#cronyl eldenwer

[crimsonshadetress]

Scattered Confessions: Avelyn Dione

I remember being afraid of you.

You’d be smiling at me for starting like this, I know. But I want to tell you everything. Everything and more, in the same way you always do: raw and bare. So I start like this.

I remember being afraid of you.

I do, because I still am.

Not in the way you'd ever think. Perhaps no one would. But, yes, I am.

The first time we met, you saved my life. Right after you showed me your worst. I have seen your rawest wound before I could ever have a chance to glimpse at your best.

It’s been ironic, in some way.

As ironic as the moment when you told me you were afraid of me too. It was something I never expected to hear, lest from you. Still, it left me wonder.

Perhaps that was the moment when everything changed.

You’ve always been a monumental statue, you know. An icon, a legend. Cold, yet caring. Devoted, yet distant. One who seemed to step out of a myth, not having the needs and desires of the living. The worries of the lot. No one seemed to be able to hurt or wound you. Let alone touch you. A statue, with marble to skin and stone to heart.

Ever an idealist, was I not?

It was cruel of me, thinking that. That was why it frightened me when I realized I craved to hear you saying you want something, anything. To show a glimpse of yourself. To catch a little of you. To make myself stop worrying about you, despite your show of being fine.

Because worry I did.

We clashed once. You were the first person I stood up to. In the name of not letting you teach a lesson the same harsh way you needed to experience it. I’m still not certain if I was right, yet you listened to me. You thanked me after that. For stopping you, for caring, for opening your eyes. You might have known I didn’t want to let you do it when it seemed to pain you too.

Perhaps that was the moment everything changed.

You were beside me when the truth crashed me. Of course you were. A quiet caretaker of those in need. That’s what you always have been. With your soul out in the open, and still guarded, hidden in some way.

A statue, that always giving, its presence inspiring, yet not getting anything themself.

You pulled away, when I tried to. You know you did. It wasn’t an argument, but we had our differences. That was the moment you confessed your fear of me, and so I did mine. We laughed it off. It was the first time I heard you genuinely laugh.

Perhaps that was the moment everything changed.

I never hated you, despite your accusation. No, quiet the opposite. I thought you someone who people admired — even if they did it from afar. I was among them. I needed to be after realizing what you had done to me. How you helped me see the world as it is, stripping down my naive ignorance toward reality. How you helped me see the world as it is, so I could chose to act as I wish, instead of doing it blindly. You have given me a shield, an armor, one I could use to protect others and myself as well if I wanted to.

Maybe that is why I can never forget the first time you let me brace you. Let me feel that marble skin softly curmbling under my fingers. It wasn’t quiet an embrace, yet you let me near yourself.

Perhaps that was the moment everything changed.

I long to tell you about the poems you remind me of. All the beautifully woven chain of emotions I cannot put into words myself.

You once told me I must be adequate, and eloquent considering my education. Well, look at me. At this mess of a letter.

It’s full of you. A repetition of you. I cannot talk or think about anything else, but you.

You.

You.

Always you.

I remember being afraid of you, but I cannot recall when have I fallen in love with you.

And I only realized this now.

Perhaps this was the moment everything changed.

Or, nothing ever had.

Because I do, I love you.

I am in love with you.

I may as well always have been.

[crimsonshadetress]

Until It's Only Us

The last piece of my Cronlyn era for now, because the juice ran out, and I need to stray from them for a bit. But DO 4 LOVE by Snoh Aalegra was too much of an inspo for their first time, so here we are.

DYNAMIC EXPLORATION | FLUFF | SMUT THO VERY SOFT | WC: 1,136

“Is it alright if I touch you?” Cronyl asked barely above a whisper. 

He’s been sitting before Avelyn, the soft silk sheets creased where he leaned on his arm. Eternal patience gleamed in his eyes, both which she could actually see, and which should have been hidden from her.

 He was waiting for her, always waiting for her.

Yet, it didn’t seem to bother him, not an inch. No, he gazed at her with his ever-intense care in his eyes — which alone nearly made Avelyn crumble under it. 

She slid closer to him, nodding along with her hand that brought his palm to her chest. It was a bold move, one which she could never picture herself doing. She never imagined herself being so sure about anything then she was at that moment either. Yet there she was, facing him, and having no crumb of doubt in her heart. 

