Natalya’s hearing had been improved ever since she was ‘enhanced’ by the ‘spark’. Although much of it had left her after her very attunement to it was crippled. She could feel something that made her shudder when she had come here.
Elea…that’s right. She was that Little Lady who I saw in the papers back then. All wore black when everyone saw the news, and the mood of grayness covered the skies of this nation. No wonder I didn’t come back here, Natalya thought. No, she’s a good one. Better than the other eyes so far.
Natalya looked at the hill. Husband, he’s crying? No, I heard that this is where it all started for him. Something in this hill made him see something. What was it? Not even those ‘visions’ had given me information. That ‘vow of silence’ that he had could not be broken. Like a lock in his mind that does not allow him to share…or he could have been lying to me.
The stars were shining in the background. The black canvas, spotted with shining dots. There was something on this hill that made her wonder how high they were from the sea. She had come to realize that Lazon as a whole was elevated above the sea level, and even the lowest places like Sahus City needed certain reconstruction to meet the seas. There were only a few places in the world where one could see the stars up this close. The Duchy, the shooting club, used to climb up the alps, Rosa, bringing stew, and the rest stopping on Dinan’s point. Those guys, I wonder how long it has been since I saw them.
Natalya had been single-minded obsessed in escaping her hell. She had to follow patterns, speak them like a doll, and exhaust every word she could muster to bring out her desired results. But even though she had time, and the ability to make an organization that would benefit her. She didn’t put her heart into involving the rest of her shooting club back in the Duchy.
Never.
She would never involve them in her personal hell even though temptation had told her to seek out their warmth. Instead she had spent those dull and agonizing years in those ‘visions’ employing strangers. But even strangers become familiar with her. The more she spent time with them, the more she understood them. And by the fifth time she had met them, she would know how to spin them to her bidding. Little by little she would know where to place the strings on them like a puppet maker. She would know when they would break, and by the time she was done ‘persuading’ them. She would have a group willing to die for her.
Natalya thought to herself that the moment she started treating those people in her shooting club in the Duchy as her tools is the day where Natalya would certainly and undoubtedly break. It was better to use strangers than those who she knows.
Then they become companions, no longer strangers that you’d have no heart to throw away. Natalya kicked a pebble. She shifted her gaze to the top of the hill where his shadow came. Natalya thought that no matter how many times, he would come and stop her before. Even when she wholeheartedly left. Mavin Tomas would become a hunter of those who possessed the spark and the bloom.
Always coming with a rifle or a blade. Fearlessly charging through my companions, making his way, and sometimes failing in the process of doing so. Always in front of me, with burning eyes devoid of any warmth, Natalya thought of the faces he had made during their trip here. Embers that were sparkling, and a hint of smile that he would have not shown in the Capital. Who would smile at that damning place? Still, to walk the lands he called home made his heart fare better.
Better than looking at me like I’m a devil. Or so dull that you’d mistake him for a living doll. Natalya frowned at those memories. Losing an arm and getting along with him this time isn’t so bad. I do want to own him, and if possible keep him to myself. But if the spark is cut off, and he leaves me. That means that this is the end, there would be no redoing it, Natalya shuddered at the thought. The last chance to chip his heart.
It was complicated. Although she loved the man enough to cut his limbs and kept him inside a shed. She wanted something genuine, not because she had shown him her pitiful side. Not because he knew she was broken in some way. What she wanted was the very warmth that kept her heart burning with either rage and love.
The rage at the man who would stand in his way because of the mark of the back of her hand.
There was also her love for the man who throughout those times she had grown to admire. Even back then when she was knocked off her throne of arrogance by him. She would not forget that righteous shot almost killing her. She would not forget the man she saw in the train who was helping out his fellow soldier. The man who danced with her in Flost.
Whether it was right or wrong for her to selfishly pursue and make use of their situation. Natalya found that she could care less. What she wanted. What she desired the most was something that only belonged to her. She would not let anyone tell her what she wanted. It was really simple. She did not want to see him die before her again. If this really was the last time, then she would do everything to get what she wanted.
Is it wrong? No, why should that bother me. This is merely repaying him for what I did. I spent lifetimes in those visions, isn’t it right to at least repay him once in a lifetime? Natalya reaffirmed herself.
It was then that she looked at the sky. She saw light streaking in the distance. This wonderful light that seemed to pierce the heavens and carved a path. It was at the sight of this very light that she saw what seemed to be a crack in the sky.
Her eyes peered through that crack.
And in that crack she saw ‘memories’.
‘Memories’ that came from multiple eyes and ears.
A lonely sight of a sky turning red.
Images of starbound ships preparing to leave a dying world.
And then images a of world soaked in flames.
And seeing those memories and ‘absorbing’ them.
