As Ivy felt a shake on her body, she lazily opened her eyes to see herself in Avinha’s embrace. Before she could react, she could feel the heat blaring from a few feet away from them.
“Stay still.” She could hear Avinha whispered nervously to her. She tried to take a peek at what was going on behind him while he held her down tightly, afraid she would rush out in the chaos. “Stay low, they could see you,” Avinha warned.
“Aren’t we supposed to be invisible to them?” Ivy asked as Avinha snatched her up on his shoulder and rushed to another tree.
A silver dragon was setting everything ablaze while Ivy was catching her breath. “They don’t see you but the environment still hurts you,” Avinha explained and it was something new to Ivy.
The entire forest was on fire including the tabernacle. Ivy then realise it was only right for Avinha to absorb the eternal flow of power earlier. Whether he was doing it out of greed, he had saved the next generation of the nymphs.
The silver dragon was accompanied by a familiar-looking golden dragon. Ivy tried to raise her head higher to catch a better view of the golden dragon.
“Who are they?” Ivy mumbled as Avinha mumbled in reply. “Jaime, my uncle’s son, and…” Avinha looked down on Ivy as she met his gaze while the dragons, after finding out the flow of the eternal power was gone, left angrily.
“Jason…” Ivy questioned as Avinha nodded.
“But why? Could you explain? What exactly is all the past about?” Ivy pleaded in a low sad tone.
Before Avinha could, the scene behind them changed showing the immortal warrior Avinha building back the city of nymphs in disguise to protect the rest of the population. He was fortunate to have found the nests of baby nymphs well protected by a spell left by the queen.
It was then that Ivy saw how Avinha patiently waited for Ivy to be reborn. It directly led them to the time when she became a phoenix instead and because of his power, he disguised himself as the eldest son of the Inklong tribe with a younger brother who was Jason, reborn as a golden dragon again.
Ivy flinched in Avinha’s arms when she saw the replay of her pregnant self being stoned. This time she knew that Avinha was the one who fueled hatred among the villagers. Ivy finally understood Avinha was the original mortal warrior whom she saved back then and had lived on waiting to repay her.
However, through time, their destiny had changed. The destiny Jason had always wanting to change for her was for the sake of Avinha.
She was born as a nymph to save Avinha while he ruled the kingdom for her away from Jason and Jaime who yearned for the greed of immortality.
She was reborn as a phoenix with a twisted destiny to save the kingdom from catastrophe while Avinha waited patiently to be with her only to be betrayed by Jaime, his then step-uncle, the silver dragon. Jason was repaying the sins of his past life and was destined to make a sacrifice in the twisted destiny with Ivy.
From then on, her fate was no longer intertwined with Avinha's but with Jason’s who was repaying for his sins all those time. As she watched her Phoenix self explode destroying the grounds, Avinha stood wishing he could perish as well only to find himself collecting the ember of Ivy’s ashes before a sword pierced through Avinha’s body.
Ivy woke with a pounding headache while letting out a scream and jumped out of bed to the French window where the moon lit bright enough for her to catch her breath. With her room close to Jeremy’s, he woke to run over to check on her.
No, he can’t be dead. He is an immortal. Does it mean the destiny all this while which Jason wants to change for me was linked to Avinha? Ivy questioned herself as she closed her eyes and forced herself to catch her breath while both dogs whined worriedly by her side.
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Avinha must be… Jeremy… She thought as she heard footsteps rushing towards her room.
“Ivy… You’re alright?” She heard as the door opened and a black figure rushed towards her. She slowly sat on the ground, still shuddering from her nightmares.
Jeremy quickly switched on the table lamp recalling Ray’s words.
Sorry… I forgot… Jeremy apologised to her in mind as he could not bring himself to say it, fearing he would give himself away. Instead, he squatted next to her and tried to reach out to her back to comfort her while she panted but he was not brave enough.
Ivy was pissed at the sight of him but she felt herself getting swayed by his concern which should not be coming from him. She knew he was not of this nature.
“Why do you care? Shouldn’t you be happy with what you did?” She questioned angrily which made him feel a little guilty.
“What exactly is your intention?” She questioned as her breathing started to slow down.
“If you could, don’t ask,” Jeremy said solemnly which made Ivy even more curious.
She turned around to meet his gaze. She could tell he was pitying her which was the exact direct opposite of what she expected.
Are you a foe or… a friend, Jeremy? Why are you an ally in my paracosm? She questioned in mind as she looked away.
“After all you have done, I don't understand why you are doing this?” She said calmly.
“I don't either. All I know is I get what I want.” He said with conviction which actually meant keeping her safe but he could not tell her just yet.
“Get out. I don't need your company.” She instructed as she didn't know if she was mad at him or the situation they were in.
He sighed defenselessly as he walked out of the room before she embraced both dogs and tried to calm down. She knew she could not fall back asleep though she really wanted to and find out about the journey with Avinha but the suffocating feeling made her restless.
Instead, she walked out of the guest room and recalled there was a music room somewhere. She vaguely recalled an empty room at the end of the floor as she approached it while remembering it was where she hid with Jason once from Jeremy’s obnoxious commotion at their family dinner. As she entered it, she was glad to find the piano was still there.
She sat on the chair with both dogs accompanying her by the side. She opened the cover of the piano keys and started to play her heart out in a gentle, soft resolving melody.
Jeremy was not exactly asleep after confronting her. He was worried and remembered it would not be easy for her to fall back asleep. It was even more worrying that she nearly fainted from fatigue earlier. He could hear her footsteps earlier as he gave up stirring in bed. He took the chance to tailgate her only to find she had found the music room which had since been empty since Jason and Grandma left.
He slipped into the music room and stood in the dark listening to Ivy’s melodious score. He could not help but record it with his phone quietly.
I’m sorry for putting you through all this. You must have been very sad sending off your loved ones. Jeremy sighed thinking to himself.
I promise you things will get better as long as you bear with me for a little while. While everyone wants to protect you, I want you to put up a fight instead. I believe in you Ivy. He cheered on her.
Ivy always knew music could heal but she never believed so till she let go of her nervousness. There was no one around her to listen to her mistakes if there were any. That was when she realised she missed Ryu who always strummed his guitar to his new composition by her side.
She missed Ray’s melodious voice which could melt any girl’s heart. A tear slipped as she let it be. Jin then crossed her mind. His intelligence was something she had envied from the start while his cool style of playing the bass or electric guitar was always something she wished she could do but she chose the drums instead.
It was an equally cool choice back then but now, she wondered when will she ever get the whole family band back again. That was when she gave up enduring her bottled-up emotions and lay down on the piano keys, crying her heart out while recalling how she sent one by one of them away and still could not bring herself to visit her dad in the hospital.
Jeremy wanted to comfort her but he knew better to leave her alone as he quickly slipped out of the room. He stood in front of the closed door listening to her muffled cries, feeling even more bad for her.
Daddy… I’m sorry I had to do this. I will ensure I stabilise the company first before I come and see you. Please keep fighting as we all are waiting for you to be awake. I know Uncle James would keep you in good hands. I promise I will ensure justice prevails without anyone harmed. Ivy thought to herself as she cried.
Just then she remembered Permisla.
Perhaps visiting Mum would be a good idea to check on her. Ivy thought to herself. The thought of her mum calmed her down a little as she brought her knees up to cuddle herself on the chair. She watched the moon while caressing Daisy and Lucky who were worrying about her by her side.