Depth Of The Abyss

E P I L O G U E

Zayn's POV

I caressed each of their tombstones, a smile gently curving on my lips.

"Thank you..." I got up from where I was sitting, held the umbrella in my hand, and started walking outside the cemetery. But then I stopped when I saw a girl kneeling down in front of a tomb.

She was crying silently, drenched from the rain.

I tilted my head, wondering why she was crying silently. Why was she suppressing her cries?

From here, I could feel the pain in her chest, and it made me want to cry too.

I had the urge to walk towards her and put her under my umbrella, but then someone approached her.

I squinted. I could tell from here that it was a satyr. The satyr handed her an envelope that looked so familiar to me.

"Where are you?" I heard the wind whisper to me.

I looked at the girl's face for one last time.

She looked beautiful.

Napangiti ako, we'll see each other soon.

"I'm Zayn, child of Aphrodite." I introduced myself. I met her again—the girl from the cemetery. She looked so fragile, like she might get hurt at any moment, and it made me want to protect her.

Her name Is Lineysha Murai Cavari.

I like her name. It sounded nice, especially her second name, Murai.

Murai—future. Whenever I looked at her, I was reminded of the future, the unknown, the anticipation of the unknown. It made me wonder what the future holds for me, if there is one.

I don't usually listen to people's heartbeats. I refrained from doing that because it felt like I was invading their privacy.

But when I met her...

I couldn't stop myself. I heard her heartbeats. For a moment, I was happy. I could feel her heart beating comfortably and calmly whenever she was with me. But then it scared me, especially when I started hearing and feeling my own heartbeat.

"You cannot love again."

Artemis's voice would always appear in my mind, reminding me why I didn't have a right to love again.

But destiny is crazy. I started treating her better than I treated my friends. I wanted to treat her better than anyone. I wanted to take care of her. I loved watching her. I loved memorizing every detail about her: her favorites, hobbies, and the genres of books she liked.

Her facial expressions, her body movements, the tone of her voice—just the way she looked, I could already tell the reason behind it.

She made me want to risk something.

Every time she smiled at me, nothing else mattered. I wanted to be selfish, but I knew I couldn't.

"We'll be reincarnated." I met them again, my friends, at para bang may nabunot na isang malaking tinik sa dibdib ko.

Lumina smiled at me. "We've just been waiting for you, to see you again." They all exchanged looks and nodded.

"Man, we're happy. Remember that. I hope you'll stop living in the past and stop blaming yourself, alright?"

They had moved on, waiting only to see me one last time before reincarnating.

And at that moment, I finally made a decision.