May Death Do Us Part

98 Chapter 98 : Ervelon

“Prince Gareth is that you?”

With his hand tightly secured around Melissa’s wrist, Gareth glared at the blonde elf. “How the hell do you know my name?”

“Gods!” Finwe rasped, “I never thought we’d meet this way brother.”

The dark haired prince narrowed his eyes suspiciously. After Finwe uttered the word ‘brother’ Gareth began to see a lot of himself in the young man.

“Mother has waited so long for your return brother,” the man spoke. His voice and demeanor had suddenly turned excited which was a bit weird considering that he was still wrapped up in a giant root. “We all have waited for your return, you’re the rightful king of Ervelon, our savior, the chosen one! You’ve finally come home!”

The dark haired prince relaxed and the giant roots that he had summoned did the same. They unwound themselves and sunk back into the ground through the cracks.

“We must get you home at once!” Finwe exclaimed excitedly, “gods I can’t believe you’re here!” The man’s excitement slowly faded when his eyes trailed down to Gareth’s hand that was interlocked with the woman he was guarding protectively. The blonde elf’s eyes widened and his heart skipped several beats when he looked into Melissa’s blue eyes. “Is...” the man gulped, his violet eyes never leaving Melissa’s, “Is she with you?”

Gareth’s hold on Melissa’s hand tightened, “I go nowhere without her.” He wanted to make sure they knew that he and Melissa were a package deal. If they wanted him they’d have to take her as well.

“A- and how long have you traveled together?” Finwe sounded jittery which was a little odd, but Gareth didn’t pay it much heed to it.

.....

“What does it matter?” The dark haired elf responded, “all you need to know is I’m going nowhere without her.”

Finwe pursed his lips and creased his brows. He wanted to be wrong, he really did, but he’d never been wrong about this sort of thing before. Gods, this was going to be a rather complicated situation.

“Is there anything the matter?” Gareth asked his new found brother who looked as pale as a sheet of paper.

“No.. no nothing,” the man muttered. He cleared his throat and composed himself before putting on a smile and speaking, “My men will clear things up with the dwarves. Please come with me, it’s time to take you home brother.”

*

Elric walked gracefully in front of his men who had either bared their large wings or taken the form of giant wolves in preparation to traverse forward through the wandering woods that where now mostly patches of burnt trees, soot and ashes.

He halted at the front of his army and grinned menacingly as his body began to change. His legs and arms bulged and lengthened turning into four massive claw ridden legs. His silver hair spread down his neck, to his back, all the way to the rest of his body. His fangs sprung out of his mouth and his ears sharpened.

With a loud growl, the massive silver wolf stold tall in front of his warriors, and with a howl that echoed throughout the smoldering woods, the army lunged forward.

The nosferatu flew overhead, their powerful wings flapping and causing gashes of wind as they moved, while the lycans sprint forward on the ground, their powerful trots shaking the ground beneath them as they dashed across the burnt terrain at great speeds.

*I’m coming for you my love.. just hold on tight*

*

Gareth looked at the large circular swirling pool of light in front him skeptically.

“This is a magic portal to Ervelon,” Finwe explained having seen his brother’s hesitation, “getting there by horse will take us about a week, this is much faster and frankly more convenient.”

The blond elf stepped through the portal and gestured Melissa and Gareth to follow him. The dark haired elf held Melissa’s hand firmly and searched her eyes, “we don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”

“From the looks of it..” Melissa spoke, “your people already don’t like me very much. Me keeping you away from them for my own selfish needs will only add fuel to the fire.”

“I’m not going without you Mel..” Gareth spoke as if sensing that she was about to suggest leaving her behind.

The woman scoffed and smiled at him, “you’re as stubborn as ever.”

He smiled back and squeezed her hand possessively, “then why fight me?”

Melissa drew in breath and looked at the portal ahead, she felt like she was about to walk into enemy territory but staying back in Lenora wasn’t a better option either. “Okay.. let’s go.”

Gareth stepped into the portal and pulled the redhead with him, and in a matter of seconds they were transported to a whole different world. Compared to the dark gloomy terrain of Lenora, Ervelon was nothing short of a dream.

