"No, Avia no," Talon screamed. He rushed toward the body of what seemed to be a lifeless woman. Upon the ice like glass flooring of his home, the woman was a pool of ivory robes stained with blood. Her hair, once as long and vibrant as a winters breeze now sat staggered across her nearly bald scalp. She did not move, nor did she speak, only her eyes fluttered open at his embrace. The prince pulled her tightly into his arms, tears of acidic salt streaming over his cheeks. He frantically looked over her body, attempting to find where all the blood had come from. Her arm fell from her stomach, it was then he realized what had come to happen. Her womb had been torn open by the blade of what seemed to be a sword. Unable to bear the sight, Laxrindren turned away, allowing his eyes to fall once more onto the flutter of the young beauties eyes.
His father King Astalaid stood watching, his arms folded across his chest in disgust. Talon looked up at him, his arms hot with the wetness of the damsel's blood. "Father! Help her please!" His words fell almost silently onto the old king's ears. "This was your doing Laxrindren, it was all your fault." Prince Talon wept heavily above the dying girl in his arms, the cold words of his father nearly freezing his broken heart. Beads of salt and anguish fell onto the pale flesh of Avia, her eyes beginning to close. Talon shook her slightly, his jaw coming to tense before he spoke. "I swear to you Avia, my love I will find who did this to you, and I will make them pay. Take care of our child on the other side, one day I will be with you both again." Without as much as a whisper, the young princess released her final breath. The light fled from her eyes quicker than the song of a mornings break. Her golden orbs had fallen to darkness, and now they stared blankly at the man to who had caused her fate.
A roar as mighty as a roll of thunder came to shake the castle of Mount Capeisian. Grief, regret, pain, and loss all made way through its halls, stampeding with rapid speed consuming all in its path. The stained glass of the keep came to shatter, stones and bricks fell away from their positions causing the land to shake and tremble under their weight. Yo'jalil made her way down the spiraling staircase of her home, bare soles carrying her rapidly to her grieving son. She fell to her knees, sliding across the now cooling pool of life beneath the body of the woman. Taking her son into her arms, she pulled him away as best as she could. He fought her with every moment attempting to get back to his lover. "Renny, you must stop this! She's gone! Let her sleep in peace, do not fall so deep into mourning you forget her memory!" "Mother no! She cant be gone! She cant, I can't lose her!"
The queen looked at her husband, her own eyes now falling wet with tears in pain for her child. The king turned from them both. He had warned them about the outcome of premarital joinings, his words had not been heeded. He took his leave, disappearing into the darkness of the night. Laxrindren had come to fall to his knees, he was limp in his mother's arms, crying the pain of a thousand years lost, knowing he could never regain them. For several moments he thought of the young and innocent life that had been stolen and how he would never again sire another. At that moment he prayed to the gods that he would never plant another seed. The thought of feeling the loss of another child was far too great.
A sharp and deeply inhaled breath ran into Laxrindrens lungs. The king sprang up in his bed clutching the sheets beneath him. He looked to the other side of the bed and gave thanks that his wife still remained sleeping. His head fell into the cold embrace of his hands, his mind racing at the memories of his past. Even nearly three hundred years later the pain still held enough strength to pull at his heart in the most gruesome of ways. The hidden dragon loathed returning to his homeland for more reasons than one. His sisters he could handle well enough, but the haunting nature of the place unsettled his soul.
Twisting as silently as possible, he stood from the bed and made his way over to the wash bowl across the room. Cold water hit his face, pulling him further back into reality rather than the dreamworld that granted him nothing but grief. Hexonia stirred in bed, she turned over the young boy in her arms. The king watched them with a forced smile. His past had come to haunt him, Avia had come to haunt him. He felt dirty, and even though he loved his wife and their newly adopted son, he could not enjoy them. Grabbing a robe, he took his leave from the room closing the door as gently as he could muster.
The halls were cold despite the many torches that lit their way. Deep in his mind, he could hear two voices, one the sound of his first love and the other of his daughter Wailora. The curse had set in, growing stronger with each passing day. His lust was becoming increasingly harder to control, to the point he had begun to avoid the young woman entirely. He covered his ears with his hands, the sound of the voices had been driving him mad for days. "You have forgotten me Lord Talon." "Oh father, come to me, your desires shall not be turned away." He kept walking, shaking his head begging the gods silently to make it stop. "You have yet to visit my grave, my beloved." "I long for you Laxrindren, come to me, feel my warmth."
He growled, his hands turning into fists that struck the sides of his head. "Stop," he spat out. The voices became a flurry of rolling laughter within his mind. His pace quickened, he ran down the corridor as fast as his feet would carry him. "Yes my love, run, run as fast as you can but you can not outrun me." Making his way down the stairwell, he forced himself outside the double doors of the grand hall and fell into the snow. Tears fled his eyes and fell warm enough to melt the snow. He curled up shivering in fear, the voice of the lost came to a stop, only then did he feel relief.
A hand came to rest on his shoulder, its touch warm and soothing. Talon looked up, his gaze falling onto the developing figure of his adopted daughter. Her face was drawn in worry, her eyes pleading for information of his current state. "Father? What is wrong? Why do you weep?" He failed to look away, his heart was beating out of his chest. "I loathe this place, I want to go home. We must return home before I lose all sense." Wailora sank slowly into the snow beside him, her arms wrapping him warmly. "You are the king, if it is your wish, it should be done. Take us home, anywhere you go I am sure mother and I will follow." His nose pressed into her neck, his talons locking onto the soft feel of her flesh. Her scent was intoxicating, every inhale of it made him fall further into the trance placed upon him.