Cronyl tilted his head, a ghost of a smile on his lips. 

“Use your words, please,” he breathed so gently, she wasn’t sure he had said a word at all. It wasn’t a command or a request. It was a plea, the most subtle begging she ever heard. 

“Yes, Cronyl. Touch me, kiss me, show me everything you hold inside.” 

There was a new glinting in his eyes as he locked his gaze with hers again, caressing the exposed skin on her chest. Avelyn sighed, her mind turning way too aware of his fingers on her. It lasted only for a little, because he travelled to her kimono, loosening the clothing softly. He still held her gaze and leaned in to kiss her as requested. 

Tender, loving waltz was what their lips danced, an incense-filled daze Avelyn could only drown in. She loved his touch on her, his breath entangled with hers, her heart in his hands. 

Warmness burned her skin from under which made her wonder if that is how red or orange could have felt like. The colours of fire, and heat, two things she could feel in her body, blazing. 

Her hand sneaked up on Cronyl’s already bare chest, her fingers carefully drawing over every line of lean muscle. Then, her heart sank for a moment. 

Her hand travelled over many scars and eventually stopped on his neck, right where his tattoo started. She knew it was exactly there because she saw it many times now. 

Avelyn pushed herself closer to Cronyl, her teeth grazing his bottom lip before she detached from him. Her kimono fell from her shoulders like an elegant waterfall. She imagined being nervous about turning bare before him, yet she was nowhere near to that. Instead, she positioned in a way that made the clothing slide all the way down, while she leaned over. 

A hum escaped Cronyl’s lips when she kissed the edge of his tattoo. She breathed in his scent, looking up at him from under her lashes. 

He was searching for her eyes too. 

“Is this alright?” she asked. Her fingers slowly wandered on his skin, outlining every little scar she found. 

“Yes.” 

His voice turned so deep, she could feel the vibration on his skin that she kissed again. There had been moments when she wondered how this would happen. If he would turn from her, or lean away, not letting her near them. They were the marks of what the world couldn’t do for him, the love it couldn’t show for him, and so she was determined to make him forget he ever had them empty, painful. 

His touch was delirious, nearly as thick with desire as the swirling incense in the tent. Avelyn had not noticed when the rest of her clothing landed on the ground, or when she laid back on the sheets, with Cronyl’s lips sealing hers in an everlasting promise yet again. His skin brushed hers at every angle, his heat sharing hers. Kisses like feathers glided over her body, as Cronyl started his way from her jaw down to her chest, over her breasts, to her hips. He covered every little inch of her body, his slightly rough palm cupping her breast to play with a nipple. 

Avelyn sighed a moan when he planted the first kiss at her core. 

The sheets sizzled under the slow motions she made under the sweet pleasures of him grazing his teeth over her thigh, taking his time before he tasted her. 

It wasn’t fair. Her head emptied, her hips bucking closer to his face, while breathy sighs left her lips. He was spoiling her in every way she longed to do to him. Because she knew; in every touch, every kiss, and every heavy hum he hid his carefully piled-up love. He had so much in him, she was sure she would lose her mind before she could give.

And so she laced her fingers into his dark, scattered locks to earn his attention. She barely tangled the strands, when he looked at her, eyes waiting and searching. There were no words needed for him to crawl up to face her. 

“Leave me some time for you too,” she whispered to his lips. The corners tugged upward, Cronyl’s body rolling to Avelyn’s tenderly. She hummed a moan into his mouth. 

“Later.” 

Soft fingers caressed her side, his desire reaching hers. She couldn’t stop touching him wherever she could reach him. Never ever she had thought she’ll be greedy, yet she found herself not having enough. Her hands pulled on his back, bringing him closer. She wanted him closer, the closest. She longed for him so deeply, she wanted to forget they were two separate souls instead one. 

Cronyl understood, without a word. He was slow, careful and he did not take his eyes off of her. Those eyes that watched her as if she was the crown jewel of an empire. Not fragile, yet something you treated carefully just so you could enjoy it longer. So you could cherish it longer. 

