ENTRY XII

The warden was a strange man, constantly thinking or doing something that was only known to him and him alone, but none the less he was a fair man. I felt an aura around him. His aura was black and all three known reds combine into one. He was more than a passionate man. But, still, there was something strange in his movement. They were too cat like. I heard of cat people, they are more than a myth.

"I know why you are here," he said. He stood up, opened on of the drawers in his table. He searched for one of the keys. He found it and gave it to me.

With the second key, firmly in my possession, I slowly walked. It was a long way back to the village.

Deep inside I hoped that Myuri didn't find out what I truly was. The ancient laws state that a vampire and a human sorceress can't be together or wed. More than anything I hoped that she didn't think about a wedding.

Finally, I saw the house where I left Myuri. From one of the opened windows I saw that a single candle was faintly glowing. I slowly entered the house, my heart beating slowly. Of all people, read vampires, known to me, I had another strange ability that most people didn't, I could control my heartbeat. It didn't matter what the situation was, I remained cool and emotionless as granite.

I stayed that way, until it was over. I was a different type of a warrior. The warriors of Almin always stayed the same. Shivers crawl down my spine. I'll see her, my beloved, after a month of separation. It was strange for her not to answer and even stranger not to greet me. It was more than strange, I shook that thought.

A strange feeling crawled through me mixed with fear. I saw a group of warriors rush up the dusty road that led to Yal. My sense were on edge, the warriors had good equipment and were heavily armored if you compared them to the natives of Rulbik. Fear engulfed me when I entered through the large wooden doors of the house. The stairs echoed under my footsteps.

I couldn't hold it for long.

"Myuri!" I said somehow.

No answer.

She always answered my calls. Nothing could keep us apart. Something was wrong. My entire body felt that.

"Myuri!"

My voice was a whisper.

Still no answer, I was prepared for that. I readied my sword, fearing for the worse. The house seemed so quiet, too quiet for my taste. The house seems so empty. I went up the corridor, waited a moment and entered the lit room.

My beloved Myuri was sitting in her favorite chair, waiting the day I would return. A large pile of books was around her. Time stopped around us. Like nothing happened.

She was still beautiful and the same to me. I could feel that she is different somehow. She was changed a lot, from the woman I knew.

"You have returned!" her voice was the same.

"Why wouldn't I?" I asked with a grin.

"Men have a decency to do that. It's nothing strange. Did you succeed?"

"I did."

"And…"

"I have the second key."

"Good, it wasn't a waste of time."

"No."

"It's boring when you are alone."

"Where you?"

"At first not, I helped the scribe arrange his place, and then he left for the mountains."

"For the mountains?"

"Aye."

"Why?"

"They have a festival there. I couldn't go. Too many steps, beyond count. It's a long way to the mountains."

She moved closer. For the first time in my life he could feel her feelings. The first since we are together. This was a mystery to me. A complete mystery, a thing I wasn't used to. I am a warrior, a noble with no else desire but to kill, feed and have fun. Emotions came second. That was the constant tags that followed me at court.

"So you persuaded the Warden of the North to give you the key."

"It wasn't easy, but I did it."

"And now?"

"We need only one key."

"Where could he be?"

"Who knows?"

"I'm so glad to see you."

I was right about one thing. She did truly care for me. My senses said she didn't knew what I was. I was glad that they were right. There was still that sense that she would fight me, if she found out, but it was gone now, gone for now. This has to end even though I don't want it to end.

"Leave you things… I need you!"

I don't want it to end.

I could see it in her eyes, the desire for me. Slowly spreading through her whole body. I wanted her. I wanted to feel her tender kisses, her warm embrace. All of problem fly away when I'm in her. Only then I feel whole.

I don't want it to end.

"It's been so long!"

"I can't wait it anymore!"

This time the magic was real. The magic within us was bright red. I dreamed about this moment, to return to her.

"I had a dream about you last night."

"I knew that you would return to me."

"I can't live without you!"

"I'm yours and you are mine!"

"Mine! Mine alone!"

Her clothes fell to the ground.

I don't want it to end.

She slowly turned from me to fix her hair. Her hair was long, an abundance of yellow locks. She always had he hair tied. The smell of her perfume hangs in the air. Face was the same as I remembered stern and cold to the rest of the world. For me she was different.

Her green eyes looked at me. The way I remembered, full of passion, full of love and worry.

