He moved his shirt to show her the rune he carved into his chest, despite having a healing factor now.
Yohan had decided to leave that mark unhealed and scarred to forever show his promise to her. Solaria looked up into his eyes, he had grown so much since they had met so long ago. He had lost a lot of weight and gained a lot of muscle. He now had a sort of wisdom to him as a hardened warrior, his eyes no longer looked as bright as they did before but still carried their kindness.
In her eyes, he was perfect all the same, and with the overwhelming feeling of release, she fell into his arms and on the tip of her toes, reached up and kissed him, Yohan obviously not expecting this turn of events, racked his brain for ways how he could react but quickly gave up and decided to go with the flow. Besides, she initiated so it should be ok to reciprocate.
He gently wrapped his arms around her small waist kissing her ever so gently, then slowly lifting her up, he put her to sit on the counter, continuing their tender exchange, they both pulled away at the same moment taking the time to look at each other, sweat had started to form on their bodies as the warmth they generated continued to build and almost as if they had the same thought, ran up to their bedroom.
The rest of the morning and much of the afternoon was filled with soft moans, whispers of sweet nothings, and the unmistakable rhythmic thuds of love echoing through the room.
The next morning, Solaria was the first to wake, the passion of the night before still fresh in her mind and echoing through every part of her body. She turned to look at Yohan, still sound asleep beside her, a faint smile resting on his lips. It had been eons since she had lain with a man, not since before her imprisonment, and the memory of last night played back vividly in her thoughts, drawing a deep blush to her cheeks.
For all her divine strength, it was Yohan who had proven to be the stronger one last night.
I can't believe I let him see me like that…" she thought, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "All that control, all that power and I melted in his hands like starlight on water." Her fingers hovered just above his chest, as if afraid to touch him again too soon. "Gods, has he always been that strong? Could he feel my heart racing?"
She bit her lip softly, glancing away. "I never thought I would be able to feel like that again. Looking at him again she could not help but smile. "With this I belong to him now, and he belongs to me". She smiled to herself as she got up and headed downstairs to prepare some training equipment.
Today she was going to teach Yohan how to use her power, she had planned on teaching him the day before getting 'distracted', when he had transformed previously, she remembered how his energy now felt similar to hers but more volatile, his feat of combining light and dark energy was totally unheard of and she had no idea how she would guide him but since he had absorbed some of her energy she thought that maybe if she showed him how to use her energy, he might be able to progress even further.
A few hours later, Yohan was awoken by the sounds of metal clashing, last night's festivities had left him drained and struggling to stand held on to one of the bed posts, upon getting up he realized that the ground was actually closer to the base of the bed and upon closer inspection, he realized that not only was the bed lower, the base of the bed was completely shattered, causing him to blush uncontrollably.
"I'll have to fix that." He sighed. As he walked towards the bedroom window and gazed at the beach outside, he could see Solaria taking a swim in her dragon form, her beautiful white scales shimmering in the water, diving and rising repeatedly. Spotting him, she used a swing of her powerful arm to send up a huge blast of water towards the window. Luckily the window didn't break.
Yohan understood the invitation and proceeded to open the window and jump out, wings of dark energy forming behind him as he fell. When he reached Solaria she had already shifted back to her human form but something was different, standing on the water, she was dressed in full battle armor, borrowed from a suit of armor in the dining hall.
"Hello darling. Today I will be teaching you how to use my power and what better way to teach you than through combat?" The smile on her face carried a sort of mischief to it that Yohan couldn't help but feel worried by. She threw him a sword and sent him flying before he could even grab it. His hellish training had just begun.
The power that Solaria wielded was given the name Prya when she was younger and still discovering her power beside her sister. She had a handmaiden that had played a huge part in her training. Being one of the strongest magic users on Oreath, originally a member of the Barbarus court and was a powerful light magic user. She was there long before Solaria, Ventris and Aurelius were born.
She was appointed to Asura's court and was made to be Solaria's magic teacher, when it was discovered that she could also use Solaria's element; darkness. Even though she had only been able to use the darkness element for a few weeks prior, she had made leaps and bounds while experimenting with the application of that kind of magic, especially when she realized that the two powers shared similar attributes. She was like a mother to the sisters, able to live a rather peaceful life; she had died at the ripe old age of 4,824 years. She had the chance to become immortal and was stronger than most trancendents of her time but decided to live her life till its end came naturally.
On the day of her funeral, Ventris and Solaria had made the decision to name the power they used Prya, in her memory. Through her teachings, they had found that their powers were similar and felt that it was ok to give their powers a name that would put them under the same category. Thus, Ventris' power was called Light Prya and Solaria's Dark Prya.