Avelyn’s ears filled up with their breaths, their sweet callings, from Cronyl’s every “Tell me if I hurt you.” to his honeyed groans. His eyes gleamed with the reflection of herself, dripping with love she had rarely seen anywhere.

 He kissed her like the first and last person he ever would. He touched her as if he was playing an instrument — delicately trying out everything, and observing so closely, he could directly continue further if it sounded the right way to go. 

She couldn’t tell when she lost track of time. Not only time but everything all at once. Avelyn was feeling every bit of him, hearing every sound of him, smelling every inch of him. Her head was spinning, clouding and clearing. She had seen him, and him only. 

Until there was no Avelyn Dione, nor Cronyl Eldenwer anymore. 

Only them. 

[crimsonshadetress]

Writing Prompt!! “for you, i would”

Lost in The Lights

PART I | PART II

The continuation of that Modern AU with Cronyl and Avelyn. Or: I cannot leave angst out of anything, nor go with a full on smut for the first time lmao. But I’ve tried, because Like Crazy by Jimin was too strong of an inspiration.

MODERN AU | ANGST | A BIT NSFW | MENTION OF DEATH | SUICIDAL IG | WC:820

The various brightness of the night turned into a blur as Cronyl twisted his wrist to fasten his motorbike.

They raced against the purple light streaks of nightclub names, simmering red signs displaying the place’s opening hours, and eye-burning advertisements hanging heavy from the side of aged apartment complexes. The bike flew on hot concrete as if they were slicing through the neon jungle, creating a pathway. He could feel the merciless wind crawl and claw into his skin underneath the leather jacket, just like Avelyn did half an hour ago. His back still ached where her nails sunk into soft flesh, especially as she pressed herself fully to his back, every little bit of her trying to mold into him. Yet Cronyl embraced the sensation with more pleasure than agony.

Her strong hold tightened around his waist when he drove through a red light.

“A-a, save your reasons for later.” She sealed his lips with hers, pushing themselves both to stumble onto the musty apartment’s bed. She climbed atop him, cornering his waist with her tighs. Her heat spread along his skin, his veins flaming through his body.

Cronyl’s head thumped with the ghosts of the overly loud music as he recalled every little shard of their night.

“Promise me something,” she breathed as his lips trailed at her neck from the line of her soft jaw. He mumbled a half-hearted “anything” yet he meant it more than any of his vows in his life.

She sighed in content pleasure, when his teeth grazed her inner thigh, pushing her hips closer to him. There was no rush, only savoring, so he stopped for a moment to steal a glance at her bare body. Pink-blue light streamed inside the room from the neighboring commercial company, the shatter casting a pattern of thick, angular lines on her porcelain-like skin he ornated with kisses. Muted rain fell from the sky outside, the drops reflecting on her like a neverending waterfall of desire. She caged her lip with her teeth while she laced her fingers into his long black locks.

“Don’t try to save me,” she gasped when Cronyl slid a finger inside. ”Wherever tonight goes, don’t save me. Stay me with for a little while to lose ourselves. But never try to save me from what’s to come. Would you promise me that?”

A stray raindrop ran down Cronyl’s helmet. The cold wind that slipped inside brought itself the hollow scent of a downpour. The city’s stuffy air slowly turned wet and hard to breathe in, right before they reached downtown. Their knees almost scratched the ground when Cronyl took a sharp turn, the world turning nearly upside down.

“For you, I would.” The words like an everlasting oath slipped from his tongue before he tasted her for the first time that night. They listened and moved to the knocking of the restless rainfall. Time blurred away into a tingling sensation they couldn’t get enough of. Cronyl’s head spun at the warm touches of her delicate fingers, the calling of his name that sounded more like a honey-coated prayer than anything, and the overwhelming feeling of what if everything would have just disappeared in the next moment. He’d been content with that, he found.

The city exhaled with a heavy sigh as the wall of rain found it again, drenching every stray soul who dawdled outside. Almost like old friends, the droplets knocking on thin glass greeted Cronyl the same way, his view smearing from cold air mixing with his warm breath under his helmet.

He and Avelyn raced inside a dream-like landscape, blinding lights growing around as flowers would, blurs of people appearing here and there like sluggish bugs buzzing aimlessly. The street, however, was only theirs, a territory claimed by their dreamwalk especially.

