Immaculate to an unsettling point, the annoyingly pristine floor returned your gaze through an almost clear reflection.
Burning orange, the sun was already down, dyeing flocks of fleeting clouds with the star’s last dying lights, white marble became tainted by an array of soft pinks.
You could still hear the chirping symphony from many birds below, sweet notes rising from the vast gardens surrounding the castle, yet none seemed to startle you as bad as the sharp knocking on your door.
The agitated beat of your heart echoed in your ears.
A man came through the threshold, his snow-white hair was the first thing you noticed. White, like the walls and the stainless floor, and with a pair of eyes to rival the beauty of the northern glaciers. He was followed by a party of what appeared to be soldiers, their elaborate armours, heavy and menacing as they were, made you shrink in place, digging your knees further on the cloud-like mattress. Dread overtook you, pinning you in place like helpless prey.
Keen eyes watched your tremulous shape, and with a soft, yet commanding voice, he ordered them to stay outside. The door closed with a click.
His lips, who you noticed belonged more on a lady than a knight, parted slightly as if to speak. Yet, you beat him to it.
“W-who are you? Why am I here?”
His hands stilled by his sides.
A heavy silence clung to his throat.
What should have he expected? He had looked forward to this moment, anticipation building up in his breath. Feeling, for the first time he had acquired this new body. Awaiting, patiently, until all the pieces fell into place.
“You…” He fell silent once more, taking in the way your eyes stilled on him before darting around the room. From the window to the door. Were you looking for a way out? Had you retained the instincts embedded from years of fighting? Or was this little more than wisps? “…Do not remember me?”
“N-no.” Breaking away your eyes from him, only now did you notice your clothes, an elegant gown to replace the shagged rags you wore. Embarrassment pulsed through you, mingling with the confusion and frustration that relentlessly pounded in your head, and giving fruit to a sheen veil of tears to cover your eyes. “Please, just let me go–I…I have nothing to give!”
Armour clinking, you found the strange man kneeling by the edge of your bed, pale blue eyes— a shade you found most unsettling, for it belonged to a corpse, not a living person– stared at yours with unspoken candidness. He approached you as one would with a wounded animal, before extending his hand to yours.
“There’s nothing you have to give me.” He murmured, as if scared he’d spook you away. “Do you have anywhere to go?” His fingers twitched, yearning to wipe away your tears, and the sudden feeling almost overwhelmed him. Him.
“Then, you’re free to call this place home.”
Relishing through the pain, your fingers graced his armoured hand and once again, he forgot. He forgot about everything else.
Pulling you delicately by the hand, steering you through the corridors and halls, immaculate as he was, you became entranced by the sight of heavenly arcs and towers. Of endless gardens and defying gates.
“Where you alone, before?” He asked, as you chose to walk by his side. Your hand clung to his cape as you stared at the world around you with bright, gullible eyes.
“Ever since an angel took my friends away, I have.” Such a simple phrase shouldn’t have ached the way it did, but he was not prepared. Nothing could have prepared him.
“This place…” As a soft smile graced your lips, he yearned of the days where he’d see it at every waking moment. “…Someone once told be I’d become his queen. We’d live in a castle just like this, you know? I wonder what became of him.”
Through everything, he swore. He’d tear the world down to its roots if it meant things would go back the way they were. Nothing would stop him, as long as you were back. Nothing would tear you from his side, not again.
