Sometimes, one gets so lost in moments of joy that they forget to keep an open mind and stay aware.

It is usually during our times of joy when we let our guard down and melt into the bright and radiant life surrounding us.

And, it is during these times when rarely but surely, someone else takes an advantage of this state of ours and makes an attack.

Standing in the presence of the Dark Lord, the ghoul waited to be told of what to do. The Dark Lord sat on his throne with his new slave, Evie, standing beside him.

His eyes gleamed with mischief as he looked up at the ghoul and asked, "Tomorrow evening isn't it?"

"Yes my Lord." The ghoul replied.

"Then tomorrow it is when we meet her again. You know what needs to be done, don't you?" Damien asked to which the ghoul looked at him and nodded.

"Then go, do what I have told you. Bring the boy down and take his form. Trick her and bring her to me. It is simple and I hope you wont fail."

///

Skipping her way back to the castle, Aera could not help but smile as she walked down the path that lead to the castle gates.

Standing infront of them, she greeted the guards who unlike before, had become quite friendly and caring towards her.

"Good evening Miss Aera. You look really happy today." One guard said as the other opened the gate. 

"Yes, I am, Dolextus. It's just that I have met with a friend of mine." Aera replied to which Dolextus nodded and stepped aside to let Aera enter. 

Still smiling, she crossed the gardens and entered the castle. She was just about to go towards her room when a worker walked towards her and called her out. 

"Miss Aera!" She called out to which Aera turned to see the cook's assistant standing infront of her. "Yes?"

"Oh great heavens Miss Aera! Where have you been?" 

Hearing the amount of exasperation filled in the workers voice, Aera was taken aback as she furrowed her eyebrows and gave a questioning look. "What happened? Did I do something wrong? You seem to be really worried."

"The Prince, he has been searching for you for the past four hours. He is dead worried and you should have seen the look on his face when none of us could find you anywhere. Miss Aera, please, never go out for long especially without informing anyone. The Prince is in the scroll room as for now and he told me that if I would meet you, I should give you this message to see him immediately."

"Oh...ok. I shall be going then."

Taking a turn, Aera walked towards the room the woman had informed her about, the scroll room, a place which Aera had never seen before.

And it was not as if Aera was not curious about it but rather, she was just not allowed.

Only the direct members of the royal family had the permission to go inside the room and Aera suspected that the reason for this could be that behind the scroll room's door, important information was stored.

Walking down the hallways, Aera took a turn and then another. During her past few months of stay in the castle, Aera had memorized the whole place by heart and though the castle was no doubt really huge, she had somehow memorized the whole structure of the castle inside out through the means of visualisation.

Finally, she now stood infront of the door that read Scroll Room.

Her heart raced in her chest as she brought her knuckles to the door's wooden surface and knocked two times.

She then waited...and waited...but no response came.

Getting impatient, Aera gave an annoyed sigh as she tapped her foot on the ground. "Should I just simply enter or should I wait?"

Her words echoed in the empty hallways as after some more time, she finally decided to go with the former option and turned the knob of the door.

With a light click sound, the door opened, quite slowly and creaked. Pushing the huge wooden door further, Aera stepped inside and gave a gasp of surprise due to the sight that lay infront of her.

It was huge room, with an innumerable number of shelves. In the shelves, were kept scrolls, some looking old while some looking as if they had just recently been stored and kept inside.

Taking another step, Aera breathed in the air which had the typical 'paper' smell hanging in it. The shelves stretched on for some distance after which, they turned to meet and form a curve.

And in the middle of that curve, was kept a table and a chair. Behind that table, was a huge window which showed the outside view while on the table were kept stacks and bundles of books and scrolls.

The piles of paper on the table were kept one on top of another and they went so high that they blocked Aera from seeing who could possibly have been sitting behind them.

Slowly, she walked towards the table as she could hear the noise of writing coming from behind the books and scrolls. 

Clearing her throat, she called out in a low voice, "Uh, hello." She said, as her voice stood in odds with the noise of pen being used on paper.

As her voice echoed in the room, the noise of writing stopped and that of a chair being shifted came.

Aera saw the pile of papers and books being shifted aside as finally, a gap was made and her eyes settled on an extremely tired Prince.

"Good evening Prince, you look really down." Aera remarked to which the Prince rubbed his eyes and kept his pen aside. Giving a nod, he drank a glass of water kept on the table and sighed.

"Well yes, I am. On the contrary though, you look really...happy." The Prince said as he rested his palms on the table and leaned towards Aera.

