...57...
TRIGGERED BY FIRE
The Emperor's heart fell to his ankle the moment he arrived at the abandoned maze.
Fear and anxiety threatened greatly to choke as he stared at the entire structure which was on fire.
A large crowd of soldiers and maid was gathered there trying their very best to put out the whacking fire before it were to spread.
He swiftly dismounted his horse and ran up the the edifice which was gradually falling apart at the moment.
He was closely followed by his escort, Cora, her twin sister, Vura and Xiera.
He found his brother and his aide already there.
He walked up to the duo and asked if they had seen the Lady.
None of the both had set eyes on her there.
His heart beat erratically as he shut his eyes and tried to feel her presence.
He Peter that she was no longer inside the abandoned maze, no longer in the vicinity infact because naked flames did things to her body and her mind.
But then, he felt her, quite strongly as if she were holding unto him in her distress.
She was still there, inside, trapped in the fire. He rushed towards the entrance.
'My Sovereign Liege, you cannot go in there!'
A royal guard instantly blocked his path followed by three others, announcing his presence.
And those who weren't too busy paid obeisance to him.
'The fire is too strong,' the royal guard continued, 'and it will be dangerous if you go into the maze.'
'There is someone inside the maze,' was all he said.
'With all dye respect My Sovereign Liege, there is none. No one comes to this place without a partner.'
'I say that someone is in!' he bellowed with angst.
'My Sovereign Liege, of you say so then I shall go in myself and look for this person. Please do not go into the burning maze. It is too risky for you to do that.'
'Get out of my way!' he roared as more guards came to block his path on realizing his intent.
The Little Prince quickly came up to him with his aide, Octavia.
'First,' he urged him, 'calm down.'
'She is in there,' he rasped as he held unto his brother. 'She is in there Maximilian.'
'That is why you need to calm down First. You have to be stable to do this. Get down to earth.'
'But-'
'The fire is her element,' the Little Prince whispered softly to him. 'It cannot actually harm her physically and you know. We shall get to her First, we shall,' he assured him.
'Still, it is the perfect trigger. It can draw that which is not supposed to be Little,' he explained.
'I will go in and bring her out My Lord,' Vura instantly volunteered with hard determined eyes.
'I will go with you,' Xiera seconded her.
The emperor said nothing to both, looking lost in his worry.
'Hurry then,' Octavia urged and the two headed into it with wet blankets from the royal guards.
The emperor simply watched them go with apprehension.
'S-she is in there,' he began to tell the Little Prince once again.
His eyes closed then.
'I feel her. I feel her too much. I feel the pain and fright. She... She... No! I cannot do this Little. I have to go to her.'
The Little Prince pulled him into a tight embrace.
'No harm will come to her First. They shall find her,' he whispered soothingly.
'I hear her,' he murmured almost inaudibly. 'I can hear her.'
This time, his voice was slightly louder than before.
'First, stay calm. They shall find her and bring her. They shall return her unharmed to you.'
'She calls me,' he whispered softly, shaking his head gently.
The Little Prince instantly drew back and stared at him.
'Oh no!' he muttered under his breath at the sight of eyes like silver.
His brother was transitioning.
He was indeed hearing what he had said he did.
The trapped lady was somehow reaching out to him, drawing his essence.
Where was Matrix when he needed him?
Nowhere to be found he guessed with a sough.
'I hear her,' he whispered again.
The Little Prince stepped back.
It would be useless to restrain him.
Besides, he alone could quickly get her out of the flames.
He could do it three times faster for this maze was one complicated bitch.
He released him completely from his arms.
'Let him go through! It is a royal command and anyone who disobeys shall earn death on the spot.'
His voice was loud and terrifying.
But it was the punishment that he issued for stopping the emperor that actually made them all to step back and allow him through.
'Let him go through!' he said a second time in an icier voice.
He didn't need to do that for the emperor was already making his way towards the burning maze.
They all stared at him till he disappeared into the flames that they were trying so hard to put out.
They began to try extremely hard to put it out the moment he went in for if anything were to happen to him, they could as well forget about their own lives.
