TBATE | King Grey

-CHAPTER 17- Spellbound

Inside the fog of the Elshire forest...

// Arthur (Grey) PoV //

'Dulling of the senses', 'disorientation, and impairment of cognitive perceptions' were one of the few side-effects of coming into contact with the magical white fog.

The Elshire forest stood tall and proud around me, a living and breathing organism protecting its precious race of elves from any invading diseases: a human such as me.

To put it simply: Everything around me was made to keep me away—kill me.

The thick fog prickled at my skin, bringing discomfort to all of my sensations. Biting back the urge to groan out loud, my figure cleaved right past the white shade in pursuit of my wife who was slipping away from me.

I chased after her small shoulders which looked nothing more than the size of a dot to my failing senses as I pushed my limbs, knees and feet to run as if my life depended on it.

She was my wife, my life did depend on it—on her.

"Cecilia! Stop please!" I pleaded.

With no answer in return, while my breath was quickly running out, I slipped past the puddled grounds, jumping and landing on the soft bushes, hoping I wouldn't wake any powerful mana beasts up. Or worse, attract the elven warriors near by.

The trees around me sighed and moaned, leaves whispering with wallow as the trunks shook, branches quivered either warning me or trying to scare me away. The entire sight was ghastly. But I couldn't care less with the situation that I was in.

Looking at my wife's running figure, more and more questions popped inside my mind, further muddling my brain.

Why is she running away from me? Is the cursed fog messing with her senses? I couldn't understand that fact. Thinking about it all made my head ache.

It felt like hot knifes were shoved inside my skull with every new question that popped. I was at my worst mental state.

And I needed my wife right now.

As I was thinking this, the figure I was chasing to-the-ends-of-the-world, suddenly slowed down before coming to a stop.

My breath got caught, as I held it...when the figure slowly turned back; turned in my direction.

All of my held-up breath suddenly left my body at the sight in front of me. A face I had so-long longed for; a face that I had desperately held close to my heart—ever since coming into this world; a face that had made my world brighter, life better...now looked at me with a greeting.

I felt like, every hardship I had gone through for the past two and a half years—was worth every bit of this sight that I was granted.

If it is so, I could do it all over again.

No. I immediately stopped thinking like that. No, I don't want to go through it again, not when my other-half was in my sight. I could have her right now, I could finally feel full—be one.

With that finality, I moved. And so did my love.

Cecilia lifted one slim hand, reaching towards me. Her pink lips curved into a breathtaking smile as she beckoned to me.

"C-Cecilia...?" I kept my trembling voice from choking.

She didn't answer. Her shapely legs moved with such fineness and grace; and that familiar stride, the swaying of her curvy hips that was forever branded in my mind—came flooding out as I realised: this truly was my wife; this truly was my Cecilia.

Tears moistened my eyes as they soon streaked my quivering cheeks. I had stopped moving and held my breath, fearing that any sudden movement from me will discourage her from coming to me. The fog around us suddenly started backing away from around us—as if to not interrupt us; to allow our reunion—as a clear path formed, connecting me and my wife together again in this foreign world.

As I watched the women I love slowly approach me, I couldn't hold it anymore. My instincts took over my body as I moved.

Without a word, I walked closer to her. My eyes only for my wife. Her beautiful face made my heart flutter, and her mesmerising gaze kept pulling me towards her as I started losing all of my willpower. I succumbed to my own desires as my slow steps became quick, and soon I was sprinting—with a desire to hold my wife inside my arms, to bury my face between her bosoms, to feel her slender fingers softly caress my blond hair while I listen to the rhythms of her heartbeats.

Before I knew, I was at a kissing distance—my arms wrapping around Cecilia's figure. I lifted her off of the ground—feeling that familiar weight in my palms—as I pulled her closer, so that I could feel her heart beat next to mine. My lips soon found themselves reaching for hers' with a longing and desperation.

Closing my eyes, I didn't have time to think as I waited for the pleasure—the soft warmth, the cherry taste that was the peak of true ecstasy—to grace me with its touch and taste. I waited a little more.

But...it never came.

...

Why?!

Panic arose in me as I opened my eyes. It was as if a spell had been broken, my mind snapped back, sobered up. Suddenly, I realised that the weight in my arms had disappeared. The beating of the heart I felt over mine, had stopped. Gone. The beautiful sight of my wife's face, no longer there. I was all alone. Only surrounded by the cursed fog-fuelled forest.

My heart sank!

"CECILIA!"

My beloved's name tore out of my throat as I snapped my head around in search of my wife. How could she disappear—just like that? No. I felt her in my arms, I looked into her eyes, I saw that irresistible smile. So how could she just...vanish?

Breath caught in my lungs, knots formed in my stomach, twisting it, making me feel sick and gag. My throat constricted and tears took over my vision, blurring everything in my frame. I hastily wiped it off—to keep searching. But there was nothing.

My heart dropped to the darkest pits of my stomach, and the world lost its light.

Rising temperature of my raging body—fought with the biting coldness of the white fog around me. I was at a loss without my wife, making me weak and vulnerable; my knees soon gave out.

I fell to the ground, a carnal scream escaped my throat. I clutched my chest and sank forward, unable to endure the pain that was piercing through my chest.

It hurt so much that I didn't know how I was still alive.

How could I live when I had just lost my better-half? Rage won the battle over coldness, as I punched the ground with my bare fists. It's all because of this cursed forest—the cursed elves! My mind raged. Grief soon replaced sorrow as tears streamed down my cheeks and blurred my vision again. I couldn't breath, nor did I want to, as I kept hitting the ground mindlessly to vent my agony and despair.

"Why... Why is this happening to me? Where... Where did she go?"

My raw voice carried a deep pain within it as I demanded the damned forest. Then, an answer came. A soothing voice tickled against my ears like soft feathers, bearing a striking contrast to my own.

"Your spouse didn't go anywhere. It was all an illusion."