Very very stupid... These words echoed through Alana's subconscious mind when consciousness made her alert to her surroundings.

Her eyelids were stained red and so this meant she wasn't in the dark room anymore. The sheets felt silkier and smelt of her and so this meant she was back in her allocated bedroom.

There were two set of hands on either side of her that were holding each of her hands. And so this meant there was more than one person in the room.

After this assessment, she moved on to her body. She felt weak and heavy. The airy lightness she had felt after receiving those powers was gone. The heaviness unsettled her for a while before she adjusted. However, it was this adjustment that made her aware of the pain in her left wrist.

When she tried moving that wrist it felt restricted. This was what made her open her eyes.

Someone gasped and quickly hugged her, "Alana, thank God."

"Karla?" Alana frowned as she realised that person holding her, was her friend who's been unconscious for the past week and few days.

Alana used her good hand to hug her back. "You're okay!" She mumbled.

"Me? I am fine. Lylas told me what happened, you have been through so much, I'm sorry for being a terrible friend."

"Hey it's not your fault, you were unconscious. Besides this experience so far has been invigorating." Alana tried to smile.

"Miss Alana, how is your hand?" It was Mena's voice that broke their embrace.

"Mena!" Alana used her good hand to reach out for the woman.

Surprised, Mena froze as she let Alana hug her.

"I-I'm so sorry!"

Mena held Alana's shoulders. "It's not your fault Miss Alana, you couldn't have known..." Mena reassured her.

"How long have I been out?" She asked both of them.

Karla and Mena looked at each other. "When Master found you in the dark room, you were almost frozen to death. He took you away to his personal healing space to heal you. That was seven days ago. When he returned three days later, you were still unconscious."

Alana blanched. It has been almost a week since she was unconscious?

Wait, did she say his personal healing space? In the dream she woke from, she hazily remembered Lylas telling her that the place where rocks where suspended in air with water below, was his personal healing space.

Didn't that happen hours ago? How could she have been unconscious for a full week?

"Make room." Lylas' voice entered their midst.

Alana's breath hitched. He looked at so majestic adorned in black and gold. His body suit was leather like material and he wore black leather boots and had a black silky cape trailing behind him.

His hair was wavy, streak backwards and his expression was ever scowling.

Alana fidgeted in her bed, the memory of that dream making her blush profusely. She stared in numb silence as he approached her. He used the same hand gestures Zenos had used a week ago, however this time no light glowed on her forehead. After that he checked her pulse by wrapping his finger around her good wrist. His finger tips glowed a golden colour and Alana fidgeted again, feeling that it was a lot warmer where he was touching her.

Afterwards, he checked her bandaged wrist. Alana didn't have time to study her broken wrist since waking up. Now as she looked at her bandage hand, she saw flaky petals beneath the bandage. On closer inspection, she realised those petals where the same from the Cutaa rock in her dream.

"The one thousand years worth of cultivated powers have been wiped from your system along with the last remaining foul energy...You'll live." Lylas spoke once he was satisfied assessing her.

Alana looked at him, unsure. She was very confused by the whole ordeal. She hadn't time to gather her thoughts correctly. She couldn't yet grasp the concept that the dream she had before she woke was real. How long ago did that dream occur exactly?

They said she was unconscious for a weak. All she remembered was falling asleep in that dark room he'd thrown her in. She knew there were many dreams she had that she couldn't remember and yet the dream with him was the most clear.

Maybe she remembered it so clear because it hadn't been a dream at all. And because it was most affectionate Lylas had been toward her.

She had felt so free and comfortable with him when she had thought she was dreaming then. Right now she was too afraid to speak to him.

Lylas regarded her deeply, Alana was trapped in those golden eyes that seemed to be waiting for her response. They stared at each other for long time, neither refusing to budge. Karla and Mena began to notice.

"I'm so glad!" Karla's voice broke the awkward silence. Awkward on Alana's part.

Alana stared at her friend and was shocked to find a worrisome frown line between her eyebrows.

"Karla?"

"Can I have a moment with Alana? It's been so long since I last spoke to her?" Karla asked both Lylas and Mena.

"Don't make it too long...after she eats, she will be returning to where she belongs." Lylas spoke with a cold resolve.

As Alana registered his words, an unidentifiable feeling pierced through her heart. The feeling was third parts disappointment and two parts despair. She didn't know if it was the coldness of his words or the way he glared down at her that further enhanced this feeling.

She was returning to where she belongs? Whatever did he mean by that? That I'm going back?

