EVERYONE— felt the heat of the sun burning them alive, as the world outside the castle was casted in golden flames.
"What is going on?!" Ophelia yelled.
"Ophiuchus." Silas answered, his golden eyes widen with fear, while Elias looked ready to pass out at any moment. "He has lost control."
"Whatever you do, don't leave this hall." Narcissus told them.
"Why the fuck not?! The world is literally burning!" Sirius screamed what everyone else was thinking.
"Because it will make everything worse." A voice called out from the front of the hall, making them turn to the figure standing there.
As he stood tall and proud, the light of the sun engulfed him like a halo, casting him in an otherworldly glow that made him appear more God than man. His smile was a glittering killer's blade, sharp and deadly, hinting at the depths of his power and the darkness of his soul.
To describe them is to capture the essence of a being beyond human understanding, a creature of darkness and light, beauty and danger, power and grace.
"Mael?" Astrophel's eyes widen.
The King of Lunar Blood.
Mael Nikolai Atalanta.
"Why do you always lose a limb in every lifetime? Last time it was your leg, now your arm? You have shitty luck." Mael laughed.
Everyone watched as Astrophel stalked up to Mael and whacked him over the head.
"You piece of shit!" He screamed at him grabbing him by the collar and Mael had just pouted childishly at him.
"Ow! Why are you so sweet with her and so mean to me?!" Mael whined as he looked to Ophelia who was trying to process what is going on.
"Shut the fuck up you little shit." Astrophel glared at him and Mael just smiled and ignored him as he waved at Narcissus.
"Acacius! Get your husband from me!" Mael told him and Narcissus just crossed his arms.
"He is your brother. I already got kneed in the stomach by him because of you." Narcissus said with a shrug.
"I'm your King!" Mael glared at him.
"Hey can someone explain WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON DAMNIT?!" Barty yelled.
Mael sighed dramatically as he turned his attention over to Barty.
"Well it seems someone didn't account for how powerful Ophiuchus's outburst would be, and how his magic is able to break the barrier." Mael gestured to the burning world.
"Ophiuchus a being almost unlike any other." Mael's gaze shifted to Ophelia for a moment.
"For his magic was a force to be reckoned with. When he unleashed his power, it was as if a dam had broken and torrents of pure, raw magic flooded the world around him." Yet again he gestured to the world that burns.
"This magic infused with the power of lifetimes, it held within it the secrets of the universe and the mysteries of existence itself. As the magical energy swirled and danced in the air, a transformation began to take place." Mael ran a hand through his dark locks.
"Lobelia and I, mere specters were suddenly imbued with form and substance. We took on a tangible presence, of flesh and bone." He finished explaining to them.
"Lobelia...?" Ophelia questioned, in her chest she felt her heart pounding at the mere mention of her name.
Ophelia looked at Mael and his eyes the kaleidoscope of colors, held a dreamy gaze as he spoke of his beloved, Lobelia Morgenstern.
"Melanthia, my dark flower she is." He murmured, his voice soft and poetic.
Mael turned to her and spoke of her own dark flower, Ophiuchus Lestrange.
"Melanthios, you call him." He said, a small smile playing at the corners of his lips.
"He is your dark flower, isn't he?"
The two shared a moment of understanding, as if they alone could see the darkness that lay hidden beneath the surface of these sunlit beings.
"Lobelia and Ophiuchus." Mael continued, his voice low and hypnotic. "They are the sun, yet only we see the darkness in them."
Ophelia nodded, her own eyes glistening with unspoken emotion. "Yes." She whispered. "Only we can see the beauty in their darkness."
Mael moves closer practically gliding towards her with grace and elegance, he towered over her as they stood just a foot apart.
He places a hand on her jaw softly holding her face in his hand as he lifts her head up to him, their eyes meeting.
"They are ours. As we are theirs." Mael told her.
"You haven't seen the things he has done for you yet haven't you?" He questioned and she raised a brow at him.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
Mael smirks as he leaned in and whispered into her ear so only she knows.
"See Ophiuchus has stationed his most loyal to your side, watching you and keeping you safe. The Everest High Marshal, Mathias Lyttelton. Though in this lifetime you know him better as the Avaian Prince, Louis Diggory."
Ophelia's eyes widen.
"No that is impossible. They hate each other." Ophelia told him.
"It's called acting." Mael said. "Now don't think Louis is by your side just because of Ophiuchus. It was the same in my lifetime. Though they have came to us because of Lobelia and Ophiuchus, but stayed because they care about us." Mael explained to her.
"Look closely and you can see Mathias's shade standing beside Louis."
With that Ophelia gazed slowly at Louis.
Besides Louis is a transparent like young man who she takes is Mathias and he is a of striking beauty, with piercing navy blue eyes that seem to see straight through a person's soul. His aristocratic features are sharp and defined, his fair complexion glowing with an inner light. As he smiles his dimples appear like small craters on the surface of the moon, drawing the eye irresistibly to his face.
Though it is his hair that truly sets Mathias apart. Once black as midnight, it has been transformed by the Marie Antoinette Syndrome into a mane of snowy white. Some mistake him for an albino, but this is not the case. His hair is a mark of his strength and resilience, a symbol of the trials he has faced and overcome.
"What is he like?" Ophelia asked her gaze never leaving Louis and Mathias.
"He is a force to be reckoned with, a leader of men who commands respect and admiration from all who serve under him. His nickname may be ridiculous, but there is nothing laughable about the way he carries himself or the power he wields. His every move is calculated, his every word chosen with care. He is a master strategist, and his soldiers know it. They look to him for guidance and direction, and he never fails to deliver. Mathias has earned my trust and respect, due to our time together." Mael explained to her.