Her figure was the same as I remembered; even the thought that she was pregnant couldn't change that for now. The only thing different was her hair. Her hair was falling like a waterfall to the half of her back. She turned towards me. She was ready, waiting for my first move. She always did that when we made love.

Her breasts were hard. She was wet, waiting for my tender kisses. Waiting for it seemed to her like an eternity, eternity for my love, for me.

I always made the first move, this time it would be different. This time she would take the lead. This time was special and nothing would ruin it.

I could feel her hands strong and yet gentle. I could fell her body next to me. Her warmth, her breath, her perfume. The mixture of citrus and juniper wood. It was time. She waited. This was her night.

Not even her best friend was as happy as she is this moment, not even if she lived a thousand years. She could hold to true love for long, unlike her. Her friend had a bad taste, none of them were the man she wanted, she dreamed. Maybe she was thinking of a wrong type of man. Maybe in a woman she could find what she searched for. But Myuri found the type she always dreamed of. I was her. She didn't care about the other woman I had. They were far away and she was near, listening to my breath.

She moved to the other side the pillow to make room for me. I set myself right on top on her. Looking directly into her eyes, I saw the fire that I remembered. Nothing has change. It will never change.

"I love you!"

Finally, some true words said directly from the heart.

"I will always love you!" she answered back. "For eternity!" For eternity! "No one else!"

That was the part that worried me. Every inch of my body told that she is planning to go above this romance. My blood told me to finish this.

I started going down, examining every inch of her body. She was in a different world. Time stopped. Minutes turn into hours. We had all the time of the world, at least I did.

Time started going again.

"What will you do now? Will you relax or go searching for the final key?" she stood up.

"I don't know. I wish I knew," I looked at her eyes.

"Where will you go?"

"Where ever the path leads me."

"What will you do?"

"I'll go with you. This village is boring."

"So, you made your mind?"

"I have."

"Where to?"

"Dun Daerren."

"That about two hundred miles north from here."

"Why there?"

"It's a good place to start. You sure you want to come?"

"With you, anywhere."

"What about the villagers?"

"I don't care."

"They are well protected."

"True."

"What about you friend?"

"I don't care."

"I need you! I need only you!"

I hugged her, holding her like a jade figurine.

"Relax now, I'm ready for more."

Kissing her soft, full lips was, to me, like it was first time, always full passion, full of life.

"I want to leave this boring village," I moved on the other side.

"Me too," she touched my shoulder.

She was right about everything. The two of us together could do anything even the impossible. There was one thing that we couldn't change the tradition. There was nothing that we could do. Tradition is tradition. Tradition passed from the forefathers. My destiny was to save destroy everything, bring the light to the land, restore peace, have fun and ascend my father's throne. With the first rays of dawn we will leave.

This time she wished she could be that princess from the fairy tales she read when she was little. Instead of the white horse this prince had a brown one. Their happy ending would come soon enough, if they survive this. The ending she wish for. I on the other hand wanted to find the legendary treasure and to remove it from my list of things to do. After that I will see what is next on the list.

"Nothing will take you from me," she whispered in his ear.

"Nothing," I repeated. "I swear this."

That morning, when the first rays of dawn shinned on the village, I walked nervously.

"I see it on your face don't try to hide it," she looked at me. "What wrong?"

I found the strength to tell her.

"The Warden blocked all the paths out of the village and in to town."

"Why?"

"I asked everybody, they don't know."

"We will wait."

"The hardest part of all."

"We could always ask my friend."

"We haven't got many options."

"Think she would help us?"

"I'm not sure."

"We wait."

"The villagers will return soon."

"True."

The large bell on the nearby tower rang three times to tell the hour. The elder stood up, looked at the forest behind him. It was quiet. He waited. The owl flies, disappears in the bush in search for pray. The forest has awoken; every known nocturnal creature has awoken this morning. It was a heart-pleasing sight. The villagers appeared from their houses, stood and looked in the mysterious forest.

One by one, the lights awaken by the activity of the nocturnal creatures, shinned brighter than ever. The forest echoed with sounds. The elder moved.

"Dawn has come."

"For what, what's coming, if I may ask? What's coming?" Myuri asked, shocked.

"We shall see," I replied. I looked at the villagers.

"This will be fun," she was excited.

"I hope," my eyes were focused.

"Their ways are strange."