There was a sudden change in her face.
Distraught, maniacal, and even denial showed on her. She grabbed hold of her chest, muttering, “No, no, this can’t be happening, please,” and yet she could not stop herself from shaking.
She sat on her legs, holding her mouth, afraid that the sound of her sobs would escape her. She pressed her knuckles on the ground. She screamed while keeping her voice muted. The denial that appeared on her face became low, then it turned into anger, she looked at the starry skies that showed.
“Is this what you wanted? Are you telling me that I won’t be able to escape this!?” Natalya cursed. Strength left her and then she felt herself regained.
Towers of black, a horde of abomination, the demikins, and those faces…they should be the Professors that we met in the Academy. Lady Mildred, the Empress of the century, and Little Elea…oh you poor girl. How could such a sweetheart be allowed this? What is this? I don’t understand. Why would you show me something like this? Right when the spark had been cut off. I have nothing and even if I do that. Then that would mean, Natalya turned her eyes towards the hill again. He’d be after me, and this time he would be more careful than ever.
“This isn’t fair,” she gritted her teeth so hard that you’d mistake that she’d break it. The rage on her face was solemnly replaced with acceptance. She looked at her silver hand and smiled sadly. She looked at the hill once more.
“Even if it isn’t fair,” she said to herself. “If it means that you wouldn’t show me that dying face again. Then it would be worth my life, Mavin. Sigh, I don’t know whether you are lucky or just too unlucky yourself. You poor, poor, lovely husband of mine.”
Her shivers stopped. She wiped herself with her handkerchief. It was as if someone had placed a mask on her face and covered the look she had just made. She won’t let anyone see it. Not even him. There was no way that she would let him see it, because if she showed it right now.
She would grow weak. She would hesitate. She would not be able to take a step. But considering what those ‘memories’ told her. It was better than seeing that look on his face again as he lay on her arms, losing his breath, and becoming lifeless.
She would never allow an end like that.
She looked at the glimmer on the back of her right hand.
The glimmer fading into the darkness.
***
Mavin came down from the hill. He had made sure to wipe the traces of the tears he had on her face. When he came down the hill, he saw Natalya staring at the skies. He took a step to her when she craned her face and she looked in his eyes.
“These skies…are beautiful, no?”
“They are, but they bring omen as well,” Mavin thought of those memories. It still remained in his head, and shook his head. It was done. There might be changes in how he had approached the problem, but it was something that he had to take slow.
“I agree. A beautiful place like this brings warmth and feelings to the hearts,” she looked at him with a rather resolute expression. It was a demeanor that was different to what solemn face she was sporting all the time now.
“What is it?”
Natalya approached and wrapped her arms around him. “Even if you just shower me with false love. I wouldn’t mind it. Even if you just want to use me, break me or make me a mother of your children. I wouldn’t mind it. I don’t mind even if you use me for your own good and treat me as I have treated you in those visions of mine. But please promise me this.”
“Promise you what?”
“Please don’t abandon me.”
“That…depends.”
“Please promise me. That’s all that I asked of you.”
Mavin raised a brow. “Did something happen?”
She tightened her arms around him. Mavin felt her shivering. He didn’t raise his hands. “Please…promise me that you’ll never abandon me…that as always you’d come, okay?”
“I wouldn’t understand if you don’t talk to me.”
“Just promise me.”
“No.”
Natalya stopped shivering and as she was about to push herself away. Mavin suddenly grabbed hold of her and pressed her back.
“Although there are circumstances regarding our marriage, I promised that I would be a good husband to you. I don’t know what ails your heart, but at least I can do that,” Mavin thought for a second that she must have heard sobbing up there. He added. “And even though you speak of your terrible visions, I didn’t personally experience them, and I wasn’t them. So, be prepared that you might just get embarrassed by how I would treat you.”
“Hehe,” she chuckled while pressing her forehead on his chest. “Oh my, you really are a fool. You shouldn’t keep promises you shouldn’t keep. Still, thank you for saying that, thank you.”
“Is that so?” Mavin said.
She looked up to him and gave the sweetest smile she could muster from the bottom of her heart. “I was just having a tantrum. Don’t worry, I will try to control it. My mind…is not right these days. I appreciate your kind words, husband.”
“You must be tired, let’s go back then. I think Little Elea would scold us for missing a meal.”
“Wouldn’t she? She’s a sweetheart. I want a child like her.”
Mavin looked away. Natalya chuckled and hooked her arm around him. “Let’s go, okay?”
“Sure.”
The two left the hill and went back to the great manor.
On the front of the great manor stood their kind host, chin raised, and little hands on her hips.
The proud little girl who had a silly smile was a heartwarming presence to the cold night.