Every little piece of their time together materialized before his eyes, making his mind forget everything from before he met her. His ears filled with her sighs and moans from earlier, his body shaped by her touch. She snuggled closer to him on her seat, and he leaned back into her embrace. He knew what she longed for when a car appeared before them out of the blue, its headlight burning stars into his eyes. Her tender ask for a promise resonated in his mind when her gentle hand sneaked higher on his leather-covered arm. It made her desire loud and clear.

And so Cronyl twisted his wrist again just to keep his bike in place, yet letting all the control fly away with getting utterly lost among the approaching lights.

He closed his eyes with the building screeching of rubber on concrete, and at that moment nothing and no one lasted. Not Cronyl, nor Avelyn, not even two strangers — only them. And they stayed like that, forever.

[crimsonshadetress]

Scattered Confessions: Cronyl Eldenwer

You once asked me what I’d do for love.

I told you; nothing.

That was the first time you’ve looked at me as if I just personally offended God herself. And perhaps I did. Yet, your eyes did not speak about anger or confusion. Instead, they bore disappointment, bewilderment. Pity, even.

You were sad for me.

And I thought you naive for that. So naive, it began plaguing my mind. Every time we strayed to the topic, I was battling against seeing that look on your face again. It took me some time to realize — I could do nothing to prevent that.

Not when I always told you the same thing, over and over again.

That I would never do anything for love. For family, for friends, for people; anything. Everything. But for love?

No.

And you were sad, sadder I have ever seen you.

It was a topic you tried to avoid around me. And I couldn’t blame you for it. I never tried.

You didn’t change, though. You told me I seem to judge you every time you do something out of love. Yet, you never changed. Thank God, you never did.

Sometimes I want to open up my heart to show you the place you carved into it. The little corner you started in, and slowly expanded into a mansion. A castle. A palace. A whole new world.

You roamed that damned, frozen land and you decided to build a home in it.

You didn’t care about the reign of that lifeless cold or the seemingly infertile soil. You didn’t care about the loneliness, the danger.

Because danger it held, plenty.

You still remained. You have lured out that ragged, sad thing of a snow leopard with a rusty key in its mouth. With your presence, you threatened its home. It was battled down, worn and tired. Yet it was ready to hurt you, to make you run.

You didn’t even flinch. No, you approached it, and let it bite you as you reached for it. Of course, you did. You did what no one ever tried, what no one ever would have.

And even then, you stayed.

With patience of a divinity, you clung to the key you’d grabbed and let the savage clutch its teeth over your arm. The arm that tried to help, that offered kindness. You waited, and the only thing you whispered was comfort. Because you knew, if you'd let it go, the beast would have swallowed the metal piece. It was ready to do that and be gone. Lost. With the key to something important devoured forever.

So, with the slowest of any motion, you began pulling your hand back, smiling at the beast. And it worked. It loosened its jaw until you were free. It licked the wound and never wandered from your touch after that.

You have tamed the beast. The beast and that wild land it carried as a heart.

You've cared for those that did not deserve it. You've forgiven those not worthy. You've extended a hand when no one did. And with that, every footstep of yours left some goodness behind. A change for the better, a memory to cling to. A kind stranger to give you hope. I've watched you do what I never thought possible.

Sometimes I want to open up my heart to show you what was built there because of you. How it changed because of you. How it shaped, because you've shown me a path I wasn't brave enough to look at before.

You gave me the strength to do that. To see a gentler path, one that warmed the frozen, one that lasted, one that was harder to step at. Yet it was there, waiting. Just like you.

And that was the moment I realized — you were many things, but only one truly. You were love incarnate. You always will be. Because that is who you are; someone so full of love, a world could not bear with it alone. But it can try, just like any other soul who meets you and falls like I did.

I am no poet to tell you the measure of my love in a hundred beautiful sonata.

But if you’d ask me what I’d do for love again…

… I’d tell you; everything.