Cora took two wet blankets from the royal guards and then made to go after him.
The Little Prince stopped her with a hand to her arm.
'My Lord?' she all but asked him with quizzical eyes.
'Do not go,' he told her. 'He will be fine but you will only get hurt.'
'I live and die with my master. I will lay down my life for him.'
And then with a small bow of respect, she followed her master into the burning maze.
The Little Prince sighed.
'Why on earth is everyone so stubborn today?' he inquired from his aide, Octavia who was standing by him.
The lady hesitated then said.
'Affections, feelings, emotions My Lord. It is what make them so.'
'I guess so.'
Meanwhile, inside the burning maze, the lady staggered forward, dragging her feet.
Her chest tightened with pain every now and then.
Her hair was glowing oxblood, not made so by the light the fire cast on her.
Her eyes were also glowing, her iris the colour of her hair.
She turned into another corner and flames greeted her.
She stepped back and stared.
Then, she staggered forward and into the flames which surprisingly gave way for her, creating for her a path.
She trudged down the path.
But that tightness in her chest returned along with the heavy pounding in her head.
She fell to her knees, compelled by the deep extremity of the pain.
'Izhxel, Izhxel, Izhxel,' she chanted in a very soft whisper.
Her heart ached and her body felt weary and foreign, not hers, as if it were carrying a burden that she really wanted to be relieved of.
'Izhxel,' she whispered once again.
She cried out as the pain overwhelmed her.
Stars began to dance afore her eyes and her brain grew numb and empty.
She cried out weakly, unable to go against the pain coarsing through her body, guiding her to the floor.
She screamed as her body reached its limit.
Her eyes and hair radiated effulgence and her hair beamed like never before.
Then, her portal opened and flooded almost instantly.
The flames around her rose higher, burning hot, scorching but she felt nothing.
She screamed and screamed, holding her head in her hands as event flashed and flashed across her eyes unendingly.
'Izhxel, help me!' she begged. 'Please! Please! Please! Help me!' she pleaded.
She struggled to breathe, her body shaking violently in vehement opposal to whatever was attempting to claim her -the strange feeling coarsing through her body.
She fought to hold on, to live.
'Izhxel,' she whispered, on the edge, the word being her dernier cri.
She began then to surrender to the thick submerging darkness that had constantly threatened to envelope her.
Suddenly, the fire around her doused.
'You called?' that familiar voice came to her, thick with emotions.
Her eyes flew open, a sharp oxblood.
'And you came,' she said with renewed strength. 'Izhxel,' she murmured with a small smile.
'I am here now,' he assured her.
'Izhxel, it hurts.'
He bent and wrapped her with the wet blanket that Cora had given him earlier.
Then, he lifted her into his arms bridal style.
'Rest,' he whispered. 'Rest.'
She sighed and closed her eyes, falling into a deep unconscious sleep in his arms.
He turned and began to head out of the burning edifice.
The three sides -who had been found along the way- followed dutifully behind him.
Her glowing hair went back to normal in his arms.
Xiera simply stared at all the weird ongoings with mouth agape, completely astonished by it all.
'D-do you see that?' she all but whispered to Vura who nodded at her and said.
'It is normal.'
'It is?' Xiera asked flummoxed.
Vura suddenly realized something, hitting her forehead gently with her palm.
'Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot that you are human. Anyways, what you see is what is real alright?' she asked. 'The Lady is not human,' she explained to her. 'She is a demon. Fire is her element and it roused her essence. She transitioned simply because she was triggered by fire.'
'You say?' Xiera asked still unable to comprehend it all.
'Are you deaf?' Vura asked her jocosely. She shook her head.
'How do you know all of these then?' she asked as she made to catch up with the fast paced party.
She had drawn back a bit when she had been shocked for a moment.
'I was here before you,' Vura whispered to her. 'Therefore, acknowledge that.'
'I respect that. But,' she continued, more curious now than shocked. 'The emperor, he is also a demon? And his element is ice?' she murmured.
'Yes,' was her answer alongside a slight nod of her head.
Xiera made a sound of fascination which had replaced her astonishment and shock.
