Coming out of the passage, Tomoe is greeted by a great cave. Climbing over a rock, she notices the circular nature of the underground cave, with water about knee-deep in a level below, and further beyond, she can see some sort of altar, a hill, where a bright white translucent tree stands, throwing light into the cave. Around the hill, enemy soldiers of Alexander can be seen, walking towards the other end of the cave.

So… that is the Diamond Lord Tree. And those soldiers… maybe there is a stair at the other side?

“What do you see, girl?” Oscar says.

“A couple of things: one, the cave is really big. Two, its shape is like two circles were put together, and we are at the far end of one of those circles. Three, there’s water, more than what I expected, we- no, you can take advantage of that. Four, I can see the Diamond Lord Tree, is at the other far side of the cave. Five, I have seen the enemy soldiers, they are at the other side, probably getting to the Diamond Lord Tree right now, probably following Alexander in the lead. Six, I don’t see Alexander… neither I do see my mom.”

“Good. Come down girl-”

“No master, please let me stay here.”

“What? You’re only going to expose yourself like that.”

“Precisely. Better to be in a place were he can clearly see me if I’m going to be the bait.”

“Do you think he will clearly see you from that far away?”

“I’ll come closer if necessary. It will provide a nice distraction for everyone else.” Tomoe says, putting a wry smile.

“Oscar,” Lorelei puts a hand on his shoulder “she’s right. Before anything, first we need to rescue our Lady, put her out of danger.”

Taking a deep breath, a passing a hand over his head, Oscar says “Lets get into position then. Bran, you come with me. With how much little Aura and of poor quality, I’ll run out of it soon into the fight. I need you to cover my back.”

“Yes.” Bran nods.

“Lorelei, you take the left. We both will take the right.”

“Sure.” Lorelei nods.

“Amelia-”

“I’ll stay behind and cover Cotton’s back.” Amelia says.

“Exactly.”

“Don’t worry, I know very well what a monster that person can be. I’ll cover Cotton’s back with my life.”

“Well, everyone, time to split up, and may I not find your Cinders at the other side.”

A couple of snorts and wry smiles flared between the group, just for a split moment. Then, as fast as those smiles were, they were already gone, entering into the water of the cave.

“It is you and I, Cotton.”

A smile appeared again on Tomoe’s face “I’m counting on you, Lia.”

Looking over the cave, Tomoe can see the water making ripples at some points. Looking at the Diamond Lord Tree, she catches what she was waiting for: Alexander just came up from the other side of the ridge, and now is walking towards the tree. Lady Aquamarine appears after him, being held by three soldiers, and after her two soldiers carrying a big box.

“Lia, get ready.”

“You got it.”

Coming closer to the tree, Tomoe sees Alexander inspecting it. He walks around it, then he does it again, and then once more, before stopping right besides it. Raising a hand, he puts it on the tree, and in one move, he engages his white Aura, punching the tree with only his fist, at the same time that he yells with all of his strength. Turning, he walks towards Lady Aquamarine, and grabs her by the hair.

At this moment, Tomoe stands up and yells “Alexander!” which resonates all around the cave.

Alexander turns, and puts his sight on Tomoe, being the only blonde color in an otherwise gray and brown cave.

Moving forward to the middle of the two circles, Tomoe yells again “The one you want is me!” as she gathers her hair, and brings it up to reveal the elven ears.

Alexander stays there for a moment, before giving some order to the soldiers. “Wait right there.” He yells, as he disappears behind the ridge, only for moments later to appear behind the ridge. A couple of steps later, and Alexander stands in front of Tomoe, still grabbing Lady Aquamarine by the hair.

A sense of pressure starts to build inside her, conflated with a feeling of disgust and even a little wonder. Right in front of her there is someone just like her, same race, long pointed ears like her, with features that, even with time pilling over his shoulders, haven’t lost its luster. Tomoe wasn’t one that had interest in art, yet she knew that if a piece was able to leave her in a minimum state of awe, that work was really good. Alexander fell squarely into that definition.

Yet, the huge shadow that his silhouette casted made her stomach revolt. He is like a wall, like the sculptures at the old Cathedral that depict a long-forgotten God of War, eaten by the Great Wolf, so no records nor recollection of him remained.

This towering man is what is standing between her and her mother, between life and death, and her comeback to a peaceful life.

“You… you are… blonde-haired, green-eyed… pointed ears…” Alexander says.

“What about it?” Tomoe says, suddenly being taken out of the awe she was experiencing moments before.

“You don’t know, right? I… can’t blame you. It is something relating to our race, you see…” He turns to the box, and keeps going “Within our great race we have many unique things to us. This doesn’t happen to any other race. Between these, we can be absolutely sure of how our children will look like, depending if it is a boy, or a girl.” He says, pointing towards Tomoe.

“What are y-” Tomoe starts saying before Alexander opens his hand in a really fast motion, cutting her words.

“Don’t interrupt now… You are a girl… and for girls, we know that in regards to the head and face, the girl will inherit her mother’s eyes and face with a slight deviation, while she takes in the hair…” then he points to Tomoe’s ears “and ears, of her father…”

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Tomoe can feel very slight ripples hit her legs, and moves her sight slightly to the sides to see the surface of the water move.