Solaria was born with the rare and volatile power to manipulate all forms of matter and energy, an ancient force woven from chaos itself. Her magic held the brilliance of stars and the fury of wild suns, capable of shaping reality in a thousand ways. But this power, unlike her sister Ventris', was inherently unstable. Its frozen, conflicting nature required years, centuries of discipline, meditation, and struggle to master. Where Ventris' abilities bent matter with precision and ease, Solaria's power fought her every step of the way, like trying to contain a storm in a glass jar.
Both sisters were gifted, but Solaria's magic was far broader in scope. Her power may have been born from the dark but produced starlight that could heal or burn; her power could forge or destroy. With it, she had once split mountains, fed and healed millions and bent the very fabric of space around her fingertips. Yet after her sister's betrayal, after Ventris stole a vast portion of her magic many of those grand abilities were lost. Solaria could no longer summon celestial constructs or manipulate energy on a planetary scale. The more delicate, complex branches of her magic had been ripped from her like petals from a flame.
But there was one thing Ventris could never steal: Solaria's raw, physical strength.
Even stripped of her powers, Solaria's body remained divine, an unshakable force of celestial muscle and will. When she was only a baby, she once reached out and wrapped her tiny fingers around her father's and squeezed. The king, whose strength was the stuff of myth, winced. The court had fallen silent. No one had ever hurt him before.
That strength never left her. It was not born from her magic but from her very being. No spell could take it, no betrayal could touch it. And now, though her energy still smolders beneath the surface, fractured and unstable, her hands alone could still bring gods to their knees. This power was now what she had turned on Yohan
With what little power she still possessed, Solaria made a decision one forged in divine fire and unyielding will. If Yohan was to rise, to become more than mortal, he would have to learn what it meant to stand among gods. No more holding back. No more gentle sparring. From this moment forward, she would train him the only way she knew: through battle.
She would break him down not out of cruelty, but necessity. Blow by blow, she would drive the weakness from his limbs, burn the hesitation from his heart. He would learn to stand, to strike, to endure. And he would do so without relying on borrowed magic.
She permitted him to meditate, to reflect, and to explore the power awakening within him on his own time. He could train his spirit, hone his potential, and deepen his understanding of the forces beginning to stir in his soul. But when he faced her, when it came time to fight there would be no magic. No shortcuts. No power beyond what his muscles, bones, and heart could offer.
He must prove he could defeat her not with spells, not with tricks, but with strength alone.
Only when he could face her fully, match her blow for blow, and bring her to the ground by sheer will and physical might, would she grant him the secret to fire that once lit stars.
And it would not be quick. It would not be easy. This challenge would take him three thousand years.
Three millennia of pain, of persistence, of rising after every fall. Three thousand years of standing before a goddess who held back nothing.
This was to be his trial: To beat a god.
With nothing but his hands.
Three men wearing white cloaks stepped into the edge of the Black Zone, the world around them quiet and still. They were apostles, sent by Ventris to investigate a huge burst of power that had once shaken their radars. But thanks to the slow and lazy systems of their order, it had taken them a thousand years to even act.
They had no idea they were walking into their deaths.
The first thing that hit them wasn't a weapon or an enemy, it was light.
Blinding, golden light.
The Black Zone was supposed to be dead and dark; a ruined wasteland. But what they found was the exact opposite. The land had changed. It was alive.
Palm trees rose high into the sky, their leaves swaying in a warm breeze. Thick vines hung from black stone walls, and strange flowers bloomed in colors they had never seen. Clear water ran through cracked stone paths, sparkling under the bright sky.
Birds called out in the distance. The air was warm and heavy with the smell of fresh earth and blooming plants. Everything here seemed calm… Everything but them. They felt it. There was something looming over them. Powerful. Waiting. Watching.
This place had a new king.
And he would not welcome strangers.
They moved carefully through the dense forest, the ground soft beneath their boots, the air warm and heavy. This place was all wrong, alive, beautiful, and nothing like the dead zone they'd been told about. But their mission remained the same: investigate the surge of power, gather what they could, and report back to Ventris.
Sunlight filtered through the canopy in glowing streaks, dancing across thick vines and strange, colorful flowers. The forest buzzed with quiet life, but the apostles said nothing. They stuck to their path, alert and uneasy.
Then, the trees opened up.
They stepped out onto a ridge at the forest's edge, where the land sloped down into white sand and a wide, calm shoreline. Waves lapped gently against the beach below, and just beyond that, hovering above the treetops near the water's edge was Castle Barbarus.
The massive ruin floated in the air, its base cracked and broken, surrounded by slowly circling debris, chunks of stone, shattered spires, and fragments of bridges long gone. It drifted like a ghost above the coast, the ocean wind tugging at its old, faded banners.
It was the only thing that looked familiar.
The apostles stared up at it, then froze.
Atop the tallest tower, high above the castle ruins, stood a lone hooded figure.
Still. Watching. Looming.