It was always just a dream.
The precious few moments they spent in each other's company on those lush green mountain tops, and the promised words of eternity they whispered in each other's ear when they were far away from the rest of their kin — all of it was but a hazy but pleasant wish, forever dreamed of, only to be veiled in fantasy.
It was meant to be nothing more than fiction. It was never supposed to be anything real.
Still, even when they knew it was wrong, even when they understood the catastrophic consequences of their actions, the time they spent in each other's comfort (far away from the watchful eyes of their families) was so surreal and fragrant, that the rich scent of her cascading silver hair on his shoulders had made him lose recollection of how bad it was.
And whatever fleeting time they spent happily alone when their tender lips were locked in love was so treacherous, that it even made her forget that he was only human.
They knew their happiness wasn't fated.
But lost in love, they were ready to defy the cosmos if only they had the other.
So, before they knew it, the grand princess of the Fae, Luna Larkveil, and the third prince of the last human kingdom, Lev Petrov of Swansea had eloped and were on the run for their lives, as they fled the southern continent to save their love.
But now that they have entered a new side of the world, ready to face life without the comfort of familiarity, the two of them were about to find out that the death of their love would have been a far better destination than what they were about to walk into now.
No, they had already fallen into that nightmare.
"Perhaps," spoke the fair young maiden first, her hand locked in his as they walked past a setting sun.
"Perhaps we should consider what we are to do if there is an empty throne in a rich city nearby. Just waiting for us to take it," she giggled as they reached another dead end into the woods after almost a week of trying to find a way to the nearest city.
"Oh?!" chuckled her handsome man in return, as his footsteps caught sight of the end of the road too.
But instead of letting despair overturn the euphoric effects of a perfect sunset, "Surely…" he added quickly without a sigh. Even though his legs were shaky from the pain of having walked without a break, he proceeded quickly to sweep Luna off her feet and gripped her behind his back.
Without explanation, Lev continued, "Surely, they will be the most fortunate city in this world," as he smiled brightly.
"No!" he paused.
"They'll surely be the luckiest city in all of cosmos to have you, of course," he said, as he tried to carry Luna on his back, to hopefully find a new path to a better tomorrow.
"Is that so?" Luna spoke, yawning after she shook the initial feeling of being caught off guard. She hugged him from behind, but only for a brief moment.
And then, Luna whispered in Lev's right ear as she spoke, "But I don't think I would like a throne right now," as she easily freed herself from Lev's grasp, and she landed swiftly on the ground.
"You see," she said, as she dusted off her flowing clothes that swayed with a cool breeze, "I just left plenty of them behind — those glorified, uncomfortable seats of iron and steel. And right now," Luna tried to move around Lev in a graceful dance, but instead stepped on her own long white skirt and fell on the grass ground. Of course, she made sure to drag him with her.
As the couple hit the green grass ground, they finally let a sigh of relief from not straining their bodies any longer.
After letting the breeze sing to them a forgotten melody, Luna continued, "Right now… I would love something comfortable for once," as she placed her head on Lev's chest.
"You really think that 'you' are going to find comfort on this cold, hard floor?" asked Lev, helplessly stuck to the floor.
"Oh, please!" snapped Luna back instantly, almost offended.
"I am a Fae, mind you! The grass, the mountain, the lake, they all serve at my pleasure," she said defensively. "If anything, I am more worried about you and how you could possibly adjust to this foreign land."
"What makes you think that a noble prince can't do any of that?" Lev sat upright instantly, or so he tried.
But Luna knocked his propped elbow that Lev had assembled in a single, swift move and pushed him back to the ground, as she continued, "Because you princes do not think on your feet."
"You fancy lot need books and teachers to teach you the most basics of things," she said, pinning him this time, and not letting go.
"I did not…" protested Lev, but Luna shot back at his comments immediately as her demeanor shifted to satire along with the expression on her face as she spoke, "Oh milord!!" as her voice reeked of an extravagant grace, "Would milord want me to show how to lift a bow?"
"Or would milord like to know what a bow is first?" she burst out into laughter, breaking character.
"And don't even start with how all of your sword moves have names," she said, as she forced herself to stop, but couldn't.
"If I wanted someone dead, the last thing they would hear is their own groan, and the bells of the afterlife wiping fear from their hearts. Not some ridiculously long chain of words that would make even the toughest enemies of mine wonder if they couldn't die sooner."
