Kingdom of Life and Death (The Fifth Element Chronicles)

Chapter 14 : Win or Lose [part 2]

The funeral lasted three days.

Though it didn't feel as long as those minutes when Muvina cried out in pain for her sister.

With the water all around us, the guards waking from a nightmare, the beasts that had fallen earlier floating silently, Muvina's grief echoed through the glass of the ballroom.

The others soon appeared, searching for what had happened to the princess who had convinced them to stay locked in the armoury only to return to rescue her sister the Queen.

I had never seen Rayn like that before.

Rayn was a person full of light, arrogance perhaps, a sense of confidence that was never lost.

In that moment, his whole façade fell away, the Rayn I knew disappeared before the Rayn desperate with grief.

He ran to Marina's remains and embraced her, pulling her out of his sister's arms, crying with every tear inside his body.

Caelus' arms were still around me, and in that instant they squeezed me a little tighter. I understood in a second. He wouldn't stand for us to go through that, to lose me or for me to lose him. It would be unimaginable pain. If he understood that it was for that reason that I was not with him, everything would be easier.

The guards that my cure had saved knelt at what they saw. I don't know if they knew that it was they who a few seconds before had put us in danger, or if they thought that the beasts that remained motionless after the fight had been responsible.

I had saved some mermen, but not all of them.

Phoenix did not leave Muvina's side. In other circumstances, I would have told him that it might not be a good idea for my fiancé to be cuddling another woman day and night. But I couldn't say anything. Muvina was going through pain that I could not and would not imagine. If she needed Phoenix by her side, I would understand.

The whole Kingdom attended the services.

Marina's remains were thrown into the water, as was the tradition of mermaids.

Little and nothing was said about the attack, how it had happened and how terrible it would have been if I had not exploded those three powers together.

All three powers.

I had no idea how I had done it, but I couldn't deny it, I had done it. I didn't know if I could do it again, though.

If it hadn't been for Caelus, my shadows would have taken over in seconds and all would have been lost. If I gave them that power, if I put them in control, they would destroy everything I had achieved. I knew that.

Caelus focused on supporting his friend, his brother, on not letting him sink into grief.

I didn't understand how the bond between Rayn and Marina was so strong, until Polar explained it to me in his own words.

'In my Kingdom they are known as twin flames. It is believed that two humans are part of the same flame, until they must be separated by course of fate. No matter how far apart they are, how many worlds they have in between, they always shine in unison. They feel what the other feels, they suffer what the other suffers, their feelings and emotions are intertwined. And if they are fortunate enough to come together in the same reality, in the same time, they burst with light. You can't know who your twin flame will be until you see it with your own eyes. Rayn met her a few months ago when she saw Marina. I knew he had found her. As I also knew when I saw the way Caelus looks at you.'

'Polar...'

'No matter how hard you try to stay away from your twin flame, you cannot. You come from the same flame, you are bound together for all eternities, in all worlds, in all Universes.'