The color of his eyes shifted from blue to green, his lips moving to travel up her neck. "Give yourself to me Wailora, I need you, I heard you call for me." The princess' eyes grew wide with shock. She pulled away falling backward into the snow with a soft thud. "Father...what has come over you? You told me not to.." Before she could finish speaking he was on top of her, his hands fisting around her own as he slid between her thighs. His lips crashed onto hers with a blind purpose a growl of lust rumbling in his chest. "Father, please! They will see me killed, not here!" His hand moved beneath him, untying the rope that secured his skirts. The king looked at her face, and it was then he finally came to realize who she favored. Within moments Avia's face began to take over the young Tyliquin's features, a dark smile forming her lips. "Avia?" He looked confused and before he could find a hint of joy the features of his lost love became grotesque and decayed. He screamed and fell away from the princess, his chest heaving in fear.
Wailora stood up and gathered herself shakingly. She had no idea what to think, her feelings for him had been suppressed for so long, she feared they would never return. "We should go inside father, you should rest. Fear not, I will not breath a word of this to anyone, I swear it on my life." She moved forward, helping him to his feet. She dusted the snow off his robes and lead him towards the doors of the keep. "No, I will not go back inside. My apologies for my actions." His eyes returned to their normal color as he pulled away from her. "You go inside, warm up and try to sleep. I need to gather my thoughts." With a nod, she hurried inside part of her thankful that what could have been the inevitable did not come to pass.
"Well, well little brother, I knew you had to find the warmth of a woman somewhere, but with a young girl such as her? I must say I am surprised, I had no idea you held an interest in one so much younger than you." Laxrindren turned on his heels to face his eldest sister Daun and the smug look she had on her face. "Sister I.." Her forefinger moved and sat over his lips. "Hush now little brother, it may not be ideal but anything and I mean anything would be better than that dried up old hag you call a wife. Now it all makes sense, that cursed boy you brought here is your son with that witch isn't he?" He shook his head no. "He is not I swear it on fathers grave. We only took him in, as for Wailora I cannot help myself. It's like some kind of curse has been placed on me. I need help sister."
Daun, for the first time since their arrival, became soft. "This is why you do not allow witches into your midst brother. They are vile creatures, they seek only to harm our kind." The princess gave her brother a hug, holding him tightly. "You look as if you have more issues than some seductive charm. Avia has been at you again hasn't she?" The hidden drake could only nod. "Then go visit her, you still love her, we both know her soul will forever wander this place. She is summoning you to pay your respects. If you do not, then it is only a matter of time before she turns on your wife. As much as a loathe her and her family, she is innocent in this. You know what happened to the others you took an interest in before Hexonia. They all ended up dead, flung from our highest tower, drowned in the lake, or on the rare occasion somehow impaled themselves on a sword through the stomach."
Talon closed his eyes and sighed. As they came to open again, he looked in the direction of the family cemetery. "If Hexonia catches me visiting her grave she will start to ask questions. She will compare herself to Avia and worst of all feel unworthy or second best. I am not ready to answer the wave of questions she will have for me, Daun. Her world rises and sets with me, her vision of the dragon she married will forever be broken. She can never know what I did, or how I cost an innocent woman her life." "Ren, if she can not overlook a past that came long before your joining she does not deserve to be your wife and especially not your queen. If there is one thing that stupid little girl has, it's a forgiving and understanding heart. You were young and foolish as we all were once. If mother knew how many pure daughters I have soiled she would faint. I am sure father is rolling over in his grave as we speak. Talk to her, but first, go and pay your respects to Avia."
Daun placed a hand on her brother's shoulder in comfort before walking into the nearby woods. Laxrindren could feel the air becoming stuck in his lungs, he trembled at the thought of what could happen if he did not take his sister's advice. He had already caused so many to lose their lives for his mistakes and fear, Hexonia would not be one of them. He made his way towards the final resting place of Avia, plucking wild winter flowers along the way. When he arrived, he kneeled down, resting the bouquet on her shrine. Her statue was made out of marble, with a turquoise foundation. It was glorious and stood as tall as she once had. It had been so long that Talon had forgotten what she looked like.
"Avia, I have not forgotten you. My heart and mind still thinks of you day by day and all we both came to lose. Even still, I have a duty, as a king and husband. I ask that you pardon Hexonia. It was I who kept her in the dark about you. If I had not been so foolish as to do so, she would probably have accompanied me here." A ghostly wind came to pass over him, beyond the cold climate of his ancestral home the embrace of the wind felt much colder. There she was, a ghost of beauty and a painful reminder of his past choices. Her face and body could be seen through, allowing the white and green landscape to be seen with ease. The ghost folded its hands over its belly, her eyes locked onto the unraveling king. "You have forgotten me, you have forgotten our child and the promise you made to us both. You, my love, have tried to remove us from your history in hopes to carry on this life you made with another."
Talon looked her over, his eyes full of sorrow. "I have not forgotten my promise, nor shall I ever. But this world has looked to me as its savior. If I do not save Evernia how will I ever keep the promise made?" The ghost walked around him. "Why does my father still draw breath? Why do you hide our love from this woman you now call your wife?" So much of him wanted to touch her, he had tried countless times, but the same experience always happened. "She could not handle such truths Avia." "You will bring our past to light, or I shall see it done myself." "No, you cannot, you are dead. You can not harm me or anyone else." The silhouette of the woman came to laugh maniacally. "Oh, I can as I have so many times before. You, my beloved, are the one to whom cast me here for all eternity. Until my father is dead, I will follow you to every stretch of this planet and back again. Free me Laxrindren, set me free of this world that has no place for me." Without another word, the woman vanished into the passing wind. The king bowed his head, thoughts of Hexonia coming to perish by yet another one of his mistakes weighing heavily on his heart.
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