05

I turned around, coming face to face “literally face “with the armor he wore. I had to take a step back, cursing while massaging my sore nose, so I could face the stranger. Even with a step taken, he was too close, and my whole body was disturbed. Could he feel my thoughts taking me to glimpses of the body that was under that armor? I cursed again, cursing the thought. What the hell was going on there?

“Do you really want to make me believe that I have some kind of kingdom with animals of that kind roaming freely around the world?”

“Not any kind of kingdom “he shrugged. “And you are, without a doubt, the queen of our world.”

I laughed, even without any humor.

“Nice joke, partner. That's enough. I want to go back. “I hit lightly on the chest of your armor, trying to sound friendly, and my whole body shuddered at the brief contact. Bufei, turning around to continue going to where I was sure it had been the place where the portal opened.”

“It's closed now.”

“Then open it! “I screamed.

“I can't “he shouted back. “It was you who opened it, using your powers.”

I didn't come, I didn't even consider what he had said about powers, different worlds or monsters thirsty for human blood, even if he was looking for what I knew was a portal. Although I swore with my feet together that I had no idea where all that supernatural consciousness came from.

I just kept moving on, but I soon realized that the landscape didn't change. The dark forest didn't appear. That wild instinct didn't make me want to cross anywhere. And tragically I noticed how pathetic it was to keep walking when I found myself panting for a sudden dizziness, and I looked down at my belly, watching the blood draw a trail on my shirt. My knees trembled and my mouth became dry. That was it. I didn't know how to get around that situation.

“I can't remember anything. “I was sincere. “It seems that my life just started a few minutes ago, in that car accident. I don't understand how you got here, and I don't understand how we can get to know each other.”

The man crossed his arms.

“Consider that I can't lie to you and that's a good start.”

“How can this be real? “I asked, swallowing hard. “How can you convince me that this is not part of the car accident? That I won't wake up in an ambulance with a strange dream after being sedated? How can you be real?”

The man's posture changed, and I felt that power retreat, I felt a relief in the air. As if even time was bothering you with that force on you. He took a deep breath, and initially I believed he was taking time, but I soon realized that it was a way to contain that supernatural thing that emanated from him, as if he needed a lot of effort to disappear with it.

“If none of this is real, then why can't you remember your life on earth? Your name, your family, or the reason you had an accident?”

“The accident made me hit my head. I must be in shock with the blow “I stuttered, stunned. “But I'll remember soon. I just need some time.”

“You don't need time “he said, taking a step. “You need to admit that it's not every day that an ordinary human is attacked by a monster and saved by an even worse one. If you do that, if you consider what I'm trying to say... You will realize that there may be a blockage in your head to be so skeptical of something so light. “The dark strands of his hair were blown against your face, and I realized that, despite the gentle breeze touching us from time to time, not even the sun had the audacity to reflect on the steel of your black armor. “You are not, and have Keep in mind that I would never kneel before anyone but my queen.”

I released the air with force, and returned Vraxlon's gaze, trying to show sincerity, despite the fear. He was right, at the end of the day. I didn't know who I was. It could be a monster like the one who had attacked me, although when looking down, in the direction of my filty hands of my own blood, I ended up sniffing my nose at the idea of there being some kind of power or magic inside me. If I had, I probably wouldn't be bleeding and confused. However, it seemed wise to consider it.

"My name is unknown to me, my body is unknown to me. All this is unknown to me, and if you want to tell me, I promise to listen. But please don't expect me to even know who you are, because I don't even recognize my own actions.”

And I realized how admitting that could be terrible in any other situation. Let someone realize how vulnerable I was in the face of monsters, when I had been called by a Royal and revered title. That meant something. I meant something, at least for that man, considering the way his expression bordered on a sudden panic and genuine sadness, followed by a contemplative expression.

"I can make you remember.”

"How? "I asked, fearing the answer. You know what the hell he would invent to make me believe since the dialogue wasn't working. "I can't even invoke Deu's name... The name of De... Shit. I can't even say a name in prayer at the time of despair, like a normal person.”

"It's because he would never allow him to be invoked by a creature like us, Your Majesty. "The man answered, solemnly. "Your reality is where God... It can't help you. He would probably send his archangels to punish her after so many years of sinning in heresy, if she were not already in her world.”

Now that he had spoken, I could really remember a vague flash of light taking my car off the road. It wasn't the light from the headlights of another car, but I couldn't say for sure if it came in some divine way. I had to make an effort not to snort once again because of the lack of information in my own head. There was only one dold.

"So I really opened a portal with my incredible powers that I don't even know what they are, and, apparently, I'm already in that world that you say I own...”

"Queen," he scored.

"Queen," I considered, numb. "But I am still attacked by one of the creatures that inhabit this wonderful world and who, hierarchically speaking, should respect me for being superior to any of you.”

"He attacked her because of her human blood," he said.

"But I only bled because of his attack," I retorted, arching an eyebrow.

The man tilted his head slightly, a purely calculated gesture.

"That's because we can smell the human smell for miles away.”

