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What Is Your Center?	By : LuciferDragon Category: +M through R > Rise of the Guardians Views: 1676 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I own nothing in the Rise of the Guardians world, and I make no profit at all from this fiction.

Chapter List
- 15
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- 17
At the time, it felt like I traveled the Void for hours. I’d come to realize later that it was only fifteen minutes. Nothing seemed right anymore. I refused to believe he had been slain. He was stronger than that, faster, wiser. He had survived years of battles, especially before he had been sealed here on Earth.
And now… now he was gone. He had tried so hard to change to be a better man to me, while still holding on to who he was to the children of the world. All of that, and I had refused to trust him completely. I had been so stupid, so selfish to demand that he change for me. He was who he was, and that should have been enough for me.
Hessian remained silent as he ran, never stopping for breath. His mind pressed to mine though, just to relay comfort through the link. Even Onyx brushed her sand tendrils over my arms, showing she felt just as much sorrow.
I spurred Hessian on faster. The end of the tunnel was in sight. I had to beat down the cold feeling of dread trying to rise in my chest. His sacrifice could not be in vain. I had to make it back before the others met the same fate.
I had to shield my eyes as we emerged in sunlight, and I felt the heat on my skin. I had a general idea of where Palestine was, but had never thought it would be this warm. Hessian’s hooves dug in to the dirt as he came to a halt with a snort, tossing his head. Once my eyes adjusted to the light, I looked ahead of us, spotting the largest tree I had ever seen. “This must be it.” I jumped out of the saddle and ran to the tree. I looked all around, getting more and more anxious as I found no indication that anything was buried there. True it had been an unmarked grave, but there still should have been at least an aura. I desperately pressed my hands to the bark. “Please, Lucretia. Still be here.”
Very faintly, I heard a response, and I almost collapsed in relief. “Tia, please.”
I had to lean my head to the bark, my legs starting to feel weak. “Tia then.”
“Why are you here?” There was a second of silence before she asked, “How can you hear me?”
I turned to the sound of the soft voice and saw the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on, both living and dead. Her very old dress covered her feet, but made no secret of her lovely curves. Her face was one of angels; a perfectly slanted nose, almond shaped hazel eyes, and long brown hair that fell to her waist. Her delicate hands were folded in front of her as she looked at me curiously. I didn’t need to use my ability to see her inner beauty as well as her physical one.
Her story instantly clarified to one of Beauty and the Beast, a gorgeous woman held captive by a cruel beast of a man, expected to be a slave the rest of her life. Instead, she fell for her captor, and he of her. I couldn’t stop the words as they flew out of my mouth. “Why Lucifer?”
“Tucian was a… complicated man, even in his mortal life.” Her eyes dropped to the shade of the enormous tree. “However, he wasn’t an evil man to me. He showed me a side no one saw. He was horrible at first, but he changed. He was afraid of being alone.”
It struck home so hard it hurt. I put a hand to my heart, trying to steady it. It refused to calm down, and to stop hurting. “He killed someone I love.”
Tia’s gaze grew sadder. If possible, it only made her more attractive. “I’m sorry he is what he is. It is his choice.”
“Can’t you talk to him? Tell him to stop his path of destruction?”
She shook her head. “I fear I cannot leave this place. No one has been able to release my spirit.”
I nodded. “You feel too much regret to move on.”
“Tucian is how he is now because of me. I regretted not protecting him more than I did. He was still killed after me, all because the villagers had grown tired of his deceits and blackmails.” She rubbed at her arms, and I was immediately struck with an image of myself. “I tried to help him change, and he wouldn’t. He loved ruining lives too much to stop. He loved it more than he loved me. The villagers wanted to make it clear that they had had enough and sentenced me to death, and made him watch. I was used as an example to him. They say it didn’t get to him, but as I looked upon him that day, I saw it did. He just couldn’t let them know it. He was too prideful.”
Hessian stood by my side and nudged my arm. “Lucifer—Tucian needs you now. The whole world needs you now.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What exactly has he done?”
“He has succumbed to his madness. He is bringing the apocalypse to the world, starting tonight. He means to rid the world of sinners, both benign and deadly.” I showed her the bite marks on my arm which had refused to heal just yet. “He is giving them a fear toxin and making them all kill themselves. He is making them void of judgement, sending them straight to his possession. He tried to do it to me.”
Tia held a hand to her mouth and looked away from the wounds. “I’m sorry for everything he has done, but I cannot do anything. I cannot leave. I am bound to this place until someone releases me. The reapers gave up long ago. They will not come for me.”