[crimsonshadetress]

Happy STS! 🥳💕 Question of the week is: An OC of your choice (or multiple OCs) empties their pockets and/or bag. What are they carrying? - Mae (@touchingmadness)

Hi, thank you for the ask, @touchingmadness! 💕

Well, if Cronyl would empty his back, you would find probably handy things only. You'd find a strange metal cube at first, which is golden-bronze and its surface seems as if it would be waving like water. He also would carry some snacks with himself like salted meat and the such that is great for traveling. Besides these would be everything that a first aid kid would contain just in a fantasy setting. Probably a rope, knife/ dagger, maybe some potions. A spare bandana, and bandage. And his special glass that would counter the effect of his magical eyes, while also hiding his true eyecolor with its special lenses.

[crimsonshadetress]

“I can only talk to you.”

Intents and Implications

Thank you so much for the prompt, my sweetest friend! <3 It was good food for another Syon and Cronyl scene. To be precise, when he basically confesses Syon lol.

Context: They had many meaningful chats now, but they still keep the distance. Syon wants to ask Cronyl to join her for the Proposal Performance.

DYNAMIC EXPLORATION | BOOK I | BIT ANGST | WC: 1,161

Syonehlia nearly knocked Cronyl off of his feet.

He barely stabilized, before backing away but to no avail. She was a living storm in the night, a spitfire running towards him on the ground, counting her blows at him. There was a certain grace in her movements, yet it did not soften her hits. Wrist and ankle spikes attacked Cronyl, each one a mere inch from his skin. If they wouldn’t have agreed on no blood, he would have been covered in more injuries than any of his encounters could cause him in his life so far. Of that, he had no doubt. Not a single shred.

Cronyl grunted from the bandaged punch on his side. Again.

He shielded his face from her feet, only to feel a muted pain surge through his left thigh instead. A hiss slipped out of his mouth.

She was good. Metals, she was phenomenal.

Cronyl lunged forward, trying to deflect her hands so he could get behind her. However, Syonehlia plopped down in a half-split, perfectly avoiding his manoeuvre, and using her momentum, she pushed her hips up to rotate her legs around his waist, bringing him down into the dirt with a thud.

In a split second, she was weighing on his hips, one hand chaining his attack-ready hand over his head, the other hand’s wrist spike poking the soft skin of his neck.

Their panting entangled, as a subtle smirk took over her lips, her eyes proudly boring into Cronyl’s. He could feel the mud on the tip of his tongue and stuck to his skin, every bit of his body aching. Yet, Syonehlia’s clothed form on him turned those very minor inconveniences.

Sweat soaked her face, and her training clothing just like his. Cronyl’s bare chest pressed to hers as they heaved, his free hand itching beside her tigh that cornered his lower half.

Gleaming of ecstatic excitement reflected in her lavender eyes.

“5 to 1,” she breathed, her smirk deepening.

A soft wind tried to cool them down with the scent of autumn in the air. He clicked his tongue, deliberately ignoring the itch of touching in his hand.

Yet, he couldn’t ignore her intense gaze, or her reddened, smiling lips.

Which flattened at the moment his eyes dropped to them.

Syonehlia’s weight disappeared from him as fast as it came. She rose with ease, without any unnecessary movement. Her spikes were nowhere to be seen anymore, her incredible control over them showing clearly yet again.

She walked to the stone stair where she stored her waterskin.

“Your eyes are still the same,” Cronyl said, sitting up. He groaned as he did so.

“Come again?”

Syonehlia gulped down most of the water, finishing with a sigh. The next time she looked at Cronyl, her eyes were piercing. Reserved. Usual.

She tossed the waterskin to him, sitting on the stone.

“Your eyes, heiress.” He did not drink, but instead crawled to his feet and walked to her. “They’re not changing, yet you’re over the level of any in the Ivory Guard.”

A delicate brow rose on her face.

“What are you implying?”

He leaned back on his hands as he sit, his muscles burning, his bruises evenly turning visible.

“That you’re keeping secrets,” he added calmly. “But it’s your business, not mine. It was a simple observation.”

Or a distraction.

He gritted his teeth slightly, slowing his breathing while gazing at the dark sky with the Moon shining over them mightly. It was a peaceful night, even though he experienced the storm of Syonehlia again. But it was only him to blame, considering how he told her to show him everything she got.

“You and your simple observations. What are they for? Or would you really want me to believe you made that comment without having any intent behind it?”

