Chiaroscuro

due

When he collided headfirst into a puddle of mud, he knew that he wasn't home. Wherever this place was, wherever he had been transported to after crashing into the portal, this was not even remotely close to Lenore's lair either.

For one, there were mushrooms. Mushrooms everywhere. Their red and white polka-dotted caps stretched out to the sky, bigger and taller than he could ever be. Grimacing, he scrubbed the rest of the mud off his face with a silk handkerchief before stumbling past gigantic mushroom stems. He could still taste the bitter tang of wet dirt on his tongue.

While walking, he surveyed the area around him, but his frazzled mind could only grasp onto frayed thoughts. He only took note of a few things so far: the grass beneath him was pink in color and everything was bright. At least here, there was still some light, even if not as bright as the lights from home.

Inklings of panic crept inside his chest. He tried to fight for composure, but he wasn't even sure if he was in the realm of Coelus anymore. For all he knew, he was lost here forever. With nowhere to go, nothing to do.

No longer His Royal Highness of Soleil. No more Prince Aldrich.

Just Aldrich.

He had no idea how to rediscover the cursed portal that brought him here in the first place, let alone if he could. Without another thought, he found himself collapsed against the trunk of a mushroom stem. Tears seeped through his honey brown eyes and trickled down his freckled cheeks. Everything blurred into view as a sharp gasp shuddered through him.

And then finally, he allowed himself to cry. He cried and cried, damp and loud noises of despair wrung out from his lungs. Sobs racked through his ribcage as he clutched a hand to his chest.

This was not part of the plan. Not one bit. For the first time in his life, he didn't know what to do.

Just then, a rustling sound echoed nearby- an abrupt blip in his radar. Aldrich snapped his head up, his shoulders now rigid. His heart jumped to his throat once he realized that he wasn't alone.

Instinctively, a hand grabbed onto the scabbard strapped to his waist as he rose to a defensive stance.

"I know you're here," he blurted out, speaking to whomever was lurking amidst the surrounding mushrooms. While it wasn't entirely dark out here, his intruder was still obscured from sight.

Waiting. Hiding.

Hints of sunlight sparked around the fingers of his other free hand. "Come out and show yourself!"

He'd rather die than be caught breaking apart. The tears that transpired earlier- those were a mistake, a moment of weakness. But never again. He could never do something like that again. He needed to remain strong.

Much to his dismay, an eerie silence was his only response back.

Anger boiled his blood, simmering in his veins. While his head ached and his ears rang with this shrill pitch, he readied a ball of sunbeam and then hurled it at a cluster of mushrooms in front of him. In the blink of an eye, a flash of blinding white destruction reduced an entire row of mushrooms into ashes.

As rays of lights exposed the identity of his mystery stalker, a looming male figure released an agonized hiss, his black claws crossing over his face to shield his eyes.

Of course Lenore was still alive. As if this day couldn't get any worse.

Patches of the Umbra's vine-like shadows were already disintegrating into dust. As the surviving shadows fumbled to launch him off the ground, Aldrich advanced forward with his sword. A golden glow enveloped the whites to his brown eyes, completely blocking out the rest of his irises with a flash of light. With both hands gripped around the hilt of his sword, he spun around before slicing into Lenore's chest.

He brought Lenore down in one hit, driving them both further into the ground. Dirt scattered up the air from their crash landing as he pinned him down, hovering the edge of the blade over the upper left part of his torso. Right where the heart would be, had Lenore possessed one.

"Stand down, villain!" Aldrich shouted, his eyes still blazing with the full might of the sun. A hiss of steam escaped his mouth. "You're not ruining this for me!"

He caught him. He had finally caught him.

And then, for the first time since their initial encounter, Lenore's lips parted open.

"But I'm not doing anything."

For the first time since their meeting, he spoke. His words carried a low and flat timbre, with raspy notes around the edges. Despite the bloody lacerations dripping from his chest right now, a result from Aldrich's swordsmanship, he seemed calm.

No, just not that- defeated.

At that, Aldrich froze. When he stiffened in surprise, Lenore added, in the same bleak monotone, "You can kill me already, if that's what you wish."

"You what?" Aldrich reeled his head back in visible disbelief. Gradually, his eyes shifted back to normal, returning to their default brown color. "You're just going to die? Just like that?"

"We've both lost," Lenore said. "There is nothing more to it. Even when you're done with me, there is nothing left for you here. We're not home."

The realm of Coelus. Home.

There was no way that he was going to agree with Lenore, the epitome of evil. Though right now, he didn't seem to live up to that infamous title. He would call him a coward for that, but then he'd be a hypocrite.

In his dreams, Aldrich had envisioned an epic battle, with light and darkness clashing over high stakes, followed by a glorious victory leading all the way up to his coronation ceremony as king.

As King of Soleil.

Instead, here they were, stuck in another world after a fall through a mysterious portal. Here he was, barely even a prince.

Was there a point to killing Lenore anymore? And how anticlimactic would it be to end things here and now, when Aldrich didn't have anything else left for him after this?

"Great." Scowling, he pulled his sword away from the Umbra's chest. "Just great."

His sarcasm rang clear as he stepped back, a sour bite to his words.

With his heels turned the opposite way, he said nothing more before promptly leaving Lenore to the unknown. He upped and left, determined to scour the rest of this world all on his own.

Because if he came through a portal, then surely there must be a way back through another portal. No matter how long it would take to get there.

He couldn't allow himself to succumb to despair. Not again.