"Hey!" Disbelief flashed on his face. "I wasn’t laughing at you!"
"Right!"
To her astonishment, Matthew easily used his dark mist to dry himself. He chuckled then he lifted his eyebrow at her.
She immediately knew what was coming.
She got up and started running away from the cliffs.
Matthew might have liked her but she knew he can be very petty.
Her eyes widened when he noticed the black mist following her, almost catching up to her.
"No using magick!" she reasoned.
"That is not magick."
Then what the hell is that? She immediately regretted splashing his face with water. But it was too late. The mist wrapped around her ankles and pulled her.
She let out a squeal.
How could she let him have his way?
She used her own magick to get rid of the mist. However, how could it be so easy to get rid of something like that? The mist dissipated before slowly merging together. She used some fireball to get rid of it and again, it dissipated only for a few seconds before merging once again.
Ava used this time to run farther away. Of course, she had the option to teleport but really? Where is the fun in that?
She created more fireballs and ran farther and farther away. However, the more she ran, the faster the mists are.
Then
**BAM**
Ava hit a wall.
She felt her body bounce then she fell on her butt.
"Having fun?" It was Matthew. He smirked at her sorry state, his arm crossed against his chest.
"You are cheating..."
"I’m not."
"Then how could you — "
"I’m faster."
Ava stroked her forehead.
"And stronger... you depleted your magick."
"Right." Ava snorted. He approached her and held his hand, trying to help her get up. She narrowed her eyes and accepted his hand. But instead of getting up, she used her magick to suddenly pull him down, towards her.
In the end, the two of them lay on the ground, large smiles plastered on their faces as they stared at the skies. Ava tried to catch her breath as she looked at his side profile.
"They are going to come..." Matthew said. "Not now but soon."
"Right..." Ava said.
"I can sense the sarcasm."
"Sorry, I thought I was being subtle."
He chuckled at that. Then he pulled her and lifted her up, positioning her on top of him. The two of them faced each other for a while before Ava rested her head on his chest.
His heartbeat was steady— the exact opposite of hers.
His chest was hard and sturdy and dependable.
His breathing was calm, unwavering.
Then she closed her eyes.
A part of her wanted to stay like this forever. Away from people, away from everyone else. Just staring at the night skies, watching the stars.
Laughing together, acting like kids.
"Let’s go..." Matthew said.
"Where?"
"I would like you to meet my mother."
She got off him and the two of them started walking deeper in the direction where she was running earlier. The two of them held each other’s hand until they arrived at a clearing.
Surrounded by trees, the large area in front of them looked like an ordinary clearing with beautiful marigolds and various flowers. The sweet smell of flowers filled the air.
Of course, Ava knew this was but an illusion.
She could see it.
She watched as Matthew used his nail to cut his thumb. A drop of blood then floated from the cut toward the center of the plane. Then the clearing disappeared.
What stood before them was a large castle made of white marble. It reminded her of the Taj Mahal except this one is smaller and she could see a few granites on the columns that were used on the large gates that surrounded the castle. Its intricate carvings left Ava speechless.
"It’s beautiful..." she exclaimed when the whole palace suddenly lit up under her gaze. It looked magical, to say the least.
"Shall we go in?" Matthew asked.
"Of course."
Their footsteps echoed as they walked on the marble floor. Soon, they reach the large entrance. As if on cue, the large mahogany doors opened on their own, revealing a grand interior that looked grander than the palace where the King of the Lycans reside.
"This is— " Ava looked around. Her eyes immediately stopped at the large statues of both men and women.
"Their ashes are inside the statues..." Matthew said. "A generation of Lycans."
"This is your maternal family?"
"Not all of them. I have a grandfather who left the family a few decades ago. He did not want to conform to the belief of the Lycans and married a werewolf. At that time, werewolves are seen as a lesser version of Lycans. Naturally, the marriage met a lot of scorn and disgust. My maternal family abandoned him."
Ava looked at Matthew.
He continued, "They removed him from the family register. Rumor has it that he worked with witches and started cursing my maternal family. All of the women in my mother’s generation were not able to become pregnant. This was with the exception of my mother."
"She got pregnant because of Baba," Ava uttered.
"The relic that Baba gave her contained a fragment of my soul. It was meant to protect someone."
"But she was pregnant."
"Because part of protecting someone is healing them," Matthew said.
"So, you didn’t take your mother’s soul in exchange for her pregnancy?" she couldn’t help but ask. She was really curious about this matter.
"No." Matthew looked at her. "She gave me something else."
"And— what is that?" Of course, Ava could already guess it. She gave him... Matthew. The Lycan Matthew.
The perfect vessel.
"I didn’t steal anything," Matthew said as if he could read her thoughts. "The body was mine... the face was mine. She could have killed me if she wanted to and I wouldn’t be able to do anything. I was stuck inside the Pits, even my soul wouldn’t be able to touch her."
"So she knew about you..."
He chuckled at that. "She is my biological mother. She knew she was dying but she chose to give birth to me. A woman like that isn’t someone that anyone could just bully. Why do you think a woman like that would birth someone like me?" he asked.
"She wanted something," Ava said. "Was it against the King?" she asked.
"No," Matthew shook his head. "It was with someone else."
....
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