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Chapter 7

The red moon has reached its peak. Nia lay unconscious from the wolfbane I'd injected myself with, and yet my skin prickled with unease. I wandered the corridors of this massive castle, running my fingers along the gold stitching embedded into the wall.

I listened to the harmony of the wolves, their feet pounding into the dirt as they ran through the forest. It felt like an earthquake. An unfamiliar yearning embraced my soul, knowing we could never be one of them. We could never run with them for we will always be outsiders.

Contrary to the forest, this castle fell strangely silent. I expected to run into Sophia, maybe even Dylan, but in my current state, I wouldn't be able to protect myself, given the poison has mentally weakened me. I'm surprised I have the strength to walk, but it's only on nights of the full moon that my body is more potent than average, and it can fight off the wolfsbane to not leave any long-term effects on Nia or myself.

Floating down the stairs, I'm quick to leave the silence this castle protruded. Cold, thick mud engulfed my naked feet. Rain softly poured onto my hot body and slowly cooled down the heat which pricked my skin. Not even wolfsbane is strong enough to completely devour a wolf's burning urge to turn on this joyous occasion we call a full moon.

We creatures on Eldora are an abomination of nature. We live to destroy. We seek blood, fear, and pain; it's what we are. We are the darkness; we are chaos. But on nights like these, when Eldora's crimson moon shines down on us all, declaring its power, we are all under its control. We are one.

My body floated through the darkness of the forest, the cool night air brushed softly past my body, and the rain patted against my naked arms and drenched my clothes. My hands brushed through the long, knee-length grass as I grew closer and closer to my destination.

I always find myself here, beside this lake, watching the spirit fish dance circles around the reflection of the red moon. They seem so free, so inexplicably calm on a night that only breeds destruction and chaos.

I wonder- do they hear it? Do they hear the howls? The screams? The sounds of limbs being ripped to shreds? Or does the water drown it all out?

Do they smell it? The air that's so thick with blood, of rotten corpses, or do they dance around that too?

Can they feel it? In the magic that weaves the thread of our universe, the magic they dance to. Is it crying? Are they weeping as they watch all this cruelty, this pain, this suffering?

Are you, mother?

I watch my reflection in the clear, translucent depths as the spirit fish dance. My image grows more and more distorted. "You aren't planning to jump in again, right?"

I allow my eyes to drift at the sound of his voice. I can hear sarcasm woven into his words as he speaks slowly. I wonder if he feels sarcastic or if he wants to feel it. "No. Just watching." I smile softly, keeping my eyes trained on the fish. The sounds of his footsteps grow closer. His warmth slowly creeps around me before he takes a seat beside me, and I couldn't help but give in to the urge of meeting his eyes.

So, so pale.

One leg bent, his knee pointing directly to the sky as the other lay on Eldora in a half cross. My eyes traced his naked upper half slowly. His leather pants were hung so low on his hips that I could see a little pubic hair peeking out. His well-defined muscles that carved a perfect 'V' suddenly grew a dangerous urge to feel every curve and dip of his pecs under my fingers.

"Nieve…" when he speaks that name, knowing it's only for me, awakened desires I didn't think I had. "How perfect we are for the other." he growls, bearing his weight on one, large, muscle defined arm and using the other to brush my long, naturally silver hair behind my ear. Pale eyes boring into purple ones.

"What are you talking about?" my voice left my lips a whisper, the smooth, hard textures of his fingertips leaves a tingling warmth to trail after them.

"Where one is burdened without emotions, the other is consumed." he analyzed, observing my reaction thoughtfully. "What are you afraid of?" A simple question holding a simple answer. Still, there isn't anything simple about it. I felt hesitant to share my darkness with him- to share what lurks behind the wall because it brings him a step closer, closer to what I hide from this beautiful tragedy we call Eldora.

"Why don't you tell me?" I retort. A soft smirk tugs at the contours of his lips but otherwise stays silent. I expected my questions to hang in the air, left alone to our thoughts and the destruction around us. But no, he answered without a drop of hesitation and took me by surprise.

