Bound At Heart

Adjustments

The time she wanted to grieve was very short-lived – even if it took months, it was still short-lived for her regardless. The storm was dispelled and the rain along with the hail and snow ceased. Ilyana opened her eyes as her sobbing came to an instant halt as she came to magically sense another being of immense power. Power with much more potency than what Archimedes once beheld.

"Dear, child, why must you weep so?" asked a seemingly motherly voice that barely bore emotion, whose voice boomed proudly.

Ilyana gazed to her left towards the empty field in front of the newly-healed hillside and mountainous base. There, a dragon landed, its very weight shaking the ground.

Ilyana released a shriek of distress, losing her balance from being on her knees. She instinctively got back up and shielded Ronan with just her small body by standing in front of him. It was another dragon whose colors belonged to the night with a large, hypnotizing purple gem lay square center on her large chest. Her eyes matched the gem's hue and that's when many clicks went off in Ilyana's mind.

'Ronan's memories!' The alarm went off in Ilyana's head as she recalled witnessing almost first hand as to how he got cursed.

"Y-you!" Ilyana gasped. "You did this!"

The dragon lowered her head to speak almost at eye level with her, explaining, "I admit I am the one who placed the curse on Ronan Silva, but I didn't cause these events to unfold. It was Ronan's fate to have such extreme situations befall on him after I gave him a second chance in life."

Ilyana retorted, tears still falling down her cheeks, "This second chance you gave him only led him to die!"

"We all eventually die, Ilyana," the deity sighed. "It is the matter of how meaningful each life was in contributing to the world around them is what counts in if someone's death was honorable, just, or in vain."

Ilyana paused, then asked, "How do you know my name?"

"I have been keeping a close eye on you, Faethyra," the dragon chuckled. "As the overseer of fate to all in the living realm, Ronan's and yours have piqued my interest, especially since you – of all beings – is the living descendant of the most significant deity to date. You should know, you've read up on your history and know the tales."

That was when Ilyana's eyes widen significantly when all the puzzle pieces came clicking in her mind.

"C-Cora?" Ilyana stammered, clearly in shock. The dragon closed her eyes and chuckled again, dissipating her dragon form as she recollected her dark mist in transforming into an Elf. Cora towered Ilyana. Her skin was almost pearly white, her ebony hair waving to her shoulders. Her eyebrows arched high whilst her nose didn't. She wore a simple, off-shoulder coal dress that stayed tight to her slim frame but opened at her knees. However, the most significant part of her look was the fact that her purple gem was placed on the center on her chest, her lips were that of a blood-red rose, and her eyes pulsed purple.

"Correct," Cora confirmed. "It's not every day I come across such characters such as yourself and people like Ronan. It was by fate that you two would meet ever since you both were born. The death of my youngest child sought to it. Just as the sacrifices that you and your companions made just so the land would be liberated before undergoing an apocalypse. It was then, did I really toy with probabilities – but also the chance to redeem myself for past mistakes by having you come to realize the power you hold, Ilyana."

"So you could do your sister just," Ilyana completed the thought and Cora nodded once. She looked behind her towards Ronan's cold corpse and immediately felt like breaking again. "That doesn't justify the fact that I am now grieving over the very man who sacrificed himself for not only me... but for the land. He was just a Human who wanted to heal his ill mother and live his life serving his family in peace. Now, not only will he ever get to see them again... but never return to who he once was."