Creatures of the Light

Eleventh Light

Eleventh LightCreatures of the Light

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##### Eleventh Light #####

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The night is like ice

Cold to the measure of no mercy

Smell of blood and metal lingering very much

Coloring the city of dull, marks of the deal.

The head starts to move up, revealing its inhuman features. Something dark is hovering over its cheeks, but I do not get the chance to see the rest of the creature when a sound distracts us, alarming it to slide back to wherever it came from as I look away for a split second to see who is coming.

I notice the shoes first. They are the shade of black, made of pelt, and slick. The legs are covered in a dark pair of pants, long and up to the height of the waist. Deep umbrage of scarlet clings over the slender yet stiff torso, a dark fur coat hanging on top. And then it leads to the angelic face I know so well. But looking at him when he wears clothes this dark.... it is as if he is someone else.

It is not just the choice of color, though, but also the style. It is so not the usual him at all. Especially with his hair combed back in style. They way he walks might still be the same elegance and cultured one, but he surely makes his appearance completely different than normal. I can even almost feel something dark that is not even supposed to be there.

“Valline,” I breathe his name, “what are you doing here, dressing like that?”

“I thought that I should pick you up. I got a message from the Royal Palace that you are already on your way back, though I was unsure when you will reach the forest. And about the clothes,” he tucks his coat shyly as a small blush creeps up to his smooth cheeks, “Your cousin lent it to me when I accidentally poured a bowl of tomato sauce on myself. What do you think? Does the clothes suit me, or is it just too weird for me?”

My eyes never leave his appearance when I reply, “You look handsome with it.” The two of us stop walking when we reach each other, leaving a small space between us. I reach out one of my hands to caress his hair, which actually still feels tender to the touch. “Actually, you have never looked so dark and more mysterious than this very moment. Especially with this hair style.”

“Really?” His cheeks just gets a shade darker. “Do you like it?”

I lean up for a kiss. Just a brush over his pink lips, before pulling away to look back into his lively, blue crystal eyes. “Yes. It suits you, somehow.”

Valline pulls me closer by placing his arms behind my back, before brushing his lips on my temple.

“Listen, I know that this might be out of your mind right now, but things have been getting better lately. No problem has occurred at any moment. And I am wondering if you will be interested in....” He bites his bottom lip in hesitation.

“Interested in what?” I ask curiously, having no clue on what he is going to say next.

“....going for a honeymoon.” Something is shining in his eyes. There is a little bit of embarrassment when he says this matter, but I can also see that there is an excitement and something else swimming on the surface of those aquatic orbs. “We have not gotten the chance to go yet, and so I thought you might want to take a break from your duties and just spend some time alone with me.”

“That sounds nice,” I break a smile. “Where would you like to go?”

“Well, there is this one place that I have always wanted to visit since I was little. You know that being a member of the core family always limited me from going too far from the residence. And so I thought this would be the perfect chance for me to go there for the first time with someone that is precious to me.” My heart picks up its pace when he mentions that.

“What’s the name of the place?”

“Infernal Oceanfront. It is located on an island in the Pacific Ocean. Quite far from here, but I heard that the view is otherworldly beautiful.”

Infernal Oceanfront? “Sounds celestial,” I comment. “But if the place is beautiful, then what am I?” I ask, suddenly in the mood to tease him.

A smile lit up to his lips. “Well, let’s see.” Valline leans in quickly to plant a kiss not on my lips, but my neck. The sensation tingles me, and I can not help but to laugh. “My wife is breathtakingly gorgeous.” He plants another kiss lower, making me break out another laughter out of the unbearable contact. “Smart yet cunning.” I gasp, but not because of his words. He finds a way to the top of my cleavage and takes a bite out of my skin, teasing it with his teeth. He looks up and the look he has right now is so darkly sexy yet also charming with that trace of cuteness still lingering on his features at the same time. “A walking temptation.” He returns to the gap that my now half undone jacket and corset, his tongue is this close to play with the skin of my breasts. “Shall I go on, my dark enchantress?” His eyes look like he wants to proceed without my consent, but his mouth says otherwise.

“I-I think that’s okay.” My voice is shakily, perhaps out of the cold that is mostly caused by my exposed skin or the things that he makes me feel. I clear my throat, while Valline makes that expression that shows that he is satisfied with the reaction he caused on me. For a moment there he has never looked so vile before, but in a good way. He looks adorable when he was younger and before, but now he looks slightly devious, and for some reason it has become such a turn on for me, making it harder for me to take my eyes off him. “When do we leave?”

“Soon. I have packed our things beforehand when I thought about this honeymoon.”

“And you didn’t even bother to ask me first?”

“I know that you will never say ‘no’ to me.”

Well, that is true.

So we spend the rest of the evening on our trip already, leaving Noirmelns Castle for its residents to take care of the things that are needed to be left behind, along with our trust on them. As usual, Link and Artro will handle the rest. And although I feel bad for leaving my obligations to them quite frequent recently, I am thankful that they accept this assignment sincerely. I just have to make sure that I will bring back what are at least the equal values of gifts, if not even half of the account of the helpful deeds they have done for me and the family.

