“GET UP!” Jace’s shouted at the girl who was keeling over not too far away from him. Having no response from the girl, he stomped his way to her and pulled her arm up, “I say get up! Don’t pretend like a weakling.”

Her breathing was short and her face was pale. She tried to pull herself together and stood unsteadily. Ever since Eireen was announced as the Chosen one, Jace had put her in special training to learn all types of classes and skill. Her peaceful life has changed to nonstop training day and night.

“Give her a break, please? I have announced my wedding with the heroine of the realm. Her big day is in a couple of weeks and I don’t want any delays,” Scry said lazily while plucking grapes into his mouth, “I don’t want her to look like a rag. What would people say? I have an image to maintain you know.”

Jace glared at the amber-eyed man, “What marriage?! I’ve never agreed or gave any permission for any.”

Scry didn’t respond, instead, he took a fruit knife and an apple. As he started to peel it casually, he replied, “Why would I need to ask your permission? Isn’t she already mine from the first place?”

Jace let go his grip from Eireen, “five-minute break, you need to practice mage skill after this.”

The girl’s legs failed her and she dropped to the ground while trying to catch her breath. Jace stomped making his way toward Scry.

“She isn’t yours!” Jace exclaimed intimidatingly while standing in front of the amber-eyed man.

“Since when she isn’t mine? Are you trying to nullify our agreement?” Scry’s eyes were challenging the young king, “my, my, I guess having the heroine of the realm does the trick to boost someone’s confidence.”

Jace gritted his teeth, riled by the taunt. He wanted to actually abolish the agreement he had before with this guy, but to do so it would harm the relationship between Ursa kingdom with not only the Treeoaks Kingdom but also Marama kingdom as its sister kingdom. He can’t do that without thinking on the risk his kingdom would take. Especially not with the coming final battle was just around the corner. Having the Heroine of the realm as his citizen might have given him some benefits, more kingdoms decided to join forces with the Ursa, but having Treeoaks as one of his supporters was a major advantage, not only for the war itself but also for the kingdom to thrive.

“No, the agreement is still valid,” he answered, his tone clearly shown on how vexed he was, “she is still… yours.”

“Good!” Scry’s clapped hand joyfully, “So no complains about me making her as my wife then?”

Jace’s clenched his hands hard before finally succumbed with his head down, “no…”

“Sweet, glad finally we get along better. For a minute there I was afraid that you have something else in your mind,” Scry’s eyebrow raised teasingly.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh I don’t know,” he shrugged biting the apple in his hand, “because who doesn’t want to have the Heroine of the realm as a wife?’

“What are you implicating?” snarled Jace

“I am not trying to imply anything,” Scry shrugged once more. He stood up and stretched, “anyway I am taking my fiancé out for a breather. You have tortured her enough these past days. So let me have some fun time with her too.”

With that said Scry leaped towards where Eireen was. He then swiftly grabbed and carried her out of the training ground. Jace didn’t expect his action and was late to react before he managed to stop him they were already gone.

“SCRY!” He screamed angrily.

---

He bolted out the training ground, chuckling at Jace raged scream.

“Hold tight, don’t blame me if you fall,” he said to the pink pigtailed girl that was in his arms as he quickened his pace to an all-out sprint. Eireen automatically circled her arms on his neck and her face close to his chest.

And he ran, like eagles soaring across indigo skies, his long purple-ish locks whipped back and forth behind him like a fiery tale as he flung himself over rocks, tree trunks, passing through people and jump around avoiding any obstacle. He did it with the slightest of effort, barely breaking a sweat and not panting in the least. He ran as if he wasn’t carrying anything on his arms, a wide grin was plastered on his face.

He had been running for quite a while before finally stopped, Eireen removed up her head that was leaning on his chest, she blushed because of their closeness.

Scry suddenly let go his hold on her and dropped her off roughly, “You stink! Go get some shower.”

Her bottom hit the ground pretty hard and her face flushed with embarrassment. She looked around to find that they were in the woods near the palace. There was a small lake not far from where they were standing.

“What are you waiting for?” he nonchalantly asked while placing himself under one of the trees facing the lake, “go get undressed and clean yourself.”