A scoff bubbled up in his throat at her pragmatic tone.

“Of course not. You wouldn’t be able to, anyway.” Cronyl glanced at her. She was also inspecting the sky, mirroring his posture. “My intent was to compliment your skills, heiress. Your progress is pretty incredible.”

Quiet chirping filled the air, the Humming Oaks silent, but the grasshopper’s songs were a fair replacement. Some starbug might have strayed from the forest, finding the Dione garden. Cronyl counted three, before some more appeared, bobbling and shining in the night as little guiding lights.

He glanced at Syonehlia again and found her looking at him too.

There was no fluster on her face, but something told him she wasn’t far from that state. Which, honestly, surprised him. Maybe it shouldn't have to, but it still did.

For that, or whoever knows why, he became painfully aware of the little distance between them, and their hands behind.

“I don’t like the sound of that,” she eventually said.

Her cold statement tugged Cronyl’s lips almost up.

“Of course, you don’t.”

Another content silence blanketed them, the starbugs dancing in the distance, guiding their gazes. The smell of autumn strengthened, all the dirt stuck to Cronyl’s body hardening, and pulling on his skin. His muscles did not stop aching, and his bruises were constantly throbbing as well.

It never bothered him in the past, and it would never do it in the present either.

“You can’t stop my training. I need you.”

Syonehlia’s words sounded nearly loud under nightfall. Was that worry in her voice? Yearning? Did he hear it wrong? Another scoff scratched Cronyl’s throat, but he kept it down. He did because if anything, an overwhelming feeling took over his chest. Something he tried to ignore for a long time now, but after hearing that it became rather difficult.

A soft feather touch caressed his insides, all the previous flames turning and changing into something different than before. Stronger, more alive. More irresistible.

His screaming muscles tensed as he carefully turned the words in his mouth before he spoke them.

“I am here and I will be,” he uttered, trying his best to stay quiet. But he did not command himself anymore. “You can always count on me. Because as you to me, I can only talk to you, Syon.”

And there, Cronyl knew, he felt he stepped over his own line. He showed her that fracture he bore as a heart, the cracked thing he tried to hide deep enough for no one. Not even himself. Yet it seemed to find its way up, to be in the open. To be shown to her.

He set his jaw in the silence, his hands are warm from the closeness of hers.

Then, he decided to look at Syonehlia eventually.

A sense of coldness washed over his bones when her lavender eyes locked with his. Piercing. Reserved. Usual.

Yet still hiding something inside he couldn’t grasp.

“We are not alike, Rescuer.”

[crimsonshadetress]

"please. please just listen to me."

👀

A Monster for Hero

Since I needed to write something with them, and finally, I could write something... here it is. Enjoy, @bloodlessheirbyjacques love and thanks for the prompt! 💕

Context: In Evalon, the members of the Ivory Guard are the most highly respected people after the royals. So no-one even dares to think about them badly, let alone raise a hand at them. Also, Cronyl wears a glass during the first book that can hide his eye colours. It helps him to neutralize their effect too, so if it breaks, he's getting hit by their full focus-power. Prompt list.

CRONYL AND AVELYN | BOOK 1 EXPLORATION | MENTION OF BLOOD | IT'S PART OF THEIR FIRST MEETING BASICALLY | WC: 601

Avelyn couldn’t move her legs as if they were trunks, deeply rooted in the ground.

This man, this rescuer, this so-called hero rushed to the guard’s neck the moment his strange glass broke. He hesitated only for a moment, if any. She froze as his seemingly shaking hands and legs made him move like no-one she ever saw before. The way he reached for the Commander’s limbs and necks, his speed… it was unbelievable. Impossible.

Avelyn couldn’t do anything else, but watch it. Her body turned into a rock, heavy and unmovable.

The ground was shaking, slipping from under their feet, and yet, she only plopped down to grasp the stone under her, nothing more.

The Commander struggled under the Rescuer’s attacks during the chaos. The screaming, frightened people who ran past them. Buildings shaking and trembling. The guard could barely deflect the cut of the wrist spikes, one getting so close to his eye, it trembled mere inches from it, before he finally slapped the hand away. He was clearly surprised, and as this hero just danced from leg to leg like a performer, Avelyn realized he bared a fighting technique even the Commander didn’t know.