"You. I'm afraid of you." A simple answer I didn't know the meaning of—a response I had to scoff at because it didn't make any sense.

"You can rip my heart out in mere seconds, and I'd be powerless to stop you." I couldn't help but argue, his eyes don't waver when he speaks his next words.

"And you can eradicate me, with a few words." I had to stop the gasp from leaving my lips. I knew what he meant- it's what I've been avoiding this whole time. That power, that strange, yet beautiful power I wanted no part off.

"Then let me go. Save yourself from that pain. Nothing is worth your damn soul." I hiss to him. Was I trying to protect me with those words, or him? I don't know. His answer is immediate, no hesitation in his words as his eyes bore right through my own.

"No…" he allows the word to hang in the air, my heart picks up its rhythm. "My soul be damned, I'll never fucking leave you. Not for myself, and definitely not to the darkness." I allow my hand to sit atop his wrist that still cups my face, waiting for regret to take him, waiting for a lie, hesitation… anything.

Nothing.

"Thunder." the word slipped from my grasp, falling in his lap for him to do with as he pleases. "I don't blame Eldora for being angry. Blood paints his blue word red. Chaos disturbs its rest. Sin distorts its beauty." I tell him, the words slip so quickly as I pull away and watch the spirit fish dance. "But when the sky splits open and unleashes its outrage, I-I…" I couldn't explain it. I couldn't find the words, even conjuring such an image spikes my heart with unease. I can almost hear its distant roar, my hands shakingly sitting atop my ear as if to block it out. "Torture. Pure, endless torture," my voice quivers. I honestly forget I'm speaking to him, that he's here with me at this moment.

"Do you know the origin of the spirit fish?" His words snatch me to reality, asking a question completely unrelated to my fear. I stay silent  because, fear aside, I was curious. "There are 8 in total. Paired in twos in the North, West, South and East. They were the beginning of this world and will, no doubt, be the end." One spirit fish glowed a bright lilac-e purple and the other a jet black.

"Only 8, huh? Was it always just 8?" I ask, watching the two swim and twirl,  jump and fall, and always in sync like they've been doing it for eons.

"Yes. They are each other's counterpart, and left to my brother and sister to watch over. These are mine to take care of." he reveals, watching me watch them. "The breath of our deity's brought them to life. Amu, the purple one, represents her compassion, her kindness. She holds knowledge and calms the mind when it's uneasy. She brings life to the creatures living without."

"It sounds… wistful." I tell him, he nods completely agreeing with me before my attention shifts to the other.

"Tron. He's the reflection of darkness. He reminds the world we aren't immortal; death will find us all no matter where we run. He's an endless mystery, an unknown entity; a being cloaked in sin, powerful and intimidating." I stare at Tron as Jax continues. "I'm impressed- not many people can handle staring at him for so long and remain sane. But then, you've been on the tipping point most of your life. A peek over the edge is nothing to you."

"No, unfortunately, it isn't." I murmur softly, closing my eyes briefly. "How do you know so much?"

"It wasn't much later when my family and I were created." he announces, only now occurring to me he's a gazillion-year-old but something else weighed on my mind, snatching my curiosity.

"Created?" I met his pale eyes having not realised how close I was to him until I felt his hot breath fan across my face, my hand unconsciously falling onto his steel physique that it looked as though I was laying on him. We watch each other, analysing every detail and committing it to memory.

I bet we painted a lovely picture right now.

Howls echoed in the darkness, paws trampling into Eldora growing louder as the seconds tick by. "Go inside, Nieve. Don't come out until sunrise. The wolves have sensed an intruder and won't rest until your heart stops completely." he tells me. Still, I don't move away so quickly. He doesn't mind.

He's so beautiful.

"And you won't allow that to happen?" I murmur, his eyes narrow, darkening slightly should any harm befall me.

"I'll murder them all." he growls softly, I think it may be the first time I'd seen a flicker of emotion awaken in those pale orbs. "Now go."

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