Moonflower

Her father wrapped her in his arms knowing that she would break down into tears. "Why is this happening to us?" She asked him while breaking down into tears.

"Everything will be fine, don't worry. I will go meet the king tomorrow. " Her father comforted her, taking her to their room. Her mother looked back at Auriel's room while walking.

How could a mother accept the misfortune of her daughter so easily? And misfortune that changes everyone's fate, and her most.

….

After meeting Auriel at the cliff, Xaphan went back to hell Hatherly. The face of her was engraved in his mind. Seeing her face made him smile like a fool. He was so focused on his thoughts that he didn't see the trouble coming.

"Where did you go?" A giant man came storming towards him in fury; and before he could reply to him, a kick landed on his stomach making him fall on the ground, spitting out some blood.

Xaphan said nothing, he tried to get up but before he could, the man stepped on his face with his feet. "Did you not hear me?" The man asked him again.

Xaphan didn't respond to him. He just tolerated the pain of seeing him being silent, he couldn't hold his anger anymore.

The man banged him with his weapon, just missing his left eye by a few inches. The left side of his head started to bleed, turning into a pool of blood.

Next morning…

Auriel woke up from the soft rays of the sun kissing her delicate skin. The birds were twittering trying to wake her up. The soft calm environment was not the same as what she was seeing.

The vision of him saving her from falling showed again and again as if it got imprinted on her mind. His golden eyes flashed in her dreams.

In fear, she woke up from her sleep. Auriel couldn't understand what was wrong with her. Why was seeing images of him? A devil image should never come in her dreams. Her scared eyes scan through the room.

"Were you looking for me?" A voice breaking the tranquillity of the room. Her eyes promptly peek towards the voice. Her pupils dilated in fear and surprise.

Xaphan's slim figure was leaning on the wall beside the window. He lazily turned his face towards her, and let out a scoff. He walked up to her bed leisurely.

Auriel was bewildered seeing him there. A devil can never enter inside heaven then how could he enter inside, not only inside heaven but he came into her room.

"Surprised?" He asked her, leaning closer to her and looking directly at her eyes. His sudden move made her flinch back.

He smirked and went closer to her and whispered, "Don't worry. I am not real." And before she could react to his words, he disappeared into thin air. She looked around trying to find him. She was still in disbelief but she could doodle over it.

"Happy Birthday!!" Both best friends barged into her room, to surprise her. But seeing her dishevelled self, they were the ones who got surprised.

"Auriel, are you okay?" One of them asked her, dashing close to her. Auriel looked at them, then looked back to where Xaphan was standing.

She tried to explain but her voice was stuck in her throat. Auriel pointed her finger towards the window to tell them what she saw.

Both of her friends looked towards the window and saw nothing. One of her walked towards the window to check again but she found nothing.

"There is nothing there." Olivia ensured her, walking back to her side. Auriel still couldn't believe her. She knew what she saw was real but she had no proof. Auriel gulped down her saliva, trying to calm down and nodded to what Olivia said.

She acted like nothing and started talking to them casually. But what she didn't see coming was the curse. A tattoo of a moonflower in red started to appear on her back; unknown to her.

….

Xaphan slowly opened his eyes and looked around just to see a familiar environment. His eyes went around, and he saw his childhood friend, Delphyne sitting on the floor and her head beside his hand.

He slowly tried to get up without taking her up but he failed. On feeling a bit of motion of his hand, she woke up and looked up at him with her sleepy eyes. After he was beaten to death by the man, one of the weak devils saw what happened to him and rushed to her. On hearing what happened to him, Delphyne rushed to his side. By the time she reached there, he was already unconscious. With help of the devil she somehow carried him back to his house and took care of his wound the whole night.