Aries

Varian drove the car at high speed as Miguel was singing along to a song that he had been hearing way more frequently, that it was unhealthy. But there was nothing I could say to him. The guy had been in the Dungeons for more than six hundred years and had missed out a lot. Or so we all thought. He fit in the current society way better than any of us did.

I looked out of the car and licked my lips. It had been more than twelve hours since we kissed, but I could still feel the way her lips felt on mine. I could feel her taste right at the tip of my tongue. It was a million times better than any fantasy.

I would have kissed her further, kissed her until she was incoherent of any other thought, but the memory that it stimulated in me made me pause. Whatever that had happened in the past, it had been because of me. Or that was the only memory I had left.

If I had hurt her in the past, how could I come in front of her and claim her as mine? Even if we were Soul-Bounds now, that never erased the fact of me hurting her in the past. What if she was to remember? What would she do? Leave me?

From the so many years that I have lived, if I had to say one thing in a relationship, it would be to never deceive the other party. I could deceive her now and pretend everything was fine. But what would happen if she were to learn in the future what I had done? Would she still look at me like I was the only star in her dark sky?

It would be hard now, to refuse my instincts to not kiss her, to not pull her closer to me. It would be hard for me now to part from her. But it would be so worth it if she stayed with me after knowing everything. For that, I should know what had happened in the past.

Yes, one reason why ‌I was going to the Sacred Library was to find more about Rionach. But the major reason why I am going there would be to find out more about ourselves.

Before leaving, I had stolen a silver bracelet of Lyra’s. It was childish; I knew, but what could I do if I was going to be so far away from her? Especially after the bond had been newly thriving. Had it been any other couple, they would have demanded a couple of hundred years of vacation. Yet, here I was, not being close to her.

I rubbed the bracelet on my wrist and turned in just to see Miguel smirk at me. He suddenly paused the music and grinned eerily.

“That’s Lyra’s,” he commented.

Very much required comment. At this time. Thank you, Miguel.

“Can I boldly guess?” Varian chimed from the driver’s seat.

Why did I bring these two with me? After all, I could have gone there myself and saved myself from all these troubles. I should just stop questioning myself for taking questionable decisions and just take decisions which made sense.

Yet, I could not stop the smile from surfing my face. Just the thought of her was enough to make me think that the world was alright. That living was not as painful as I thought it would be.

“Guess what?” I asked, closing my eyes to enjoy the lazy, sprawling sunrays.

Varian chuckled. “Lyra’s scent was strong on you this morning. And you have not bothered to remove it from your skin. And this kind of behaviour… only mated males would do. Only they would wear the scent of their partner with pride.”

I opened my eyes to see Varian staring at me through the rear-view mirror and Miguel blatantly staring at me. Though there was a hint of a smile on their lips, their eyes told me a very different story. Inferno raged behind one and electricity crackled behind another.

Out of respect that they were Lyra’s pack members, I did not read their minds, but I did not have to read their minds to know what was going on there. As much as these two idiots were my friends, and knew that if they fought me, it would end in a one-sided victory, they would nonetheless challenge me if I was just playing with their Alpha.

They were like mother elephants who would allow their calf to roam wherever it wanted, but if it was in danger, the mother would rush there to save its kid.

I blinked. There had been many instances where I had been threatened. Most of the time it was because they had either underestimated me or overestimated themselves. Rarely it was because they knew they had the substance to fight me and I was being a jerk.

But this… for some reason, there was an unexplainable warmth in my chest. Like knowing that these people would go to River of Souls and beyond for Lyra.

Lyra was not just their Alpha. She was someone old enough to be their daughter.

I laughed. “I love her. And if everything goes fine, I would like to be her mate. Happy?”

Miguel blinked as if I told him the most shocking news he had ever heard while Varian smiled and put away his hostility.

“You?” Miguel yelled after a minute. “You love her?”

I caressed the bracelet again. “Yes. You have a problem?”

He shook his head fast. “It’s just that… of all the years I know you, you have never-”

I knew what he was going to say. “It was in the past.”

“Bullshit.”

“She makes my soul dance to her tune. I have seen the beginning of many worlds and I have seen the end of much more, but even in the face of origin and the last destruction, nothing was more fascinating than her smile.” I smiled, remembering the way her brown eyes shone when she saw something she truly liked. Her eyes were not just the shade of the darkest honey under the sun, it had a tease of cassiterite. “She is my reason.”