I couldn’t help but step forward and grab her arm. It seemed to shock her that I could physically touch her. “Tia, I am Hana Eve. I am the embodiment of Halloween, of All Hallows Eve. I share the powers of a reaper. I can take you from this place.” I gestured to the oak tree. “You’ve been trapped here for so long…”
Her eyes filled with tears. “Could you? Would you really be able to take me to him?”
I nodded, the anxious feeling mounting in my stomach again. “I can.” I took her hand and covered it with my own. “Please, before I do, you have to promise to stop Tucian from proceeding with his plans. The world cannot be shrouded in darkness. It isn’t time yet for the humans to face mass judgement, and even if it was, it shouldn’t be done like this. They shouldn’t be forced to sin and commit suicide.”
She nodded, a short laugh escaping her as tears rolled down her cheeks. “Yes, yes I agree! Please, take me to see my Tucian.” She wiped the tears away as Onyx approached us. “I cannot stop him from being Lucifer, but I can try to stop him from this. I’m very sorry he took someone from you. Was he your husband?”
I shook my head. “No. Just… someone very dear to me.” I helped her on to Onyx’s back. “He was the only man I ever loved.” I found no point in keeping anything secret anymore. Talking about him helped.
“Was he a Spirit like you?”
“In a way.” I swung into Hessian’s saddle and turned him around. “We need to hurry.”
She nodded and I spurred both horses on. I knew where I was going and opened a portal of my own with the help of the shadows of the oak. “Stay close, Onyx.”
The Nightmare snorted in understanding and kept her pace matched with Hessian’s. They didn’t slow down for a moment as we slunk into the shadows. I heard Tia gasp.
“This is what we call the Void. I use it to travel large distances with the help of Hessian.”
She caught my gaze. “Did he teach you how to use this ability?”
I nodded again. “Yes. He taught me everything I know.” I gave a soft laugh. “He showed affection in very strange ways, but they were unique to him. It was different from what I was used to. In the end, I grew to love him in a way I never thought I’d love anyone.”
Tia looked ahead. “I felt the same about Tucian. He treated me better than my own husband had. Such is the price of arranged marriages.”
I remembered she had been traded for what was thought to be good farm land. As for anything else, we had no idea.
“Tucian taught me to read, how to fend for myself, and how to defend myself if I went into town to gather supplies. He let me out more than a captor usually would let his slaves out. I didn’t feel like a slave. I was treated better as one than as a wife.”
“Funny. My life improved vastly after I died as well.” I gripped Hessian’s reins tighter as he continued to speed to the end of the tunnels. “I’m sure you’ve heard the stories of the Man in the Moon.”
“Yes, I’ve heard word of him. He exists?”
“As much as you or I, yet no one has seen him. None of us that I know of, at least. He does speak to us when he needs to, such as when he gives us a new life.” I glanced down at my wrists for the briefest of moments, but Tia must have been watching me.
“Your burns... Were you bound?”
I swallowed past a lump in my throat, feeling my collar tighten. “I didn’t believe in God when I was alive in the early fifteen-hundreds. Back then, if you didn’t believe, you were a witch, a sinner, a heathen. You didn’t deserve the life God supposedly gave you if you spurned Him from your life.” My hand traveled to my collar. I showed her what only one man had seen to that day. I showed her the scarred throat. “I was tried and hanged as a witch while my whole village cheered.”
She went silent for a moment, processing the information, and I let her have her time. It wasn’t every day she would meet someone like me, or the other Chosen. “Why a collar? The most logical form of coverage would be a scarf, would it not?”
My fingers trailed over the thick leather of the collar.
“I know you hate the marks, so I’ve brought you a gift…”
“Hana?”
I shook my head. “What?”
“I asked you why a collar?”
“Oh.” I looked down at the skull charm that only stared back with an empty gaze. “It… was a gift. To help me cope with what had happened.”
I looked to her as she nodded. Tia reached into her dress and pulled out a simple chain. No charms or gems rested on it. Just a plain gold chain. “Tucian gave this to me. It was the first real gift I had ever received from a man. It was something special, and made me realize he wasn’t as horrible as he let on to everyone.”
I pressed my lips together as the end of the tunnel approached. “Let’s just hope he will still react the same to you now as he did then.” I locked my gaze with hers. “I hope you’re ready.”
“I am.”
“Well then.” I flicked Hessian’s reins. “I believe it’s time we end this.”
- 15
- 16
- 17
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What Is Your Center?