〚FEATURED + WATTYS SHORTLIST 2021〛
Someone tried to kill him. Someone nearly succeeded.
A traitor walks among them.
The question is, who?
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"A sky full of stars and he was looking at her."
He was a man with a deep and profound love for the stars...
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00:14
"Run," Axel tugs at her arm, panicked, "RUN!"
It only takes a fraction of a second to snap out of the daze of realization before they're spinning on their heels, taking off like lightning.
This time, however, it's panic that fills their veins along with the adrenalin, not determination.
The only thing he can hear past his own heavy breathing and thudding hearts are their hurried footsteps and the rustling of leaves and branches, as their feet slap against the forest floor. Some sharp branches cut into his skin, making his face and neck sting, but he doesn't let it stop him. He can't.
He knew that the bomb was too tiny to have a blast radius more than fifty yards, but even that much was enough to trigger all the traps- the land mines- that the ground had been laden with.
That would mean trouble. Big trouble.
Stella's eyes dart behind her, to where Axel was- and for a second, she considers revealing her wings, and flying them to safety. It would take a second, maybe three, but no less- and they'd be safe.
But as she continues to run, she realizes something, that makes a tiny blip of panic find its way into her heartbeat.
She couldn't even if she wanted to.
The trees were too many, the woods were too thick, they had run too far into the greens to bare them in time. There would be no room for her to even let them spread, let alone fly them to safety.
A certain helplessness engulfs her body and mind for a second, and it nearly makes her falter because it's something that she's never felt before.
It wasn't the feeling of having wings that you couldn't use, like a bird in captivity with tied wings.
It was helplessness because this time she couldn't save Axel if they didn't make it out of there in time.
It wasn't her life that she was concerned about, for there was only one thing in the universe that could kill her, and it was not a bomb constructed by mortals.
But Axel?
He was a mortal. Many things could end his life, and a bomb was definitely among them.
Her eyes are wide with dread, as they dart back to him once more, but just as she turns, an explosion wracks through the ground, throwing them both off-balance.
Tremors erupt from behind them- one after another, each bang louder than the last, and even as they tumble to the ground, arms wrap around her, crushing her to a strong body, with a hand covering her ears and face- shielding her from the blast.
Her ears ring, but even with one ear pressed against his chest, close enough to hear his heartbeat, loud and clear- and all she can think is,