Miguel grinned while Varian just smirked. As much as they were not the ones with who I first gained consciousness, they were people I could call my friend. Not the ones who would be humming my tune all the time, but someone who I know that despite many threats they would pick up my call at the middle of the night.

“She may be your reason, Aries,” Miguel said after he turned the music on. “But she is our Alpha. She comes first.”

“I expect nothing less.”

The eel-shifter nodded. “Good.”

As we reached the junction between earth and space, there was a faint buzz in my head. Varian had stopped the car and was frowning at the huge crater ahead of us.

Though this was a very common thing, a normal thing, when Lyra did it for the first time, euphoria lit up in me. She worked the bond from her side. Did she even know what it meant?

A-Aries, she called out with hesitation.

Yes? I replied immediately.

I... I feel that something bad is going to happen, she said.

What?

As much as I could brush it off as anxiety, I knew better. Stars and creatures of space were very sensitive to the environment. Not just the physical environment, even the abstract. Time. For creatures like us who roamed between time, not respecting the laws or the boundaries the universe mandated for others, we got a sense of what would happen in the near future.

It would be because, in a part, it would be me there, in the future who would go through the things and when the lines of time are blurred, you might have a vague sense of what might happen. Some stars would go just into the blatant future and know what would happen. Kind of giving yourself a spoiler when you fast-forwarded a movie too much or just read the wrong page in the book. But some liked it, and so there it was.

But knowing the future would itself change the course. That was something many were unaware of. So, what Lyra told me did not calm me down. If anything, it spiked my heart. And Lyra feeling this might either be because of her connection to the space via our Soul-Bond or… she might be a creature of the universe who played on the laps of the black hole itself.

Nothing, she said. Forget it.

Just as I was about to rush to her, I heard a voice that I had not heard in nearly two thousand years.

I am here, Aries, she said. In the Sacred Library. With all the answers you need.

My energy which was usually of high frequency and amplitude, suddenly curtailed. Why are you here now? I have to-

If you leave, Aries, she said. Everything we have done will be in nought.

I will ask others to-

You do not interfere in anyone’s trials.

Trials?

You are not to go there, she said. Neither are you to send any help to your Soul-Bound.

I normally would not have blind trust in this female, but ever since I got the flash of memory of when I kissed Lyra, I could not help but probe a bit further. If she was my enemy, then why did she help us? If she had been my ally, why did everyone tell us that she feared us?

It is not nothing, I said to Lyra, gritting my teeth. I want you to inform me if anything goes amiss. Or text Miguel or Varian. We are going to the Sacred Library to see anything further about Rionach. Our link may be paused while we are in there. While we as stars could not involve, at least her pack members could. Text either of them. Varian will have his phone out.

Okay, Lyra said.

Don’t worry, I said. And with that, she cut our connection.

I got off my car and raised my hands at them. “Come out. But you are to stay at the outer level, where there is phone reception. Lyra is going to meet-” I searched where she might be and found that she was in the car with Aislynn, Ant and Nash who was on the way to meet Mina and Aspen. “-Aspen. If she needs help, I want you both to reach there immediately.”

The two shared the same frown, but then they nodded. After all, I could take most of the things in the universe all by myself and still survive. Lyra could not.

The Sacred Library. One of the places that predated Cosmos herself who was currently waiting for me inside. It was a space caught in time, truly immortalised. It stretched on forever and forever with immense knowledge that would take the life out of anyone. Cosmos may have been alive since the beginning of this universe, but she herself would not know everything held here.

I slid down the edge of the crater and landed on ground that was vastly different from the red sand I had seen earlier. It was hard like granite, but I knew better.

My human form struggled before I shredded it and gave into the form I first knew. Pure energy.

But unlike any library that held books, and magazines, it had tiny lights and sometimes, dark flecks that danced around. The Sacred Library held information, not books.

Sometimes, I caught a red spark speeding up and sometimes a pink ribbon-like light floating. Just vast space with knowledge more than any brain could take.

