Concealed Love

Chapter-29 His past (final)

           Al looked at the timid little girl approaching him, he didn't know how to react, he prepared himself to stand firm no matter what she said.

               Ella, who had no idea that Al had broke the cure still thought that he would not realise anything no matter how obvious she appeared.

               Al listened to her as she recited her poem, which was supposedly just a practice.

 'You who could never be mine,

Like the moon and the sun,

Forever in contrast.

Just to feel a touch,

Just to see a smile,

Worth burning away into the abyss.

For you to feel love for a day,

Gladly i shall fade away.

This newfound feeling,

Made me fall into an endless illusion

Knowing full well of where i stand,

Still stretch for things far beyond.

Yet, I am glad i can feel this,

 And I am glad its towards you.'

     When he heard the lines he knew it was meant for him to hear, his heart tightened, knowing that it was a probably her final show of feelings towards him.

      He had already braced his heart, so when she ran away from him after pouring her heart out, he stood there acting strong until she was out of side and as soon as she was no longer in his eyesight he fall on his knees.

       He knelt below a big willow tree clenching his cloths tightly with both his hands, his head dropped as he forced his eyes shut, and the tree together with the first snow of the year fall together in place of his tears.

         He stayed in that position, until the snow on his shoulder started to melt its way through his skin and his hair made damped from it. He thought of Ella crying, thinking that he had not loved her, hearing the scorns of the people around her and not being able to support her, his veins showed themselves from under his skin as he bit his inside lips.

           He finally snapped himself back to his senses when he heard his attendants approaching and barely fixed himself to stand firm, acting as stern as always on the outside and went back to his sleeping chamber, not to sleep but to hide from the world that was merry making outside his castle.

          He got no sleep that night, as morning came he desperately wished for a miracle to occur and somehow escape from the marriage that was going to be held that day.

            He knew it was cruel for his wife to be to thought of such things on such a day as this but he didn't love her and in the end their relationship would only end up hurting each other. If possible he didn't want to hurt Minerva as she helped him whenever he needed her on the battlefield or for any work but he could not avoid it as in order to protect his love he was ready to even die and sacrifice himself.

           He didn't even looked at his bride as  they walked down the aisle, his eyes shoot toward Ella now and then, reading her expression. She looked like she was about to cry, but was still trying to keep her cheerfulness, he slowed down his step and just then, the miracle he was hoping for came but not in the form he had exactly hoped for.

           The demons suddenly attacked the castle and burned the wedding stages, people were running around in the chaos and he fought to protect them.

             While he was focusing on the attacks he didn't notice a hooded guy approaching Ella, he had seen the guy before, it was the guy who was playing with Ella when he visited the castle, her mother told him that the guy was a child taken in by the demon king to raise as Asfet's brother.

             He never cared about him and after the war he didn't know that he would still be alive. He knew he would try to take Ella away and for a moment though that maybe, he'll take care of her.

          He had heard the former queen say that, ' Asfet has been happier since he came here, he really thinks of her as a little sister, so she won't feel that lonely. '

          But soon he regretted ever thinking that, even for a moment he should have never thought of letting her out of his side.

           He saw Ella broke,  She screamed in agony and saw the first tears she had ever shown to him, the girl who was always bright and cheerful cried as her small body could no longer contain all her pent up pain.

          Darkness engulfed her as she lost her senses in all her suffering, he looked at her and his posture finally crumbled down,  he realised that it was never only for Ella that he hide his feelings, he was scared, he was ashamed of himself, for her dead mother who died because of protecting him, killing her father who she thought loved her and maybe he did in his own way, thinking that if Ella ever find out such events she would come to hate him and in fear of her rejection he cowered away and continued acting like the good guy for her.

           At that moment, Al vowed that if ever they get of this moment alive he will love her, he will protect her with his everything, she will be his priority and together he would take her far from the eyes of either demons or humans. Alas! He made the decision too late for that lifetime.

         She was already out of control when he managed to defeat her brother and came to her. Al had already lose too much of his energy, still he dragged himself by her side and brought Ella back to her senses.

            His sight was turning blurry, he had exit his limit when he was trying to save her, blood gushed out of his every organs and he fell on the ground. From the moment he laid eyes on her after waiting for six long years, he had know that she was chaos and he was ready to burn himself in it. 

          He saw vaguely the people running, his fallen parents, the burning castle, the suffering of the person whom he was about to bind his life to and thought to himself, ' in the end, I couldn't protect anything, not even the love I wanted to protect at the cost of her happiness.'

           He felt her embracing him as she sobbed her heart out, as she repeated the words ' I'm sorry ', he gently wipe the tears with his hands and managed to say, " Don't cry, it's not your fault. "

           She hold the hands on her face desperately clinging to his last moments, he knew he would not make it and at that moment he thought of the time when her mother told him that maybe in the next life they would meet in a better world and bet every little remaining life of his own  it.

              He gave her his small ounce of remaining power, hoping she could live through it until he came into the world again. He knew she would suffer but he wanted to be selfish one last time, he vowed to give all of his to her, if ever there is such thing as next life and if they can ever meet again in it. He uttered with a quiet whisper, " I'm sorry. " And his vision shut off.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

                 After his death, no one could find his sword no matter how hard they searched and slowly after some generations, it became a tale and lost its place from the minds of the humans along with the changing ages.

            It appeared before Ella when she was felling the lowest in her life and helped her find motivation. She could hold on to it as the power of Al still flowed in her and kept protecting her in place of his master.

            And everytime, Al came near it, he could remember bits and pieces of his past memories.

              It was his main source of power and the moment the master got hold of his sword, the memories of him with it flowed through his minds finally awakening him.

              He was in Ella's basement when finally he remembered everything, he had came to accept the reality that the world had changed and that the current him and the past side of him is one and the same.

                He recalled the current attitude of himself and the things he had done, he scolded himself for acting so selfishly. He realised she had endured to live up to this long because she felt responsible for his death, for the chaos of that time but his current self oblivious of the fact pressured her, hurted her making nothing out of her long life suffering, expecting her to just come out and accept his foolish self.

            He could have never loved her right with that small, thoughtless affection. The him of those few months could never understand nor love her right and Ella who knew of it ended up only hurting more when he tried to approach her with that half heartedness.

               He came back to the current situation and felt a small amount of his power somewhere in the outskirts of the city. He felt the power he had previously given to Ella, from there he went out of the basement.

              The intruders were still searching around the house, smashing up the stuffs, possibly searching for him and the sword.

                He walked out of the basement and with a chilling power he slammed them into the walls and asked, " Are you the ones who took her? "

                The big guy smirked, " Indeed but the lackey of ours left something behind so mind giving it to us? "

                 The poor guy probably haven't realised that the man standing in front of him was already the one who was feared as the divine prince who massacred every demons that met his eyes.

                  Al smiled only with his lips, " You demons are still so.... Irritating. "

               With that he burst them out of the room and sliced them, making them burn down in ashes. He looked at the direction of his magic and where Ella probably is and blasted off towards it.

              When he reached near the place, he landed and scrutinized the area. It was a big barren land and a bit further from it led to a big forest, he walk into it and as he got closer to the source, he found a small cave.

              He avoided alarming the security guards, unless they hurt Ella and made his way inside it, the small cave led to a small path which got bigger along its way.

               There he finally found Ella, she was made to kneel on the ground surrounded by the crowd but fortunately or not she was not their main concern at that moment.

                 In the middle of it all, a masked man was holding a man by his throat, lifting him off the ground as the other struggled for his dear life.

                  Al remembered that the masked man was the one who previously shot him and he also recognised the one he was strangling. It was Jace, who had nearly lost consciousness.