Third person

The goddess whispers the name of her mate as pain becomes too much for her to bear and with a silver flash, appears a man, wrapping his arm around her defeated shoulders, holding her tall. And with a swing of his arm, he dismisses the darkness floating the land, as if it was nothing but a heavy mist.

He stands dressed in white and like the goddess, he too holds the brilliance of heaven, the halo in his silver hair, and supremacy on his silver eyes. But those silver orbs remain on the girl, searching for the light, the innocence she once radiated with.

He had failed to protect his little girl, one whom he loved before heaven.

"My sweet, little Althea."

But Althea looks at him with hard eyes, blaming him for her loss as she pulls Aries tighter in her arms, in fear that he too was against her being with Aries. "What has this world done to you, my little Althea?"

She keeps her glare on him even though, Randolph, her father, held the softest gaze of heaven, one that was only meant for his mate and his daughter.

"Save our daughter, Rand..." The goddess whispers brokenly to her mate, but her eyes remains focused on her daughter. "Help me this once..."

Then she looks up at her mate, her own face painted with two lines of red. "You are the only one that can save her now Rand, please grant me this one wish. I ask for nothing more. Save our daughter's soul. Save her."

Wiping her face clean of her tears, Randolph gives a soft smile as he nods. With one tight squeeze on her shoulder, he leaves his mate and walks forward to where his daughter sits, broken and bitter.

"I will save your love, Althea."

She blinks her eyes once, surprised by his words. "I can save him." But she hisses sharply at the change of his word which held a completely different meaning to his previous sentence, but he just stands firm regardless.

"I can save him, but you have to do me a favour in return."

Althea glares at him as he plays with his words, but her strong façade starts to fall little by little as he continues to speak. "I will only ask you this once more Althea, so tell me. I will save him, but do you in return, promise to do me a favour?"

"Anything."

She desperately clutches his body to her as she sits straighter, her body inching forward, upward to meet her father's eyes as she sees her chances slipping away. "As long as you bring him back to me, I'll do anything you say."

"Then I need you to hand over his body so I can take him back with me." Althea nods vigorously with hopeful eyes, her breathing pumping from her heart but his next word leaves her stunned.

"However, you cannot follow."

Her shoulders drops as her heart slows and once again falls into its silent rhythm. She sits back with her fists clenched tight, holding onto his body. She stills, her angry eyes pleading him guilty, but Randolph stands firm to his words.

"Go find your divinity first. You have forgotten your way back home, Althea."

"If you think I'm letting him out of my arms again, you are wrong father. I will never let go of him ever again." She seethes back. "I have had enough of heaven and its lies. But no more."

"So, you prefer to hold onto a vessel of his soul as your own soul gets tainted with darkness?"

"I'll bring his soul back to his body. I'll even break through hell if hell is where his soul lies."

"And you think hell will sit idle as you tear their walls down and steal from them? No Althea, they will never let you."

"Then I'll destroy everything that stands before me. Every obstacle, I'll wipe them off this infinity. This I promise you father. I'll never stop until I have him back." A corner of her lips twists upward into an evil smirk as she defies the heaven once again.

"Have you even thought of Aries? Do you think he will be happy to see you like this?"

"Aries will accept me in whatever form I come."

He nods his head as he tries to rationalise with his daughter. "And you think he will be happy to gain life out of so many sacrifices of others?"

"Aries will understand." Althea swallows hard as she starts to waver a little.

"But what of his guilt? Would he be able to live with that guilt? Would you be able to live with that guilt?"

"As long as I am with him, nothing else matters." Althea whispers gently as her eyes finally softens.

Randolph sighs as he studies his once sweet daughter's eyes now painted with the colour of travail of the world. "I'm sorry for everything that you had to go through but trust me this once Althea. There is no happiness in darkness, no peace with guilt."

Her heart squeezes with every word he says. Of how true they were. "Even if you say nothing else matters, he will always blame himself for what you have become, and he will end up hating the life you have to offer."

Althea remains silent, biting her lips hard as she tries to control the surging of the new emotions. "And eventually, you will end up destroying whatever soul you have left in you, and with you, Aries too will forever disappear. Is that what you truly want Althea? To see Aries erased from the infinity?"

Althea's eyes flicker around nervously as her hold tightens around Aries. She never wished Aries to be gone. She never wished for her love to never exist. "I'm giving you one last chance, Althea. Let me save him and in turn, save you."

He takes a step forward. "Go travel across the depth of the ocean, the core of the universe. Ignite that light that once danced in the corner of your eyes, the small of your heart. Only then come asking for his soul."

Now standing directly above her, he imposes a power that one could not deny, transmitting an aura of the supreme being that he was. "And I will grant you your wish. And in time, I will return him to you."

Biting the inside of her cheeks until blood pools her mouth, Althea once again curses herself. Of the choices she had made by allowing the darkness to take control of her heart, manipulating her and eventually leaving her with nothing at all.

Then her gaze falls on the wide-open eyes of the detached head on the ground. Eyes that once held the resentment of life. And his words rings in her ears.

"Is it so wrong to desire power? Is it wrong to wish the happiness of the universe?"

And as she looks at him now, her own answer haunts her. It taunts her.

"The only thing I ever wanted was him. To be with him. So, tell me father, is it so wrong of me to have just this one wish?"

She looks down at Aries as her red tears runs down her chin and onto the corner of his pale lips.

"Love is never wrong, Althea. Only the paths taken to obtain love can be wrong."

Swiping the drop of her blood across his lips, she blinks hard trying her best to stop any more tears from falling. "Take care of him for me father until I return."

She looks at him with so much love in her eyes as she whispers, broken. "Know that I always love you, Aries. So much..."

She strokes his face lovingly, admiring, memorising every small detail on his face, for one more time, for one last time. "I'm sorry for not holding onto to you once again. But always know this my love, everything that I do, I do all for you."

Randolph kneels in front of her and gently strokes his daughter's defeated shoulder, giving her a small smile. "Heal the hurt. Mend the broken. Be the light that shines upon the darkness. Guide the lost soul's home, daughter. Guide yourself home."

Then his hand reaches towards Aries' forehead and a white light shines upon his slightest touch. "As I will his."

And along with the shimmering light, his body too starts to melt, fade away as he ascends to heaven, showering Althea with them like snowflakes. And as does the god and the goddess while Althea sits with closed eyes facing the heavens, bathing her body in their light and cleansing her soul with their blessing.

"Be Althea Silvermoon, be the goddess of life once again..."

Destiny stays a moment longer as she takes in the scene in front of her. Although she had tried her hardest, she had still failed to keep her promises. Ashamed, she clenches her fists together.

"I am truly sorry Althea." Destiny whispers as she too finally departs. "And thank you for not doing as you promised." But Althea's mind could no longer hear the sounds of the world apart from her silent heart as she looks upon the last few traces left of her love.

"Find your way back to me Aries..."