The suffocating fumes of smoke filled the air, and I covered my nose with my hand as I rushed towards the burning palace. The fire grew and stretched all over the place at full speed, swallowing up every corner of the palace that was once full of glory.

The surroundings were hot, but my feet froze in place as I saw a figure walking towards me with the flames roaring in the background. Behind her, the fire raged as if to imitate the opening gates of hell. Her face was blank but shifted into a devilish grin as she stared at my anguished soul.

"Y-You …!" I coughed hard to release the burning vapors that I inhaled, but no words came out of my mouth.

Conflicting emotions overwhelmed me as I grappled with the internal battle between my emotions and my sense of duty.

Should I opt for mercy, or resort to violence in pursuit of justice?

“Did you like my gift, Raleigh? You may not have said it, but you wanted to see the empire falling to set Eskal free, right? You no longer have to be the grand duke of this fallen empire. You're now the king of Eskal. Your territory is now yours, and I'm the last Izavene you'll see because we Izavenes caused nothing but chaos in this world. Since I'm the key for everyone to be wiped out, I made the best decision – I'll be the sacrifice for the entire race to be gone and forgotten. When that happens, no fragment of memory about our existence will be known to men. Your role is to build up everything that will be lost.”

I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth as I held myself back from making a violent reaction. The ticking clock echoed in my ears as if my words would be powerful enough to stop her or let her do as she wishes.

I looked through her, and the only thing I can see is a madwoman with a crushed soul. A person who lost everything, and no longer saw the sense of living. Is losing everything a valid reason to throw a life away? I don't understand however hard I try to imagine it.

I couldn’t stop or kill her. We both know that’s how it will end, anyway. She let out a sigh and gave showed an exhausted smile.

“It would be pointless for me to kill you because even if I won't, you already made up your mind. Sparing you is the last thing I can do as your friend. Allow me to compliment you that you're a monster as everyone says," I paused to articulate my thoughts.

"It's a pity that I had to live long enough to see the empire burning thanks to you. I wish I passed away sooner than witness this.”

“Your heir is waiting for you, and all you have to do is to raise him to become a righteous leader. Don’t let Dietrich end up like me. Now that I think about it, you’re a murderer, and I'm a monster. Little difference," she turned her back and walked closer to the burning building. "Farewell, Raleigh."

“No … THYRA!”

My body pulled up as I shouted her name and beads of sweat ran on my cheeks, down to my chin. It felt too real to be a dream. She even knows what I wanted to name my heir.

I shifted away from the blanket covering my legs and hurried into the room where Thyra lay. The door was unlocked, and I reached for the knob to open it.

Thyra was there, sitting on the floor while looking at the moonlight reflected from the window. Her legs were pressed into her chest, and she secured them with her arms wrapped around her. She shifted her gaze on me upon hearing the door open, and her eyes were full of pain I couldn’t imagine, and I can only conclude everything based on her dejected face.

“It’s you,” her voice was weak, and I walked closer to her, staring at her in disbelief. Is she really the monster I saw in my dream who burned everything to the ground?

I scanned the room to seek answers, and it was then I realized that nothing was left aside from traces of ashes. All furniture is gone, and our presence alone filled the room.

“Did you … do all of this?”

“I’m sorry. It wasn’t my intention to burn everything. I woke up this night and I felt like I’m burning from within. The moment I laid a finger on anything, it burns and turns into ashes. I wanted to open the door to seek help, but I know that I’ll end up destroying the door too.”

“Only red diamond Izavenes can turn whatever they hold to ashes.”

“I woke up with Azriel’s powers in me. Please, Raleigh. I have to see him. I want to know if he’s still alive. If it’s true that his powers are completely in me, what do you think could’ve happened to his body? What cost did it take for me to wake up?” Thyra’s breathing was short, and she trembled in fear as she covered her ears while breaking down in tears.

If I’ll touch her, will she end up wounding me?

It doesn’t matter.

I knelt and grabbed her arms and shook her to get back to her senses. "Thyra Edevane, get it together. Crying won't solve your problem, stressing about the unknown will only cause your mind to be restless. I don't know what to say to console you, but I can lead you to where the crown prince is.”

I stood up and, just as I was about to lend her a hand, I refrained. She rose on her own and brushed off the dirt from her clothes. “Follow me.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

──•~❉᯽❉~•──

Feeling the weight of exhaustion in my eyes, we entered the basement room. I shot a stern look at the guard stationed by the door, signaling him to keep his mouth shut. Thyra cautiously stepped inside as I unlocked the room, anxious of learning if her lover is dead or alive.

She sank to her knees beside his bed but refrained from touching him, aware that her touch had the potential to harm anything she held.

“Azriel, please. Tell me that you can hear me. We promised to get out alive together, but why am I the only one here?” her breathing rose and fell as she cried in anguish.

I placed my fingers on the unconscious prince's neck, and I sensed a slow pulse in it.

He’s alive. For now, at least.

“Can you remove his gloves for me?”

I don’t understand the sense of her request, but I delicately removed the thin, black gloves from his hands and passed them to her. Thyra slipped his large gloves onto her hands, and to my surprise, they adjusted to fit her hand size, emitting a faint glow.

“Those gloves aren’t normal, aren’t they?”