I neared a white light and peered into it. It showed me the Star Sea and the slumbering power it held. This could be said to be memories, but at the same time, it was not. Experiences could be memories, but could facts too be? This white light showed me about Star Sea. As a neutral ground, it held passage and connections with spaces and time wraps that even the two rulers did not know.

I moved just an inch away, and the white wisp flew away.

I released a hint of energy, my frustration. It would take a while to find out what I was after.

“It won’t take much time, actually,” she said behind me. “If you ask the Library, it would just give you what you need.”

I sensed her energy and remained where I was. The sight was not a sense in the form I had. Neither was hearing or smell. The five senses solely belonged to the creatures of the planets. Our communication was ancient and primal.

“What did you mean by Trials?” I asked. No with my mouth, no. With my mind.

If she had a human form, she would be smirking. “Aries… I must admit, I did not expect to have this conversation with you first.”

“Tell me.”

“Restrain your energy,” she said. “You’re attacking me.”

The coloured specks fled from us and we were just floating in a void space. “I could kill you.”

“You could,” she said. “But that would tip the balance of the world and Polaris would have to find someone new to bear the weight of my crown. As you see, he never truly liked my choice of my heir.”

Was she finally going to talk about her heir? All of us knew that she had a candidate in her mind to be the next heir, but no one knew who it was. It was not Surva. Neither was it any quasar I knew.

As if she read my mind, she said, “I am not here to talk about my heir. But about you… and your questions.”

“You will answer any question?” I asked.

“Not any,” she seemed to sigh. “Just the ones you should know.”

“So… there are things that I should not be knowing?”

She hummed. “Not for now at least. Aries, of all the memories that I had altered, yours was the most messed up.”

My energy fluctuated. Just when I was about to flare up again, there was pressure on me. Containing me, absorbing my enormous energy like it was a dried patch of land seeing the first rain after decades.

“The Sacred Library is something that predates even Polaris. It will not simply allow you to destroy it on your whim,” Cosmos said.

“Why?” I asked. “Why did you alter my memories?”

She moved past me, deeper into the Library. As if she wanted to pull me into its depth so that I would have little to no connection with the mortal world. The world where my Soul-Bound was.

“Nothing will happen to her,” Cosmos said. “Lyra will live.”

I did not want her to just live. I wanted her to live well. Live happily. Have a life without any more hardships.

“She has to face this on her own, Aries,” Cosmos said. “If a planet is starting to grow its life, you will not bring life from other planets to support it. You will allow that planet to slowly develop on its own. There lies the beauty. If you bring life from elsewhere, the physical environment of the planet can not sustain it. It would wither and die. As much as it pains you, you have no other option than to be patient.”

My heart was raging a war with my mind. While the rational one told me that if what Cosmos told me was true and this was Lyra’s trial, I had to be patient. And by this time, I could rather clarify my doubts with Cosmos. But my heart nor my soul did not understand. All it knew was the female I loved was in danger and when she approached me, I did not go there to stand by her.

“Aries!” she called. “Don’t make me command you.”

After all, she was my creator and she could very well do it.

“It is not her time yet,” she said. “And if she were to die on my watch, Chaos would be on my way and he is someone I want to avoid as long as possible.”

This was new. “You don’t like Chaos?”

She snorted. “As long as he is in his way and me in mine, there won’t be any problem.”

I was one of Cosmos’ generals. That meant, I knew what meetings she attended. What she did. Knew her schedule inside-out. That also meant that I knew she had a lot of meeting with Chaos. Sometimes, if I had to find her and she was not in her space, I would just go where Chaos resided and she would be there. I had been under the illusion that they knew each other very well. That if everything was right on its way, they would be lovers. My bad.

“Chaos…” she mumbled. “We have a lot of history. We are just doing what we should do. Don’t interfere in my matters.”

“You did in mine.”

“I had to,” she said. “Had I not, I would have lost you and Lyra.”

We constantly took energy from the universe, which was like breathing on earth. But when I heard her name from Cosmos, I stopped. When it started to get uncomfortable, I resumed drawing my energy.

We were capable of generating our own energy, but it was nowhere closer to what we could draw from Cosmos. We drew from every creation that went on.

“You know Lyra.” It was no longer a question.

As she moved further deep, I did too. I had to know more.

“If not?” she asked.

“What happened?” I asked.