"Ophiuchus may seem cruel to the world, but he truly does have a heart of gold that is incased by enteral ice. Just ask Louis what Ophiuchus has done for him." Mael added, as he pulled away.
Ophelia looked at Louis who was confused on why she was looking at him.
"Louie, be honest with me." Ophelia began.
"Why are you with me? I know it is because Melanthios made you, but what made you chose to stay with me other than Melanthios?" Ophelia asked him, and she watched as his entire demeanor changed in single moment.
Now gone was the Louis Diggory she knew since first year the Avian Prince, was replaced by the Everest High Marshal.
His posture was proud and tall, with an air of elegance yet danger with him, but Ophelia only felt comfort.
"You got to be fucking kidding." Astrophel whispered to Narcissus recognizing that oh so familiar posture. "You are telling me that Louisiana the goodie two-shoes bookworm, is the murderous blood thirsty Mathias?"
Narcissus laughed. "Did you forget? Mathias is a perfect actor, personally trained by Lobelia. Louis is Eros's secret weapon, he was hidden to everyone but me."
All eyes were fixed upon Louis, as a transformation began to unfold before their very eyes. His once dark and lustrous locks, now faded and turned white as snow, seemed to shimmer in the light. Though it was the mark on his neck that truly held their attention, for it was like nothing they had ever seen before.
A serpent's mark, coiled around his neck like a living, breathing creature. The symbol of ouroboros, ancient and mysterious. Its image had been etched into the pages of history, originating in the sacred myths of the Greeks and Egyptians. The serpent, poised to devour its own tail, symbolized the cycle of death and rebirth, of endings and beginnings. It was a symbol of eternity, of the endless cycle of birth and regeneration.
"I live to serve." Louis said his voice, his eyes looking straight into Ophelia's, yet her gaze was on the serpent mark on his neck.
That is Ophiuchus's magic.
"I have been left for dead due to injustice yet, I'm innocent. If it weren't for Ophiuchus I truly would have died that day in the woods. I was nothing but bird with broken wings trapped in a gilded cage, without purpose. It was Ophiuchus who had healed my broken wings, and mended me, allowed me to soar again once more all in return for my loyalty. I have stayed hidden following his orders playing my role as the perfect prince, acting as if we hate each other so none is the wiser." Louis began.
"When he learned of Dumbledore's working on you and his plans, Ophiuchus ordered me to stay by your side to keep you safe. All your secrets you have told me, I have not reported back to him. For all he wanted was your safety, nothing else and nothing more." He explained.
"So all this time..." Ophelia eyes's widen.
"I came to you because of him, yet I chose to stay by your side because I have grown to love you as well. I know my love is unrequited, but I am perfectly fine with that." Louis told her.
"I can't believe it, first you fell in love with Lobelia then myself, and again you again fell in love this time with Ophiuchus then Ophelia." Mael laughed.
"I— How did you know that?!" Louis exclaimed blushing at the fact Mael mentioned his love for both Ophiuchus and Ophelia.
"Mathias Lyttelton, your last life was the exact same honestly. Though I will never the threesome between, Lobelia, Mathias, and I." Mael winked at him, and almost everyone chocked on air when he said that.
"Hey! Maybe you'll get a threesome in this lifetime as well, with Ophiuchus and Ophelia!" Mael added with a smirk.
"I—" With that Louis was a blushing and stuttering mess, along with Ophelia.
Astrophel looked disgusted.
"I did not need to know that." He said being absolutely mortified, while Narcissus laughed.
Now before anyone can say anything else the door opened once more.
In all her elegant glory and regal grace, stood Lobelia Morgenstern, by her side was none other than Ophiuchus Leatrange.
"Mon Amoureux." Lobelia called and Mael wasted no time in moving towards her, and giving her a passionate kiss on the lips.
"Melanthia." He smiled at her.
As they were in their own little world everyone watched them, Ophiuchus looked with a mixture of disgusting and annoyance.
"Mon Preux Chevalier, I know you are here, where are you?" Lobelia called out and Ophelia watched as the translucent form of Mathias turned to flesh and bone, and knelt down on a knee infront of Lobelia taking her hand in his and kissing it.
'I'm kissing Ophiuchus.. Technically.' Louis thought as he knew that person kneeling was without a doubt his last life.
Speaking of Ophiuchus, he was looking straight at Louis, specifically at Louis's hair and serpent mark on him.
"I take it they know?" Ophiuchus said with a deadpanned expression, and Louis nodded.
"As much fun as this was, we are to leave now." Lobelia said, as Mathias stood on her left, with Mael on her right. "Goodbye for now."
With that the hall watched as they disappeared into nothingness as if they were never there in the first place leaving behind a mess of revelations, confusion, and silence.
"You've been protecting me the whole time." Ophelia spoke up, getting his and everyone's attention. "Through Louis, you kept me safe. Why? You hated me till now."
"I just leaned what Dumbledore had done to you. I couldn't let that man get away with it, I didn't want you or anyone to suffer because of him. So I did what I must. I knew you hated me, so I sent him. The Raven's Pride, their Avian Prince, my hidden to watch over you. Louis is the perfect actor isn't he? Nobody other than Narcissus knew about Louis, nobody at all." Ophiuchus explained it to her.
"Why go through all that trouble for me? You had Louis by my side as my one of my bestfriends, who held all my secrets but you never asked him for my secrets. You just wanted me safe." Ophelia demanded.
"They were your secrets to keep and to divulge at your discretion not mine." Ophiuchus said.
"Why do you care so much about my safety?!" Ophelia exclaimed at him, emotions filling her to the absolute brim.
"Because I care about you!" Ophiuchus yelled, and the hall was dead silent.
"What did you just say...?"