But just then, a rustling sound caught their attention from a space concealed by old branches, the sort that had new tiny leaflets growing on its tips. And before they knew it, the couple felt something vicious and dangerous watching them from the shadows, all the while, the starlight didn't favor their survival.
Rush, her instincts seemed to urge Luna, as her heart started beating louder.
But it was already too late for them to leave this tormenting paradox.
The couple quickly pulled each other to their feet, and they took a defensive stance. "Hush," they told each other in unison. "I am going to check it out,"
"Why would you put yourself in danger?" they continued speaking the same words without missing even a punctuation. "You should stay here and watch my back."
Instead of fighting it out any longer, Luna snapped her fingers under the moon's limelight, and as more darkness swayed and engulfed them without grace and with vicious intent to ensnare them, she conjured from the divine light a bow made of pure ivory.
Shimmering with golden threads and amber runic etching, she pulled on the bowstring in a heartbeat, all while the darkness desperately struggled to regain control from her light.
Her action evoked divine descension — an act that drew energy from her immediate environment, and soon, three arrows presented themselves to her fingertips, ready to be shot.
One was made of wood, lively yet destructive; the second was made of air, cool but quivering. It resonated with the tender breeze and shook the ground eagerly as multitudes of clouds and mountains shattered into pieces. And as for the last one, it was moonlight itself. Heavenly, and that which can purge all evil.
Luna let go of her arrows towards the area where she felt the disturbance with graceful aim. Her train of thought compelled her to think that someone from her family must have followed her all the way till here, and if they could persist even after fleeing the continent, then she shouldn't feel the need to hold back against someone like that.
In the next instant, all three of her arrows hit the target at once, each annihilating the other, and leaving nothing but an empty crater for miles and miles.
"Hmm," Luna spoke to herself once the dust settled. "That might have been a little excessive."
"I don't think so," replied Lev in return when his eyes caught sight of what lay in front of him in the hole.
Instead of emptiness and desolation left in the wake of her arrow's blow, the couple saw a city teeming with life in the crater. But it wasn't regular lifeforms; it was an ocean of plasma without shape, yet full of lively creatures that stared back at the couple who had dared gaze at their naked spiritualities.
Watchful eyes looked back at them in return with a smirk, eerily waiting for the wind to blow or a leaf to fall so they could make a move.
It was unlike anything the princess of the Fae, or the prince of Swansea, had ever laid their eyes on. It was a city of gold and silver. It was a state of promise. It was a place that was now starting to tower over them, and as soon as it felt alien and full of malice, the crater had rapidly outgrown the clouds in the clear dark sky.
Lev came back to his senses first this time, and in a single sweep, he swung his noble sword at the rapidly enlarging city structure.
Though it didn't hit the target like he wished to, his carmine blade caught something else, and soon, he found himself being pulled towards the fleeting frame of a massive structure.
It was an unknown force, something external and new that dragged him towards the sky.
But right before he could vanish into the rising dust again, Lev stretched out his arms to Luna, and she caught them right away, eagerly resting into his body, as a burning warmth filled the air.
"I suppose this is not the kind of comfort you wished for, my lady?" said Lev, feeling the need to add a snide remark in the wake of their mortal doom. And Luna didn't let that slide, as she made sure to pinch him on his back till she made sure she had heard enough of his screams.
"What even is this?" Luna asked, still clinging to the structure. "I have never seen anything like it," she said, tapping on it as a metallic sang sung back. It had turned from liquid to solid without making a sound, and Luna found more questions in her head than answers as she continued to examine it while still in Lev's arms.
"Have you read about anything like these?" She felt the need to ask that question, just out of curiosity.
Lev didn't want to answer that this time, and could only give a blank expression in return.
But after a few brief moments had passed, he spoke to himself in a whispering murmur, "No. It cannot be..." as though he knew something about it.
"What cannot be?" asked Luna almost instantly, who had reached a dead end on her investigation of this thing's origin. She coughed, overwhelmed just by the immense amount of gravel in the dust that was blocking the air into her being.
Lev though, held his breath, lost deep in thought.
So, Luna didn't feel the need to press an answer out of him, but she soon, however, found that what she sought was already directly in the range of her gaze.
