Max and Arin running away from the curse (Part-III)

Who dares to stop the dragon and his lover?

It will be absolutely wrong if I claim to know what I am talking about, because I don't. I don't know how I am changing and how these changes are going to affect these people, who have been waiting for me for mother Nature knows how long. It is selfish of me to think of only myself and my lover.

But at the moment, I can't think of anything else. It pains me, even physically, to think of something else. There is nothing else to think about. With every passing moment the intensity of the festival is increasing, so is my restlessness. I feel hot, sweat trickles down behind my neck.

Selfish or not, it feels right. My intuition tells me it is the right decision. The old kin will suffer, yes, but they deserve it. They deserve every bit of pain and misery that was bestowed upon them, and my remorse and guilt is just not worth enough. Something in Max tells me the same. I try to dive inside his emotions, and feel the same carelessness. He doesn't care about the old kin. In fact, right now he doesn't care about anything else.

"Let's go," he says. "I know the perfect place."

He makes a call to Vee, letting him know that he will not be available for a couple of days. I hear Vee asking him, "Will you be there if I need you?"

Max looks at me and says, "Yes, I will always be there for you." It stings me, the deep connection between the two of them. We are connected too, but not the way Vee and Max are. It's a kind of brotherhood that is completely impenetrable to me. These thoughts only make me feel more agitated. Hotter.

"I will be just a call away," Max says. And that's just it. With that one promise, Vee lets him leave. Makes me wonder about a lot of things.

"Let's go," I say.

"What about packing some stuff?"

I think for a second before replying. "We have enough money to buy an entire household."

We drove to the station. Seeing how the crowded roads blocked our way several times, and how frustrated I got each time, Max has finally taken over the wheel. I hear many more pleas, complaints, regrets. I hear some, ignore most, the same way I have been ignoring the heat building inside me. It's a sensation that started a while back, starting from the left side of my chest it slowly spread through my veins. By the time I planned to elope, it felt like a rush in my blood.

It is strange, I ponder how I have never experienced an adrenaline rush before. I have had many experiences, I should have felt it. An ordinary human being would have felt it. This is where I lack. This is what makes me inferior. My thoughts are broken as the car pulls over. I eye Max questioningly, in response he replies, "I need to buy a water bottle."

My eyes follow him for the longest time possible.

"Running away, are you?"

The voice is young, sweet, melodious. I snap my head back to find a young girl peering inside the car. She wears a plain white shirt, paired with a blue skirt, almost giving her the look of a schoolgirl. She is not, though, which I understand as soon as I look into her eyes. Those green eyes betray her appearance. Those eyes are shrewd, they hold secrets inside them, they hold deadly mysteries, and somehow those eyes manage to make me feel even more uncomfortable.

"It's normal, how you are feeling right now. This is how it's supposed to be. This means your body is working just as well as it should," she says like a skilled medical professional.

"I'd ask who you are, but something tells me that I will not get any satisfying answer."

The girl smiles sweetly, and, to my astonishment, affectionately. "If you run away now, you will not find your answers."

"I don't think I care for them right now," I say tersely.

"What about the curse they are waiting for you to break?"

I frown at the question. "You obviously know everything. What do you think I feel like about that damned curse, whatever it is?"

"You don't care. You think they deserve it. To be honest, they do deserve punishment, but what they are going through, if you learn everything, you may find it to be a cruel one." She pauses and watches Max curiously. "Does he know the real reason you're taking him away?"

"I have told him," only half of it, but I have. It makes me feel sick. I feel like I am manipulating him. "I don't know why am I even entertaining you. Don't you have anything better to do?"

"He will understand, more than anybody else. But you should remember this, this festival is important for you to remember, and to be whole." The girl starts moving away from the car. A part of me yells at me, so that I stop her, but another part allows me to stay seated, as it knows there is no point in stopping or following her.

"Do you really don't want to remember, be the one that you had been before this whole ordeal took place?"

Her voice fades, so does her presence. Turning my head again I find Max coming back.

I will not tell him anything, not now. I am going to steal this time for him and I.

The car doesn't stop at the station, it takes a road parallel to the railway tracks and runs towards the borders. We don't speak, don't look at each other, although his hands touch mine several times, as if to say he is there for me. I am here for him too, but I don't find the same confidence in me. Smiling faintly at nothing, or nobody in particular, I lean my head backwards.

Suddenly I am sleepy.

"It will be fine. Give it some time. They will be fine."

I say angrily, "Do you understand the concept of hatred, human? They hate you and it will never be fine. They will never be fine."

Max looks scared. He looks younger too, quite younger, like a teenager, and terrified of something. I frown, open my mouth to speak again, and feel the fangs. There is the heat again, pooling inside my chest like liquid lava.

"Their hatred is not unreasonable. They did so much for me, and this is what I do. The first chance I get I ruin everything for them. I deserve the hatred," he lowers his head sniffling. His voice moistens with guilt for what he has done.

Surprisingly, what he has done is not a crime. He has upheld the reputation of his family, the same way any heir should do. After tonight, the whole world will know of the talent hiding in this family. They will know of his noble bloodline, the bloodline that has served the gods and goddesses for centuries.

The more I think about it, the more I fume in anger. He may feel that he deserves the hatred, but in fact, he deserves reverence and gratitude from this family and this town. He is the only one who is powerful enough to claim his bloodline and his birthright. It strikes me immediately. That is the reason for their hatred. His birthright, they don't want to hand over this right to a bastard son.

I feel the heat now pushing upwards to my throat. Somehow he senses it; his face pales in fear. I know it is me causing this unnatural fear, but I cannot help myself. I get angrier.

"You should stop the way you think, speak and behave. You should be proud. You should be more—"

He stops me right there and says in a rush, "I have you. You came to me, for me, this is more than enough for me. This is a miracle, you are my miracle. I don't need anything else. Please stop, my lord." He kneels down in front of me and lowers his head to show his servitude. He shivers as I step forward. "Please, forgive me. I am the one to blame for everything. Forgive me."

Everything seems blurry now. Everything seems to be a scene from a movie that was premiered a long time back. Max seems to be moving backwards, very fast, the night becomes darker, colder. The heat inside me doesn't extinguish though, if anything, it continues to rise. My entire body shakes violently. I hear my name being called from far away, like a song that is being sung to wake me up, to worship me.

My body shakes again. I hear my name again, this time it is louder and harsher. "Wake up, Arin,"

There is a smell. Something is burning. My brain registers it in a second or so—something is burning. Where is Max?

"Arin!!!"

I open my eyes. We are sitting in the middle of a fire, and smoke.