Chapter XX

Nine years later...

Prince Ayaan turned from side to side on his bed. He was up early and his efforts to go back to sleep failed. After so much reluctance, he rubbed the dorsum of his hands gently against his eyes as he sat up. Then he pushed the sheets off his body and got up to pull the curtains aside.

He opened the window and leaned forward. He closed his eyes as the gently wind glided softly on his face. Then he opened them and stood upright.

His eyes were brown and beautiful like two drops of coffee in a cloud of milk. He had long lashes that curved slightly; eyebrows, full and not too arched. His hair was black and curly, it extended just below his earlobes. He was tall just like his father and had a skin tone similar to his mother's.

He moved to his closet to pick out what to wear and settled for a white shirt and black trousers. He put them on his bed and headed to the bathroom. When he was done, he dressed up.

On a normal day, Raphael would have spent the night in his room due to their long talks. He had caught a cold two days ago so he had to stay in till he was better. He seemed okay when Ayaan visited him the previous day and hoped he hadn't forgotten their plans of seeing the strawberry harvest  today.

He pulled his chest of drawers of to get some cufflinks when he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," he said and Raphael walked through the door and straight to the bed.

"Bro! I'm so glad you're okay," Ayaan added.

"I am too. Man, that cold got me too cold to have iced tea." Raphael said.

"Serves you right. Now I can gladly say, I told you so," Ayaan teased.

"You've got all the ice, what else do you need..." Raphael returned.

"Oh shut up," Ayaan said picking an apple from the tray and throwing at him.

"Have you had breakfast?" He asked.

"Yeah, I ate a couple sandwiches. You?" Raphael asked.

"Not yet," he said and fixed the last cufflink.

"I hope you haven't forgotten about the harvest?" He added.

"Harvest? What? Are we farmers now? What harvest?" Raphael asked funnily.

"I don't think you had enough sandwiches, come on let's go get breakfast," Ayaan returned knowingly.

The two boys went to dinning room and met the King and Queens on seat.

After greeting them all, they sat and ate quietly.

"Father, I and Raphael would like to go see the harvest." Said Ayaan.

"Well that's great, you have my permission." King Arden said.

"Thank you Sire," he said.

"Have fun," Queen Maya said.

"And don't drink," Queen Ara added.

"Yes, Grandma," Ayaan said.

"You heard you Grandma," Queen Maya said.

"Yes mother," Ayaan returned and hugged them one after the other.

The boys went out to the stable and brought out the horses. They got on them and stroked them lightly with the reins. The horses ran moderately till they got to the fields.

"Hey it's Prince Ayaan and Raphael" one of the farmers said.

"Hello everyone," Prince Ayaan said.

"Hello everybody," Raphael said.

"Hello!" Those closer replied waving hands.

"Congratulations on the harvest," Ayaan said.

"Thank you Prince Ayaan," they returned.

"How nice of you two to join us," the supervisor said.

"It's nothing, thank you for having us" Ayaan said.

"Can we help?" Raphael asked.

"Oh no no, it's okay. Just sit here." The supervisor said.

"It's okay we can do it," Prince Ayaan said.

Then the supervisor entered the store and provided them each with a hat and boots.

"Aaah! Prince Ayaan is going to pick strawberries with us! Aaah!" One of the girls said excitedly.

"And Raphael! Somebody pinch me!" Another girl said and her older sister pinched her hard.

"Ouch! What did you do that for?" She asked.

"You two had better get back to work," said the older sister.

"Aaah! Prince Ayaan looks even cuter in a hat and boots," the former shouted.

"Scatterbrains," the old sister tsked.

Suddenly Raphael began to wobble in between the ridges. Ayaan held his hand to support him.

"Oh Raphael please don't fall and if you do I'll catch you," the later said.

"Oh brother! It's going to be a long day," the older sister said shaking her head.

"Alright everyone, carry on," the supervisor said to the farmers.

The strawberry harvest wasn't one worth missing and lucky for them a feast was held right after. Ayaan and Raphael were having so much fun they lost track of time. They thanked the people for having them and returned to the palace.

Though they arrived quite late, the guards were out still having a chat. Xan helped hold on to the reins of the horses as they alighted and lead them to their stable.

The two friends parted ways at the entrance to the palace. Ayaan entered and went straight to the dining. He know his mother would be there waiting. He greeted her and said he was going to retire for the night.

