Prologue 2
1096 Words
"Where are our other friends? Narcine? Avesa, Asher?"
He just shook his head slowly and looked down, "We parted ways after the battle, Gala. I don't know where they are now or if they are still alive. Narcine took the bodies of Rebie and Taurei to take care of them. I don't care anymore, and my retainer sacrificed her life to save us, all I can think of back then is to take you away from harm. I used what little power I have left to cross the ocean and bring you here. For too long, I have held on to hope that you will one day wake up and talk to me again. And now that you did, that's all that matters to me. Nothing else. Not in this dying world."
"But Vaski! Would you just let this all come to this?! Look around you! Is this what the future we all dreamt of before?! We can still do something!"
He just shook his head to me in exasperation, "You don't understand, Gala. The immortals are gone. With them, our powers, and even the elemental magic. That day the world ended; all the powers bestowed by the deities has vanished without a trace. If we can't beat Typhon with all the powers we can bring to bear, what can us mere mortals with nothing but our fading lives do?"
"Vaski..."
I looked at the boy in front of me, and I just realized how different he has been in a year following our defeat.
He is barely even living. Just skin and bones and his breathing are labored and pained.
Like he is only clinging to life by his sheer will alone.
"There's nothing else you and I can do anymore, Gala," he said quietly as he reached out for my hand and took it with his trembling fingers, "The only reason I stubbornly refuse to give in is that I am still hoping against all hope that one day, I will be able to tell you face to face that even if the world has ended, I still love you. At least that I am sure will not change no matter what happened."
I cried when I heard the words he barely said and hugged him tightly, "I love you too, Vaski. Even if everything has fallen apart, my vow to you has never changed. My feelings are still the same. I am yours."
"Thank you for accepting me and my selfishness," he answered as he showed me a pair of rings made of simple wire and seashells, "I know that with all that happened to us, marriage is the last thing in your mind. But if you can humor me, Gala. Please, accept this ring as the sign of my eternal love and promise that come what may, no matter where you will go in your life, I will always be with you."
I chuckled sadly and pinched his pale cheeks, "That's my Vaski, all right. Always proposing serious propositions in the most inopportune time," I took one ring and put it in my finger, "I accept to be your wife. At least that's one reason for me to go on."
"Thank you, Gala," he said as I put his ring on his finger and give him a kiss that I hope will convey my feelings and love for the boy who has been there for me when I have nothing, not even my consciousness unyieldingly and loyal, "I guess you will be g*****a the First now, huh? Well, that is if my emirate is still existing."
"g*****a Wilkins will do, Vaski..."
He cried again when he heard the last name of his beloved retainer and closest friend, "I bet Rebie will not complain in the slightest about that."
I took a deep breath and tried to smile at him despite my worry about his health, "So, my husband, what will be the first in our agenda as man and wife?"
"How about you get me the prettiest seashell on the beach, my Gala? I know it should be my job to provide for our new family, but I have to prepare for your life as Mrs Wilkins in our humble abode. Would you do it for me?"
I quickly nodded as I kiss him again that he appreciated, "Anything, my Vaski. Go inside now. I promise I will find the best one for my husband."
He just smiled and turned his back on me, "You just made me the happiest man alive in this desolate world of ours, g*****a. I know the wait is worth it. It was all worth it, my love. I regret nothing."
And with that, he began walking back to our depilated shack with seemingly new life in him.
-0-
With the beautiful glory of the sea seashell in hand, I returned from the beach on the way to our humble home after an hour or so of combing the beach with only the best for my new husband.
It looks like even if the world has ended, there is still something beautiful left in this dying land to be found.
"Vaski? I'm home, my love. Vaski, are you there?"
Nobody answered the door, so I opened it quickly and what I saw broke my heart and my very soul...
The son of the sea king, sitting unmoving in the chair in front of the bed.
His right hand was clutching a large water jar of some sorts and on his left, a worn-out blue backpack he cherished the most since it is a gift from his retainer.
"Vaski!" I screamed his name as I rushed to his side and shook his body, "Wake up! I said, wake up now! Don't you dare joke like this to me! Vaski? Vaski!"
I wailed in grief as I touched his pulse, and I didn't feel any beat from it. His eyes are peacefully closed, and his lips were smiling contently.
"Vaski! Why?!"
I cried out loud as I noticed his slitted wrist and still-warm blood flowing from it that curiously turned into the water the moment it dropped from his hand.
So this is the reason why I survived and healed for the whole year I was in a coma.
He used his very own blood to bring me back to life.
"Vaski!"
I shouted his name once more as his lifeless body became pure liquid and escaped through the open door and with the water jar and backpack in my hands, I ran after it to the eternal dusk...
- Writer