They were standing on a stone paved bridge over a clear flowing creek with hundreds of golden fish swimming and bubbling up downstream. Along the banks of the creek and as far as the eyes could see there were thousands of flowers in all shapes, sizes and colors. Butterflies and birds danced in the fresh sweet smelling air, and flowers from trees whirled around enchantingly with the wind.

Some meters away from them was a massive white marble castle curved on the side of a mountain. Waterfalls dazzled the marble beauty like veils of flowing diamonds, and creeping plants dressed it in intricate patterns of green. Ervelon was the kind of place someone would picture heaven to look like, it was absolutely breath taking.

“Right this way brother,” Finwe spoke, “your kingdom awaits.”

Gareth and Melissa locked eyes before following Finwe down the stone path towards the castle. The pathways were lined with glass spheres that hovered a few centimeters above the ground.

“Are those floating lamps?” Melissa spoke in amazement. It was like this entire place was magical, if not for the uneasy feeling that she wasn’t welcome there, she wouldn’t mind staying forever.

The woman’s reverie of wonder was broken by something that zipped passed her face, followed by another and then another. Before long, about a dozen flying creatures where circling her. One of the tiny creatures stopped in front of her small button nose and Melissa gasped in amazement.

“Pixies!” She gasped. The little pixie smiled at Melissa sweetly and zipped around her face happily making the beautiful woman chuckle.

“You know of them?” Finwe asked the woman curiously.

“I’ve read of them in books,” Melissa responded as she enjoyed the beautiful creatures that were now planting little flowers into her hair.

“hmm..” Finwe stared at the woman as the pixies adorned her ginger locks with dozens of flowers and swooped around her excitedly. He had never seen something like this happen before, what was it about this woman, why her?

Gareth smiled at Melissa, he felt content and warm watching her giggle and humor the pixies. It had been a long and rough journey for them so seeing Mel smile like that was like a breath of fresh air.

“Alright shoo shoo,” Finwe spoke as he waved the tiny pixies away, “stop bothering our guests now, we have places to be, go on!”

The pixies hesitantly flew away and one flew to Finwe’s face and stuck its little tongue at him. “Go on get out of here,” the man shooed it away in annoyance before proceeding towards the castle.

The entrance to the marble wonder was guarded by four elves in armor who opened the massive double doors and bowed respectfully at Finwe. The blond elf gave them a slight wave and told them to notify the queen that they had guests.

Even though being introduced as a guest, Melissa could tell from the glares that the gaurds gave her that she was far from welcome in Ervelon. Gareth rubbed the woman’s hand gently and smiled down at her as they walked into the castle.

~it’s alright Mel, I’m here~

The redhead took a deep breath and forged ahead into the castle whose inside was even more jaw dropping than the outside. The walls were high and pearl white in color with high ceilings that displayed large glass candelabras that, like the spheres outside, were floating in mid air. Finwe led them to a parlor that had two rolls of glass staircases that led up to the higher floors of the large castle. Behind the stairs was a waterfall spilling its contents into a channel below that led the clear waters to what seemed to be an indoor garden.

“Beautiful isn’t it?” Finwe spoke proudly

“It’s very flashy,” Gareth responded flatly.

“Our great grandfather gifted it to our great grandmother,” Finwe explained further, “before he married her, he had this entire place curved on the side of the mountain where they first met, he then gifted it to her as a wedding present when it was finished.”

“That’s beautiful,” Ella cooed in amusement.

“Her name was Erva and his was Sephlon,” Finwe added on, “so this great kingdom was named Ervelon, in memory of their love.” The man cleared his throat and pointed towards an opening to his right. “This way please, mother will be with us shortly.”

Melissa and Gareth followed the blond elf into a beautiful study with glass walls and pure white sofas and tables. “Please make yourself at home brother.”

Gareth helped Melissa into a chair and then sat down next to her. He made sure to keep her hand in his because he could sense her uneasiness the entire time. A few minutes after sitting, a beautiful tall woman with dark hair, who looked a lot like Gareth walked into the room and instantly covered her mouth when her eyes fell on her son.

Melissa and the dark haired prince both stood up as the woman practically ran towards them and embraced Gareth in a tight hug. “Oh Gareth,” she spoke as tears streamed down her rosey cheeks, “oh my baby boy, you’re finally home.”

The woman pulled away and smiled happily at her son, but her smile began to fade when her eyes fell on the blue eyed woman beside him and trailed down to their interlocking hands.

“And who is this?”