Alethea's eyes slowly fluttered open, and she tried to get up to see where she was. "You are finally awake! Are you alright?" A familiar voice asked in worry, and when she looked to see who it was, she saw William sitting beside her.
He helped her sit up, and she realized that they were under a shade, and the heavy rain had stopped.
"What… happened to me?" Alethea asked. While she was in the castle searching for William under the rain, the cold became so unbearable that it got to a point that she didn't know what was going on around her.
"It seems you fell unconscious due to being drenched by the rain. Where did you wander off to, all by yourself? You had me very worried." His voice at the questioning part was a bit stern.
Alethea wanted to explain that she didn't know how she had left him, and was suddenly somewhere else, but she knew it would sound weird, so she just lowered her head, and said, "I'm sorry for making you worry."
William sighed. "You did nothing wrong. It's all my fault." Alethea lowered her head further in guilt, thinking William was starting to regret bringing her out of the house. "I should not have taken my eyes away from you, even for one second. I had promise I'd protect you. I'm sorry." William's words were intended to make her feel better, but it only made her feel even more guilty.
William then took something out of his pocket. They were two identical items, and he put one of them in Alethea's hands.
"What's this?" Alethea asked as she looked at the small bell-shaped item.
"If you ever get lost again, like you did today, just listen for this sound and come find me." He said as he shook the item in his hand, and it produced a ringing sound. "And I can also seek you out by listening for the sound of yours too."
Alethea just nodded, and couldn't even bring herself to smile. "I want to go home."
….
The journey home was a very silent one, with neither of them saying a thing. They were already past the Black Forest, and were no longer far from the house, when Alethea then stopped following after William all of a sudden.
William, who could no longer hear the footsteps of Alethea following behind him, also stopped and turned around. He saw Alethea just standing there, looking down in dejection.
"Alethea…"
"I know the way home from here." Alethea said, not letting him finish. "Let's part ways here." She was trying to sound like she was okay, but deep inside, her heart was aching real bad. After tasting the feeling of freedom, she didn't want to go back into hiding like she was some forbidden being.
William seemed to have read her. "Just wait a bit." He said, as he went to the nearby blooming flowers, and plucked some. He then went back to Alethea, and gave the flowers to her.
Alethea looked at him, her eyes stinging with unshed tears as she collected the flowers from him. She didn't say anything, and just looked at the flower. The flower was her breaking point, and she could no longer stop her tears from falling freely.
"Alethea." William gently called her name.
Alethea wiped her tears, but there was still more from where they came from. "I'm sorry, I just… it's just that… now that I've come out here, my heart just became filled with many emotions. Don't worry about me."
William went over to her, placing is hands on her shoulders in a comforting manner. "Next time I visit, I'll make you a new kite. One that can fly even higher than the last one I made, okay?… So until then, stay pretty and stay healthy, alright?"
Alethea nodded with a forced smile, and William smiled back as he held her hand. "Let's go. I'll walk you home."
….
At Ronan's house, Ronan's wife was worriedly pacing back and worth in the compound, while her eyes were fixed on the wooden gate, anxiously waiting for a particular person to come in at any moment.
The gate finally opened and she looked expectant, but her expression went back to that of worry when she saw that it was just her husband that had come in.
"He's still not back yet?" Ronan asked, seeing that his wife was outside, waiting.
His wife slowly nodded her answer, and the gate opened again, but it still wasn't William, instead it was the rest of the Sacred fire circle.
"How did your search for Alethea go?" Ronan asked immediately they entered.
"We couldn't find her in the festival, neither was she in the marketplace." The second in command said, "Sir, if Alethea's curse gets activated near other people…"
"This won't do." Ronan said, feeling frustrated, "Search near the outskirts of the kingdom, I'll go look near the Black Forest."
"Yes, sir." They said and were about to leave, but the gate opened once again, and standing there at the entrance, was William.
"William!" His mother exclaimed in relief as she ran to him. Checking him out to see if he was alright. After making sure he was alright, it was then time for some harsh scolding. "William, you scoundrel! How could you do that? Tell me, why did you do it?"
"Mother." Willam could only say, as he knew no excuse would sound reasonable to them.
Ronan stepped forward, going closer to William in silence, and William who was expecting a severe scolding, found this silence to be scary. He lowered his head, expecting his father to hit him, but that didn't happen.
"Are you alright?" Ronan gently asked instead.
William looked up at his father in surprise. "Excuse me?"
"Are you alright, William?" Ronan asked again.
This time, William nodded, and replied, "Um, yes I am."
"And where is Alethea?"
"She went back home." William answered, "Father, I'm…" he intended to apologize, but he suddenly felt dizzy, and his vision became blurry. He shook his head, trying to clear his vision, and he stumbled a few steps back.
Ronan and the others became worried as they saw this, and they moved forward to hold unto him, but he had already fallen to the ground, unconscious.
"William!" His mother examined as she bent down to check on her son.
Ronan also worriedly checked on him, and was very shaken by what he saw. When he had turned William's head to the side, he saw that the same mark that Alethea had behind her left ear, was now also behind William's ear. William now had a share of the curse!
….
Alethea who had returned home, felt dispirited as she laid in bed. She was about to close her eyes to sleep, so she could escape the pain of reality, and feel better the following morning, when she suddenly felt the presence of something dark and sinister.
She quickly got out of bed in fear, and ran to a corner of the room, covering herself with a blanket, while holding the bell-shaped item that William had gifted her.
Just right outside the house, the dark energy was back, and it was circulating the quartz stones. The quartz stones which had turned black, flickered, slowly lighting up the area.
The dark energy was still resilient, and continued to circle round the quartz stones, before it then went straight at one of the quartz stones.
The quartz stone broke completely, and the other stones followed right after. The piercing screams from the dark energy then became louder as though it was rejoicing that it had finally broken the barrier. It then went towards the house, and slowly slipped into the room through the door.
On seeing the dark energy, Alethea's fear became heightened, and she began to shiver. She could nothing, but just sit there and watch as the dark energy slowly approached her, and entered into her from beneath her nightgown.
She immediately began to jerk uncomfortably, clutching her throat as her body struggled with the powerful force that had penetrated her.
Then as if she was being dragged by the foot, her body moved away from the corner, and was suddenly in the middle of the room, floating mid-air.
The curse mark behind her left ear turned blood red, and her silky black hair slowly turned ashen in color, while she still continued to struggle.
Meanwhile, at the same in which this was happening to Alethea, something similar was happening in the castle.
The celebration of the birthday of the now made Crown Prince had abruptly come to an end, and Tristan who had retired to his chambers, was also visited by the dark energy.
Queen Namarie, the Queen dowager, and some other servants could only stand there and watch in horror as Tristan was struggling while also floating mid-air. His once black hair had also turned ashen.
Nimueh who had been summoned, and had just walked into the Crown Prince's chambers, was shocked by what she was seeing.
Tristan on the other hand, continued to struggle up in the air, and at a point he became immobile, and fell back on his bed, unconscious.