“Cronyl…” she whispered. Eyes wide, mouth dry, she tried to repress the violently bubbling fear inside her chest. The ground just cracked under her. They had no time. “Cronyl, stop!”

Weak, her voice was so weak. Her veil should have helped her to see truth, but she only saw a man, who mercilessly brought a guard onto the stone like he was feather light, then with a spin, he pushed his knee into his chest with ease. And his wrist spike to his neck. Why? Why would he do that? They needed to escape, they needed to get away! By the sights, they were in grave danger!

“Cronyl!” She tried again and again, his name ringing so unbeknown. She didn’t know this man, but she needed to trust him. Syonehlia would have sworn to his name.

Then why?

The Rescuer leaned closer to the Commander’s struggling face that showed so much hate, Avelyn almost snapped out of her daunting daze. But she couldn’t, actually. She couldn’t even tremble at this point. Until she saw it, finally.

That bone-shaking, unnatural red eye that stared at the Commander like a predator at its prey.

Screaming, chaos and ruins made of slowly destroyed buildings. Evalon was under attack…by the draar or by Veilnieve’s wrath, Avelyn couldn’t say. The world was ending either way and so they needed to get away. This Rescuer was her only hope to maybe, just maybe stay alive. And the only one she has left in this moment of despair.

Somehow, Avelyn crawled over to the two fighting men, while more and more little lines accompanied her as the cobblestone steadily split into pieces around them. Her hand reached towards the Rescuer’s iron grip on the Commander’s jaw as if he was planning to crush it at any moment now. Was there… so much blood and cuts on them before too?

“Please. Please just listen to me…” she quivered and let her hand slide on top of the Rescuer’s.

Horrible redness snapped at her in the form of one of his eyes. What she saw in it was beyond bloodlust and violence. It was something primal and sinister, something much frightening than pain. Or even death.

In that moment Avelyn came to understand one thing.

Her only hope, this Rescuer was no hero or a man even.

But a monster in disguise.

[crimsonshadetress]

Ash and Rot PART III.

Side title: I would

PART I. | PART II. | PART III.

Poll babies' request, tho it's still not the first one. However, here's the Cronyl and Avelyn fluff, because my mind couldn't leave them alone and my writer's block just crashed under the inspo of this. The inspo song were Panic Attack by Liza Anne.

Context: Avelyn visits Cronyl after the ritual. She confessed him before, but he basically rejected her, saying he's too broken to have a relationship. Now he might have came to another conclusion.

BOOK III EXPLORATION | VERY TINY ANGST | MOSTLY FLUFF | DYNAMIC AND CHARACTER EXPLORATION | WC: 1,179

A knot like a stone weighed down Avelyn’s stomach as she fidgeted with her hands.

She raised her palm over the hut’s door, letting it hang there until her fingers felt numb from the cold. Then, she pulled them back again, for the who-knows-how-many-times.

Her head seemed light and ridiculously empty, while it was as if something tried to cave inside her chest, pulling her inside around itself. It shrank with every heavy-lidded blink until her chest seemed no bigger than a needlepoint. She wasn’t as tired, yet she felt exhausted, her eyes barely staying open.

Her heart skipped a beat when she realized she couldn’t see her breath.

One deep inhale, and a slow exhale. One in, one out. Repeat it. Nice and calm. And again.

She forced herself to do it constantly, never again missing a visible breath as she exhaled into the freezing atarqian air.

Calm down, you fool.

She swallowed a big bite of air, right into her belly and pushed the door open.

Gentle warmth attacked her face, her nostrils filling up immediately, making it hard to breathe for a second.

Playful fire blazed on the hearth, giving just enough light to give the room a welcoming atmosphere. With the puffs in the corner, right beside the leather pieces, and the table with three chairs that stood on a furry rug, she found the room just enough stuffed to feel comforting.

And comfort she needed as she turned to the bed under the window, opposite the fireplace.

