Break The Ritual

I was injured when I stepped out of the ritual circle. My legs were bleeding from the iron bonds that had been forcibly broken.

Kaelith looked worried, but he couldn’t step out of the circle; the ritual was almost over, and Kael was using his remaining strength to save me.

“Kaelith, please, don’t do this,” I said to him, my tears now flowing uncontrollably.

“If I leave here, you’ll be destroyed too; I can’t.” Kaelith’s voice sounded desperate.

Red began to lose his form, as if his skin were peeling away piece by piece, vanishing like dust.

I stepped closer as the ritual circle around me had vanished, whilst Kael’s remained. I tried to untie all the iron chains binding him, but it was in vain.

They wouldn’t budge, as if locked so tightly.

“Kael, please, we have to get out of here,” I said to him.

Kael shook his head slowly; his hands were bound, yet he still managed to lift them to cup my cheeks.

His cold hands touched my cheeks gently. My tears flowed again, as did Kael’s.

“Forgive me, Vaelora. I have hurt you.” Kael’s eyes looked into mine so deeply.

“I realise I cannot sacrifice you because I have fallen in love with you.”

Trembling, I touched his cold hands, hoping we could escape this place together.

Kaelith pulled a necklace from around her neck and handed it to me.

The necklace was shaped like a crystal, its colour almost exactly the same as my eyes. Emerald.

"Keep the necklace with you, so you can remember me."

I took the necklace, my expression turning more serious. "We have to get you out of here."

I tried to pull Kaelith, but I ran out of strength; Kaelith’s body didn’t budge an inch. It was as if something was holding him in that position.

“You must go, Vaelora! This place is going to be destroyed.”

“No!” I protested, “If not with you, then I won’t go.”

“Vaelora, I beg you, you must survive—leave now!”

Kaelith pushed me out of his ritual circle, which was beginning to glow. The floor of the room shook, the walls began to crack, and I didn’t even realise someone had already pulled me out of there.

I watched Kaelith’s body slowly vanish like dust; I cried and screamed.

“Kaelith! No! Kaelith!”

I don’t remember what happened after that; that morning I woke up in hospital with Alaric looking worried about me.

The wounds on my hands and feet were real; all those rituals had truly taken place.

“Vaelora, you’re awake!” Alaric exclaimed; he then left the ward, hurrying off to find a nurse.

I sat up, frantically feeling my neck, hoping the necklace Kaelith had given me was still there.

It wasn’t!

Alaric returned, examining my face with concern. “Are you all right? The nurse will be here shortly.”

“Alaric, where’s my necklace?”

Alaric looked confused. “Necklace?”

“My necklace! I had an emerald stone necklace; it was so beautiful and precious! It was a gift from Kael!”

I was panicking; that necklace was the only thing left of Kaelith Vaeltharion Morveth. The man who, in such a short time, had captured my heart.

Alaric took a deep breath, then gently stroked the top of my head, trying to calm me down.

“Vaelora, calm down. The necklace is right next to you, look,” Alaric pointed to the small table beside my bed.

The necklace was there, glinting slightly in the hospital light. I immediately picked it up and clutched it.

Tears began to flow again without me realising it; I had lost Kaelith and this was the only thing that could remind me of him.

"Kaelith, where is he, Alaric? Is he safe?"

Alaric shook his head slowly. "I’m having trouble finding you. Were you there with Mr. Morveth? But you were all alone when I pulled you out of that collapsing building."

So it was Alaric who saved me after all. But why didn’t he see Kaelith? Even though Kaelith was sitting there with his hands and feet bound.

“Where exactly was I found?”

“In the building behind the big house.”

Where have you gone, Kaelith? You can’t have just vanished into thin air, can you?