Of course you're going back? The two weeks are up. The feeling of despondency creeped deep into the chambers of her heart, squeezing her heart in three cardiac cycles.

How could have time have cheated me? She blighted her weakness for having been unconscious the remainder of those two weeks.

"Alana?" Karla's voice wrought away from her thoughts.

Alana looked at Karla, she couldn't read her friend's expression at that moment. It was as if she was hesitant or trying to hold something back.

Then all of a sudden, Karla took something out of her pocket and opened her palm to show Alana. It was a shinny smooth pebble that was golden colour.

"What's that?" She asked, confused.

"It's the stone of danger." Karla replied her.

"The stone of danger?"

Karla nodded in affirmation. "Lylas gave me this three years ago, for protection. When it senses danger, it glows and feels warmer, therefore warning me that there's a dangerous person nearby."

Alana blinked in awe, staring at the stone.

"I should have acted quickly when the I felt it warming that day at he cafe. I didn't bargain for that demon to be that strong as to freeze time. Usually the demons or ghouls I always encounter in human form don't really have that much power."

"You always encounter those type of creatures?" Alana was shocked, awed that this was something that happened daily to her friend.

"After I met Lylas, Alana, he changed my world. I couldn't go back to you cos I understood the repercussions. I would be putting you in danger as well." Karla told her.

Alana stared at Karla for a good while, until she decided to ask her, "Karla how did you exactly meet him?"

Karla sighed as she sat down in the foot of the bed, besides Alana. "I hate rehashing that memory but it has to come out, one way or another."

Alana looked at Karla with expectant eyes. Karla returned the look with a bittersweet expression before she began...

"So after I left for Holland, I stayed with Finn for six months until I got pregnant—"

Alana gasped. "You were pregnant? Karla why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you call—" She stopped quickly as she looked at Karla's stomach, realising that three years have past and so far Alana hasn't met any toddler. This meant only one thing.

Karla nodded to affirm Alana's state of shock. "Finn didn't want a child, he got angry and blamed me, then he kicked me out. All the money I had, I had given it to him and so I slept at a shelter that night because I was penniless. When I returned to our apartment, he was holding a party. I watched him kiss and grope girls right in front of my eyes. He did it to rub it in my face that he could hurt me. When he saw me coming to him, he got angry and said I was spoiling the mood. He told everyone to leave except for his two friends..."

"The bastard...how could he—" Alana stopped her expletives when she realised Karla had both hands covering her face. The shaking of her shoulders indicated that she was crying.

Alana quickly pulled her into her arms, "Don't cry Karla, you'll make me cry...he's a bastard and he never deserved you."

Karla shook her head, "that night they...they...it was so painful..." Karla couldn't finish, too overwhelmed with emotion. She sobbed into Alana's shoulders.

Alana rubbed her back, reassuring her with "it's okay, it's okay!" repeatedly until she calmed. Karla then slowly detached herself from Alana, pulling herself together as she wiped the tears away.

"I lost consciousness halfway through it because of the pain...I remember him repeatedly cussing at me; telling me he should have never met me, that he never loved me and that I was a bane of his existence. When they thought I was dead, the drove to a forest far away from town and civilisation and left me there to die. I kept thinking about my baby and wanting the pain to be over...I was heartbroken."

Alana felt tears streaming down her the corner of her eyes. She couldn't imagine it, what Karla had been through. It was a lot to imagine. She knew, however, that one can never forget that sort of trauma.

"I should have came with you... I should have been there as your friend, I should have stopped you from going."Alana suddenly felt she was to blame.

Karla took Alana's hands, shaking her head vigorously. "No Alana, this isn't your fault. This was my mistake, I made the wrong choice and I paid the price for my stupid decisions."

They sobbed together again, this time Karla being the one giving Alana comfort. After the crying session, Alana wiped her tears.

"What happened after?" She asked Karla.

"Lylas was the one who found me...he told me he was going to take me to the hospital but I had kept on insisting for him to save my baby. He told me later that he knew I wasn't going to make it and that my baby had already died. He said when he saw my sorry state he decided to take me to his realm to heal instead and maybe try to save my baby's soul."

Alana gasped. "Can he do that? Save a soul?"

Karla nodded. "He can do more, Alana. Nothing is impossible for him."

"Did he save your baby?" Alana asked.

Karla took a deep meditative breath, closing her eyes and then slumped her head, shaking it to answer Alana.

"It was too late to save him... his soul had already passed on to the netherworld. Because Lylas wasn't allowed to meddle with mortal lives, and so he never had to heal one before. However, he created a space to meet my correct foundations and DNA and placed me there. Because of how severe my injuries were, I was unconscious for months before I finally woke again."

