The previous generation of mages had died installing the barrier. Would todays mages have a happier fate?
Wait, he never got around to it... he never got around to so much... to say, to do, to fix... is it too late now?
«Leo, we have to right the wrongs of the past. As much as we want to, we have no right to be among the living. Our lives ended a long time ago.»
«I know,» Leo said in an alien voice. He thought of Aurus. If only to meet him again.
«We leave for the frontier in three days, that’s the deadline. Don’t take the baby. There must be someone left on earth, who can revive the mage caste again.»
His words sounded relentless. He was simply giving a deadline to get things in order. For just a short time they had both returned to life, tasted its bitterness and sweetness, and now they must leave forever.
«Perhaps you don’t want to upset your family,» Galh said, putting his palm over his hand.
Leo looked at that and wished more than anything that Aurus was there.
«I’m sorry...» Galh added.
«If only just once more...»
Galh knew what he was thinking.
The next morning Leo received a letter: «waiting for you in the red room.»
Explanations were unnecessary. Leo had spent the day forging and machining the ring in which he had put his soul and heart. With his spiritual power, he gave it the perfect smoothness and luster, making it shine brighter than the sun.
Inside the ring, he engraved, «to the one who taught me to love.»
Once inside the red room, Leo was dressed in his best clothes and took a bath beforehand. All he wanted today was a real confession. Even if it was his last confession.
The man who shared his bed had a right to know that he lived in his heart. That night their love was unusually tender and sad.
Every movement and touch was imbued with heartache. Leo tried his best to take care of the other man, putting his pleasure first, and when they were exhausted and lying nearly exhausted across the bed, he took out a ring and put it on the young man’s finger.
Dark eyes flashed in the night, but he remained silent.
«I wanted to tell you that the man who can’t love no longer exists. I’ve lost that power... because of you. I love you, Aurus, with all my heart. You don’t have to tell me your answer, just think about what I said.»
«I’ll think about it,» the quiet voice answered, and the hand with the ring clenched into a fist. The young man rolled over and kissed him long and softly on the lips, to the point where he became dizzy, everything swirled, and passed out.
Galh quickly wiped away his tears and left the bed.
«At least I know you love that part of me,» he whispered.
Three days later, everyone gathered at the barrier. A wall of living people ready to confront death. The barrier was cracking at the seams and monsters of unprecedented size, like dragons and snakes, flashed inside in the light of lightning.
Just looking at them made my heart skip a beat.
If these monsters broke through to the world of men, men would die.
We must hold out, no matter what.
Leo felt anxious. He didn’t like where he was standing. He kept looking around for Prince Galh. Somehow at this moment he felt he had to be near him.
The anxiety gnawing at him from within made Leo's feet run fast, and he ran along the living shield until he stopped in front of the prince. His shoulders slumped. Leo stood beside him and looked into his eyes.
The prince nodded. Then he raised his hands. After him, everyone raised their hands, too, gathering all their strength.
Suddenly there was an ominous laugh on the other side of the line, and a huge monster wriggled toward the border.
«Prince Rau! Is it really you - Galh Aurus Rau!»
Leo shuddered.
«Come to quell your own curse? Hahahahahaha! Didn’t you make a deal with the underworld to win someone else’s love?»
Leo furrowed his brow and looked up at the monster. Suddenly something glittered, making him wince. He squinted and saw his ring on Galh’s hand.
Shock and numbness paralyzed his body. He stared at the very ring and his whole short and long, so confusing and miserably simple life lined up in a coherent line of events.
...As soon as he emerged from the barrier he met another man, but because of his infirmity he mistook him for a slave. At the same time Galh came out of the barrier and was caught by him.
Then they crossed paths in the red room then somehow Galh came to help the child and took him away to study. He met with his secret lover in the princes chambers and didn’t make a big deal about it.
«Why are you wearing that ring?» Leo asked quietly.
Regardless of the monster's growl, Galh heard its quiet voice.
He turned to him and looked into his eyes.
«Because I love you, too?» he answered not confidently. «If only you love... me...»
He emphasized «me,» realizing that his deception was exposed.
«Ahahahaaa! The possessed prince who sold out all of humanity! You are not worthy to live! You will die today!» The monster rumbled over their heads.
«What is he talking about?» Leo asked.
The prince pressed his lips together and sighed.
«I was born very beautiful, and in my early childhood I was cursed out of envy. If I could not find true love, it would open the gates of the underworld, releasing horrible monsters from there.»
«What?!...»
«Yes, my parents made me wear a veil to hide my beautiful face, so that eventually I would be loved for my soul. But before that happened, when I was thirteen, I saw you and fell madly in love.»
«But...»
«Yes, you never saw me, you never had a chance to know me, and the marriage I imposed was a burden on you. But my family knew about the curse. Once I fell in love with you, you were the only one who could break that curse, but you didn’t want to. My parents started a war because the life of all mankind was at stake.»
«But it didn’t work out... it only got worse.»
«Yes, when they realized it was a dead end and the monsters had infiltrated our world, they asked the mage clan to sacrifice themselves to lock the monsters inside.»
«But now the barrier is crumbling.»
«Yes, we must repeat the feat of the other heroes. There’s nothing we can do.»
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