Ether had already started to move, even before the man could tell her. She knew how to survive such times, since she had faced countless deathly incidences.
But just when she tried to get up, she was pulled back.
She turned around only to realise that her unnecessarily long gown was stuck in something. She immediately bent down, wanting to untangle whatever it was, but it was futile.
"Your highness, what are you doing?!" She heard one of the men shout as he was coming closer.
"My dress is stuck!" Ether replied with an urgency in her voice.
The man who had called her stepped inside the carriage.
"Sorry for entering without your permission, your highness." He said as he bent, pulling the gown from the hook-like structure strongly, resulting in pearls and red diamonds jumping out of the dress.
"Are you done??" The other man shouted as he took the seat of the coachman and pulled the reins to wake those horses up.
His face was ghastly pale as he looked up at the giant rock, with the height of three tall men combined, crushing small pebbles and trees to make its way towards them.
"No, it's stuck badly!" The man inside the carriage shouted before taking out his dagger.
"Go on! Our lives are more important than this stupid dress!" Ether said, knowing why the man was hesitating.
Suddenly both of them jerked forward as the horses stood up and jumped while watching the stone nearing with that loud rumbling noise.
Both the horses, out of fear tried running away, but in different directions resulting in carriage jumping but not moving from its place much.
"Godd!!" The man sitting on the coachman position shouted as the rock was hardly a yard or two away.
And before anyone could understand, the rock at its fastest speed hit the carriage with a loud "BOOM", the voice reverberating several miles as the carriage was thrown down the valley, crashing into several trees before it became invisible in the depth of the deathly valley.
The voice was so loud that even Hades and rest were able to hear it. Without wasting another moment, they climbed back on their horses, speeding past the winds to reach near the carriage immediately.
Titan was the first one to reach, but the scene that met him was not what he had expected.
A few wooden pieces and some cracked blue diamonds were lying here and there, a proof that the carriage had been standing there some time ago.
"What the hell happened here?" A murderous voice belonging to none other than Asterion was heard.
"Your majest-" Titan was still speaking when Asterion instantly climbed down his horse, running towards the valley.
"Crown Prince!!" Hades shouted as he saw Asterion take a cautious step while holding onto the tree nearby.
But Asterion had simply turned deaf to all those cries, as he tried climbing down as steadily as possible.
He had promised to make Princess Ether his first responsibility which he had failed terribly even before he could cross the fire country's border.
'I should have stayed with the princess instead of chasing those unknown powers uselessly. Now look at what I have done!' He blamed himself.
"Your highness! Nobody can survive after falling down in this valley. Please don't put your life in danger. We can send other men from the team." Hades cried watching Asterion take those risky steps, as he too, along with the rest of the men, started climbing down the valley, following the crown prince.
"What were my orders?" Asterion asked in a chilled voice as he didn't slow down even a bit.
"Crown Prince forgive me but-" Hades still wanted to try but was instantly dismissed by Asterion.
"You have lost your chance. Speak to me in the punishment hall." Asterion said as he jumped down a pit, barely avoiding a dead end.
He jumped again at a similar turn, but lost his footing, about to fall ahead dangerously when out of instinct, he summoned his water energy.
"Your highness!!" Before the shout could die down, he was standing on the ice that his powers had made.
'Why didn't I think of this before!' Asterion sounded even more disappointed in himself.
The next moment, he started summoning his water energy, while his hands faced downwards, forming hard icy surfaces wherever he targeted.
Asterion realised that though this was slowly depleting his element energy, it was much easier and faster than simply climbing down.
'Please hang in there Princess, I request you to wait for me. I will never let you go anywhere out of my sight again, please give me one last chance. Please.. please stay alive!' Asterion pleaded in his mind, maybe requesting this much for the first time in his life.
Even he was a little surprised to get married to Ether when the original bride was supposed to be Vesta. But he didn't mind anything, as long as his parents agreed, he had no objections.
He didn't even care once about Princess Ether being powerless, but simply saw her for the human being she was.
And all he could see was that she was innocent at heart, carrying her expressions on her face all the time, and needed someone to take care of her.
No matter how much cool and independent air she carried as he had heard from her parents, he could already see that there was a child beneath it, vulnerable and weak which longed for affection.
And he had put her in danger on the very first day of her new life. If something was to happen to her, how was he supposed to answer her parents?
Ignoring all the bad thoughts that were crowding his brain, Asterion focused to go deeper in the valley, determined to not leave this place without Ether.
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And here comes the first twist to our story. What do you feel about this? Please let me know in the comments below. Have a wonderful day ahead!
- Kizy