Tournament of Crowns: Gods Among Titans

Ten

ANAYSHA

"No!" I shouted toward my father, who had the Red Viper in a tight chokehold. "Don't do it! Please!"

My father slowly turned his head to me as I was about to fall to the ground. He had the evilest grin spread across his face. It was almost like a demon took over him and controlled his every movement. I had never been more terrified of a grin in my life.

"Don't do it, please!" I shouted.

"Or what?" he asked in a sneering tone.

I hobbled forward a few steps, holding my battered side with one hand and a beautifully crafted Dornish spear in the other.

"You'll deeply regret it if you do," I said.

"Oh, I'm sure I will," he responded, clicking his tongue a few times.

My father then let go of the Red Viper, who fell to his knees and struggled to breathe. He was too exhausted to even try to put up more of a fight, which devastated me. He was a man who put up a lot of fight in the face of evil, and now, he wasn't doing that. On the other hand, my hope started to revive when I started to believe that my own father wouldn't have the heart to kill my lover.

Apparently, I was wrong.

Just as the Dornish prince was slowly rising to his feet, my father took his sword and drove it through the Red Viper's chest with as much force as a dragon has. Almost immediately, the victimized Dornish prince went limp, his fighting energy immediately diminishing.

"No!" I shouted, with tears pouring out of my eyes.

My world shattered once the sword plunged into his chest. Everything—everything around me—stopped and froze in its place. The man that I thought would have a lot of fight left in him—the only man that I genuinely loved—was now defeated. Never did I think that he'd ever be defeated. But at least he was able to try and fight until the end.

Once my father thought that the Red Viper was dead, even though he wasn't yet, he walked away with the intent on leaving him for dead. I rushed to his side, holding his head in one hand and his bloodied abdomen in the other. His breath quickened, and even though I didn't see it or feel it, I somehow could tell that his body was going numb with every passing moment. Moments that felt like eternity.

"Don't die on me. Please," I begged persistently. "Please don't go."

I had one last vain effort in mind, so I leaned in close hesitantly and softly pressed my lips against his as my heart shattered even more than it already did. A couple tears leaked out of my eyes as I struggled to keep it together for the Viper. He was slowly drifting away from this earth, and despite thinking that I had it...I had no control. I had no control over the Red Viper and his slow, slow death.

He ran his finger from the back of my head toward my cheek, using his thumb to wipe away my tears. Unlike me, he had it together and didn't cry even though he was slipping away. Slipping away from this world. Slipping away from me.

"You can't leave me," I cried. "You have to keep fighting. Keep fighting for me."

"I'll never stop fighting for you," he said, wincing at the pain he was in. "I'll just be in a faraway place doing it. Just know that wherever I am, I'll always love you."

And with that, he slowly slipped away with one last exhale, his eyes slowly closing one final time. His body suddenly went limp, soon becoming lifeless. That was the moment when my heart exploded, and the world around me became no more. The Red Viper was my world, and now...he was gone.