✔𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐳𝐞𝐧 𝐈𝐈𝐈: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈

Chapter 88: When Fire Is Needed (EP. 03)

With so much pain endured,
He proves his words true to her.
The King's love for his wife is too true,
Now how to prove it, he must learn.

"We're not too far ahead now, are we?" Aiden panted, squinting his eyes as a tired Cyra perched on his head exasperatedly. "I could've sworn we've walked miles already. Have you not refused to take a damn horse—"

"Hush about leaving the steeds, Cyra. You and I both know they are all too jumpy and you better thank me I agreed for you to come along."

"I am merely concerned about what you're about to face, Aiden. The ol'troll's right, you can't just jump onto your quick horses and face FEAR himself too quickly."

"For her, I will take the risks. Now quit lying around and see how far we have to travel more."

Cyra sighed and nodded, soaring to the skies to see the distance between where they are from where they desire to be. Groaning, she descended from above and reported, "A little bit more far, but just a few more stops and we'll reach the dark side."

Aiden sighed and stopped walking, going to a nearby willow tree to rest and hydrate. Cyra gave him a sympathetic look, her fiery feathers dropping their glow for a little while before lighting up like flames again.

Her creator's face was just looking at the dusty earth, his hands hugging his knees tightly. He then buried his head deep onto the gap between his folded legs, just to ensure that his quivering lips and tears are invisible.

But the small drop of fluid staining the soil beneath them is enough evidence for his broken hope.

Or false hope.

Or whatever lies and sugar coatings he's blinding himself into.

"Hey, um, Aiden? Are you alright in there?" The phoenix worriedly asked, tapping her feathers on his shoulder.

"... I don't even know any more what's left of me, Cyra."

Her heart dropped for his statement.

"I don't know what's keeping my hopes up. I don't know if she's going to make it. I don't know if I'll even be continously happy."

"I don't know if I'll get even a moment to see her face again..."

"Hey now, don't think like that. Everything will be alright... It's just that, fate likes to play with us like his puppets but we have a life of our own, and we need to have the strength to tug on our strings and make our own move."

"What if fate is stronger and removes our strings from our own hold?"

Cyra grimaced.

"What if fate is just playing tricks on our mind to make us believe it'll all be okay, but in the end it won't be?"

Silence.

"Then it's a battle with fate, Aiden." Cyra firmly remarked, locking her eyes on his that could be readable as you better read my lips or I'm ending this fine argument with you. "You once promised you'd do anything for her, and to this moment, I will remind you what you had engraved in stone. Fate has done something wrong, Aiden."