

I'm left wondering how he managed to break through ice that's as thick as a brick.

The ice is white and shiny, a strong contrast to the dark green grass that looks black under the night sky.

A large hole sits obviously near the edge of the frozen lake where Dion obviously broke into it to bring me out.

I don't think I feel anything about the thought of being so close to death.

"Aadya!" My head snaps back to look into Dion's eyes.

"Huh?"

"I asked what happened here."

"A man that shoots ice from his hands was chasing me and I tried hiding in the lake, but he saw me, I think he froze the water with his power." His hands reach up to my face to brush some strands of hair from my face to the back of my ear.

My heartbeat speeds up not because of fear but because of the young handsome man that's kneeling before me looking tenderly into my eyes.

Our face draws closer to the other, my eyes flutter close as I anticipate the feel of his lips on mine.

Instead of his lips to capture mine and caress it in a dance of love, Arcotos jumps on me and I fall from my sitting position to the floor.

I lay there while I laugh in pure glee as Arcotos keeps licking my face with his big wet tongue.

"OK OK stop I'm alright Arcotos." My laughing doesn't stop until Dion lifts Arcotos off me.

My laughter dies down and turns into light chuckles as I try to adjust my clothes.

"It's OK Arcotos she's fine, see?" Arcotos doesn't stop whining and wriggling in Dion's arms trying to break free from his hold so that he could pounce on me again.

"Dion please put him down, he's a big canis I'm sure he can handle himself."

"OK as you wish princess." He puts Arcotos down and the canis doesn't waste time to jump back onto my body to continue his onslaught with his tongue.

My laughter bubbles out of my mouth as he acts like a baby canis and begins to rub his body all over mine while Dio n stands there and watches me with a frown.

Which reminds me.

In the midst of all that drama, I didn't realize something.

"Where is Felicity, Dion?"