Later that afternoon, we were still in the air and trying to entertain ourselves through the flight. We were playing tic tac toe on the activity section of the map and May laughed at my next move. "What are you doing? You can't draw over my circle!" I laughed as well. "I drew a diamond. Diamonds can steal other players' spaces."
May shook her head. "You made that up! You can only draw exes!" I smirked. "Not the way I play it." She returned my look of mischief and began to draw something new of her own. "Then I draw a heart, which automatically spreads through the entire board in my favor!" I quickly drew a dragon beside the game. "Not before the heart gets engulfed in flames!" I scribbled fire over the board and May gasped. "You can't burn my hearts!" I chuckled. "Just did. I win by total annihilation."
I then stopped in surprise at May kissing me. I pulled away, confused. "What are you doing?" May smiled and moved her hands to hold mine. "What? We're lovers now, aren't we?" I froze and suddenly heard alarms going off inside my head. I pulled my hands from hers, awkwardly. "Um... I just did that for the trial... You know, as a, one-time thing."
May's smile faded but a not as bright one returned a second later. "Oh. Sorry. I guess I just assumed." She moved away and I felt instant regret. "We're still friends though, right?" May nodded. "Of course!" That was good to hear but May's cheerfulness had disappeared. She was still smiling but it didn't compare to the one that she always wore.
'What did I do? Why did I say that? I don't know at all how I feel about her now. I'm so used to just being friends that the thought of a relationship scared the hell out of me. Ugh, maybe I'll have something figured out by the time we finish this quest. All I know now is that I like her a lot and I wish I didn't say something so stupid!' I thought.
We weren't as talkative through the rest of the flight and I tried to focus on the quest the best I could. We camped through the night and continued on in the morning. Soon we approached the highest peak of a large mountain that looked like the top was made from gold because of the sunlight's reflection. Saniel landed in the woods near the top and May and I jumped off of his back.
We started walking in the direction of the final test and now it was really sinking in that we were almost there. I would soon find out whether all the hard work I put in for this would be worth it or not in no less than a day. I turned to look at May who was walking beside me and felt something different. I contemplated whether I still actually wanted the stone anymore and the thought of that freaked me out. 'We've been through so much together... And she still thinks I'm planning on gifting the stone to my parents.'
I felt my stomach turn and a feeling of disgust took over me. 'I lied to her. What will she do when she finds out the truth?' A part of me just wanted to quit now but if I did that, she'd know that my intentions were wrong anyway. 'If I did get the stone would I still go through my original plans? What the hell?! Why does everything I've ever wanted seem undesirable to me now?!'
I was unsure of everything now. I didn't know what to think but before my head became overrun with thoughts we entered a clearing. Saniel followed behind us as the ground became stone under our feet. We approached a wall of rock with writing engraved on it and an emerald embedded in the stone at the highest point of the wall in the center. Something that I found strange was that there was a circle on the ground in front of the wall that emitted a turquoise beam of light coming up from the ground. The beam didn't reach higher than the wall and it was to the side of the writing.
Saniel stayed behind to watch from the side as we stopped in front of the wall. I then looked around. "Well, we're here. Where's Theodius?" We waited a moment but he didn't appear. May turned to me and shrugged. "Maybe he's still busy. He said there would be instructions at the site and I'm pretty sure he was referring to this writing. He probably meant for us to start without him."
I raised an eyebrow. "But this is the last test. Why would he allow himself not to be entertained?" May hesitated. "Sometimes Theodius doesn't appear when he doesn't feel a need to. He could still be watching." She had a good point and I nodded for her to proceed. May turned to the Elfin writing on the wall and read aloud. "To those seeking the stone of Sudre, you must pay the ultimate price for limitless power. Sacrifice something you love to the beam and the stone shall appear to a worthy trade."
May raised a hand to her chin in thought. "Sacrifice something you love?" I hesitated and then pulled my sword from its sheath. I looked at the intricate black handle and the beautiful ruby that made it my own. I sighed and was about to give it to the beam when I looked up and saw that May had turned around and was about to move her wings into the light.
I jolted out of response and grabbed her arms, pulling her away from it. "What are you doing?!" She looked up at me, curiously. "I thought I could trade my wings for the stone so that I could give it to you." I was so confused after hearing her speak. "What?! I was going to trade my sword! What were you thinking?! Why in the absolute hell would you make such an enormous sacrifice for me?!"
May took a moment to respond but she didn't leave eye contact with me. "Because I love you." I rolled my eyes. "May, friends don't just-!" She quickly interrupted me. "No, this isn't my normal I love you, this is an I love you, I love you. I'm in love with you." I froze. My eyes widened and my world shattered around me. After a few seconds, I managed to shake it off and my eyebrows furrowed. "No you're not!" She gasped. "You can't tell me how to feel!" She began to struggle but I held onto her arm tight. "Oh yes I can! You don't love me!"
She continued to struggle as tears welled up in her eyes. "Let go, Dedrin!" I shook my head. "Not until you say you don't love me!" May shut her eyes and shook her head. "Let go!" I sighed angrily and pushed her out of my grip. At the same moment, she pulled as I let go, making her fall farther as I pushed her. She gasped and it was too late before I realized what I had done.
She fell to the ground directly into the beam and a flash of light immediately surrounded her. As soon as the light disappeared she was gone along with it. My anger had then completely washed away and was replaced with horror. I stood frozen, now alone, and my body started to shake as it processed what had happened in such a short amount of time. "MAY!!!"