"I know."

"What will happen?"

"I don't know. The forest has awakened."

"How is that possible?"

"The time of change is here."

"The time of change, is that something important? Are you sure?"

"I'm more than sure. Don't you feel it?"

"Feel what?"

"The weather has changed."

"The time of the long summer is here?"

"Yes."

The bell echoed in the distance. The long awaited long summer has finally come, the prophecies were true. There was no question about that. After this day, nobody will question that anytime soon.

The villagers danced against the fire, which cheerfully casted long shadows. Their strange wooden masks were even stranger. The lacquer wood was shaped to represent gods, monster, wise men or anything and anybody. The only limitation, of these skillful craftsmen, was their imagination. They had plenty of it. That thing was sure. I looked at the strange light, it was more than strange.

"What is that?" Myuri asked.

"Their imitation of a lamp," I replied.

"They have that?"

"Yes."

"What are they doing?"

"Searching for something, I bet."

"It's not our concern. Let's us enjoy the dawn."

"Let's…"

The distant clock tower ringed twice to tell the hour, it was a beautiful morning full of stars that shinned bright. A falling star passed us. Both of us wished a wish.

"For now," I said softly, "we rest."

"No need to tell me twice," she smiled. "We are a step closer to our goal."

"We are."

"I wonder if the stories are about falling stars."

Unknown to me, our wishes came true and the world changed, time spanned back and started flowing before the Union launched their campaign.

"Just imagine…" Myuri stopped.

"Imagine what?" I looked at her, confused.

"That the campaign never happened. Did you think about it for a second?"

"Yes, but everything that I encountered on this journey wouldn't happen."

"It would, but in a different way."

"How is that so?"

"Your father knew that why he sent you here. Go west, did he say?"

"Yes."

"You don't know?"

"What?"

"This place changes only one thing in this current timeline, only one wish. This is legendary treasure place of King Grak."

"How is that possible?"

"You have two keys, the one that the elder gave you and the one that the warden handed to you, there is no third key. The third key combines the previous two."

"I never looked at them that thoroughly."

"I was bored," she giggled.

"What did the keys open, there is no door here?"

"Look carefully around you. True, there is no door here, but there is magical barrier. We aren't in the village anymore."

"When did this all start?"

"You remember the strange light?"

"Yes."

"That's when we entered the treasury."

"There is no treasure," I finally understood.

"The ultimate treasure is a wish that can change everything for better or worse, it's on us to decide." She looked in the distance.

"My wish," I stopped, "was that the campaign never happened. Everything is about to change."

"No, nothing will change."

"How, is there a way?"

"You forgot that the both of us stood here together."

"Don't tell me."

"Yes, my wish had a different effect that yours."

"What did you wish?"

"That you wanted to travel the world, to see everything with your own eyes."

"Everything that happened on this journey, before I met you and to this very point, exits in this timeline."

"Yes, but in an altered form."

"My family waits for me."

"For us, they can wait a bit longer."

"Aye, they can. Look at us now."

"I'm in love with a sorceress."

"I know, this time it succeeded, my cousin told me everything."

"She's your cousin?"

"Yes."

For now the darkness was defeated and light returned to the world. I hoped that she didn't think about a wedding.

"You know," she started, "I always wanted…"

"Wanted what?" I asked hoping it wasn't a wedding.

"A stylish wed…"

I turned, my eyes shined red. Her eyes didn't move from mine. She stood there silent, beautiful, stone-like. I tried to find a way to end this the way I wanted, peacefully. It was harder than anything before. Tears go down my face.

"I want you…" I couldn't continue. "I want you… to find… a man that could… make you happy. You are to live your life in happiness with him, while I will leave never to return. Your heart will belong to that man, but will never forget me or the love that we had. Your love for that man will be stronger than the love for me, you will remember that as the reason for our splitting. Remember all of this, remember everything, take care of yourself. Maybe, someday the laws will change, I can't lose everything."

I somehow finished. She returned to her normal self. She looked at me, tears in her eyes:

"I always knew that this would happen, I found you and only now I realized that I love another, after all these years you have return to me and I love another. It's sad that everything happened like that. Your wish was more realistic than mine, you have won, my vampire lord."

She turned and left, disappeared into one of the houses.

I stood there, not knowing what to do next. I had to continue. There… was nothing else to do…

I couldn't return time, the treasure was used.