Natalya’s hearing had been improved ever since she was ‘enhanced’ by the ‘spark’. Although much of it had left her after her very attunement to it was crippled. She could feel something that made her shudder when she had come here.
Elea…that’s right. She was that Little Lady who I saw in the papers back then. All wore black when everyone saw the news, and the mood of grayness covered the skies of this nation. No wonder I didn’t come back here, Natalya thought. No, she’s a good one. Better than the other eyes so far.
Natalya looked at the hill. Husband, he’s crying? No, I heard that this is where it all started for him. Something in this hill made him see something. What was it? Not even those ‘visions’ had given me information. That ‘vow of silence’ that he had could not be broken. Like a lock in his mind that does not allow him to share…or he could have been lying to me.
The stars were shining in the background. The black canvas, spotted with shining dots. There was something on this hill that made her wonder how high they were from the sea. She had come to realize that Lazon as a whole was elevated above the sea level, and even the lowest places like Sahus City needed certain reconstruction to meet the seas. There were only a few places in the world where one could see the stars up this close. The Duchy, the shooting club, used to climb up the alps, Rosa, bringing stew, and the rest stopping on Dinan’s point. Those guys, I wonder how long it has been since I saw them.
Natalya had been single-minded obsessed in escaping her hell. She had to follow patterns, speak them like a doll, and exhaust every word she could muster to bring out her desired results. But even though she had time, and the ability to make an organization that would benefit her. She didn’t put her heart into involving the rest of her shooting club back in the Duchy.
Never.
She would never involve them in her personal hell even though temptation had told her to seek out their warmth. Instead she had spent those dull and agonizing years in those ‘visions’ employing strangers. But even strangers become familiar with her. The more she spent time with them, the more she understood them. And by the fifth time she had met them, she would know how to spin them to her bidding. Little by little she would know where to place the strings on them like a puppet maker. She would know when they would break, and by the time she was done ‘persuading’ them. She would have a group willing to die for her.
Natalya thought to herself that the moment she started treating those people in her shooting club in the Duchy as her tools is the day where Natalya would certainly and undoubtedly break. It was better to use strangers than those who she knows.
Then they become companions, no longer strangers that you’d have no heart to throw away. Natalya kicked a pebble. She shifted her gaze to the top of the hill where his shadow came. Natalya thought that no matter how many times, he would come and stop her before. Even when she wholeheartedly left. Mavin Tomas would become a hunter of those who possessed the spark and the bloom.
Always coming with a rifle or a blade. Fearlessly charging through my companions, making his way, and sometimes failing in the process of doing so. Always in front of me, with burning eyes devoid of any warmth, Natalya thought of the faces he had made during their trip here. Embers that were sparkling, and a hint of smile that he would have not shown in the Capital. Who would smile at that damning place? Still, to walk the lands he called home made his heart fare better.
Better than looking at me like I’m a devil. Or so dull that you’d mistake him for a living doll. Natalya frowned at those memories. Losing an arm and getting along with him this time isn’t so bad. I do want to own him, and if possible keep him to myself. But if the spark is cut off, and he leaves me. That means that this is the end, there would be no redoing it, Natalya shuddered at the thought. The last chance to chip his heart.
It was complicated. Although she loved the man enough to cut his limbs and kept him inside a shed. She wanted something genuine, not because she had shown him her pitiful side. Not because he knew she was broken in some way. What she wanted was the very warmth that kept her heart burning with either rage and love.
The rage at the man who would stand in his way because of the mark of the back of her hand.
There was also her love for the man who throughout those times she had grown to admire. Even back then when she was knocked off her throne of arrogance by him. She would not forget that righteous shot almost killing her. She would not forget the man she saw in the train who was helping out his fellow soldier. The man who danced with her in Flost.
Whether it was right or wrong for her to selfishly pursue and make use of their situation. Natalya found that she could care less. What she wanted. What she desired the most was something that only belonged to her. She would not let anyone tell her what she wanted. It was really simple. She did not want to see him die before her again. If this really was the last time, then she would do everything to get what she wanted.
Is it wrong? No, why should that bother me. This is merely repaying him for what I did. I spent lifetimes in those visions, isn’t it right to at least repay him once in a lifetime? Natalya reaffirmed herself.
It was then that she looked at the sky. She saw light streaking in the distance. This wonderful light that seemed to pierce the heavens and carved a path. It was at the sight of this very light that she saw what seemed to be a crack in the sky.
Her eyes peered through that crack.
And in that crack she saw ‘memories’.
‘Memories’ that came from multiple eyes and ears.
A lonely sight of a sky turning red.
Images of starbound ships preparing to leave a dying world.
And then images a of world soaked in flames.
And seeing those memories and ‘absorbing’ them.