She went further and sent a small fraction of her energy, driving all the light specks around us, that were trying to entice us with the knowledge it held, trying to ground us here and trap us here forever.

We went so deep inside that I did not know how time and matter existed here anymore.

“You were one of my generals, Aries,” she said. “And… there was Bind Wars going on.”

Was she finally talking about this? But from her energy radiation, I knew she was hiding something. Like she always did.

“Lyra was one of the pulsars that Chaos sent to neutralise you.”

I staggered back a little. Some part of me must have already known that Lyra was someone who wandered the universe in her free time because I was not as surprised as I thought I would be. But her being a pulsar was shocking.

“She,” I hesitated. “Is she a first-generation pulsar?”

“Yes,” Cosmos said. “Fourteen of them came actually. And Lyra, she responded to your energy.”

“Responded to mine,” I repeated. “Does that mean-”

“Yes,” she said. “I have always known how you both would end.”

“If you knew that she was my Soul-Bound then why was there a fear in me? I don’t remember much, Cosmos. But I was afraid in the past of you whenever I interacted with Lyra.”

Silence stretched between us. Finally, she said, “Because you saw me kill Tucana and Canis.”

Tucana? Canis? I knew them. Canis was like me. A first-generation star. Filled with pride. He, Ursa and Ophiuchus represented space. As for Tucana, she had been quite a shy pulsar who stuck with Canis.

“Why did you kill them?”

“I had to,” Cosmos whispered. “Not because they Soul-Bonded, but because they had gone on a mission I sent them. Canis was a powerful star who could demand the space to yield to him. I sent him beyond the Bind. I had to know if they were planning something. Tucana left with him, despite me warning her not to.”

Why had I never heard about this? Was Cosmos always good or was she pretending to be so? Would she play the victim?

“They knew the secrets, the ones beyond the Bind planned,” she continued as if she did not sense the distress and distrust in my energy. “But while coming back, I warned them specifically not to go to the Star Sea. They did and… Tucana was hurt very bad. It was either for her to fade away forever or die and be reborn a mortal. You know what Canis would have chosen.”

Rebirth. They would rather forget themselves and be born again to fall in love with each other than to cease existing.

But what had happened in the Star Sea that would have hurt Tucana, a first-generation pulsar so bad?

“Don’t bother about Star Sea,” she said. “Your fate is not there.”

That was good. As much as I would have chosen rebirth too, I liked my life right now as it was.

“So you killed them,” I said. “But what of Ophiuchus and Volans?”

The frequency of her energy became more. Why did these two anger her? What had they done?

“They betrayed,” she whispered. “That’s what they did.”

“Impossible,” I whispered back. “They… Ophiuchus loved you! She was always on your side.”

“That’s why perhaps,” she said. “I failed to see her true colours.”

I could trust the story of Canis and Tucana. But of Ophiuchus? It was impossible. She was the little sister of the entire fifteen. All of us were very protective of her and spoiled her to no end. Why would she betray Cosmos? To whom would she betray Cosmos to? She was not a general. Neither had she ever gone to any battle. She was in Cosmos’ tower, living the life of a sheltered princess. Even Surva never had the life Ophiuchus had.

So, this female, who had never seen the ugly side of life knew how to betray? Should I believe the female in my memory or the one Cosmos was talking about?

“Even I did not see her true colours up until the last, Aries,” she said. “How could you have? She hid deep.”

I wanted to defend her, but words failed to come out. Did Cosmos suppress me? Or was it some part of my mind?

“Then?” I prodded. “What happened then? If Lyra is the first-generation pulsar, why does she not remember anything?”

“The Bind Wars released some… generals whom I thought I had killed,” she said. “They were too strong and one of them kidnapped Lyra to weaken you.”

Lyra could be kidnapped? Even if she had, what had I been doing while she was? Counting stars?

“How was she taken?”

“The war was on a mighty scale. Not just confined to the Kelp Confusion. You were at the origin of the River of Souls. It was draining you, but Lyra was stabilising you. Then the opponent learnt that unless Lyra was out of the picture, they could never truly take you down.”

I did not ask why she was taken. If my memory served right, she once held my army seal. That spoke volumes about the status she had in my heart. I would rather sacrifice all my merits just to keep her happy. Anyone could see that. If I knew this and still held her close to me in spite of a battle around me, how would I have left her unprotected?

