The Inklings

She was captivating. Her deep green eyes flickered with a wisdom more vast than the forest, a place she had come to know well. Sunlight trickled down through the branches above her and danced along her golden locks until she too was radiant enough to warm all of Vale. Her lips, like sweet nectar, beckoned to me until I could not stand to part from them. Once ripe as the brightest berry, they now parted ever so slightly as a pale, numb blue.

Her delicate figure lay broken in my arms as salt mixed into our final kiss- salt from the oceans pouring down my cheeks. The only flaw on her porcelain skin was the warm splatter of blood, fresh from her own golden heart. It surprised me that she bled like any other. Her mortal life, my mortal love- gone in an instant.

As Juliette's body shook gently from the sobs rattling my frame, the bloodied blade lay beside her, a bringer of death and destroyer of light. Overhead, the clouds swirled with fury and the sun fled in fear of the impending storm. The earth mourned for her fallen star.

"I...I'm so sorry, Aristotle. I-I had to...for our people..." Her voice quivered with terror and she stumbled clumsily towards us, her reach extended towards her knife. In one swift motion, I snatched the weapon from her grasp and lunged blindly, my vision clouded with grief.

"Stop!" A commanding voice shrieked above the rolling thunder and the dagger in my hand ricocheted sideways with a distinct clang as it failed to meet its fleshy target. As I stumbled sideways from the disorienting deflection of my attack, a shimmer of clarity crossed my mind and I looked down at the cursed blade around which my fingers curled. A sudden wave of power coursed through my veins and a bloodcurdling scream ripped agonizingly from my throat. The flame inside me grew brighter and pure emotion drove the Aura to my palms, melting the weapon down to nothing until it slid through the gaps between my fingers.

I turned to face my enemy's defender, fire searing in my gaze only to be extinguished by cold shock. "Athena?" The golden-armor clad Guardian lifted her helmet, her one remaining eye lowered in a dangerous glare. Her features, though hardened with battle, still held a faint reminder of the beautiful young woman she once had been. The initial surprise of her arrival soon wore off and I returned her gaze sharply. "What are you doing here?"

I was younger and smaller than her, and less powerful by far, so she held no hesitation as she grabbed me by the neck of my shirt, pinning me to a nearby tree. Behind her, the murderer still trembled with fear and I wanted nothing more than to trade her life for Juliette's. Athena's sword pressed to my throat, demanding my attention and, rather unwillingly, I drug my eyes up to meet hers. "If anyone here is to be asking questions, it is I. What in the name of all that is light do you think you are doing? And who-," She removed her weapon from my larynx to point at Juliette's lifeless body. I couldn't bear to look at her shattered soul once more, so instead I held Athena's gaze firmly.

"She is Juliette. And I love her." Despite all attempts to remain stoic, a quiver in my voice revealed my weakness for the Guardian's watchful eye to discover. Immediately the pressure she had placed on my chest worsened, and the splinters in her shield stung my body where they met. Her composure had vanished, leaving behind a screaming, panicked warrior.

"Do you have any idea what you have done? What you have caused?" The pressure began to crush my ribs towards my lungs until I could no longer respond with words. Instead, I shook my head ever so slightly, my own fears beginning to surface as the desperation in her eye grew evident. Without warning, she released me from my entrapment and fresh oxygen flooded into my burning lungs, a welcome old friend. "Brother, I can waste no more time here. The death of the human has spilt blood in the forest and our balance has been shattered," She fastened her helmet over her head, leaving only her hopeless, gray gaze visible. "Her murder has tainted the Aura with darkness. A war is coming, brother. The Nightmares have awoken."