“What are you getting at?” Tomoe says as she takes two slow steps back.

“What I’m getting at… I guess it doesn’t truly concern you since it can’t be your fault, but… It only means that someone wasn’t as loyal as I thought she would be.” He says as he looks back at the big box “It does explain why are you still alive though… it explains everything…”

“What are you going on about?”

“Do you believe in forgiveness?”

“What?”

“If I would’ve known about this betrayal a long time ago, I might not have been able to forgive her,” Alexander says, as he turns back to Tomoe “but now, I just don’t imagine a life without her.”

“My Moon!” a voice from inside the box can be heard “please… don’t kill her.” The voice continues, as the person inside the box comes out, only to reveal another female elf, affected by the curse.

“Do you see it? That is the curse that is working day and night to kill her. She… she is my wife, Gwynevere.”

“So this is the one you want to save…”

“I see you’re familiar then with the curse of Lionheart. You don’t know how long has it been since I last seen a healthy female elf with my own eyes. My own wife once was like that, beautiful but with a beauty went beyond the material… but not more.” Turning to Gwynevere, he says “I don’t want to lose you.”

“Please, my moon, she, she is-”

“I’ll pick you over her, any day, my Sun.”

With those words, Tomoe suddenly felt a high pressure on her chest. Bringing her Aura in an instant, she manages to catch a glimpse of Alexander, about two steps forward, about to hit her. Dropping to her right, she manages to dodge the entire of Alexander, who passes by her left at an outstanding speed, creating strong winds in his wake.

Turning, Tomoe takes out the knives that she picked up in the passage, and modifying the gravity vector of them, she throws them at Alexander at high speeds while she walks backward, trying to put distance between them. In a sole continuous flash, Alexander catches all the knifes in the air.

Raising his electrical current, he launches all the knives in Tomoe’s direction. With such speed and area being covered, Tomoe only can jump, using her gravity taming to float for more time in the air, making all the knifes go below her.

As she comes back down, Tomoe catches Alexander already in front of her, about to connect a hit at her, when from her left, a spear of water hits Alexander, moving him out of his position. At the same time, Alexander raises the fist that he already made, and threw some lightings instead, which thanks to the metal objects in Tomoe’s gear, did manage to hit her, sending her flying and falling then on the ground.

Struggling to stand up, Tomoe sees Amelia attacking Alexander. Putting both hands over the ground, she sees how Amelia is blown away towards the ceiling. Yelling, Tomoe picks some rocks in the cave, and throws them with the weight of a tree in free fall against Alexander, who is now in the air, about to hit Amelia.

Being a direct hit, Alexander is sent against the ceiling, shaking the cave. Running towards Amelia before she fall completely to the ground, Tomoe shifts her gravity so the fall is gentler.

Watching to the side for a moment, Tomoe sees how the others are already taking care of the soldiers using the water as cover. Eight to go, they have encircled both Lady Aquamarine and Gwynevere.

Another rambling shakes the cave, and turning to the spot were Alexander has sent flying, some cracks appear. Electrical currents start appearing, some debris starts to float, and Alexander comes out of the hole. With one movement of his hand, he throws the heated debris at Tomoe at high speeds, but Amelia takes the front and throws a the giant water current in answer. The clash frees a lot of steam into the cave.

A heavy sound can be heard in the steam.

“Prepare, Lia.”

“Count on me, Cotton.”

“How heartfelt.” Alexander says.

Both Tomoe and Amelia turn to the sides, and then up. Alexander is there, standing over a floating debris. Seeing that he has been discovered, a smug appears on his face, as he throws a really powerful thunder towards the girls.

Jumping forward, Oscar pushes both girls out of the way, as the thunder connects with him instead, destroying his Aura completely and dropping him to the floor.

The thunder is so strong, that the steam is pushed against the walls of the cave, restoring some visibility around the center of the cave. This reveals that they have been successful in saving Lady Aquamarine.

Oscar managed to push Amelia farther than Tomoe. Alexander, seeing this, comes down right in front of Tomoe, reinforcing his arm with Aura and adding the electrical currents. As he swings, out of nowhere Gwynevere stands between him and Tomoe, Alexander unable to stop the punch and hitting her instead and sending her flying to the walls of the cave, to the right of Tomoe.

“My Moon!” Alexander yells, as he comes closer to a Gwynevere that is in the floor, and picks her up, putting his hand over her forehead and immediately pouring Aura into healing her.

“Don’t, please… she is…” Gwynevere starts saying, unable to move, but Alexander puts a finger on her mouth and whispers “No… After all this time, you can’t ask of me that.”

Gwynevere can only start crying.

“Hey Amelia!” Bran yells “Catch!” he says, as he throws her longsword back to her. Amelia catches it, but can only nod as she is catching her breath.

“Are you ready Lia?”

“Lead the way!”

Standing up, Alexander slowly turns, engaging his white Aura completely, taking complete rocks out of the walls and ground, and gathering all the minerals into sharp tentacles shapes.

“You are going down.” Alexander says.