Chapter- 13

The emerald sea of grass swelled and crashed behind the age-old castle ramparts like a tide, broken only by an ancient forest that consumed half the land in its shadows. Eve slumped at the base of a twisted elder tree, its warped bark scraping her exhausted back. She let out a breath as heavy as her eyelids, watching apathetically through half-closed eyes as a rabbit stumbled within reach. Eve didn't stir, whether by choice or lacking the will.

The rabbit darted to and fro skittishly, gradually noticing Eve's look of resignation. Emboldened by curiosity, it crept toward Eve's sword on velvet paws, intent on examining this foreign object. Before its soft muzzle could graze cold steel, an invisible force snatched the creature up, suspending it mid-air. Slowly but surely, it was drawn toward the languid princess as if by enchantment.

Eve lounged casually against the old oak, pulling her blonde hair back into a messy ponytail. With an casual flick of her hand, she levitated the small rabbit into the air using a minor mana manipulation.

At first, the rabbit remained frozen and complacent. But as it drifted higher, panic kicked in. It thrashed and flailed in mid-air, terrified and discombobulated, ears pinned back apprehensively. The poor little thing was scared out of its wits.

But Eve remained calm and serene, her eyes fixed on the rabbit with a gentle intensity. She could sense its fear and discomfort, and she knew that she must release it soon, but she was determined to show it that she meant no harm.,

"You shouldn't touch what doesn't belong to you." Eve mumbled as she finally released the rabbit.

The rabbit scampered away, looking back at her with a newfound appreciation and admiration. Eve watched it go with a warm feeling in her heart, knowing that she had once again used her magical gifts to help and comfort one of the forest's creatures.

"I never took you for the merciful kind." Auden's voice drifted from the gloom as if borne on the restless air, betraying her presence as a witness to her tender miracle.

The wind grew to a gale, pummeling Auden as he forged ahead with grim resolve. At last he gained Eve's side, though she did not wake nor seem to note his coming.

"Do you call this unnatural storm?" he demanded, marking how leaves and branches thrashed in frenzy all around.

"I hold sway but over soil and stone, no more and no less." Her words rang as hollow as her eyes stayed shut.

"Then from where does this wind roar?" He insisted, wrestling to remain standing against its wrath.

"From me." Elias materialized as if from thin air, alighting with preternatural grace and surety.

Auden stared in disbelief, blinking twice and thrice more to confirm this waking dream. Naught in her visions had forewarned of this.

"What...?" The word caught in her throat as she rose unsteady.

"I summoned him. You shall glean needed lessons from this forebear." Eve's feeble solace did little to assuage the shock.

"Why, Your Highness, do you stare so? One might think I had done you harm." Elias's tone cut like a serpent's fang, mocking Auden's bewilderment without mercy.

Elias proffered his hand, a gnarled scar trailing from palm to sleeve as if in warning. Auden narrowed her eyes, suspicion etched in every line of her face as she gazed into the depths of this man and saw naught but ruin.

In his presence, she felt sensations foreign and fearful rise within, voices clamoring for escape as if they sensed the tragedy that he was. Yet when Elias smiled and offered his hand anew, she grasped the truth too late: he would be her tragedy.

"What worth could you possibly add to my life, Prince of Aersia?" she asked as at last she took his hand in futile defiance of that fate.

"The worth, Your Highness, you have sought with such despair. The truth of your very existence."

A palpable tension descended, stretching the moment taut as Auden met Elias's gaze without wavering. The full force of his malevolence pressed upon the room, shadows born of his presence engulfing all who watched the fate unfolding.

Between these friendly foes Eve lingered still, though now withdrawing from the scene playing out around her. Her task was ended, the players poised upon the stage, and what came next was theirs alone to shape, for good or ill. The rest was silence.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The rolling hills, bathed in the golden light of the setting sun, bore witness to a scene of great conflict. Elias, a master of the wind sought to impart his knowledge to Auden, a Princess consumed by hatred and agony.

With a flick of his wrist, Elias summoned forth a gust of wind, causing the grass to sway and dance in its wake. Auden seemed taken back yet not too astonished.

"Might I also rule the winds?" Auden asked with a child's wonder, her wariness of Elias now seeming a relic of the past.

"Not a chance." His mockery cut quick and keen.

Auden's sneer was a swift rejoinder, yet as the winds continued their wild dance around him she held her tongue.

"Command the waters then," Elias ordered, his tone brooking no dispute.

"What waters?" Auden searched the surrounding fields in vain for any lake or stream in evidence. Glancing skyward, she found the heavens grown oddly bright and bristled at this new mystery.

"These waters." With a twist of his hands, Elias set the clouds roiling as though in answer, gathering and churning until without warning the deluge fell.

Auden stood dumbstruck, soaked to the bone before she grasped this fresh wonder. Wheeling to face Elias once more, she read his mastery here and felt the first faint flicker of understanding mingle with confusion in her rain-lashed gaze.

Perhaps it was the rain that made his wounds and weathered features abruptly plain, the white fabric of his shirt rendered all but transparent against his skin.

"What holds your gaze so rapt? Will you not concentrate?"

Elias approached until scarce inches separated them, close enough now for Auden to discern each weathered line that marked his ageless face. "Or have you found something you cannot resist, Your Highness?"

Auden swallowed hard, unable to tear her eyes from his as she now perceived features sculpted keen as a blade, granting him a semblance of unyielding stone. His countenance was all hard angles and sharp edges honed like a weapon, impervious to wind or rain or the rust of passing time.

At that one moment, time stood still. The pastures were drenched in rain, and the city was gloomy. But among these were two people, who stood apart from each other. Divided by the invincible distance, that they dared not covet. How glorious is life to make you fall for an enemy. How painful this moment would be, if not to love your frenemy.

Eyes are the mirror to the soul the tellers said. This moment laid a testament to that. How would it be, how could it be didn't matter anymore, for all one could see is their eyes piercing through their soul? His hand brushed hers as her whole body shivers, defeated by her unbearable urge She finally touches his jaw, and slowly his scars.

His eyes didn't move, perhaps they didn't reject the advances.

Auden gasped at understanding granted without words, a bond now forged of heart and soul divining all that he had been and was and yet might be. The world doesn't fall in the destiny of two, but here laid a world rejoiced for them. A union they said. Oh, a union they said.

They had come through fire to this solace caught outside of time by the grace of fate. But fate is cruel, and so is love. To love, one has to lose.