How she was taken from me was the question. Not why. Why was easy?

“How?” I asked again.

“They invaded your territory,” she said. “While you had been on the front fighting, Lyra, as the Aether forger was forging a weapon for you. That Aether had energy… sludge that even I had never seen. When it touched Lyra, or rather when Lyra came in contact with it after she was immersed in forging, her energy spiralled out of control. To contain herself from causing others further harm, she sealed her powers herself. before you could reach her, they took her and left.”

Cosmos’ voice became softer towards the end. Like she was telling a kid a story to put it to sleep and the kid had finally slept. But now, I was not done. Not when her words sparked the memories that had been buried.

“A-Aries?” she called to me as I marched to the gate.

As much as the River of Souls was a sacred place that held the lifeline of the universe, it could be harmed anywhere but its origin. It fed the energy to all the life and cleansed them all. At its origin was an altar made of diamond dust.

This altar was why the origin of this river was so important. Below this altar, the river originated and above this altar, new souls would form. When minute energy roamed all over the universe, at times, it would condense and manifest as a new soul over here. And this count would increase, especially after a battle or a calamity. They are not the sous coming for rebirth, but new souls would be formed. The very basis of life.

“Yes?” I replied immediately.

My energy buzzed in pleasure and my very existence was quite happy. If anything, I was positively glowing. Somehow, I suddenly found the strength to fight the entire legion of my enemies.

All because I loved her. I had not realised it until this war. Not even when she held my command seal did I realise. Wherever war happened and Cosmos dispatched us, so unlike her, who stayed in the Origins, she followed me to every battle. I could pass my commands only after it was approved by Lyra, and she showed them the seal to approve it.

Sheratan had teased how much of an idiot I looked like, and for the first two battles, I hated her. We had gotten along just fine and why did she suddenly start doing this? It was the third battle when we were at Kelp Confusion helping Taurus did I truly understand what she was doing.

She disapproved of the decision I had taken that would endanger me. Me! As if I needed anyone’s protection. I was a general and my safety was thrown out of this universe. Even if something was to happen to me, I made sure that Sheratan could lead, though I knew that if something had happened to me, Cosmos would release another first-generation star to lead my army.

Lyra fucking prioritised my safety over this entire battle. She did not seem to care if we had won or not. She just cared if I was alive. If I was alive, I could win another day. The third battle we had lost, but both Taurus and I had been alive and well. Lyra and Draco were strong in this together and called shots at that time.

We had lost that battle, but I had never been happier in my life. Slowly, I understood what was her first priority. After multiple battles, she tried to hand me the command seal, but I refused. She was the reason why I was alive all along and she would continue to do so. Who asked her to take this job?

But it was this battle that I knew that I would rather let the enemy legion destroy the altar of the River of Souls than harm Lyra. It was during this battle that I knew that I was in love with her. Since I had the option to choose my Soul-Bound, she would be my choice. She would always be my only choice.

After this battle ended, that would be my first question to her. This Bind War could go on, but I was not ready to waste another second with her. If I read the signs right, she would be willing to. Unless I was an idiot who could not even take care of himself in her eyes.

“I... I feel that something bad is going to happen,” she said.

I paused. The army was advancing on us. But this was Lyra. She would have never contacted me if it had not been important.

“What?” I asked.

After a few pulses of energy, she said, “Nothing. Forget it.”

Their leader sent a bolt of energy, trying to destroy the entrance to the Origin to which I replied with a bolt of my own. It collided and the energy wave died. Behind us, on the altar, a new soul was being formed.

“It is not nothing,” I said to Lyra, focusing on the army ahead of me. “I want you to inform me if anything goes amiss, I have left Vega to guard you. I may not respond if I am in battle. But call Vega. I left her to guard you.”

“Okay,” Lyra said.

“Don’t worry,” I said. And with that, she cut our connection.

I snapped out of the memory and I could not control how haphazard my energy was. The last time she contacted me, I left her back and she had been kidnapped and tortured so badly that her soul was fractured.

This birth for her was a form of healing. Now she called me again. Just this time, the stakes were not as high as they had been last time and now, she was my Soul-Bound. Legal in every sense. Even if I had to abandon the River of Souls, I could and no one could question me.

