Twenty-Seven
Lyrid materialised to where Altria was standing. That was no child, he thought. He sensed malicious energy lurking in the air. His judgment turned out to be correct when he tossed a few spells towards the 'child' and it transformed into a sea monster. Altria was gradually losing her consciousness from the shock she had just gone through, but at the same time, her body was warded with a circular barrier, no other than the scabbard of his sword, which he had used to protect her from harm when she had fallen down the immortal punishment platform. The barrier formed a perfectly round bubble containing Altria, which floated on the surface of the water, settling in the middle.
He ascended into the air and faced the sea monster fearlessly. His next action had been to bring up his Canghe sword to deal a blow to the monster, and miraculously, it had multiplied to form seventy-three more sword images, ready to strike the monster. Upon his call, the multitude of sword images accurately hit the monster in a single blast. Since the monster was vanquished, it had shapeshifted back into its original form, the dijiang. With a tap of his fingers, he imprisoned the monster in a magical cube and summoned a great blue whale-shark to deliver the beast to Liansong and Yehua, to be returned to the evil-sealing pagoda in the Sky Kingdom. The whale-shark swallowed the cube and immediately vanished.
Lyrid walked calmly on the surface of the water. Fortunately, it was early in the morning and no mortals were around to witness the amazing spectacle before them, otherwise they would have died of shock. He stopped right at the middle of the water and picked up Altria, putting her over his shoulder and carried her to the seashore. As he lay her on one of the beach mats left behind by the resort's many tourists, he looked down at the unconscious woman and attempted to give her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. All of a sudden, he noticed that her breathing had returned, and she coughed up a little bit of water. He quickly rushed her to the nearest clinic, which was conveniently located five minutes away from the resort.
The mouth-to-mouth resuscitation had brought back memories to his mind of him as Wenchang feeding Fengjiu with the antidote, and he recalled the sweet taste of her lips. Her lips had tasted a little salty from all the salt water, but it was on the overall sweet. After examining her, the physician informed Lyrid that Altria needed some rest as she had been traumatised and fatigued from her ordeal earlier. She confirmed that otherwise, Altria was fine. Lyrid had simply informed the physician that she had her ankle caught on a log underwater and had almost drowned.
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Piano (Waiting for her)
Back at the resort, it was already night-time when she got up from her sleep. Since the physician had recommended more rest for Altria, Lyrid had been taking care of her for hours since the dijiang encounter. But now, he had strangely disappeared. Men, she thought. He was probably in his room playing mobile games on his smartphone. And now, she was starving, as she could hear her stomach rumbling. She grabbed one of the clubbing outfits her cousin had packed for her and threw it on.
She recalled that the resort had a restaurant on the seventeenth floor that would serve meals at any time of the day. To get to the seventeenth floor, she needed to use the premium access escalator at the lobby downstairs, to which the lady at the front desk reception area of the lobby would issue her a special VIP pass for her to access. The premium access zone restaurant served delicacies from all over the world, and she craved for something tasty to fill up her empty stomach. It also had a dance floor.
She found Lyrid playing a song on the piano in the lobby as he was waiting for her, and she was enamoured by his musical skills.
How many times do I have to tell you
Even when you're crying you're beautiful too
The world is beating you down, I'm around through every mood
You're my downfall, you're my muse
My worst distraction, my rhythm and blues
I can't stop singing, it's ringing, in my head for you
He finished playing the song and stood up from the piano, walking suavely towards her in his tuxedo. He seemed captivated by her unsurpassed beauty, and taking her hand in his romantically, he said, "You look absolutely stunning in your attire today. It really suits you."
Altria smiled shyly and said, "You look good too. I liked the song earlier, what is it?" Together, hand-in-hand, they entered the premium access elevator and took it to the seventeenth floor. "It's called All of Me," he said as they approached the dance floor. "Shall we dance?"
She agreed, and Lyrid placed some orders with the waiter. As time went by, he had been so good at choosing dishes to her liking. This was the first time he had performed a formal dance with her as his partner. She was swept off her feet by his dancing skills. First piano-playing skills, and now dance. How could this man be so perfect in everything?
She tucked in heartily to the dish that Lyrid had ordered for her, and at the same time, a thought was bothering her. The high-life was absolutely grand, but what was her position in his heart?
The next day: Picnic
Altria suddenly jolted up the next morning with a scream. The scene that she had almost drowned had been replaying constantly in her dreams. Surprisingly, the image of Lyrid in her dreams of the scene would also gradually change to that of the purple-robed immortal of her teenage dreams. Peering at the clock in front of her, she realised it was a new day. A beautiful summer dress had been placed along with a note saying "Meet you at the lobby once you wake up - Lyrid." How had it got there? she wondered. She recalled Lyrid had escorted her to her room after dinner, and she had been so pleased that she was reminiscing about all that had happened yesterday.
She washed and tried to change into something more fitting for the occasion, but she eventually ended up wearing the summer dress from Lyrid as she found that it fit her splendid figure and boasted her curves perfectly.
She nodded and followed him to his rented sportscar. "Where are we going?" she asked. Like a true gentleman, he opened the door and watched her as she took a seat inside. "You'll know in a moment," he said with an endearing smile, as he helped her pull on her seat belt and buckle it around her.
As the car sped to the botanical gardens, she felt his warm hand on hers and smiled to herself. Was he always so sweet with other women? she thought, and a twinge of jealousy manifested itself in her heart. She hastily cast aside her negative thoughts, and disembarked from the vehicle.
Apparently Lyrid had booked the entire area for their picnic. He placed a garland of flowers on Altria's head as they walked to the gardens, with her hand in his. He observed how she would enjoy smelling the scent of the flowers or touch the petals of the flowers without picking the flowers. They chose one gate and entered it, welcomed by various butterflies of different colors, sizes and kinds. As they both watched the insects, Altria unwittingly tried to bring one of the butterflies to her finger, but it instead flew onto her nose and caused her to sneeze. In the end, the butterfly flew away, along with the others. Lyrid observed the dismay in her face, amused by how she had wanted the butterflies to be near her, but failed. Eventually, time had passed so quickly as they were having fun in the botanical gardens, and they returned to their picnic mat to enjoy some snacks and wait for the sun to set.
They caught sight of a butterfly flying near them and Altria had been very focused on it. She asked Lyrid his opinion on why butterflies were so weak that they could not even protect themselves when someone tried to hurt them. His reply was very simple: 'they are beautiful so that many people will want to protect them'.
While she was watching the butterfly, she suddenly felt a kiss on her forehead. Surprised by Lyrid's action, her eyes widened as she stared at him speechless. He gathered her into his embrace and gazed into her eyes lovingly, asking her if he could protect her always. She responded with a kiss on his cheeks, and he asked with a big if it is a yes. She smiled and just nodded.
Finally, she was his once more, he thought. He held her tighter to him and planted a tender kiss on her lips. Together, they watched the sunset while embracing each other.