"And why do you say you want to protect me and weren't here at the time you lured me here with that song?”

He blinked, surprised.

"I didn't attract you, Your Majesty. You entered your world on your own.”

I opened a smile, thinking I had caught him in the lie.

"No, no chance, partner. I heard a song drawing me to this place, and she definitely told me to find someone.”

His lips frowned in a line.

"No, Your Majesty. I've never attracted her anywhere. "The black eyes became darkly confused by the statement. "In fact, it's just your power to be able to enter any mind like the breath of the wind. That's why I was allowed to show up here right away. I heard you call.”

My throat became mortally dry and sore, as if I had swallowed glass.

"You mean there's really some other creature that attracted both of us here? "I asked, turning in place to observe the surroundings. There was only sun setting, the green of nature, the rocks below that cliff, and the winding river of audience. "It can only be a hallucination! It must be through all this blood dripping from my belly. I must be dying, it's the only plausible explanation. My G... shit.”

Without saying a word, the man approached, and I felt truly intimidated when he raised his hand, not to offer me again, but to touch my hands over my belly, warming my skin with a touch that almost made me retreat. Almost. If I hadn't felt an itch below my hands together and my skin pleasantly moving in soft shakes, even that first cut on my back seemed to warm up and shudder. A hot and fragrant wind blew our hair, screwing the ends of long wet and dark strands of my own hair around my trembling arms, as if not only the wound, but everything around us, was going back in time, although we were both standing still.

When he took his hand off, I also took it off, seeing the blood still on my fingers, still wet, but without any trace of it in my belly, without any sign of cutting. Maybe I was crazy and stuck in that car to imagine so many things, but I let my mind be convinced of that then. I was crazy.

I forced myself to be convinced by that only because it seemed right to feel that power, only because part of me was very aware that the weight on my shoulders seemed to ease, as if that thing aroused in the car accident had come out of them and was making shadows on my back. Like an animal ready for the attack in case I released it, in case I remembered how to do it.

"Vraxlon is my name," he said, again tilting his head in a bow. "I am a receiver of Asmodeus, a sin of lust, a commander of forty-six legions of demons, and one of the seven princes of hell, according to the immediate of Lucifer.”

I didn't realize I had widened my eyes and held my breath until I had to stop. Until I took my hand to my forehead and felt the blood stain my skin as I passed my hand through there, trying to relieve my own headache. It was insane. And an absurd instinct began to encourage me to run away. Simply jump into that river and let fate go from the rest.

But, on the other hand, cold recognition throbbed inside me, as if by saying those tired words, Vraxlon had brought the monster to the surface under my own skin.

"So you're saying that that creature belonged to hell?”

Vraxlon nodded with his head. “Yes. He was part of one of the other five remaining kingdoms of our world.”

I nibbled my lip, unconsciously, and my eyes went away from the prince in front of me. Focusing on some distant memory that may have gone unnoticed. There was a fog hovering over my thoughts, turning them into a blurred flash that I could not discern. I couldn't remember an infernal civilization under my command. I couldn't remember lying down with monsters. I couldn't even understand how the words settled so easily, as an absolute truth.

I knew, however, that whether or not he was one of the seven deadly sins, Vraxlon was not using his powers at that moment to convince me to follow him. I was, in some way that I could not contradict, showing myself through the words that there was even a world beyond heaven and earth, and that I perhaps belonged to the three.

"And am I the queen of all these creatures and kingdoms?”

"You are.”

When I looked back at him, Vraxlon was very serious.

"I came up with a document that said my name was Elena Flamel. A normal girl, almost nineteen years old.”

"Your soul is more than five hundred years old. "He realized that I was frightened by the difference between ages and hurried to add: "Just as I myself have millennia.”

"My soul, not my body," I considered, waiting for more information.

"We don't die like humans," he explained. "Beings like us have their souls thrown into the wind to reincarnate in new lives.”

"So I ended up becoming this girl who doesn't remember anything about any of the worlds.”

"You chose to live a new life like this girl eighty years after her death. And only you know the reason for this choice.”

I didn't know where to put my hands, nor how to act, so I just changed the weight of the body between my feet.

"It seems that I have been very busy in all these years, if I decided that I would come back as someone without memories and without powers.”

Vraxlon's beautiful lips moved in a very brief and cautious smile.

"I want you to understand that you can use the name you want, take the human form you want, as long as you accept that I take you out of this place with so many miserable beasts who are crazy to rip off your skin and allow me to accompany you to your true home," he said, again raising my hand before our bodies. When I didn't pick it up, he added: "If you don't accept it, I suppose I'll need to set up a bell in the middle of this cliff and personally ensure that no other abused creature will have a chance to touch my queen.”

And that lit something in me, a curiosity or the purest of insanities, because I simply bargained: "I'll go with you, if you tell me, in detail, what exactly I govern.”

Vraxlon opened a real smile this time, satisfied, I realized, and when I noticed in his perfectly white teeth and lips that it would lead a sinner to madness, I also noticed the reason why he was the bodily version of the sin of lust.