prologue

There was a sudden calm in the air. Cool humid air condensed against her brow and formed water droplets which hung onto her pale luminescent skin like small jewels. Her hair, tousled and falling out of her long braid, framed her small face with small tight ringlets. The delicate crystal crown sat upon her head, held to her by wards only, hovering above her head whenever she moved, the glowing rocks lighting up her face like a halo. Her eyes still glowing amethyst, her powers still in their height, as she prepared for the next volley that she knew would come soon. Her eyes closed momentarily, as she sucked in steady breaths of the air around her, and she let her tense lithe frame relax.

All around her, she could feel the old magic in the air, magic that she could not touch nor comprehend. Magic that she could only pray to, and ask for strength in this last fight. This was the last fight; she had no doubt of that. She tasted the salt in her sweat and the blood in her mouth, ignoring the pain coming from everywhere in her compact body, ignoring the wounds on her shoulders and knees, ignoring the blood that seemed to suck the energy out of her as they flowed freely from her arms.

Then he spoke.

"Bliss."

She opened her eyes, neither in surprise nor in expectation, but just because she had to. The man was also heavily wounded, both by her wards and by his own destructive powers. All around the clearing where they were at there were bushes and trees which still smoked from their contact with his wards. The man seemed to know that this was their last fight too, and, to her surprise, he let down his guard. Layers and layers of wards around him dropped in an instant, testament to his abilities. And soon even his eyes had started to fade from their brilliant red colour to the shade of amber she was so used to seeing.

"Rhaen."

As her own guards went down, she felt that for the first time in this fight, she could see him. She could trace out those familiar creases and wrinkles in his sharp face, formed not by age but by skill. She could see the prominent veins and arteries in his forearms, pushed to the surface by his muscles, as he raised his arms up to her. She could once again look into the eyes of her lover, and she could watch his mouth enunciate the words as they came.

"Bliss."

He paused in his speech, seemingly unsure of what to say next.

She went to him as if it was the most natural thing to do.

Years of antagonism fell away as she put her arms around him and they hugged, tentatively, relying on old experiences, linking their arms instinctively. She put her heavy head on his shoulder, and they stayed that way for just a while.

"Bliss."

She didn't want the moment to stop. She didn't want to hear what he had to say. So she hugged him tighter, knowing it was futile, but in some way hoping to change their situations.

"Bliss... I've missed you."

Her arms tightened around his torso, as if to tell him she felt the same. But she did not talk. She focused on her breathing, on trying to contain her emotions. On preventing her tears from falling.

"I wonder... whether we would ever see each other again." He looked down at her small head, at the circlet of crystal that symbolised a wall between them, tall, formidable and impregnable. His hand went up to undo the braid, releasing her long brown hair from their restrain. There was a familiar tenderness in the way he stroked her head and combed her hair, almost reverently, with his bare hands. She did nothing, only clinging onto his shoulder as if it was her life. The calm in the air just grew and grew, until it all but filled the space around them. But not between them.

"What...does Morgan want this time?" she choked out between her silent sobs.

"The princess dead. In my hands." Rhaen let out a reluctant sigh. "My control over him no longer stands. I am but a lackey to him now, when everyone of evil intent have fallen to their knees in front of him."

"So this is the last fight, isn't it?"

"He won't let me live if I fail him this time."

"My life for yours."

"No." He took her head and cupped her face so that she looked directly at him. "No, my princess. It is mine for yours." He let out a bitter laugh at her surprise. "Did you really think I could kill you? Did you?"

She felt his body start to tremble. His amber eyes closed.

"We were so wrong for each other, you know. So very wrong. We should have never met. We should have never loved. Then maybe the end won't be so painful."

She hushed him, pressing her ice-cold fingers to his lips. With her other hand, she reached out and wiped away the tears in his eyes.

"The human mage and the elven princess. The two archenemies. The meeting. The love. The betrayal. And then the final showdown in a romantic dewy forest, unspoiled by the Apocalypse. Someone could write us up as a myth and children would eat it up like honey."

"And I know the ending to it. The perfect ending."

He opened his eyes and looked into hers. "The perfect ending?"

She nodded, smiling as her tears streaked down her cheeks. "The perfect ending, the type I used to love reading about." She put her arms behind his neck, and pulled him closer. "A last kiss from the princess to the mage, who in the end, does love her after all."

The kiss was soft and delicate, a joining of two bodies.

"And then they kill each other, so that no one would have to live alone in the world after."

He looked at her in surprise, and then saw that her eyes were already starting to glow purple. And then, a sharp pain from the back of his neck that spread to the whole of his back and then onto his legs. Everywhere had started to hurt. He didn't need to look to know that water was gushing out of her arms and onto him. Through the haze of pain, he could hear her murmured apology. He could hear her cry. He could hear her shout at him.

"Do it!"

So he did. The fires spread on her even faster than the water had on him, and soon she was writhing in agony too. But they held on to each other, even though that would cost them their lives. And their eyes never left each others, one set glowing purple, one set glowing red.

Their deaths left a plume of smoke in the forest that could be seen from miles away. Years after, people had named the volcano with an icy lake in the middle that had formed on the place they died the Kom'suidor, which meant archenemies in the native tongue of the High Elves. And the story of Bliss and Rhaen was weaved, together with many other exaggerations, into a myth that was told to many generations of children in that world after that. Everyone agreed that it had the best ending out of all the myths and legends of that world. Everyone thought it was the perfect ending.

But it hasn't ended yet.

chiiyo's comments :
This piece is titled "Prologue" because it's the prologue to a story I have yet to title. It's a story I've always wanted to write about Bliss and Rhaen, and though I've written the story many times, in many different ways, it has never been satisfactory, and I find myself throwing out many of these stories. Only this prologue, I've kept. This prologue was the first piece of writing, that I feel, does justice to the characters that I've created. And since then, I've not been able to create any other stories worthy to join up with this prologue, so I'll keep trying, and this prologue will continue to stand alone...

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