Lucid Dreaming/ RavnWoong

Chapter Sixteen (Edited)

When he lost Hwan, he nearly burned down and destroyed an entire nation. He held the hope of him reincarnating but knowing now that he might have just lost his lover forever, only makes him feel numb. He stood off on the balcony attached just outside of their room, he had a view of the lifeless body lying on the bed anytime he turned to look in.

Leaning against the railing, he stared blankly at the setting sun with his eyes casting down ever so slightly to see the fire. Days had passed and it still burned with heavy passion, his mother tending to the water that now burned in a cauldron above the flames. She had once said that part of the spell had her removing the cauldron from the fire, letting it cool every time the water boiled. To help the boiling water cool faster she would use her magic to ice over the water before having to bring it to a boil once more and start all over again.

"Ravn?" A soft voice echoed into the room, the mortal king's elder brother bringing him to reality.

The demon king pulled away from the railing to move back into the room, his hands reaching over to brush aside the light curtains that flowed with the wind. Keonhee stood at the bedroom door peaking in and eyes looking for the man.

"What is it?" He asked numbly.

"Um...I've just come to check on you...and my brother...see if he's..."

"Still no response." The king answered, knowing what the prince was intending to say but couldn't face the terms of saying it aloud. Ravn pushed further into the room sitting down in the chair that had been pushed toward the bed, gesturing Keonhee to come in. "If you wish to sit with him, I won't protest, he is your family after all."

Keonhee nodded with a sad smile walking into the room and over toward the bed, sitting down on the edge next to his lifeless brother. "Sybil said this was normal, him not breathing at all like this...but that doesn't settle well with me even if she says it's normal. It still scares me seeing him like this."

"She said the chances of him living through this may be as low as fifteen percent." Ravn mumbled softly looking at his king. "Regardless of the normal symptoms."

Keonhee looked away from his brother. "Why would he do this? I mean I get so that you don't have to worry about him but this low of a chance..."

"I waited three hundred years for him to be reincarnated, if he were to die again in battle...we would both be aware it might take three hundred more years again if not more." Ravn sighed, leaning forward into his hands. "The two of us talked everything over but I'm still trying to understand his point of view. I know he doesn't want to make me suffer watching him die each time before he reincarnates, but I think it's more than that. I think he doesn't want to go through remembering his past lives again and again. If he were to reincarnate it wouldn't just be remembering Hwan but his life now. Maybe he just wants to stay with us all but that means risking it all like this...I...can't lose him again...I barely survived the first time. And maybe that's his other reasoning behind this all."

"Technically you didn't survive the first time." Keonhee pointed out to the demon. "You did die, didn't you?"

Ravn let out a bitter laugh, standing from his chair and pacing back out to the balcony still managing to talk with the prince. "You're right, I did die, and I became the thing I am now. The very thing I hated."

He sighed heavily. "I don't regret becoming a Shade nor do I regret my ring being made, but I thought I lost everything only having a small hope for the reincarnation thing to work. The first few years being a ghost, I nearly succeeded with killing myself over a few hundred different times if it weren't for Leedo.

"He helped me realize I needed to be stronger while I awaited Hwan' return. It was then that we went to find my mother to start my immortality. But when she opened the door, I found her holding this little boy who looked at me with my late lover's eyes and another little boy clinging to his grandmother with my eyes staring back at me. When I found out that the twins were mine and Hwan' children, I couldn't believe it. Both he and my mother kept the pregnancy hidden, the twins were supposed to be a surprise returning home from the war. Those two little beings became my second and third reason for living."

"The twins were the rightful heir to Seraphic throne after Hwan' death?" Keonhee whispered softly, looking at the other in shock.

"I wanted a way to keep the twins safe. Hwan, too, when he reincarnated. I had written and spoken with Gorm multiple times to take the throne. By marriage I would have been king right beside Hwan, and I was prepared to take the throne until my sons reached of age." Ravn whispered. "I had everything planned, every possibility of keeping Hwan safe. I never expected Gorm to try killing them. Years of trying and we gave up the thought of ruling Seraphic and just faking their death."

"You faked the twins death?"

"We did." The king smiled sadly. "By then we had already been years into forming Daemonium. I planned to merge the two if one of the boys assumed the throne. I had everything planned to keep Hwanwoong safe yet here I am powerless and waiting for him to wake."

"If I didn't believe in my brother and how strong of a man he has become, then I wouldn't have let him do this. But I know he's a lot stronger than what people give him credit for; he won't go out this easily. I believe he'll make it through even if this does scare the life out of us all."

Ravn smiled lightly, his back still facing the other. "Have that confidence for the both of us, please."

"I will, don't worry." Keonhee stood walking to the door only to stop slightly. "You may need to speak with Xion. I know his mind is focused on Rhema and making sure she's fine through all this but that means no one is there for him. Sure, he has his husband, but I think he may need his father at his side for something like this."

"Would you mind sending him up, please?" Ravn asked, turning to face the woman who was leaving. "Dongmyeong too."

"Of course." Keonhee called out as he descended through the hallway.