It is decided that it will be best if we ride on Avin, my familiar golden dragon, to our destination. We can use a simple trick of spell and the humans will not even notice that a fifty feet long creature just passes by them. We say our goodbyes to the Noirmelns clan, while Valline sends a message to the Blancort Residence to let them know that he will be absent for a while, before departing. Then we head to west, towards the Pacific Ocean, where the blue water seems limitless. We pass the forest, then the cities and shore, before finally meeting the open sea.

The trip takes around two hours before we are anywhere close to the island. But it is magnificent enough for him to be able to fly so fast in such an amount of time, considering the distance.

“We are almost there,” Valline tells me as he bends down to look at the view below us. When I do the same thing, though, I can not really spot what he is looking at. What I can see is only miles and miles of ocean water with nothing in particular other than a green rock that stands alone in the middle of the sea.

“There where?”

“The Infernal Oceanfront.”

“I can’t see anything─”

“Yet, because first we will have to pass the dimension gate first.”

“You mean like a portal? Why do we have to go through such distance if there is a portal that we need to cross?”

“Because it will take longer for us to get there if we go through a portal first hand. For one, I am not really familiar with the area around the other dimension, if we had traveled through the portal at your castle.”

“And you do from here?”

“Yes. I read the explanation from the guidebook before, though it only focused on how to get there from here.”

“What are we looking for, exactly?”

“Just need to get close enough with that green stone,” Valline points at it for Avin to take the direction.

We dive down until Avin settles in front of the stone, his body circling it on top of the water surface. The green rock is bigger than I expected ─ wide enough to build a small house on top. Valline leans out to reach the stone and touches it, causing a portal to appear vertically in the mid of air above it. The surface looks like a mirror, so we do not know what it looks like inside.

Valline gets off Avin first, before turning back to lend me a hand. It is not necessary for him to help me get down, but I appreciate his gentleman side. Once I step on the rock, I dismiss my familiar and thank him. Avin nods before flying away.

The two of us step through the portal together. It shines the brightest when we go through it. My eyes are blinded by how intense the light is, although it is not hurting me physically. And by the time the light dims, the view that I see next is exactly just like how Valline describes it.

The landscape is formed by half-red sand and half-blue ─ almost green-like ─ water. The sky is very clear and blue, with lots of fire-breathing baby dragons flying across it. The natural plants are all very green here, spreading all around the background of the island. And then I see something golden, which when I turn my head turns out to be a cottage, and a rather fancy one to that.

One word: Beautiful.

But such tropical scenery is something that is rather unusual for my eyes, making me unable to hold the urge to─

Hachu!

I can not stand it when the sunlight beams too bright at me and sneeze.

Hachu!

Again.

Hachu!

And again.

“What’s wrong?” Valline asks with a concerned look from my side.

“It seems like my allergy of the sunlight strikes again,” I mumble as I rub my nose.

“You’re allergic to the sunlight?” His round blue eyes widened in surprise. “How come?”

“Quite simple. For starters, I have never been around places with wide, open sky and the sun like this place. And even when I did, I never stay for long. I also do not fancy the sun that much, always staying inside the house and never spent too much time under it. And overall, I just never really got into a situation that forces me to be around places like this one,” I explain.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know. If I had, I would not bring you here. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You sounded so happy when you talked about this place. How could I tell? Besides, I want to make you happy. You look the handsomest when you smile.” And I can not help but offer him with one of my own.

He looks as if he is about to cry and smile at the same time.

“Oh, Arsene, you don’t have to sacrifice for me,” he says, pulling me into a hug. I turn away and sneeze again. He chuckles, which sounds like a ringing bell. “Come on, then. Let’s get you inside.”

“It’s okay. My body will adapt to the environment and stop the sneezing quickly. I just have to get used to it. In the meantime, what would you like to do?”

Something is shining in his eyes, which I have learned to know as excitement. “How about swimming?”

I bite my bottom lip. “I was thinking of something less energy gaining but, alright.”

The light is gone from those blue crystal eyes instantly. “It’s okay, Arsene. You don’t have to force yourself for me. I should have known better as well.”

I hate it when he looks like this, especially when I am the one that is causing this. Since the very beginning, it seems like I can never let him become so disappointed. Even when he forced an engagement tattoo on my hand before, back when I was still part of the Sorcier. And even after settling things with his grandfather, Freddrickson, I still could not let him go while looking so sad. It is the same look that he is showing right now.

My hand reaches up to care the side of his cheek. “How about we make a sand castle, then?” I ask, trying to lighten up the mood.

The light is back in his eyes. “I never thought that you are the type that would do something so childish like this,” he mutters.

“Well, you never know.” I pull his hand to the edge of the beach. “Making sand castle is part of art as well, and I love art. So you can say that this is one of my hobbies, although I never do this much before.”

“I have been to other beaches before and made some, so perhaps I can teach you,” he mumbles excitedly.

But it turns out that Valline is not so great at making sand castle. His always ends up in odd forms every time he tries, while mine somehow looks magnificent. So we decide to join forces to make a bigger sand castle. Valline gathers the starfish and seashells while I decorate the castle. By the time we finish building it, the sky already turns red and we are both exhausted.

When Valline and I take a break, something feels odd about how the ocean is staring at us. So I turn my gaze to it.