Alana gasped.

"You can imagine how panicked I was to wake in such a strange place. I had initially thought I had died, but he reassured me that it wasn't the case. It took me a long time to adjust after I woke up, especially to everything and this world. Afterwards I couldn't bear going back to the mortal realm...I was too ashamed to return to London to find you. And so he offered me a job as his secretary, since then I have been with him."

Alana nodded. "I should thank him for looking after you thus far...I'm so sorry you've been through all of that."

"Don't be sorry." Karla spoke. "I'm not...if it wasn't for Finn I would have never met Lylas. When one door closes, another opens. Lylas is the only one that understands my pain."

Well, that wasn't fair. "I'm here now, Karla, you don't have to hold back anymore, you can share your pain with me too."

"No," Karla giggled, giving Alana's hand a squeeze. "I didn't mean it like that silly. I meant...after what he had done for me, I vowed to myself that he was the only man. I will ever love in this lifetime. He understands my pain because he knows what it's like to loose someone you loved dearly, to lose a child."

"A child? Lylas lost a child?" Alana was shocked this sudden news.

Karla frowned at Alana's sudden expression. "There's a lot you don't know about him, Alana. He lost his wife and son."

"I knew about his wife but I just didn't think he also had a son." Alana explained.

"You know about his wife?" Karla was shocked at this. "Who told you? No one in this realm is allowed to ever mention his wife, it's forbidden."

"Why is it forbidden?" Alana asked, her eyes bulging. She suddenly realised this might be why Zenos and Mena were always so cautions and aloof when she asked questions regarding Lylas's personal life.

"Because it's a rule he made, no one dares to ever defy him...so who told you? The person who did has committed treason and he should be punished."

"Whoa, can you slow down the medieval talk for a second. This isn't the 16th century."

"You don't understand, Alana. This world belongs to him, it can never be ours. You can never understand."

"That's not fair. It's just information, besides if that person who wasn't meant to tell me did, I wouldn't rat on them."

"It's gossip, Alana. So tell me now who told you!" The firmness in Karla's voice shocked her.

"Bloody hell, calm down, seriously its not that bigger of a deal, besides Lylas was the one who told me." Alana reassured Karla.

Karla's breath hitched, her mouth agape while an expression as close to blind hurt filled her eyes. "H-he told you?"

Alana couldn't understand why Karla was hurt by this. "Well, unintentionally."

"I don't know if that makes me feel better or worse," Alana heard her mutter.

"Why would it make you feel worse?" Alana asked, cluelessly.

Karla took in a deep breath, on her exhale she once again gave Alana a firm expression. The look was a very intent and and close to accusations. The question she spouted after caught Alana off guard.

Karla simply asked, "Alana, do you like Lylas?"

"I don't." Alana denied it quickly, too quickly. Because Karla was now second guessing her. Alana was suddenly frightened of the expression on Karla's face.

"That person, Alana, he is mine. So don't fall in love with him." Karla's serious expression mirrored her blunt remark.

Alana was silent, staring at her bandaged wrist, her eyes refusing to meet Karla. Too afraid her friend would see how much, much too late it was.

"I won't." With a resolve and courage, Alana looked up.

Karla wasn't convinced by that resolve. The frown wrung her eyebrows, nevertheless, she sighed deeply once again.

"I could give you anything in the world, Alana, when it came to it...I would, but not Lylas. I could never give him up. So don't ever make me choose...cos it will be him, always." The seriousness in her tone was wringing.

Something like a thorn punctured through Alana's heart. Alana closed her eyes, keeping her feelings at bay. She had no right. She'd known this from the beginning and yet...yet here she was hurting the friend she's known for much longer than she's known Lylas.

"I won't let it come to that." Alana affirmed.

And yet she was at war with her heart and mind.

Alana inhaled deeply. However, she couldn't hide the bitterness she was feeling. The envy and jealousy. It was wrong to feel this way. She barely knew the man that much for her to already be feeling this strongly for him. He was dangerous and she would not admit defeat with this curve ball. He wasn't hers and was never going to be hers.

However, a voice in the back of her head was tempting her. Tempting with the fact that from observing Lylas, she couldn't for the life of her see whether he shared the same sentiments with Karla. There hadn't been any indication of him reciprocating her feelings. In fact, there was clear boundary between them.

Besides from gathering information last week that person was still deeply affected by the loss of his loved ones. It's been fifteen thousand years, and yet he still hasn't budged. This only meant his love for his wife was irreplaceable.