Cronyl’s been already sitting, fur cover blanketing only his injured leg, his bare chest, and the scars scattered on his skin radiating under the aurora’s light. He was quiet, not noticing her arrival as he stared outside the window. Those always stiff shoulders now hung low and relaxed, his back comfortably leaning against the bedhead, his hands resting in his lap. His forehead seemed even, without any sign of a frown or wrinkle, his eye slowly following whatever he watched outside.

Avelyn saw him like this many times now; raw and true as one could be when no one is around. However, this was the first time she found splinters of calmness in him.

She finally found herself breathing evenly.

“Hey,” she offered quietly, taking a seat on the chair beside his bed.

Cronyl’s shoulders tensed ever so slightly, only to relax back as his eye trailed at her.

His figure seemed to brighten even more as the morning light seeped inside. She could see the faint golden glow in his body; the magic that pulsed inside him and concentrated in his eyes. No matter his bandana, she was now able to see both of his eyes outlined as two glowing golden orbs, thanks to Nareethi’s teachings. And both were watching her.

“Hey.”

Avelyn’s heart sank from the hoarseness of his voice. She held herself back from scraping her skin beside her thumb with her nail.

“How are you feeling?”

“Not dead,” he said with the tiniest smile on the corner of his lips.

She did the same, warmth spreading inside her chest. The fire crackled silently as she was watching him, respectfully stealing a glance at his bare upper body. He had no new scars, luckily.

Avelyn looked down at her hands when she realized she was scarping her skin beside her thumb. She scolded herself inside her head before she turned back to him.

“I, well, heard everything. I don’t know what you saw, but it sounded… dreadful. So, I was worried. Still am. Those screams and the way Bra’aka could barely hold you down…”

“You were inside?” he held her the question. His voice remained calm and quiet, not sounding upset or angry. Yet, she couldn’t be sure what he thought about the whole situation.

Avelyn stopped biting the inside of her lower lip.

“I arrived at the end, but yes, I was, I’m sorry. I couldn’t stand to stay somewhere else and just listen. Bra’aka, well, he didn’t approve of my decision either. But, I had to come.” She exhaled deeply, feeling the heat of the flames on her back. Avelyn wanted to look away from those intense golden orbs; that unreadable gaze that’s intensity always made her stomach flip. But she didn’t. She held his eyes, the same way she held his hands when he raged in delirium.

“Did you call my name?” Cronyl asked after a moment of silence.

Avelyn blinked, feeling a tender warmth spreading across her cheeks.

“I did. I was hoping it would help if you know someone there. That, well, I am there.”

Cronly smiled.

A smile, a visible, gentle, modest smile. A simple gesture that’s been the most telling among everything. Avelyn might not be able to see colors, but she somehow felt as if the room would have brightened. Remembering those heartwrenching cries Cronyl let out from time to time during the procedure, and as his face wrinkled into a different kind of agony she never saw on anyone before, this small thing made her eyes sting.

She wanted to reach for his hand, to squeeze as hard as before. She almost did, but then she restrained herself.

Cronyl, however, thought better.

“I was in a place I never wanted to be,” he said, taking her hand in his. “This ritual showed me everything I never wanted to face. What I saw there, what I… did there… It’s been more than I could bear. But I had no choice. And that led me to realize more than one thing about my past and my present.” Cronyl slowly scooped closer to her on the bed, a soundless grunt leaving his throat. “I won’t let anything happen to you. Ever. Not because it was told to me, but because I love you.”

Avelyn remained silent. She focused on blinking and breathing evenly, yet she couldn’t hide her slight inner shaking completely. Cronyl’s touch felt warm, genuine, and right. He didn’t flinch anymore when she slid closer to him.

“You said…”

“I know. I am still as broken as before, my scars will remain forever, and I will always be capable of hurting you or anyone. But I don’t want to, therefore I will do everything in my power not to do that. To control what I do, to know what I am. Among you, not alone. I will learn to be around you without causing pain. Because I want to stay beside you, Avel, I want to love you. If you would still let me.”

A chuckle bubbled up in her throat that she wasn’t strong enough to stop. It came out along with a breathless whimper, which she didn’t mind anymore. She slowly leaned onto his forehead and closed her eyes when her lips turned upward from the fact she didn’t feel him tense anywhere.

“I would. Always,” Avelyn whispered, squeezing his hand.