There was a sudden change in her face.
Distraught, maniacal, and even denial showed on her. She grabbed hold of her chest, muttering, “No, no, this can’t be happening, please,” and yet she could not stop herself from shaking.
She sat on her legs, holding her mouth, afraid that the sound of her sobs would escape her. She pressed her knuckles on the ground. She screamed while keeping her voice muted. The denial that appeared on her face became low, then it turned into anger, she looked at the starry skies that showed.
“Is this what you wanted? Are you telling me that I won’t be able to escape this!?” Natalya cursed. Strength left her and then she felt herself regained.
Towers of black, a horde of abomination, the demikins, and those faces…they should be the Professors that we met in the Academy. Lady Mildred, the Empress of the century, and Little Elea…oh you poor girl. How could such a sweetheart be allowed this? What is this? I don’t understand. Why would you show me something like this? Right when the spark had been cut off. I have nothing and even if I do that. Then that would mean, Natalya turned her eyes towards the hill again. He’d be after me, and this time he would be more careful than ever.
“This isn’t fair,” she gritted her teeth so hard that you’d mistake that she’d break it. The rage on her face was solemnly replaced with acceptance. She looked at her silver hand and smiled sadly. She looked at the hill once more.
“Even if it isn’t fair,” she said to herself. “If it means that you wouldn’t show me that dying face again. Then it would be worth my life, Mavin. Sigh, I don’t know whether you are lucky or just too unlucky yourself. You poor, poor, lovely husband of mine.”
Her shivers stopped. She wiped herself with her handkerchief. It was as if someone had placed a mask on her face and covered the look she had just made. She won’t let anyone see it. Not even him. There was no way that she would let him see it, because if she showed it right now.
She would grow weak. She would hesitate. She would not be able to take a step. But considering what those ‘memories’ told her. It was better than seeing that look on his face again as he lay on her arms, losing his breath, and becoming lifeless.
She would never allow an end like that.
She looked at the glimmer on the back of her right hand.
The glimmer fading into the darkness.
***
Mavin came down from the hill. He had made sure to wipe the traces of the tears he had on her face. When he came down the hill, he saw Natalya staring at the skies. He took a step to her when she craned her face and she looked in his eyes.
“These skies…are beautiful, no?”
“They are, but they bring omen as well,” Mavin thought of those memories. It still remained in his head, and shook his head. It was done. There might be changes in how he had approached the problem, but it was something that he had to take slow.
“I agree. A beautiful place like this brings warmth and feelings to the hearts,” she looked at him with a rather resolute expression. It was a demeanor that was different to what solemn face she was sporting all the time now.
“What is it?”
Natalya approached and wrapped her arms around him. “Even if you just shower me with false love. I wouldn’t mind it. Even if you just want to use me, break me or make me a mother of your children. I wouldn’t mind it. I don’t mind even if you use me for your own good and treat me as I have treated you in those visions of mine. But please promise me this.”
“Promise you what?”
“Please don’t abandon me.”
“That…depends.”
“Please promise me. That’s all that I asked of you.”
Mavin raised a brow. “Did something happen?”
She tightened her arms around him. Mavin felt her shivering. He didn’t raise his hands. “Please…promise me that you’ll never abandon me…that as always you’d come, okay?”
“I wouldn’t understand if you don’t talk to me.”
“Just promise me.”
“No.”
Natalya stopped shivering and as she was about to push herself away. Mavin suddenly grabbed hold of her and pressed her back.
“Although there are circumstances regarding our marriage, I promised that I would be a good husband to you. I don’t know what ails your heart, but at least I can do that,” Mavin thought for a second that she must have heard sobbing up there. He added. “And even though you speak of your terrible visions, I didn’t personally experience them, and I wasn’t them. So, be prepared that you might just get embarrassed by how I would treat you.”
“Hehe,” she chuckled while pressing her forehead on his chest. “Oh my, you really are a fool. You shouldn’t keep promises you shouldn’t keep. Still, thank you for saying that, thank you.”
“Is that so?” Mavin said.
She looked up to him and gave the sweetest smile she could muster from the bottom of her heart. “I was just having a tantrum. Don’t worry, I will try to control it. My mind…is not right these days. I appreciate your kind words, husband.”
“You must be tired, let’s go back then. I think Little Elea would scold us for missing a meal.”
“Wouldn’t she? She’s a sweetheart. I want a child like her.”
Mavin looked away. Natalya chuckled and hooked her arm around him. “Let’s go, okay?”
“Sure.”
The two left the hill and went back to the great manor.
On the front of the great manor stood their kind host, chin raised, and little hands on her hips.
The proud little girl who had a silly smile was a heartwarming presence to the cold night.
