Game of Prythian

Chapter Forty-Two

"How do I kill him?" I hissed. His arms tightened around me before he whispered, kissing my cheek softly. "I will not tell you. Long ago, I had a first mate, and she was everything to me. Then she was murdered brutally by our enemies. I was furious, so much so I created a temple of bones. It was built from bones too. I took a singular bone from every single person involved in her death, carving their crimes into them, as I built the walls, the floors, the ceiling. In the back I carved a stone wall with my Protegee's deathbed confessions into the walls so one day one of his descendants could find it."

I gasped for air, and he turned me around to face him. His gray hair is perfect as ever. His eyes gleaming with tears as his smooth tan skin was illuminated by nothing. "It's not worth it Kana, I am not worth it."

A slap echoed through the nothingness. The outline of my hand now across his face. I shouted, "Don't you dare even say that!" tears falling, my red face stricken with sadness and grief.

Cerberus smiled at me, and said, "You know my beast form is the ability to shift into a Three headed dog?"

I settled into his arms trying to find a point in his change of topic. He pulled me as close as he possibly could and murmured. "Long ago Falcon's little brother, younger by like three years, was sent into another world by accident, he is in the world the Mother wants to send you to."

I whispered, "What's his name?" Cerberus shrugged and kissed the top of my hair. "You'll recognize him, that time about the second chance? I shifted into the little brother, not Falcon."

"What did you mean by 'the second time's the charm?'" I whispered snuggling into his chest. He chuckled lightly, the sound rumbling in his chest. "You'll never know if you don't go back."

"I can't." I whispered, admitting the pain all at once.

"Why not." He tucked a strand of my dull, flat white hair behind the ragged ear with it's tip missing. I sighed declaring into the darkness, "It seems as if there is nothing to live for without you there."

"There is something to live for, Ghosty." He whispered. His gaze switched between my lips and eyes. "But you'll never find it if you don't go back."

His words found me again, like a silent echo from the past. The only guidance I can give you is from above and as a friend. I pressed my nose into his chest, memorizing his scent of bones, apple cinnamon, and death. I snorted wondering who in the hell would have known those three smells went so well together.

Somehow there were ghosts here, and they helped me imprint his scent into my mind. To be forever remembered. My mind had been made up, my fate likely already set in stone. The light that had appeared was pulling me away. I shouted over the roaring of it, "In this life and the next, I will remember you, and I will always find you."

He smiled and was about to let go, to finally go on to the otherworld. I pulled him back, butterflies swarming in my stomach along with my nerves as our lips pressed together. Soft and surprisingly warm, his lips were like the answer to all of my questions.

I whispered, just loud enough as I let go. "To remember me by."

Then the light pulled me into its cold embrace.

✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ♞ ♝ ♜ ♛ ♜ ♝ ♞ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵

Everything was blurred, like fuzz had settled over my vision. A dark skinned male, in bloodied golden armor stood over me. As my vision cleared he looked down to me, and his eyes widened. He cursed violently, scrambling away and coming back with a glass and bowl of water, as well as a cloth.