Monarch of Darkness, Arsene

"How is your dress going?" Yu Lan curiously questioned, smiling from ear to ear; she rested her head against her palm. Her eyes filled with a bitter-sweet yearning for the love she lost.

"Enchanting," I said weakly. My head for the past eight months has been out of it, lost in what could be a fog. Observing Sene consumed in burning anger from a distance. My heart ached more than the torment I experienced with Sitri.

He was hurting, but I could not speak about it. Riverfall was a Blade of Legacy, one of the Seven keys needed to open the Gates to Oblivian once more. In the Land of Ruin and Death, Zariel had even personally sealed it away; Creating Seven Planar Weapons to hide a forbidden Relic.

Riverfall held many features, one being it could think for itself in a limited way as it could cast Circles. Over the Seven, Riverfall was not the strongest, but it was without a doubt the heart of the seven Keys.

"Then why don't you seem excited? You're paler than a corpse Yura. Why not reconcile?" Yu Lan softly comforted.

Resting my palm over the diamond pommel of Riverfall, I scoffed. With Zantar involved, and this restrictive price looming over me like the reaper's chilling blade, I needed time to research both this sword and Arsene.

Seven sins aside, I needed to know what change Arsene was going through. I could think of two reasons: his torment we had experienced, or that personality, I think he calls him Aegis. From what I could gather, Arsene seemed to have fallen into a plot set long ago, during the time of Vancurro, who killed the Prince of Darkness.

"Yura? you there?" Yu Lan touchingly mentioned tapping my shoulder, startling me where I stood.

"Sorry," I muttered, "What was your question?"

"Your dress? Reconciliation? What is going on with you today?" She questioned with worry oozing from her tone.

"Oh yes!" I joyfully faked, flaring a vibrant smile over my lips, "The dress is one of the finest I have ever seen, crafted with the Dao Shards to make the dress look almost appetizing."

Yu Lan shook her head and placed both hands on my shoulder, "Let me show you something." She said as my vision shifted to a blossoming sea of flowers, glowing blissfully with life; my pore cried in joy as my heart skipped a few beats at this spectacular scene.

"This is the planet my husband and I shared over Nine Dao Cycles. It is also the place I buried him. Aiza allowed at least that much." Yu Lan gently said, kneeling on her knees; she lifted an amethyst lily and smiled. Placing it through my hair near my ear, tears ran over her cheeks as my heart folded before the love she held towards what was lost.

She was in anguish, and there was nothing I could do. Brimming with loss, Yu Lan patted my cheek, "I envy you, but both you and Arsene are idiots. Two arrogant dummies, who don't know how good they got it."

"Lan, I--"

"No! let me finish!" She cried out, pointing towards the clouds, where I saw a golden sword piercing through a single cloud. "I buried him there so that he may forever be in the Heavens. My daughter, a nieve little girl, was forced to kill the man who meant the world to me. I have to live with that; every day, I visit him and cry. Every day I sing to him, every day I find the time to sleep next to him, just to feel closer to him."

Shaken at the intensity of Lan's words, I froze as she bled tears over her snow-white imperial robes, "I know me and my daughter are pawns in that devil's game. I know this, but you need to understand what it means to be committed. It doesn't matter what type of issue you two have; you and Arsene need to talk."

"But it's not about commitment." I defended, "It's to save him!"

"Than explained better, and if you can't, find a way to make him understand. People say marriage is fifty-fifty, but I say it goes one hundred both ways. There is no middle ground. It's not just about love but commitment."

Spiraling in thought, I stood still over the endless flowers fluttering with the breeze. It was a private heaven here, a planet where nothing could bother you, where no one lived. To think it was a grave saddened me.

I like tormenting Arsene. I won't deny it. It's fun, even when he didn't like me in the beginning. I always did things to annoy him. Showing up at the Snow Estate and demanding to live there sent him in a fury. I know I wasn't wrong to do what I did, but I also knew what I did wasn't right either.

To give one hundred both ways, huh.

"Your smiling," Lan pointed out, passing her hands through my hair. Her eyes only showed a longing only those who had lost their significant other would understand.

Touching my lips, I chuckled, realizing this truth, "You are a good aunt, you know that."

Glancing up at the clouds where her husband resides, she smiled, mouthing a few words, I did not try to perceive; they were not for me.

Whisking me away from this blissful paradise, the iron scent crossed over my nose. Knowing I had returned back to Alos, Yu Lan wiped the bloody tears from her eyes, "all that you have prepared has been set. The construction should be complete in another five months, and the clean up in two."

Holding Yu Lan in my line of sight, I smiled and wrapped my hands over my waist, "Thank you," I said, pulling back.

Nodding, I turned to leave; however, I suddenly frowned; something stirred within me. Standing still with a foreboding warning ringing in my head, the doors to Yu Lan's Throne room shot open, blasting them off the hinges. Dust filled my sight as a man draped in black and red robes stepped in.

"Gaius Winterblack," Yu Lan coldly stated as the dust settled, revealing a familiar face. "Seems just about anyone is welcomed in my castle as of late." She said in a mocking jeer.

Focusing solely on me, Gauis bowed, "Is Abbadon Arsene Snow?" he coldly inquired, tugging at my heart as the hairs upon my skin rose. "Brother of the Lord of Order?"

"Elder Gaius, this is not the place." Lan viciously claimed, but this demonic cultivator had my attention. He had all of it.

"Yes." I truthfully said, watching in shock as Gaius seemed to lose all strength in his legs. Staggering back, he fell to his knees.

"Dear God, he lives."