As if she read my mind, she said, “Don’t you dare, Aries!”

“I lost her once before, Cosmos,” I said. “It’s going to take a lot more than just talking rationally to make me stay here. To let her complete her trials alone as if she is not my Soul-Bound. She is my Soul-Bound, Cosmos and my interference will not mean a thing. I will not lose her for the second time.”

“Aries!” she called, but I was already moving away from her. “Aries! I have always loved you all! You were my children before and you will be.”

I paused. “If you truly loved me, you would not have held me up when you know Lyra was going to be… was going to go through pain.”

“I truly love you, Aries,” she said. “I had seen you grow up, meet Lyra and fall for her. If Lyra was truly in danger, I would not have held you up. You… I don’t know what changed, but you should trust your creator a bit more. More than you would trust the one who cleaned the previous throne with blood and dust.”

I knew who she was talking about. What she was talking about. Trust her or him would be secondary now. Lyra would be my first. Now and forever. Who cared about the power play that was going on for aeons? Who had the time?

**********

And just like last time, I was late. Again. Lyra had already been taken. When only Aspen, Mina, Brent and a bleeding Nash made it out, I knew. I failed her again.

Antlia was missing, but knowing Luna, she would not let her scion be in a situation that would potentially kill her. That was part of her charm. Perhaps that was why we all were worried about the rouges who were chasing Ant. Because for some reason, the protection Luna gave to Antlia did not work against them. They could hurt Ant and they had.

But since she was not in their hands, she would be fine. More than that, I knew my Soul-Bound would do anything to keep her safe.

Why was it that the answer that we search so far and wide was right in front of us? Why was it that we nearly failed to see it?

The question that I had failed to ask her last time… failed to ask her before the battle after which my memory was altered, Lyra had answered it beautifully. After all, she had been the one to initiate our bond, had she not? She had been the one to complete it.

The faint scent of blood loomed over the house as death invaded. As if it knew that I might interfere with its job, it inched with fear. Creeping slowly. I could, but I knew better than not to interfere. Not when I knew now that Nash was not a simple wolf. He had been a binary star in his past life and he would forever be incomplete without his twin. He was the second brightest star under Lyra.

Vega was not the only one who I had left to guard Lyra. It was this binary star too. And while Vega suffered multiple injuries and did manage to live, he had died protecting Lyra back then.

My energy was spiralling out of control. Without a second thought, I moved to our room. The room where we had Soul-Bonded. The room where we first kissed. The room where I would find our scents intertwined.

When death realised that I was not going to interfere, he came in slowly and collected his soul. In a flash, I saw Nash’s life. His current life and his past.

He had been second-in-command of Lyra’s team. A weird binary star for unlike the others who had two souls in the same person, his twin, his cheat life wandered next to him. Perhaps, if they were not like this, when he took the fatal blow for Lyra last life, he could have used his cheat life.

As much as I knew that Lyra was not in fatal danger like she had been last time, I could not control it. Even her scent did not soothe me. Instead, my soul was more reminded of the fact that she was not with me now.

I released a bit of my frustration and the room was destroyed. The clock Lyra always saw was still on the table. The sheets she loved was wrapped over the bed. But the vase Varian had put before was shattered on the floor.

I knelt on my knees and held my head. For a minute, I could not differentiate between the past and the present.

I should have gone. I should have.

That was all I could think of when I returned after the battle. Just before I left, I had whined to Lyra that I lacked a weapon and she just winked at me saying that she had found some Aether and that there would be a surprise waiting for me when I returned.

Of all the previous battles, whenever I returned in triumph, Lyra would hug me and last battle I won, she even kissed me… on the cheek. I had been so darn proud of that for a while. So much so that Sheratan had once kicked me, their general out of the war meeting because I had been incorrigible. I knew that he was just feeling jealous.

I expected Lyra to greet me with a beaming smile and the weapon she promised. And on my return, I had thought of all the possible ways to ask her to be my Soul-Bound. And ninety-nine per cent with her rejecting me. She might. Lyra was ruthless like that. If she did not like me, if she had not thought of a future with me, she would. I knew it and yet I wanted to take that risk.

But for me to ask that question, she should have been there. She should have.

