Prologue

/// Arthur Leywin ///

Tears cascaded down my cheeks and fell on the ground with muffled plops on the soil below my feet, absorbing instantly in it. My hands clenched at Sylvia's moribund figure, the white shimmering scales losing their vitality. The runes on her body glowed, her lavender eyes burning in a deep shade of amethyst. Her whole body was engulfed in a golden glow, her form turning ethereal.

The cave rumbled, specks of dust and stones falling down on us. A crack ran along one of the further walls.

"Child, we don't have much time", her voice, despite the predicament we were in soothing and comforting, calm- like a river. My fear and trepidation sky-rocketed at her words, an indescribable worry gnawing at my insides, corroding them.

"Sylvia... what's happening to you?" It was a stupid question, something that anyone with some basic common sense could easily understand. Yet, I asked it.

Why?

I wanted it all to be a lie. A facade. A show. My brain playing tricks on me. It was laughable, desirable. A pathetic show of desperation. Yet, I did it. I couldn't lose her.

The crack in the wall behind us widened and it crumbled with a deafening explosion, the voice ringing in my ears like needles. I took an instinctive step back as I saw a figure walk in.

Clad in black armor walked inside a figure that looked similar to Sylvia's demon form. Sickly grey skin and a pair of horns that came downwards. His hands were tucked behind his back. He walked slowly.

One-confident step at a time. The cave shook, dust rose from the violent shaking of rubble and the roof of the cave. Suddenly the world came to a halt. My head turned towards Sylvia, a strained expression over her face.

The rising dust became static, the falling stones and crushing boulders coming to a stand-still. The lavender of her eyes faded away, replaced by a soul-piercing golden, a thin slit running through it.

"Child, I don't have much time. This inheritance I am giving- it will help you. Become stronger, strong enough to protect your loved ones. That's what you want, right?" She said, her confident facade breaking down. Crimson tears stained her pristine white scales.

"No... Sylvia, please... come with me. I can't let you die." I said through choked sobs, tears staining my vision, making it blurry.

I couldn't completely see her, but I felt pained face show a slight smile. A myriad of emotions flashing in her lifeless, almost defuncted eyes.

"Remember, Arthur", she said as her whole body started turning into golden and purple motes, permeating into my body. Clenching my sternum, I fell to the ground. The sound of my own bones crunching and molding, muscles tearing and joining them back together ringed in my ears in tandem with the burning pain in my core.

The pain was mind numbing. Like corroding the very thread of my sanity.

I looked up to meet Sylvia's eyes, half of her body already gone, "Why... WHY? WHYYYYYYYYYY?" A primal howl of agony tore through my throat as she continued to look at me.

"I will always live with in you. Now and forever. I am sorry for making you go through this. I really am." She said as the corroding effect reached her neck area.

"My time is over now. This portal will lead- wait... no, no, no" Despair overtook her. The space beneath me distorted, amethyst lightning rippling the very fabric of space, tearing it apart. A tear ran down her eye,

"What have I done?" Her last words struck like a hammer in my ears. My blurry vision was stained with blobs of crimson. Her words continued to ring in my ears like a chorus.

"What has she done? What have I become?"

The stony support of ground lined with pebbles, and rocks vanished all of a sudden. Like a rug pulled from under the feet I felt myself fall. Fall into a bottomless pit of abyss. Drops of blood from my blood-sodden clothes flew upwards due to the velocity I was falling down.

The image of my parents looking from top of cliff as I fell down flashed in my mind.

I wanted to cry.

But the pain didn't let me.

'I want to cry... let me cry' I thought to myself as the agonizing, tormenting pain snatched away my consciousness from me.

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(A/n Hey. Just wanted to say that this is not on a whim. After some thoughts I came to a conclusion, that maybe even a little, but I have improved as a writer.

As I read my first Fic, PSR, again, I felt disappointed. Some lingering regrets. I have other tbate fics too, but they are short stories and crossovers, not some actual PURE TBATE FIC. So, to relinquish the "Lingering Regrets" I will be writing this fic. As for the ship, it's pretty obvious. No polls, no mind change. Deal with it.

Hope ya all enjoy.