Her heart stopped.

The tension of her silence vanished like flames of cold poison, struck by happy, silent tears. Fresh goosebumps flew all over her soft skin. She was lost for words, for God's sake. My woman, the love of my life, my princess was speechless. Hazel Brown that I knew, was searching for unscrambled words, empty alphabets. As I swallowed my saliva slowly, my nervousness begged my knees to control my upcoming actions.

I was supposed to be on my knees, proposing to my Queen but her reaction brought me back to the day I first met her.

Insanely in love.

All over again.

She didn't even say her response yet but, I was already dreaming of our future wedding.

Shocked, I got on my knees.

"Waffle? Would you marry me?" I proposed as she blew me with a big yes. Yes, yes, yes I will marry you. As a man, the best feeling in the world is when the love of your life enjoys your company for the rest of her life.

As I grabbed her left hand, I placed the beautiful treasure on her ring finger.

Perfect size.

"I love it!" Tears greeted her eyes, unexpectedly. "Oh my Gosh! It's so beautiful. Thank you... Thank you... I love you!" She screamed as her lips crashed into mine, savagely.

Damn, Lady! Can I breathe?

"I'm glad you like it." I finally said, screaming for help in my mind. "Do you still have the necklace?" The second piece of the ring was in that necklace and her answer actually shocked me. She lost it. "Perfect." My last word tasted a little discouragement from her unfair behavior.

"I know, Love." She apologized. "And I'm so sorry about that." She caressed my chin, slowly as she tried to cheer me up by reminding me of my perfect nightmare. "Today is your birthday and I want you to enjoy your day. I want you to forget about your problems and pray that everything turns out okay for you and Jack." She gave me a pop kiss. "So..." Her eyes melted with happiness as she dragged the word in her next sentence. "Should we throw a party?"

No, Lady. I'm not in the mood.

"I don't think it's a good idea." I rejected her offer. "Today is my Twenty-first birthday and to be honest with you, I don't know what's going to happen tonight when the clock dies at twelve. I don't believe in the prophecy but I can't ignore the obvious. The signs are written all over my destiny and I can't say that I'm going to be okay." I let out a deep sigh. "Jack might lose his life, fighting the enemy all by himself."

"Everything is going to be just fine." She tried to boost my self-esteem. "Think positive. You're strong and so is Jack. I don't want to hear those negative thoughts anymore. Today is your special day and you should enjoy it."

Should I, Hazel? Should I, really?

"Just hold me..." Her warm skin entitled mine with a sincere cuddle. "I don't want this moment to end. I want to stay like this forever." I paused as I let out a deep long sigh. "I love you, Hazel." The truth burned my throat with thirsty words. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Hawk?" Hazel smiled. "I miss your cooking." Her sweet voice enveloped my mind with impossible threats. We were locked in a room but there she was, asking me to cook for her. "I wish we weren't stuck in this room."

Hazel was devastated. I could tell she was hungry by the melody of her stomach, following by thunders of hunger. "Jack will come back soon." I gave her hope. "I'll feed you. Count me in."

"Hawk?" My name tasted like confusion in her mouth.

"Yes, my love," I answered, waiting for her upcoming words. "What's on your mind?"

"Tell me about the prophecy." Her request was impossible to achieve. "I want to know everything. I know half of the story. Tell me about Lionland."

Hazel? I wish I could but, at the same time. I have to protect myself. You can never know that you have the power to finish me off. Just a sample of my blood and I'm gone.

Deep thoughts.

Cold choices.

Unworthy memories.

Silent death.

That's all I could think of. I didn't want to share my secrets with Hazel. She was human and more importantly, I broke Lionland's first rule, the day I fell in love with her.

"Hawk?" Hazel interrupted my thoughts. "Why are you so quiet? I want to know." Her persistence was more like . Impossible.

"You're not ready." I busted her with a lie. "Some secrets are too dark, they can contaminate your pure soul intentionally and make you the target." My words were out of vitamins in her opinion but I knew exactly what I was trying to say. She wasn't ready for the real world.

For world.

"I am ready." She exclaimed as she insisted, continuously. "Don't you trust me?"

"I do."

Half of a lie.

"Then why can't you tell me?"

"Hazel..." I sighed, softly. "My father thought me a lot of things about sharing a secret but I surely kept two growing up." I caressed her face gently as I shared his powerful proverbs. "To whom you tell your, you resign your liberty."

She smiled and said. "What's the second?"

"Your is your blood. When you shed it, you die." It was just a vague proverb in her perspective but little did she know, I spread my dark secret into her silent ears with clueless sounds.

"Jack is hiding something from you." She tried to poison my mind with her negative thoughts. "I don't know what it is but the other day, he was talking on the phone and he said..."

"I'm back!" Jack opened the door with a sudden rush. Blood all over his ripped shirt, his mouth full with heavy, bloody saliva and fresh scars all over his skin as he dropped flat on the carpet. His legs were weak, his breathing was abnormal. "Ha...Hawk... It's...O--Over..." His eyes were begging for a little bit of light as he tried his best not to close them. "We won..." He smiled as he gasped for air. "We... Fi... finally... won... Brother..."

"Don't talk..." He was in pain and his scars were finally on sight after all these years. He did a great job of hiding them with his power. I always wonder about those scars. "Do they hurt?" I asked as I traced every line of his bloody scars, slowly. "I'm going to call the doctor. Stay with me, don't close your eyes."

"Clo... Closer..." He grabbed my shirt as he tried to whisper something in my ear. "Last page... The... last page is ... in my pocket..."

The last page of the prophecy was finally about to be discovered.

My existence was about to be known by Humanity.

Billions of lives were about to be destroyed.

"Call Doctor Pen!" I yelled. "Now, Hazel!"