The land they stood on, just moments ago, was now missing, and even the clouds in the sky were left far behind as they fast approached the stars now.
"What is going on?" Luna pressed herself into Lev as the pressure pushed them together. And soon, even the stars were left behind by the fast-fleeing frame, which was now silver in color, mildly unsightly, all except for a few golden ring-like structures that were at the tip of the metallic structure, hanging without support. The structure buzzed in a deafening frequency.
Lev opened his mouth, which almost tore open his skull right then, but still he used his teeth to cling to the hilt of his blade, and without sparing another moment, he clapped his hands at once.
His action resonated with something close to his chest, and suddenly, his body shattered as bones broke, and a few ribs cracked, some of the shattered pieces even tore through the skin to release the excessive force as blood rushed out.
But that was exactly what Lev wanted.
The blood curdled and crystallized, leaving behind a carnage of flesh that grew instantly into solid supporting structures on his right. And a grimoire rose from a cloud of his plasma, carmine in color, the same as his blood, and it quickly latched onto the supporting vines, like a climbing flower yearning for desolation.
"You shouldn't have done that," Luna protested as she finally drew a calm breath for once.
"I just wanted you to be cozy," smiled Lev, as he coughed up blood as he rested his feet on a structure made of bones from his back. He groaned from the agony as his bones started regenerating from the power of his grimoire.
But none of them could rest any longer than that, as the structure they had latched onto only a few seconds ago crashed onto wet, sloppy dirt, which sent them flying.
And Lev, who was more accustomed to his powers now, easily stopped them both from breaking their spines, as with a clap of his palms, he had created a bony, flesh-like platform which cushioned their fall.
The moon glowed with a purple hue when Lev and Luna opened his eyes again.
And the watchful eyes from the structure, which had flown them all the way to another city, or maybe even a new continent, eagerly watched Lev and Luna once again.
Or so they thought.
Luna readied her bow as soon as she could think straight again, and Lev turned to his carmine grimoire. His sword, which was lost in the explosion when they crashed, emerged from the colorful pages of his red book and presented itself to his hands, this time coated with something dark and breathing.
They weren't going to play around this time.
Luna's gesture summoned her three arrows again, and Lev was ready to bring destruction on all who would dare hurt his love.
They expected a war. But instead, the massive structure instantly disappeared right in front of their eyes.
Luna didn't lower her guard, nor did Lev. But still, there was nothing for them to fight for in their immediate vicinity. Or even miles and miles far away.
Their gazes met after a few seconds passed in silence, and without words they told each other, "What even was that?"
This was good, of course. As long as they were fine in the end, and far away from 'them' and their homes, they were fine with anything. Still, this was strange, and it left a bitter aftertaste in their mouths, as though all of their teeth were crushed into fine powder.
But the very next moment, a haze dispersed from their skulls as black mist that rushed out of their heads through their ears. Luna almost immediately collapsed, but even with his own body shaking with weakness, Lev caught her before the fall.
From the veil of darkness, a single flicker of light appeared, and a pair of eyes opened in the shadow. After a few moments of darting around, here and there yearning for something, its gaze fell on their figures. The pupils of its eyes were as purple as the moon that shimmered in the clear night sky, and it seemed to quite enjoy watching Luna and Lev, urging them to spare their attention in return.
Luna aimed her bow at the strange figure, and Lev took a defensive stance against the new potential enemy. But all they got in return were two voices speaking into their heads. "Did I die?" spoke someone, feminine and melodious.
"Wasn't I just killed by a rocket that crushed every bone in my body?" spoke another from the same direction. From the same singular entity that was looking at them.
Lev and Luna looked at each other, trying to confirm if the other could hear voices in their heads, and with a simple nod, they confirmed it without dropping their guards.
The blades of the grass rustled, and more details of their surrounding were registered in their eyes and mind when a mighty fire raged behind the mysterious figure that was standing a little too far from their grasp.
"You two…" it spoke to Lev and Luna when 'it' too got the same privilege to see in the darkness thanks to the fire.
"Do you wish to know who I am?" It seemed to have spoken, looking away.
And with much hesitation, Lev finally took a deep breath to ask, "Who… are you??" when he understood that he could speak with this odd creature without moving his aching jaws, using only his head.
"I am… Paradox," replied the voice as it smiled. "And I have come for you,"