It worried Queen Maya that he wasn't hungry after seeing his favorite dishes on the dining table.

"He must be really full," she thought.

Ayaan went straight to his bed on getting to his room. He was so tired, he removed only he shoes and fell asleep.

"Ayaan, let's go Liam's waiting for us." Raphael said starting for the door of the abandoned house.

"No wait I'm not done yet," Ayaan said lacing his shoes.

"It's getting dark, we shouldn't even be here," Ayaan added.

"Just hurry up you guys, I'm getting scared." Raphael said.

"We should have just played at home..." Ayaan said running towards them.

Then out of nowhere came two men, one plump and the other slightly taller. They seemed nothing but nice and offered to help the boys.

"Hey what are you three doing here all alone by yourselves?" The taller one asked.

"Are you lost? We could help you just come with us." Said the other.

"I don't like these people Ayaan, the tall one has a scar above his right eye..." Raphael whispered to Ayaan and moved backwards.

"No tha... Thank you sir we know our way home." Liam said turning to his cousin.

"No we insist come with us," said the fat one.

"I'm running out of patience! You three had better come with us!" The taller one said pulling out a dagger and moving in their direction.

Liam used his teleportation ability and in no time he was behind the man trying to free Raphael from his clutch. As he struggled, the man caught him by his hair.

"Let go of them!" Ayaan shouted in a shaky tone.

"Now you shut up you little..." The other man said as he headed in Ayaan's direction.

Ayaan was so frightened as the man got hold of him. Slowly his eyes turned grey as he closed then and the atmosphere began to chill.

"Come here you, what are you going to do you silly kid, hah!" He said grabbing him.

"I said let go!" Ayaan shouted opening his eyes.

Breaking loose from the man's grip, his uproar sent icy crystals everywhere piercing the man's arm as they scattered.

"Let go of them, this isn't our catch. Let's go man," the man shouted as he got up writhing in pain.

The other man pushed Raphael and Liam as he ran to help his friend.

"Ayaan..." Liam said in a steven so weary with stains of blood on his shirt.

"Liam!" Ayaan awoke with a gasp.

The room was as cold as ice. Tears filled his now grey eyes as he sat up. It was a nightmare and memories from that day came flashing through his mind.

He hadn't used his power in years. He was angry with himself and afraid someone else might get hurt, so he held them back.

Pulling his blanket aside, he got down from his bed. When he reached the window his fear increased as he pushed the curtains only to see everything covered in frost.

"Huh!" He exclaimed.

The base of the window turned glacial as he lifted his hands. Frightened, he stepped back.

"What's happening?" He cried.

"Emress!" He called hoping the medallion would work.

"What should I do?" He cried.

"Prince Ayaan, I can hear you." Said the voice.

"Make it stop!" He said.

"It's okay. Calm down," the voice added but he was too afraid for those words to sink.

Queen Maya felt a chill when the wind picked and decided to check if the windows were properly shut.

"Oh my goodness!" She exclaimed placing her hand over hermouth in shock.

"Ayaan!" She whispered.

Quickly she moved to wake King Arden.

"Arden! Arden! It's Ayaan," she said.

"What happened?" He asked turning to face her slightly.

"It's freezing. Everything!" She said.

"Quickly," he returned.

They rushed to Ayaan's room and King Arden began to knock.

"Ayaan, open the door!" King Arden exclaimed.

"Ayaan! Winter Bear! Open the door," Maya clamored.

"Go away, I don't want anyone to get hurt," Ayaan cried, the walls turning icyer as he squeezed into the corner of his room.

"Please Ayaan, Mama's here," She added.

One of the guards heard noises from his post and rushed to see what was happening.

"Get the keys," King Arden said.

"Hurry!" Maya cried.

"Yes my King," said the guard.

Quickly he brought out a bunch of keys. He picked the ones to Ayaan's room and unlocked the door.

"Ayaan!" Queen Maya called as she entered.

"Mom..."  Ayaan returned and ran to her.

"Oh thank God!" Maya said.

"What happened? Are you okay?" She asked stroking his hair as she hugged him.

"Ayaan," King Arden joined.

The temperature of the room normalized as Ayaan calmed down.

King Arden and Queen Maya didn't want to leave him alone so she spent the rest of the night by his side. Watching him sleep as she stroked his hair, Queen Maya too fell asleep.