The Aftermath

Chapter 4: Heart

The sun slowly came down from the sky on the horizon and Rayla had done her final scouting of the perimeter. So much time alone had given her time to think about her relationship with Callum and how she had been a bit hard to get like before. After the drop from the cliff, she had practically accepted her death given her soul to the Dark Dragon of Death Mortem and there he was. As graceful as ever, the love of her life, dropping for her and then in a twist of fate he sprouted wings and rescued her by the fall. She was baffled but thankful, nonetheless. But once you give your mind onto that darkness and accept your fate... it takes a bit to come back. Sure, there was some celebration after that and she felt happy, but there was also that lingering darkness that ate away at her mind every time she was alone, the sense of the void where she had temporarily hid her soul so it wouldn't be hurt by the fall.

"RAYLA! HELP!" Callum's screams could be heard from the Banther Lodge.

Rayla was quick on her feet as her heart raced. The sun was starting to get under the horizon and darkness was starting to show itself. She had jumped off the tree and rolled on the ground as she readied her blades. "No no no no, Callum please no" she thought in her head. She stormed through the doors and opened them wide.

"CALLUM?!" She exclaimed. But there was no answer.

The unwelcomed feeling of the void returned into her mind once more. She felt as falling again. Her heart pounding on her chest. The day around her slowly turned into the break of nightfall. Everything around her darkened. She wouldn't see Callum again, he was likely gone and would never come back. Her knees bent and hit the wooden floor.

But then, a glimmer. Then another, as her lifelong companion rose up from the horizon, the moon revealed a trail on the floor, it led up the stairs and into a room to the right.

"Huh?" She wondered wiping a tear from her cheek. She stood and disarmed her blades as she slowly strolled over to the first markings on the wall. She removed some from the wall and studied it. It was some kind of substance? She shook her head and walked up the stairs slowly. She arrived at the door frame and entered the room.

What she saw was one of the single, most beautiful things she had ever seen, and that included all the things she saw in Xadia.

The room was decorated with hieroglyphs from her village and there were traces of the houses that were in the village. Perfectly traced and ordered in a way only a master painter could. Even the small details like the roads, signs and the fountains were present in this room full of glowing paint. She put her hands on her mouth as she looked around. Then something caught her eye, a pair of eyes. Familiar, emerald eyes. The eyes she had loved for a while now. Callum stood forth with markings under his eyes that glowed in the dark as the whole setting, mimicking those of an elf.

"I know it isn't much but... I really thought you missed your home, being with us and such. And I thought that if I did all of this you would-"

She didn't hear the rest. She was too busy exploring her heart. Something new to her and that only about a few weeks ago she started to explore. He had done all of this for her, and only for her. And just like that the void was gone, he was the cure to it. No, not the cure, something deeper, a cure you use and discard after you're cured. Something more meaningful. Something along the lines of...

"...uhh... s-so you don't like it?" Callum said finally looking into Rayla's eyes for an answer.

Rayla silently stepped towards Callum, she noticed he had his shirt off and had the same markings of an Elf. She began to wipe them off with her hands and made her way up to his face where she finally wiped off his face markings.

"You idiot. You think I like an Elf more than you. You really are as dumb as you look" She held her hands on his cheeks and squished them playfully with a slight giggle.

Callum stood there smiling and softly took Rayla's hands and put them together. "Rayla... there is something I really need to tell you" He said a bit sternly but with a gentle undertone. She listened closely as her ears perked up.

"We've known each other for about a year now and I have to say that..." the nerves were really getting onto him, but he had brought her here for a reason and he planned on going through!

"I really love you, and this feeling is bigger than anything I've ever felt for anyone, like, ever"

He kneeled on one knee. "And so... I thought about this for a while and..." It was now or never. He held her hand and looked up at a slightly puzzled, but emotion-filled Rayla.

"Rayla, would you be... my significant other, my heart?" Callum finally finished finally releasing the tension he had been feeling for a long time now.

Rayla knew exactly what to say. She had foreseen this moment but never anticipated that it was going to happen today. Her feelings were showing through, but she did not care, she was with him and he was her everything too. She knelt down too and looked at him in the eye with a wide smile and a couple of giggles. She slowly wrapped her arms around his neck as she kissed his head through his hair and he chuckled slightly as she did, she gave him a couple kisses more and put her hands on his waist as they both kneeled in front of each other, their faces mere centimeters away from each other.

"I swear I will keep your heart with me and protect it. You are mine, and I am yours" She finally said, sealing the deal. Callum blushed brightly and Rayla chuckled as they shared a gentle and soft kiss under the glow of Rayla's Village and the sturdiness of the Banther Lodge, as the union of both worlds was present.