The lake lay silver in the bright light of the noon sun, flat as any mirror. It lay without a ripple in the silver-blue water as if time itself had been frozen. Around the edges were pines, chaotic in their spacing but never more than a few feet without a tree. Looking through the waters of the lake was like peering through the perfect glass, unsmudged. The stone at the bottom were as many hues of brown and grey as there are on a painter’s wheel, likely more. The water near the points she stood had a current, it was where the glacial meltwater entered from the mountain peak that stood still white capped far behind of the palace; behind of her.

Eireen tilted her head, glanced warily at the man that looked very comfortable leaning on one of the tree bark, his amber eyes were staring at her leisurely. The idea of having a swim in the calm water was really tempting. She forgot how long has it been for her to actually had the luxury to clean herself. Her days were filled with practice, practice and practice. Returned to her bedroom just to fall flat on the bed, sometimes she barely had the strength to drag herself to the bed and ended up curling up on the rug on the floor, to be woken up and dragged back to the training ground by Jace at the first streak of dawn light. But to actually took a dip in that lake while the so-called her future husband watching kind of put her in an uncomfortable spot.

“What are you waiting for? Do you need some help to undress?” His velvety voice was so close to her ears that it made her startled. He has stood behind her back in mere seconds, she didn’t even hear his steps.

“No!” she quipped, quickly put a distance between them, “I just need to find a place…”

Scry chuckled and shrugged, “you are one funny girl, acting like a virgin.”

“What do you mean?! I am a virgin,” she exclaimed angrily.

Scry looked at her oddly as if she was telling him a bad joke, then he suddenly burst out laughing, “yeah sure…”

Eireen face flushed red, feeling insulted because of his skeptic tone.

“That’s sure intriguing,” he leered and closing their distance, Eireen stepped back but stopped by the cold sting on her feet as she was at the edge of the lake.

“Maybe, I should actually savor the true taste of virgin heroine, now?” He grabbed her shirt and pulled her closer, Eireen quickly put her hands on his chest and pushed him away which resulted in a rip on her shirt. It wasn’t a large tear but enough to show a glimpse of the glinting red gem on her chest. Scry’s eyes quickly dropped to the mesmerizing gem, like a hunter saw an opening of his prey; a hint of desire and darkness splashed on his beautiful amber eyes.

“You are a very interesting girl you know, first you got special attention from our young king, “ he said with a low menacing voice, his eyes still eyeing the gem on her chest like a hungry wolf, “next the Goddess herself picked you out of the hundreds of people who were so much stronger than you.”

Uncomfortable by the way he looked at her, she quickly covered the tore and moved away from the spot, but Scry grabbed her hand and pulled her to him. He held her in a stronghold of his arms and no matter how much she tried to break free, he would tighten his arms making her felt like he was squishing her to death.

“… so what makes you more eligible than all those people to be the chosen one?” he whispered surly on her ears, “do you think you're worthy of that legendary gem? You of all people?”

His words stabbing her heart hard, the heart that already full of doubt on herself. When the Goddess pick her, she wasn’t overjoyed by the slightest and the fact on how her training still progressing ever so slowly without any hint of any magical power making her doubted herself even more. She stopped struggling and went quiet. Scry realized the changing and smiled eerily. He then undid his snake-like embrace a bit, enough for him to see the gloom expression on the pink haired girl.

“I guess it’s obvious that even a Goddess can make an error,” he whispered once more in her ears, “that’s what you are… a mistake.”

Another stab on her wounded heart made her eyes glistened with the upcoming tears, “… am I?”

This time Scry totally undid his embrace and walked away. And as if he hasn’t done enough damage after a few stepped away from her, he turned his heels and stared down at the broken girl and said, “all you need to do...find a way to fix the Goddess' mistake."

Her teary eyes looked empty as if it was hypnotized, “F-Fixing the mistake?”

“Don’t worry about it for now,” Scry said, his amber eyes darken mysteriously and his lips formed a half-moon grin, “in time you will know what to do to fix the gaffe. Anyway, I’ll give you the space you want, for now. I am not sure how long till Jace track you down and pull you back to the hell training. You should use the time to take a dip in the lake. I am sure you will feel so much better after a quick bath.”

Then he walked away, leaving Eireen stood facing the lake, her pink eyes stared at the horizon emptily, with tears streaming down her face.

“A gaffe? am I? The final battle is coming closer, people have their hope on me. What should I do?” she mumbled to herself.