A smile made its way on Aera's face as she nodded. "Taehyung, I don't know if you will believe but I met him..."

Hearing the word 'him' immediately caught Taehyung's attention as he raised an eyebrow and tilted his head. "Him? Who him?" He asked, as he saw Aera's cheeks flush in response, causing a pit to form in his stomach.

"Oh god, don't tell me she is falling for this new 'guy' she has met with..." The Prince thought, as unknowingly, a pang of jealousy hit his heart due to a person he did even know.

"I, met Jimin." 

"Oh, so it's Jimin who she is falling for. I guess I have gained a rival for myself then." The Prince thought with a frown, but when he once again went through what Aera told him, his eyes immediately widened, all the previous feelings of jealousy vanishing and instead being replaced with shock.

"YOU MET WITH WHOM?" He exclaimed, his previous low voice suddenly skyrocketing to a speaker's level as he quickly crossed the table and came towards Aera. "Wait, you met him. You met your childhood friend. Aera, you finally got to meet your childhood friend!!" 

With a bright smile on his face, Taehyung at the moment who was way more excited than Aera herself jumped up and down with joy. "Aera, this is great news!" He said to which Aera laughed.

"I know right! But Prince, please do calm down! You look like a baby who has eaten too many chocolates."

With the smile still persisting on his face, Taehyung took a deep breath and stood still as he looked at Aera with twinkling eyes. "I am just so happy for you, Aera. But tell me, how did you find him?"

"Remember that portion we made before? The portion which was about finding a person?"

"Yes."

"Well, there was some of it remaining and I used it, thinking that maybe it may lead me to Jimin...and it did. I met him at the Forbidden Forest. Prince, if only you could be there to see how happy I was. We talked a bit, talked about the past and what all happened during the time we were separated. He told me how he had been saved by Wizard Alf and..."

"Whoa!" Taehyung interrupted. "Wizard Alf saved him?"

Aera nodded with a smile to which Taehyung gave an impressed look. 

"That wizard surely is a mysterious yet amazing person. One moment he is here and the next somewhere else, you just never know where he may be." He said as he let silence fall which gave him time to let the enormity if the situation settle in his mind.

 He felt happy for her, no doubt, but there was a small part of him that troubled his thoughts. He knew that if he may say it aloud, it may upset Aera so he decided to stay silent instead.

But, those thoughts, changed Taehyung's former twinkling eyes to worried ones and Aera was quick to notice this as she pointed it out to him, "What's wrong Prince? You look worried."

Hearing her words, Taehyung looked at her and slightly shook his head. "Nothing, it's fine." He said as he forced a smile.

The previous bright atmosphere quickly started thickening as Aera could sense that something was troubling the Prince's mind. So she decided to let him think about it in peace. "I'll get going then. Oh, and next time, if I ever go somewhere and don't come early, don't worry about me. I'll be fine!" She said with a shrug as she turned her back on the Prince and headed towards the door.

"Uh, Aera..." The Prince called out to which Aera stopped on her tracks and looked behind. "Yes?"

"Uh, I...just be careful alright? You never know if what you are seeing is real or is just an illusion. Don't trust anything you come across because things are no longer safe here in Azmaar and..."

"And?" Aera asked as she looked at the Prince.

Looking back at her, the Prince took a deep breath and walked towards her. Now, standing just a few inches away, he looked at her deep in the eyes, as if mesmerized by what lay in them. "...I am worried about you. I am worried about your safety. After the attack that happened on you in the Land Of Dead, I have realized how much you mean to me Aera. So please, take care and don't let me lose you. Stay with me and I'll protect you, even though I know you are strong and capable enough to protect yourself. Promise?"

These words, tingled in Aera's ears, echoed in her mind and warmed her heart as for a moment, she suddenly felt like leaning in and hugging the Prince. But she held herself back, afraid that she may just make the situation awkward between them.

Oh, how her heart suddenly yearned to hold his hands and call him her's but she herself could not recognize this yearning and pushed them aside as just some 'love of friendship'.

He himself wanted to do the same, but unlike her, he was starting to recognize these feelings that were growing in his heart. He was starting to realize that slowly, but surely, he was falling for her. And maybe, if he was courageous enough, he would have said those three words that now lay at the tip of his tongue, but he held back too. Afraid that if he would say so, he may ruin the bond of friendship he had with her.

And so, nothing happened other than Aera nodding in response and saying, "I promise." After which she just simply turned and walked away.

Love truly was blooming in their hearts, slowly growing like a young flower, but it stayed hidden as for now. Who knows when it might finally show?