Thea's eyes flickered open to find herself lying inside a tree house. She frowned but then she remembered the unearthly events that happened with her.
“According to the legends, The Evil lives in a dwarf planet a few light years away from moon. I can't escape from this planet. I hope humans find a technique to travel in space. Maybe some day someone will rescue me. I don't want to live in this alien planet forever. Oh, Cynthia must be wailing like a child in my absence,” She sighed defeatedly.
She looked outside the window. The weather was perfect.
“He turned a dark land into a garden for me. Maybe he doesn't know that I'm well-versed in mythology and legends. I know he lives in Noir Valley where the soil is black and nourished with blood of divine beings. But this illusion is so beautiful. I would happily live here if Cynthia was here with me,” She smiled sadly and got up from the tiny bed. Thea walked out of the tree house and took a deep breath of the fresh air.
Suddenly a thought struck her mind, “There must be a portal somewhere here that can transfer me to earth. Yes, a portal. There are chances that he uses a portal to travel to the earth. I should at least try to find it.”
With a newfound hope Thea began looking for a portal. There were very slim chances of it's existence but it was better than sitting in the tree house helplessly.
“Hmm, it's sweet,” She heard a voice. A very familiar voice. She could recognize her voice in the crowd of thousand people chattering. It was Cynthia's voice. Thea turned to the direction of the voice and saw Cynthia sitting on the grass while holding Axlan's hand. Thea smiled happily and ran towards them.
“Cynthia!”
But it seemed like they didn't hear her voice. She called her sister's name again. But there was no response. Thea attempted to caress Cynthia's head but she couldn't. Her hand passed through her head as if Thea was a ghost who was forbidden from touching humans. Thea panicked and screamed Cynthia's name again and again. But Cynthia didn't see her. She was eating peonies and smiling at Axlan as if they were teenage lovers. Thea fell down on the ground next to Cynthia. She truly felt hopeless. Did he make her a ghost? Where is her human body? Why can't she touch her sister?
“They can't see us. Stop trying,” She heard Damon's voice.
Thea turned around and gave him a hateful look, “Why are you doing this? Am I not a human anymore? I can't stay away from my sister. Please let me go!” She screamed angrily and helplessly.
Damon, unaffected by her breakdown, calmly replied, “I'm doing this to save you.”
“Did you kill Romeo to save me then? You are a demon who only knows how to inflict pain on others. You deserve to die!” She yelled at him hatefully.
But he still remained calm, “I didn't kill him. But I'm glad he died. That night if you had slept with him, you would have kept rebirthing as a human forever. An angel becomes human after sleeping with a human. And you are a cursed angel. If you became human, you'll never be able to break your curse.”
By the end of his speech, Thea was left confused and emotionally exhausted.
“Then what do you want me to do? Live in this illusion like a wandering soul?”
Damon walked closer to her and bent down to her level. He looked into her teary eyes and replied, “I want to end this curse.”
Cynthia and Axlan's laughter caught their attention.
Damon smiled, “We used to be like this before we were cursed. I want us to be like that again. That's where we truly belong. Not in Noir Valley or human world.”
Thea stayed quiet. The tears began to dry but they stayed like that. Silently staring into each other's soul.
“Let me live a normal human life in this lifetime. Maybe you could save your Aurore in the next lifetime when she is not me, but somebody else. Let me live my life as Thea, please,” She pleaded to him.
He smiled softly, “I'm sorry, Auro- Thea. But I can't let you go. Because if I did, Marcus will never let us meet again. Trust me, I'm trying to save you,” He wiped her dried tears and kissed her lips before getting up and walking away.
Thea broke down into tears again after he left. Her sister was sitting right next to her but she couldn't even touch her. Could her life be any worse?
✿ ✿ ✿
For the next few hours Thea kept following Cynthia and Axlan. She was surprised that Axlan could step outside the castle. But she also noticed that he was tightly holding Cynthia's hand as if he will burn down to death if he left her hand. Maybe he could escape the effect of Alarick's curse because of Cynthia's subconscious powers.
“Hmm, it makes sense. How I wish I also had magical powers,” She smiled sadly, “For instance, I could burn down that tree with one blow in the air.”
And suddenly the said tree was burned down into ashes in mere seconds. Thea shrieked in astonishment. So did Cynthia who hugged Axlan tightly in fear.
“Did I burn down this tree?” Thea exclaimed.
“Who burned this tree? Is someone following us?” A very scared Cynthia asked Axlan.
“Yeah, I burned this. I'm following you for last three hours,” Thea waved at Cynthia. But of course, Cynthia couldn't see her.
“I think there's an invisible force keeping an eye on us,” Axlan concluded.
“And that invisible force is me! Thea! What's the point of having divine powers if you can't see me! I've been cleaning your bedroom for five years. Is this how you are going to pay back? Ungrateful half-human!” Thea poured out her frustration into words that couldn't reach their ears yet she felt better after letting it out.
“Cynthia, we should leave. There's danger lurking around us,” said Axlan.
“Danger? I'm just a human! Well... no, I'm not a human. No human can burn down a tree. How did this happen?” Thea made a sad face.
“But we didn't find Thea yet. We can't leave without her,” Cynthia argued with Axlan.
“Cynthia, we can't find her even if we want. Damon must have put an illusion on us. And we can't break this illusion. We should go back and find another way to meet Damon,” Axlan explained.
Cynthia nodded unwillingly and within a second, they flew away. Thea kept staring at the sky in bewilderment.
“They left,” She grimaced. But then she looked at her hands and smirked, “Now that I have found out that I have a magical power, let's put it to some use,” And she began burning down the entire garden of peonies. She will do anything to force him to free her.
•••
How's the story so far?