Now I knew why my enemy retreated fast. Why they left like they lost everything. Why they gave me a sense of victory.

Because they had won. They fucking won, and I lost the female I loved. Vega was bruised so badly and the little binary star who followed Lyra like a trail of stardust was dead.

Sheratan was sending Vega his energy to save her while I raged on my camp like an absolute lunatic. No one took a first-generation pulsar like that. Not Lyra!

Vega finally gained her consciousness a little. Just to tell me what had happened before she fell into a deep coma.

The Aether Lyra had been working on was mixed with something none of them knew. Just when Lyra was about to contact Draco and Pyxis about that, Aether exploded and Lyra’s energy was spiralling out of control.

So, she sealed herself and just then, those creatures invaded and took her.

If only I had been here. Whenever my energy was out of control, the one to soothe me was her. And when he needed me, where had I been? Fighting on the front lines, thinking that I was keeping her safe.

If only I had been there, she would not have sealed herself. No one would have taken my Lyra from me. An estranged sound left me and others, my army gave me a startled look. They just knew that Lyra was someone sent by Cosmos. Some even hated her whenever she interfered in my affairs. Not many knew what position Lyra held in my heart.

Ignoring Sheratan and my rational mind, I left my camp. I would go beyond the Bind to save Lyra if I should. Even if it killed me. No one could stop me. Not even Cosmos or Chaos. Not even Polaris.

Cosmos did show up. She spoke something, but I could remember. She just told me to go ahead to save Lyra and that was what I was going to do.

When I breached the Bind, I did not know where I got the strength from. Neither did I know what I was doing. I was just following Lyra’s trail.

What if she was already dead? My mind froze at that question, but my body did not. I received an answer from the depths of my soul in an instant. I would kill those who ever touched her and… probably let myself go. How could I continue to live even after knowing that the female I wanted to Soul-Bind has died?

When I saw her soul hanging by the bare minimum, I lost it. I exploded and even they seemed surprised. They thought that they could catch me, but how wrong were they.

Before I could even register who it was, I had destroyed it all. Destroyed them all. I did not know where I got that power from. Or if I had it all within me all this while. I did not know and I did not care. I did not care if I would have to suffer any consequences.

When I reached Lyra, she gave me thin smile despite the pain wrecking her. Just how could she smile like that? Should she not complain or throw a tantrum at me for leaving her behind? Shout at me and say how horrible I was? That I should not have left her?

“You know, Aries?” she managed to whisper.

“Don’t talk,” I snapped. Taking her bruised body with me and moving towards the Binds. Even if we had regeneration capacity, I knew that if we both stayed here, just staying here would kill us both. “Save your energy.”

For a gentle second, her energy mingled with mine. “I always wanted to ask you this question.”

“Ask me later,” I said. A few more distance. We would be within the border. I would find a healer to heal her.

“Now,” she said. “I have to ask you now. I know the condition of my body, Aries. Of my soul. Unless Cosmos or Chaos intervenes, my fall in inevitable.”

If Cosmos could save her, making Cosmos do that would be the last thing I would do. “You’ll live, Lyra. You’ll live. For me? Please? I can’t… I can’t function without you. I throw my safety to caution and be reckless. You made it your job to keep me safe. You can’t resign. I won’t allow you to.”

She laughed. Actually, laughed despite everything. “I still want to ask my question.”

I knew about her. She was stubborn like that. She would not stop until she did what she wanted to do.

“That weapon I told you,” she said. “I was going to make it for you.” I knew that. “It was supposed to be my gift to you. If… if I was not going to fall, I wanted to ask you, would you,” she paused. “Would you like to be Soul-Bonded with me?”

My heart literally skidded to a stop. As much as I did not need my heart for me to live, it suddenly made me aware of how beautiful this life could be. How if Lyra had not been taken away, I would have asked this question and we would have… have been happy.

The fact that she too wanted this was enough. If she was to fade, I would too. Without a question. We had no afterlife or rebirth if we faded or fell. But who cared? Lyra loved me and that was important.

That was all that mattered.

Before I could answer, she said, “Don’t answer that question, Aries. Don’t start a bond with me. Don’t be stuck with a fading pulsar. Just be-”

I never got a chance to answer her. I should have just shouted yes and sealed us, but those who were chasing us did not give me the luxury to. I had killed them all. But the very general who I thought I had killed was standing right behind me and his army surrounding us.

