Phayu's POV:

It had been almost 6 months since Rain came back. While I would never say it had been an easy 6 months, it definitely had been good for the two of us. We had talked a lot, trained together, worked on the problems of the kingdom and he had finally showed me many of his powers. He had never failed to amaze me, this boy. We were nowhere close to becoming mates, but he was the perfect partner, the most perfect Queen any King could ask for. He was kind, gentle, patient, empathetic and sympathetic, everything I was not. But his temper! It would have been best if you didn't get him riled. I had seen him once, after the Northern Council members had left.

I would have never believed if I had not seen it with my own eyes. The storm in my office would never be an image I would be able to erase from my mind. Every single object had whirled around as he stood in the centre of the room. I stood in the doorway and watched a literal destruction. His eyes had been blazing fire. Just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. Everything was settled back in its original place and the whole room was in pristine condition. "Can I come in?" I asked. He looked at me with tears in his eyes. "I hate that Rick will eventually have to face this shit," he said. "I am going to ask everyone to come here. You call Pai. We will solve the problem together, okay?" He had nodded. I had held out my arms and he had walked into them and hugged me. It was the first time we had hugged that way, and it felt really nice.

Training had been done at a break-neck speed. Every day from early morning to late evening, training had gone on. The warriors had been working extremely hard. It was really heart-warming to see how everyone was coming together. Pat and Pran had gone to Europe to talk the Council there and Chai and Saifah had gone to the American Council. They had managed to convince everyone. Luckily for us, the Australian Council got in touch themselves and said they would be sending their best warriors as well. So things were going great for us so far.

I looked up from my papers when I heard a knock on the door. "Come in!" I called out. It was Rain. "Hey, you busy?" he asked. "No Nangfa, not really. What happened?" I asked. He was just about to speak when the door burst open and Raejin and Avani rushed in. "Raejin, Avani? What happened?" Rain asked. Even till today, only Sky and he had the guts to call them that way. The rest of us still could not get used to that form of informal address. "There is news!" Lady Avani said. "What news?" I asked, wondering what it could be to get a God and Goddess into such a frenzy. "The sins have risen! We might go to war sooner than we expected," Lord Raejin said. "We expected that, didn't we?" Rain asked. He was taking this way too well. But then he looked at me. His ever changing eyes described exactly all his emotions.

"The Devil is hard at work I see," Lord Alizeh said walking into the room. "He is building their army Varain. You will have to be prepared for any eventuality." "Are our soldiers ready? What do you guys think?" Rain asked them. "They are ready, but are you?" Lady Avani asked. "What do you mean?" "You are going to be their first target. With you out of the way, they will reign supreme," Lord Raejin said. I looked at Rain. "I have been ready and waiting for this moment from the time I was 10 years old you guys. This is a battle that I have been seeing in my head for 10 years. I will not let myself or anyone else lose," confidence dripped from his words. Knowing that this would bring Rain into the direct line of fire, I was about to say something, when he turned around to look at me. "If you even dare to think of removing me from the battlefield or from the line of fire, I swear to God, you will be the first to die."

"I wasn't going to say that," I said. "But you thought that," he said. "So now, forget about it. I am the Queen, their nemesis, and I will back down in front of no one." "I wasn't going to say anything," I started. "But you were thinking it," he cut me off. "Okay, okay, I was. I am sorry. Won't happen again." I said. "Raejin, which is the first sin we are likely to face?" he asked. "The one that's the easiest to manipulate and the one that's easiest to raise," Lord Alizeh said. "Let me guess. Pride" Rain said. "Absolutely correct," Lord Raejin said. "So? Do we know what he or she looks like? And where can we find them?" I asked. "No, we don't. Which is why you will have to come with Idalia, Neoma and me today. So that we can find our target," Lady Avani said. "Go where?" I asked. "The lake of mirrors," Rain and she said together.

"Lake of mirrors? What is that?" I asked. "A place where dreams come true," Sky said from the doorway. "Naphon, I am glad to see you. We will need the help of Zander. We can travel, but Varain will need help to go," Avani said. "I will send for him right away," I said. "Not necessary to call him immediately. We will be going only in the evening. The lake will give us it's answers only in the twilight time," Rain said. "Better that we inform Rick and Zander right away," I said. "They will be in training right now. Let's let them know anyway," Sky said. The urgency in the task was very clear now.

Rick's POV:

"Rick!" We were just leaving the training field when Lord Alaz called me. They never called us by our nicknames. It was honestly very weird in the beginning. But now we were used to it. "Yes, Lord Alaz? How can I help you?" I said. "Varain will need Alexander to help him out today," he said. "Zan? What happened? Is all well?" I was immediately worried. What was my brother planning? "All is well. We have received some news. We need to find the first sin." "The first sin? They have risen?" I asked.

"Yes, and we need to find the 1st as soon as possible. The faster we hunt them down, the better it is for us," he said. "Okay Lord Alaz. I will inform Zan and we will join you as soon as possible," I said. I rushed to find Zan, wondering why he was needed and if Rain was going to be in any danger. An hour later, Zan and I made our way to Phayu's room. "What do you think is going to happen Zan? I am really worried about Rain. It seems like what we have been worried about for so long seems to be coming true. Will everything be okay you think?" I asked. "You are overthinking Rick. And you are underestimating Rain. He is not what you remember him to be. He is the most powerful being in the Supernatural world. So relax and let him do his thing," Zan tried to comfort me.

In Phayu's room, Rain was sitting on the floor in a meditative state. Sky was drawing a circle around him but he was not even aware. Lady Avani, Lady Idalia and Lady Neoma sat outside doing the same thing. They stood up the moment they saw Zan and me. "Thank you both for coming. We need your help Alexander," Lady Avani said. "No need to thank us Lady Avani. It's our pleasure. How can we help you though?" Zan asked. "We need to go to the Lake of Mirrors. I will show you the parchment with the map. Idalia, Avani and I can reach there on our own, but Varain will need help to get there," Lady Neoma said.

