[A/N]:

A slightly shorter chapter to fill in the gaps of the story and ensure continuity. I hope you liked it anyway. This chapter is also unedited so please do point out any errors if you spot them.

Thank you so much for reading.

xx aurora

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T H E  G O L D E N  B I R D

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ALTHOUGH THE SUN was a light so bright and dazzling, for once, Lucius did not feel safe within the comforts of it. The sunlight might be against his skin, caressing him like a mother would a child but all he could feel was the petrifying fear that he might discover something here that he would not like.

Unlike the boy that basked in the sun, Adelia was a child of the night that was used to the cool of the darkness. Lucius noticed the way she was calm and collected, lips pursed together in curiosity as she hovered over the ground, careful not to go too fast just in case Lucius, who was behind her, might lose sight of her.

It was the little things that she did that made Lucius smile unknowingly.

"It looks like there hadn't been someone here for months, maybe even years," Lucius commented without a thought, brushing a vine away where it hung from the wall and over his head. It missed the top of his head by a few mere millimeters.

"It sure needs a little housekeeping and a little care but it still looks eerily beautiful." Adelia nodded her head, combing her wild black curls away from her face. "Sort of like a dream."

"Or a nightmare," Lucius whispered under his breath. "I imagined it to be so much grander."

From the cracks in the castle walls, Lucius could see the sunlight that filtered in. They were just mere tiny rays, barely enough to light up the otherwise gloomy castle even though it was situated in the middle of a paradisiac land. Besides, the light streamed in through the emerald green leaves that surrounded the castle walls, making the light a ghostly green.

"Oh hush, Lucius. Not everything is as it seems on the outside. Besides, I like that it isn't perfect. Nothing in this material world is perfect except for the Almighty himself so why should this castle be? It is just more realistic this way." Adelia chided with a hand on her hip, eyebrows pressed downward and lips set into a frown.

Lucius shrugged, shoulders lifting as high as they could before dropping back down to their natural position. "Can't I dream?"

To that, Adelia did not reply.

Lucius knew deep in his heart that she was right. There should not be anything as perfect as the Almighty as he was the creator of them all. However, Lucius could not deny the fact that as the days passed, he was beginning to think of someone else as the ideal form of perfection. And there she was just a few feet in front of him, complete with dark wings of the night and hair as black as a void, twisted like the winds of a storm. Her eyes were the bolts of lightning, the striking stunning beauty that arrested his heart just by a single glance and could cause a turmoil to build and rage the seas.

If she was the storm, Lucius would be the sea. He was moved by her beauty, entrapped like the victim of a siren's song. Whenever she was present, he would know no logic for his actions would be solely controlled by his growing affection for her. It was a dangerous game, one that he was sure to lose no matter what happens in between the starting and ending point.

The inevitable and painful truth was that two angels could never be together, not in the way that Lucius so desperately craved. It was forbidden.

"What in the world is that?" Adelia's silky smooth voice pulled Lucius out of his little daydream, forcing his eyes to glance over at where she pointed to.

Carefully following where she gestured towards, Lucius's jaw dropped with surprise when he finally saw what had caught Adelia's attention. He could not fully comprehend what he was seeing, doubt flooding his veins in the place of blood as he rubbed at his eyes. When he opened them again and was met with the same sight, Lucius could only breathe out in disbelief.

"Wow," he gasped, "a golden bird. I cannot believe my eyes."

"In all my years." Adelia had well stopped in her tracks, feet landed on the ground with a soft thud as she gaped at the sight as well. "Is it real?"

The bird was the most peculiar thing. It had feathers made of pure gold, enabling to catch the glow of the sunlight effortlessly. Its eyes were a bright ruby red, accompanied by a belly of silver feathers. The creature itself was not at all large. In fact, it was about the size of the smallest of sparrows, just large enough to catch sight of from a distance away all thanks to its dazzling appearance.

Its chirp was a sweet melody, a lingering beauty that rang of nature's best and would echo in the listener's ears. If Lucius strained his ears hard enough, he could even make out a tune that seemed even livelier than the music of Heaven.

"It is utterly magnificent." From beside him, Adelia was a face full of smiles. She was in awe, it was needless to say, easy to see. Cautiously, she took a few steps forward to where the bird was currently perched, gently raising her hand into the air. "Do you think it is friendly?"

Lucius wrinkled his nose. "It might be domesticated but there is a high chance that it is but a wild animal. It is best to leave them alone in their own habitat."

"Surely you do not think that their natural habitat is a man-made castle built from stone?" Adelia barely even turned back, her words questioning as she stared at the bird in increasing fascination. "Maybe its owner was the previous inhabitant of this castle."

From the corner of his eye, Lucius noticed a stack of oddly new parchment. Curiosity overwhelmed him as he scrunched his eyebrows tightly together, knitting them with confusion before walking over to where they were. On a desk very much like his own back in his hut, there were rolls upon rolls of parchment all stacked up together.

Lucius randomly unrolled one. Greeted by seemingly endless lines of cursive words, the first thing that Lucius noticed was that the ink was oddly fresh. The words were still a pitch black, the paper clean and new as if it had just been placed there. Lucius's eyes barely even scanned through the words before he picked up another scroll only to see similarities with the first one. This writing, too, was new.

"Adelia, I do not think that the inhabitants of this castle are truly gone." Calling out to his companion, he could hear her disappointed groans when the bird let out a small chirp before, presumably, flying away. Adelia was right by his side within seconds after, peering over his shoulder before grabbing hold of one of the scrolls.

"The ink is fresh," she observed with astonishment, fingers lightly tracing the lettering. "Who could've written these? The castle looks abandoned!"

Just as Lucius was about to reply, a different voice called out behind them, causing them both to whip behind. When he saw who was standing right behind him, Lucius could only allow his jaw to gape, the scroll dropping instantly from his hands as though they were made of hot coal. He could feel Adelia tensing up beside him as well as a unified thought ran through of their minds.

They had been caught.