This space beyond the Bind was already taking a lot of energy out of me to keep us both alive, and that explosion earlier nearly drained me. I knew that I would not walk out of this battle alive.

“Leave me, Aries,” she said. “You are here because you are extending your energy to keep me safe and alive. Leave me.”

I looked at her. She was right. A few more light years and I would be within the Bind. I would be safe. Provided I leave Lyra here.

She had asked me a question earlier and I would damn well answer it. I stopped. I smiled at her. “Until the very end, Ly. I want to walk that road with you. Will you give me the honour to?”

She stopped protesting. She knew what I had asked for. Knew what we wanted. If this is the last stand, so be it. At least it would be in the arms of the one we loved.

I gathered her in my arms and shielded her with the incoming bolts of energy. Nothing could ever hit her. At least not while I was still alive.

I choked out a sob. That shit hurt. That memory. I did not know who saved us or anything after that.

At some point, Rhaze had entered. Her scent was there. But who cared? This was like a repeat of what happened last time.

So, despite knowing that I should not be harming anyone, I made my way to the East Tribe. They took the most important person from me and they had to pay the price.

*********

Nothing stood in my way. What could? Unless this East Tribe could call a Warrior, no one could stop me. No one would be foolish enough to stop me.

Their northern cities were destroyed and yet their Zayin refused to come out. The Magycs came to defend their cities, came to fight me. But what could they do? I was already being merciful enough to not kill all of them. I was just destroying the cities and making sure that this Tribe would be bankrupt. I was not doing anything atrocious.

I would have. In a heartbeat. If that was what it took them to release Lyra. But knowing that female, she would be angry, mad at me for killing those innocents.

Then again, if I had been captured, I knew what she would have done to get me back safe. She was not exactly a dainty princess holed up in a lab. She could will the Aether to form a weapon of her choice, for Cosmos’ sake! She came from the Abyss, and only idiots would believe that she was kind and compassionate. She was ruthless when needed and cold-blooded if she had to.

Lyra had met Luna, Cosmos said in my mind. She is safe.

I stopped. Where is she?

In the Maze, she said.

It took me a second to realise what she told. You know where Luna was. You knew it all this while.

What happens in this universe without my knowledge, Aries? She asked. I have my reason to keep quiet. But you must know… Lyra will come back to you.

So? I asked. I am supposed to just wait here?

What else can you do? she asked, mirth lacing her tone. After all, you have waited for two-thousand years. What’s more for a few hours?

You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?

A little. Lyra would have gained most of her memories if not all by the next time you see her.

You’re not allowing me to enter the Maze?

No, she said. Lyra is absolutely out of any danger. She is just talking with Luna. That’s all.

That’s all?

You need to have a little more faith in me, Aries. After all, if I did not want you both alive and happy, I would have let you both die beyond the Bind then.

I knew what she was talking about and snorted. I did owe her one for this.

Grumbling, I left the tribe and entered the forest where I had a small house. Three of the six males, that was, me, Scorpio and Capricorn once stayed here, trying to avoid the wrath of the females who thought that it was the six guys who pulled the prank on them. Surprisingly enough, the culprits were Gemini and Cancer. Cancer who hunted us down like a fucking hunter.

This small house held a lot of memories.

I did not just sit still there. I was constantly checking on our Soul-Bond. This Luna was taking a long time. What did she have to talk about? Could she not have just said that Lyra was a first-generation pulsar and be done with it? What could she possibly be explaining? The theory of the universe? Life in Origins? The latest fashion show?

Then in an instant, I felt our bond drawing me. She was here. And just when I raised my head, she stood there, facing the opposite direction. When she turned, I glared at her. Not for now. But for the past. When she had asked me the very question, I so long wanted to ask her and when she did not allow me to answer it. That was why I glared at her.

But then again, we were Soul-Bonded now. She had initiated this herself. That might have been the cleverest thing she had ever done. Including her forging various weapons and… her designing various spaces with Tucana.

“Lyra,” I rasped.

Then she raced towards me and flung herself into my arms. I was home.

A/N: That's the end of the story. Of the bonus chapters.