Present Time,
KAMAZ'S POV
For some reason, I felt antsy and uneasy.
I could no longer perceive Zeda's scent. At first, I attributed it to his clothing that was on her shoulder, but it should not have been able to mask her scent completely.
"Where are you Zeda?"
Falkur and I threw open the possible doors to the rooms they could have gone into but there was not a sign of Zeda or whoever this Professor may be.
'He is the one!' A voice nudged within me but my growing fury quietened it.
He couldn't be the one. If he is 'the one', I will kill him again and make sure he never gets the chance to be reborn as a human ever again!
"I do not think they went through this route, My Lord. He must have gone through the other side!" Falkur said, having checked to the last door down the hall.
We immediately took the opposite direction, and there, her scent wafted right into my senses, although faintly.
I could not pick up the scent of the man. 'Doesn't he have a scent?'
Just before I could open the door to a room where her scent seemed to emanate from, the hinges of the door loosened, and light as bright as the sun shone so bright that I could not keep my eyes open. Falkur and I were thrown off as the building shook. When I landed on the rubble, I sped back toward where I was before despite the cracks on the floor.
A huge hole was present where the room was. That part of the building had fallen off. My heart raced and ached at the same time.
"My Lord…" I heard Falkur call.
"Humans are coming and we cannot…" Falkur started but I did not wait to hear what else he had to say. I jumped into the hole as his words faded in the distance.
Despite the dust and the continuous part of bricks that kept on falling, I could see clearly, but there was no sign of either Zeda or the professor.
"Zeda… " I called but there was no response.
"Zeda…" I called again.
"She's safe" I heard an incoming voice say.
Flashlights from the fire and police department came from behind, gradually revealing who it was. It was the Professor and he almost had no scratch on him. He didn't seem to be coming from a place where such damage occurred.
He was carrying Zeda in his arms, and from the rhythm of her heartbeat, I could tell she had fainted…
'From a dark arch, the Reborn will meet the one whose fate she cannot part from - for they are intertwined. Born of Fire, Carved from Stone, for their fates will be sold!' The Prophecy had predicted.
'From a dark arch, the Reborn will meet the one whose fate she cannot part from…'
Zeda is the Reborn…
The dark arch is…
I looked above for a second, and indeed, the part of the building that was still partly in shape overhead looked like an arch.
'The one whose fate she cannot part from?' I asked myself.
'He is the one..'
He looked nothing like him in this life. The only thing that had not changed was his name. His name is still Acheron. And not Ragnar Acheron but Acheron Acheron!
"Who are you?" He asked.
"Are you all safe? Are there more people?
You need to leave here now, this structure won't hold for long.." One of the firemen who was originally scared of seeing them said that his eyesight confirmed that he was seeing creatures that were actually humans.
"Oh, My Lord. You scare the heart out of me!" I heard Falkur say as he panted lightly.
He looked at me and then at the person who my eyes were still on.
Firemen and the police still went further in to ascertain if there were more persons around and despite the chaos around, my eyes didn't leave his for a second.
From the look in his eyes, I could tell that he had a little idea who I was.
"I'll be taking her now," I said, my voice cold and precise.
"You are?" He pressed again.
"You will not speak to Lord Kamaz in that tone Professor. He is Miss Zeda's boss and we happened to also have been present for the exhibition. We'll take her with us now" Falkur interjected.
"Boss huh?" Acheron asked with a lop-sided smile.
"Yes, boss," Falkur said, and I could hear the anger in his voice also.
Falkur wasn't one to get irritated easily, more so, get angry. Anger was almost a foreign emotion to him and knowing he was angry was something in itself.
He walked closer and handed Zeda to me. I said nothing as I turned around.
"I'll be seeing you soon, Lord Kamaz," I heard Acheron say. I acted unaffected and kept on moving.
'I'll keep you safe Zeda. I promise…now and forever!'
**********************
Centuries ago,
Not once did I ever shed a tear.
Not when over a hundred armed men faced me alone on the battlefield. Not when my brothers instigated misconceptions about me. Not when my father was drunk and told me I was the reason the love of his life was dead. That I was the reason his Kingdom wasn't united.
Not when he had me flogged openly while I was a teenager because of a lie from the Queen. I had been certain that he knew that it was a lie but regardless, he had carried on with the punishment.
Not when I had run away from the Palace because of the cruelty of the place. There was nowhere to run to and I had gone to the forest. No one had come for me because my father had gone to another Kingdom for alliance purposes and a panther had chased me.
Not when I was terrified for the first time the demon had manifested. It had been so scary that I thought of killing myself.
Not any of these times…
But a young girl, barely above twenty, said words no one had ever said to me, and as I looked from the mountaintop, teardrops rolled off my eyes.
No one had ever wanted me. I was a mistake that had been born on earth. Even my name wasn't as pure as other names and I could never understand the reason I was named Kamazotz.
But none of that seemed to matter.
Zelda Elsher was the one person who could produce sounds that could make me sane again. The one person whose blood could satiate whatever it was within me…the one person whose words had spread warmth and life through me.
For a long time, I felt light and I also didn't see myself as the monster I have been repeatedly told I am.