Chapter 9

After finally confessing their feelings, both Nathan and Lucy felt happiness that couldn't be described with words alone. It felt as if their existence was fulfilled. They held hands together the rest of the way, not letting go for a single moment as they enjoyed the physical touch, while cuddling to sleep at night was something they looked forward to, giving them newfound vigor to continue pushing forward.

Another day had passed, and the ever clear, blue sky was starting to light up once more. Nathan looked at the cute beauty sleeping peacefully in his arms, while enjoying the sound of her rhythmic breathing as if it was music to his ears. Slowly but surely, Lucy also started to wake up, but she didn't intend leave her comfy bed. She even snuggled deeper into his embrace, listening to his heartbeat.

"Good morning, beautiful."

"Good morning handsome~, can I have the usual please?" Lucy instantly started acting cute, demanding a morning kiss.

"Your wish is my command," Nathan kissed her lips passionately, tasting and savoring them to his hearts desire.

"Hmm…" Lucy also seemed to enjoy the kiss immensely, sucking on his lips with fervor. She was never one to shy away from her desires.

After a sweet moment of passion, they got up, picking up their hats and spears, and taking off their jackets, and got ready to move.

"Looks like we will run out of food today. Fortunately we have enough water to last us a few more days if necessary, but I believe we will reach the platform today. I doubt everyone came upon an oasis as we did, and many people should have already ran out of water for some time now, so let's get moving."

Lucy ran up to him and looked at him expectantly, "Then, I want a reward for finishing this trial!"

Nathan raised his eyebrows, "And, what kind of reward would you like?"

Lucy raised one dainty finger and pointed, "You will have to listen to one of my requests in the future, no questions asked!"

"Deal." Nathan didn't have much reservation towards Lucy, because, as of right now, she was all he had…

And so they walked once more, taking on the desert that they had grown so accustomed to in the past 10 days, together. As they were walking, they noticed something unusual on the horizon.

"Another mirage? Nate, can you see it too?" there was still some time till noon, and the residue heat emitted from the sand distorted their vision greatly, but the growing black dot in the distance was hard to miss.

"Yes… let's go. We might find something useful there. Maybe even the platform itself…"

After walking for a very, very long time, because as it turns out the black dot was bigger than they thought, they finally reached the second suspicious spot of this trial, with the first being the mysterious oasis.

In front of them was a massive boulder of at least 30 meters of height, with a giant crack right down the middle, enough for two people to stand shoulder to shoulder, leading deep underground, and into the darkness…

They looked into the darkness calmly, not even needing to exchange a look to understand what the other was thinking: they we absolutely going in. Neither of them were cowards, and have gone through enough in life that they knew, running away due to fear is never the answer.

They took off their hats, and hid them behind the entrance, as they wouldn't fit in the crack, and using their spears as leverage, they slowly climbed down while helping each other. The way down was long, but thankfully, the sharp jagged walls provided them with stable footing. The air was hot and stale with a lot of dust mixed within, as there was no airflow within the passage.

After going down long enough, that the light of the crack was no longer sufficient, they took out the red gems they found earlier. Each had two, just enough to light them up. They hit them against the other gently as the gems lit up with a bright red glow, giving them the much needed light to see where they were going.

After some more climbing, they finally touched hard ground. Nathan helped Lucy get off the wall, and they began looking around, and it didn't take long for them to find what was held within this chamber.

In the middle, a black gemstone, the shape of a teardrop, hovered gently in the air. It had a glossy surface that shone under the red light.

"Hey Nate, this reminds me of the fairy wings situation. Let's not touch it okay? It might be something dangerous…" Lucy was wary of the seemingly magical gem in the dark eerie cave.

"Yes. It is the exact same situation. I'm actually happy that we found this, however," Nathan nodded and then he suddenly grabbed the gem, which, as expected, instantly turned into liquid and got absorbed his arm. He was left with a tattoo of a teardrop shaped gem in the same place as Lucy's, on his wrist.

"Idiot! I told you it could be dangerous! Why did you touch it!?" Lucy was angered by his action of possibly harming himself. He, too, was all she had left.

"If it is dangerous, then you are in danger as well. Whatever happens, we will face it together. I do not wish for the love of my life to be in possible danger, while I remain safe and sound…" Nathan spoke with conviction. Even if it was a dumb decision to take the gem, it was still his decision.

Lucy was really touched at his words, and his dedication to her. She couldn't stay angry at him when he showered her with so much care and attention. Was she already so important to him? She ran into his arms and hugged him tightly.

"This better be the last time. I will not tolerate you harming yourself for my sake anymore, understand?"

"That would be impossible, I'm afraid…" Nathan muttered softly, while running his hand through her hair, which seemed to calm her down a little.

"Huh?" Lucy looked up at him, confused as to what was he saying.

"I love you, Lucy. I say this from the bottom of my heart. You are the light that shone on my dark gloomy life. For you, I would happily give up everything, even my life." 

Lucy was absolutely blown away at his declaration. She looked at his obsidian black eyes that stole her heart and firmly made her decision.

"Nate, I want to redeem my reward ahead of time, is that okay?"

"Hmm? Sure… if that is your wish, go ahead."

She stood on her toes as she held him by the cheeks. Under the soft red glow, she looked as beautiful as ever, like a heavenly fairy that descended on a mortal world, her gaze overflowing with love.

"Then here is my wish: marry me!"

Nathan stared at her blankly for a moment before he was filled with ecstasy, unable to believe what he just heard, but that little to stop him from answering, "That would be a dream come true!"

He held her tightly and smashed his lips against hers, feeling so much happiness that he used to think it was impossible. He kissed her for as long as his body allowed him, before he separated and looked at her while panting heavily, "You are mine now, you can't ever leave me…"

"Hmm!" Lucy was also on cloud nine, not at all concerned about her possibly rash decision. In her heart she had already decided, she would be his for the rest of eternity.

"Let's go, I want to finish this trial as soon as possible!"

Nathan grabbed her hand and dragged her out the way they came, not even stopping to rest as they were too eager to be done with this trial. As they were close to the entrance, the red gems suddenly dimmed, before suddenly shattering and turning into ashes. In their excitement, they had forgotten to turn off their gems!

But at this point they didn't care anymore. The gems had fulfilled their purpose, and they no longer needed them.

After getting out of the crack, they took a deep breath as their lungs were filled with 'fresh' sandy, hot air of the desert. They picked up their hats from their hiding spot and moved forward. Their destination? An eternity with their other half…

***

Many hours later, when they were approaching the sunset hours, they both saw a thin, dark line going all the way from one end of the horizon to the other that it seemed endless at first sight. Curious, and not left with many other choices, they moved over to the black line to check it out.

The closer they got to the thin line, the thicker it got. When Nathan noticed this, he suddenly chuckled to himself which surprised Lucy as she turned to look at him with a questioning gaze.

Seeing her looking at him, Nathan pointed at the dark line, "The Herald really had us fooled. We were out searching for something that was always around us…"

Lucy was a smart woman so she immediately understood his meaning, "You mean, THAT dark line is the platform? THE platform!?"

Nathan smiled at her reaction and replied, "Indeed, there was never a platform to begin with,"

"The entire desert is surrounded by the so called, platform…"