As they neared the entrance to the burning maze, Cora suddenly drew her sword and brought it towards Xiera's neck with the speed of light.
The warrior gasped in surprise.
'What?!' she snapped.
'Not a word of what you have witnessed is to leave your mouth or I shall make it so with a very clean slit to the throat,' she threatened her.
The other warrior was in no way frightened.
She only scoffed.
'Who would actually believe me? They would think I am mad. Besides, a royal warrior's second rule is what happens to royals stays with the royals. It doesn't have to dwell in my mind unless you present want it to. The moment we step outside this maze, consider everything as good as forgotten you hear?'
'You sure?' Cora continued, pressing the sword against her neck.
'Take your blade away from my pharynx, or is it larynx? Sorry, I have yet to learn the body parts quite accurately. Anyways, not a word. It shall remain top secret, royal clandestine affair,' she swore nonchalantly.
'Take that metal away form her neck sister. I trust that she will be quiesce if not the emperor would have never appointed her to the Lady.'
'Maybe you are right, or maybe you are wrong.'
'I trust her too much Cora,' Vura assured her with a big smile full of white teeth.
'Are you sure?' Cora demanded once again. Vura sighed softly.
'Come on, put away that sword,' her twin urged her.
'Fine,' Cora said and did as she was asked to do. 'I am trusting you.'
'Top secret?' Xiera tried to reassure her as her hand went to touch her neck where the sword have been, rubbing it gently though there were no injuries to it.
Cora sheathed her sword and they resumed walking towards the entrance.
Most of the fire had been put out now.
'The lady,' Vura began, 'she will remember nothing when she awakens. You on the other hand are to tell her nothing but whatever alibi Hyeera cooks up for us.'
'Hyeera is in on this too?'
'Yes?'
'So, wait only I didn't know of this?' she asked her. Vura nodded.
'This is biased. Even Cora who doesn't serve her knows. I bet all the maids in the royal manor knows except me,' she groused.
'Only about eighty percent.'
'Eighty percent?!' she asked wide eyed. 'So it is really true?' Vura nodded once again with a nonchalant shrug. 'I wonder why I actually feel really betrayed.'
'Still, remember what I said,' Vura said to her as they emerged from the abandoned maze which was now almost in ruins. The matter died there and then.
'The royal physician is waiting at your manor,' they were in time to hear the little prince inform the emperor who simply nodded with his eyes solely fixed on the firm in his hands.
A set of royal guards were on their knees beside them and the three aides instantly knew that they were apologizing for not properly checking if someone was in the abandoned maze when the fire started.
'We are sorry My Sovereign Liege! We deserve to die!' they chanted with rather guilty voices.
'Find out what actually caused this fire,' he instructed them, 'then you shall be pardoned.'
'Thank you My Sovereign Liege. Thank you for bestowing us with your mercy!' they began again.
The lady stirred in his arms and he looked down at her as her eyes fluttered open, slowly and prettily like butterfly wings.
'Beast?' she said in a very tender whisper.
'Yes?' he answered her in an emotion thick voice -as if she could notice that in that state.
His voice was deep with concern, tender with love.
'Don't leave me,' she pleaded.
'God knows that I won't. I will never do so,' he promised her. 'Never! I will always stay with you.'
'Izhxel, I love you.'
He stared at her, and despite the worry revolving around him, he smiled at her words, his heart palpitating madly.
Her eyes remained oxblood and his shifted to silver as they locked gazes with an intimacy and intensity that left them satiated in a strange way.
'I love you too Ninotchka,' he assured her in a whisper. And afore hundreds of eyes, he leaned in and kissed her, to seal their deal.
.
.
.
.
.
...OmaPhinaPhire
AUTHOR'S NOTE
For some reason, I nearly passed out from cringe while reading and trying to edit this chapter
Goosebumps of shame rose on my skin and it felt as if embarrassment was being forced down my throat
I sincerely hope y'all reading really like this chapter because I don't feel it
I feel like I could have done better with this scenes
Still, it ain't much of my fault, it was written in boredom during the lockdown
Anyways
Enjoy!