“They aren’t. Red diamond Izavenes uses this to avoid ruining what they hold, but it depends on the person’s strength. If someone is a pure-blooded red diamond Izavene, their powers would damage everything they hold, and these special gloves can lessen the impact. With this, I can hold anything without destroying it, or hold anyone without harming them.”

Thyra is an Alexandrite Izavene, and the prince's powers were transferred to her when he sacrificed his life to save her, depleting a significant portion of his power.

I’m getting the full picture of it now.

Thyra's recovery is attributed to him, but his inability to awaken is due to his powers residing within her. He likely remains alive due to the small remnants of power that remain within him.

She's a smart woman. At this point, I'm certain that she already got a grasp of what's happening.

“Your Grace, when I was here next to him, both of us managed to hear the external voices. When I was in the Rhinecrest, Azriel was in a Rhinecrest himself. We weren’t in the same Rhinecrest, but his body created its own as if to save him. He lacks power, so he couldn’t wake up. I can’t be wrong that he can hear us talking now. I have to keep moving to return the favor and save him. We can’t do anything by ourselves because I don’t know how to awaken him. I need to talk to the empress. She knows her son better than anyone, let alone wake him up from this condition.”

Thyra's spirit is lifted, and her words are filled with passion and desperation. The mourning woman disappeared on a whim.

I must say, she's impressive. She managed to get rid of her emotions and shifted her mind to her goals instead faster than a normal person could.

She isn't human, to begin with. She's an Izavene, so there must be some difference in that.

“About the empress,” I paused, finding the right words to get to the point.

“It’s been five months since you two disappeared from the public eye. The blood empress you know of abdicated the throne. Though there is no evidence, she disappeared and Eviona stepped up as the empress, saying that her mother is too sick to introduce her to high society. The war we expected didn't happen, because she betrayed the second prince and invaded the palace by herself. I don’t know the specifics, but it’s obvious that she forced the blood empress to abdicate the throne when she found out that the crown prince and second prince weren’t present. What I’m sure of is even if she’s the new empress, she lacks power. All the nobles are suspicious of her because she was never introduced to high society. She was banished before she came of age. Due to the lack of foundation, I'm certain that Eviona is desperate for support, and she might have connections with other kingdoms surrounding the empire.”

“You sound like you know her well for you to have the audacity to call her by her name.”

I looked away, avoiding Thyra’s narrowed gaze. “I do have an idea on how she’s playing with things because she was engaged to me before her banishment,”

Reflecting on Eviona's personality from our earlier years makes me skin crawl. I hope this is the final time I'll have to revisit my past experiences with her.

“Then, when I found out that she tried to use her powers to control Louvienne after finding out that we’re close, I decided to marry her to protect her from Eviona. It was clear as glass that she’s not done with me for her to lay a finger on my wife.”

“Ah yes, Azriel and I heard your awkward confession to her,” Thyra chuckled, finally loosening up from the topic full of tension. I felt my cheeks warming up in embarrassment.

I don’t even want to ask her how much she heard.

“This might be late, but congratulations on your marriage. I’d like to meet her sometime. I heard that she’s curious about me too.”

Mentioning Louvienne provided relief from the stress lingering since I woke up from the nightmare. Undeniably, her name has a soothing influence on me.

“She’ll appreciate that. Louvienne is like a warm field of flowers. The tension in my castle lessened at her presence. My servants are fond of her,” my lips rose into a smile at the thought of her. I cleared my throat to go back to our topic.

“Anyway, reaching for the late empress isn’t a possible option now. Unless you know where she’s in or if she’s alive, we can. The most reachable person we have now is the second prince. If you can promise me not to –”

“I promise. I won’t cause bloodshed here. He’s our last option, and I agree," she retorted as if she read my mind long enough to know what I'll be suggesting.

"I'd like to have an audience with him. Again, I need Azriel back as soon as possible. It doesn't matter if I have to be allied with my enemy. Being in the Rhinecrest is not different from solitary confinement. You won’t see anything, and time does not exist. My body recovered, but each second that passed in the Rhinecrest tortured the mind. I managed to keep my head up, but Azriel's condition is worse. Now that he's alone, I can only imagine how tormenting things are now that he has no idea of what will happen. I'll deal with Hervouet after once Azriel gets his life back."

Thyra’s passion is uplifting, yet terrifying. I may not have known her for long, but she’s a dangerous woman. She won’t be this confident if she has no idea of what she’s doing. I can’t figure out if she’s being idealistic, but she looked as if she can have the second prince in the palm of her hands and crush him whenever she wishes.

My dream isn’t something that I should disregard.

It was a warning.

She was like a wounded sheep when she woke up, but now she’s becoming like a cunning fox watching her prey. But even she has a weakness – Azriel is her fatal flaw.

But would it be possible for her to reach the point of considering burning the empire just like in my dream?

What else should I expect from a dangerous woman? What I’m sure of is as long as I won’t get in her way, my duchy would remain safe. But I can’t trust her completely.

“Tell me what else you’re planning and what you need. I’ll see what I can do to help.”

She looked down, her hair covering almost her entire face.

“I heard you talking to Jarvis. I won’t press further because I can tell how much you resent him, and I heard enough for me to understand what happened between the two of you. Since he wanted to help me, I'd like to write a letter to him. I'll tell him how he could be of use to me."