It was a long time before the noises of the festival faded in the background and Aris and I finally decided to make our way back.

My head was reeling. An unexplained pain tugging at my heart as I glanced sideways at him. Even though I had rejected him, told him I was in love with someone else, there was something else in my heart that I didn't have a name for.

To kiss him. Hold him. Comfort him. It had come naturally to me. And I couldn't understand why.

My head was throbbing from the multitude of emotions I was feeling. Anxiety about the Sognare. Fear about my ability and gut wrenching pain for Aris' broken heart. I glanced sideways at him. He deserved the world.

We walked silently along the deserted road. None of us spoke. Each of us fighting an internal battle.

We walked for a while before Aris' face turned to me, his eyes wide, alert, as he grabbed my arm. We stopped in our tracks and I understood what he meant.

A presence.

I could feel a presence around me and started looking around to find the source of the presence, which from my instincts and prior experience, I could tell was maleveolent.

Before I could find anything though, Aris yelled. "DUCK!"

I felt a hard blow to my body as Aris threw himself at me and I let out a loud grunt as I fell on my back, his body shielding mine, his warmth enclosing me protectively. He waved a hand and at once a huge canopy of intermingled branches propped from the ground and shaded us, protecting us from the unseen enemy. He got to his knees, his eyes searching. I felt adrenaline pumping through my blood as I opened my palm, trying to summon the light.

"What...what was that?"

Just as I asked, I heard the sound of sharp edged steel cutting through air as at once, the tangle of branches collapsed onto us.

I blasted orbs of light as the tendrils burnt and fell away. I got up slowly and stood on my feet, my heart stopping at the scene in front of me.

"Stand still, freak. And no tricks."

A tall, lean man spoke, his face hidden by the shadow. He was surrounded by half a dozen men who started circling around us menacingly, trapping us in place.

"Leave this place, blondie. We don't want to kill unnecessarily," one of the men drawled, addressing Aris.

Aris glared at him, his eyes burning fiercely, his voice was confident when he spoke  "Neither do I. Which is why you should leave us alone."

I glanced at him sideways and wondered if he was feigning confidence. We were grossly outnumbered and all of them were armed. All we had was my unpredictable powers and Aris' earth powers. Which seemed measly against six fully grown armed men.

"Big talk, kid," one of the men said, walking into the light till I finally saw his long, pointed face and cruel flashing eyes. "Get the fuck away from him."

"What do you want?" I asked, concentrating on not letting my vice tremble. I could feel my blood running cold and fought hard to keep a straight face.

"You have evaded us far too long," One of the men said as I whipped around to face him. "You are a danger to the society. And your blood will be spilt."

He raised his hand and threw a dagger at me. Before I could react, Aris stretched his hand with lightning fast reflexes and a long branch clasped the dagger hard, throwing it to his feet where it clattered harmlessly. The man snarled. "You're really getting on my nerves kid."

Before Aris could react, there was a loud gunshot ripping through the silence of the air and he crumbled to the ground, shot in his arm.

I looked at the source of the sound and saw a man pointing his gun as Aris writched in pain. Blood pooling at an alarming rate from his arm. The man placed his finger on the trigger as I yelled out, my body too paralyzed to move. "STOP! STOP!DON'T HURT HIM!"

The man lowered his gun, his face unamused. "We do not leave witnesses to the job."

"No," I said. "He won't tell anyone. No one would believe him."

He seemed to contemplate my words for a while and I took the chance to center myself. I didn't know if I could summon the light like I had back at Asteria when it had strangled my assassin to death. I gazed sideways, my heart wrenching, terror clenching my heart when I saw Aris. His face getting paler as dark blood poured around him. But there was something I could do. Something that could attack them all at once.

"I suppose that's true," the man said as I tried to concentrate on the light inside them. Pulling it towards me with everything I had. Picturing their flowing blood. Concentrating till I could feel their hearts pumping the scarlet liquid that was the source of all their light. I needed Aris back. I couldn't survive if he was hurt. I couldn't fathom the thought.

"But we have been paid a good fat amount of money to get rid of you," the man said, narrowing his eyes. "Unless you can offer that sweet ass of yours, I can't see why we should let you go."

There was racuous laughter at his words and anger and disgusted interwined with utter terror in my stomach. Making it hard to think straight.

"I can give you money," I said, fishing in my pocket and taking out the card my dad gave me so long ago.

The man laughed again. "The bastard Prince of Evimeria has nothing."

I threw the card at him as he caught it deflty out of the air. Out of the corner of my eyes I could see Aris dangerously white now, his breathing shallow. I didn't know how long I had. "A blank cheque. Take whatever. From the treasury," I said, finally feeling the light as I started extracting it painfully slowly towards me. I was astounded as I could differentiate between the dim lights within them and the bright beacon that was flickering now. The beacon belonged to Aris. I willed for it to steady, to remain.

The man's eyes widened greedily as he saw the name on the card.

"Andreas doesn't know," I said. "Take it. Take it and let us go."

The man laughed. "How about, we take this and still keep you?"

His voice and face was a warp of sounds and colours as suddenly, I felt a sharp pull behind my naval and was pulled back from reality. was no longer in the alley.

I felt the familiar pull of darkness as I was once again plunged into the dreaded vision. I could smell the strong odour of clothes, wood burning. Could feel the incessant heat on my skin. I glanced up ahead and asaw I was inside the burning apartment. Ahead of me lay an unrecognizable figure.

My heart splintered.

I pulled at the light with everything I had. And then, I was blinded by it. 

Oblivion.