"Alright. When does he need to go?" Zan asked. "I am ready," Rain said, his eyes still closed. "Are you sure Varain?" Lady Idalia asked him. He opened his eyes. His eyes had deepened to almost turquoise. This was the first time I had seen this colour in anyone's eyes. It was unbelievable. Judging from lack of reaction in most of the faces around me, I realised that only Zan and I seemed not to know what was going on. "What is going on guys? Can someone explain?" I asked. "Did you get to know that the sins have been activated. The Devil is raising his army," Sky asked. "Yes, Lord Alaz told me," I replied. "Pride is the first we need to battle. Because it is the easiest to manipulate and the hardest to find victory against. To find out who he or she is, we will have to visit the Lake of Mirrors to scry for their face and location so that we can plan our battle strategy as soon as possible," Lord Raejin said.

"Okay, let's begin!" Lady Idalia came forward. Rain continued to sit in the circle, but this time with the Goddesses. And this time Zan stepped into it and sat with him. He held his hands and asked, "Ready?" He nodded. Suddenly it was like electricity passed through the room. It was a sensation I had felt once before, 6 months ago, when Zan had brought Rain and Sky back. There was complete silence, so pin-drop that it felt like the whole room had stopped breathing. Zan opened his eyes. "Zander, what is it?" Phayu asked, worry lacing his voice. "Nothing! Don't worry! He is there. He will back soon," Zan comforted him. Around 45 minutes later, he suddenly jerked. "Zan? What now?" I asked. "He is coming back. Saying that, he closed his eyes. So soon? Why were they coming back so soon? Was everything okay? I was hoping that nothing had gone wrong, because the sooner we won this war, the better it was for all of us.

Rain's POV:

The Lake was just as I remembered it. It felt like yesterday when I would look into this surface and see my family every birthday. And now 6 months had passed by. Life had become tougher, yet better. Every day, I was falling in love a little more with Phayu. Even then, I had never confessed anything to him, never gave him an inkling of what I felt. I was very afraid that if something happened to me, it would really harm him too. I had thought several times in my head that I should tell him, but every time the conversation stuck in my craw. I just couldn't bring myself to confess to him. I know Sky had some idea of what was going on, but he never asked me. He understood and accepted that I would tell him whatever I needed in my own time.

At the lake, we all spread our arms wide. Avani had already told me the spell. We held hands and started the spell.

"In this tween time, this darkest hour,

we call upon this sacred power.

Four together stand alone,

command true evil to be shown.

For truth we search the skies,

enchanted are our newfound eyes."

"REVELARE!!"

The water started to ripple and move inwards slowly freezing and creating a mirror reflecting the trees and plants around it. As we looked deep into the surface, we saw a sea of people. It looked like any busy weekday morning, people bustling over to work. As the sea parted, I saw someone I immediately recognised. P'Jackl!! Why was he made so visible to us? "Avani, the boy in black and blue, right there! I know him. Jack Nattapong. A face that I know? Could it be him?" I asked. "Help me read his aura Varain," Neoma said. Neoma had taught me to read aura during my training with her. We both concentrated really hard over Jack.

Over his head hung a dark purple haze interspersed with navy lightning streaks. It was really bizarre and looked harsh and ugly. "This looks like it," I said. Neoma nodded. "I agree with Varain. It looks we have found Pride," Neoma said. I felt like I was being suffocated. Seeing Jack itself had opened a floodgate of memories. I had always hated him, knowing that he was Pensri's friend and incapable of anything except creating misery in my life. But finding out he was Pride, that he held a sin within him, and thinking that I had to perhaps destroy him, was harder than I thought it would be. I wondered what this would do to Phayu and Rick.

"Let's go back Varain," Avani said, probably understanding from the look on my face that I was pretty confused about what I was feeling. I jerked Zander's hand and felt myself being pulled back. Just like that I was back in Phayu's room. I looked at Rick and Phayu standing there expectantly waiting for me to come back. How could I ever tell them what I had seen? Is this what had been foretold? Is this why I had been warned again and again by Michael and Gabriel that it could be faces that I had known. Familiar faces that could be the hardest to face.

"Rain? What happened? What are you thinking? Who was it?" Rick asked. "Hia," I said, my voice breaking. "Rain?" he looked at me in panic and then looked at Phayu. Phayu stepped forward. I looked at both of them. "I am sorry, I need some time," I said and rushed out of the room. I could not face both of them right now. It had to be one of the worst moments of my life. I just needed to be able to breathe. I went upstairs to the room that had been assigned to Sky and me whenever we needed to stay at the Royal Mansion, which was becoming more and more often. I stood in the balcony and looked out. Even the moon looked subdued. I could feel the bitterness of my tears that were threatening to spurt out of my eyes.

I felt more than heard Venice behind me. But I refused to turn. "Are you alright?" he asked. I just nodded, not trusting myself to speak. I felt like if I uttered even one word, it would open the gates to so many emotions that I had kept locked inside. "Lady Avani said it was Jack," he said. I nodded again. "Are you never going to look at me again?" he asked. I finally turned around, almost 10 years of pain etched inside me, the pain of rejection coiling inside me like a poisonous snake.

"Yes, it was Jack, one of your 'friends'," I said. Some of my bitterness must have eked through, because Phayu looked at me with an almost painful look. "He was just a friend Rain," he said. "Just like Pensri?" I asked. "Both of them were my friends, and whatever happened was my fault. I agree. But please, don't be like this. I never meant to hurt my mate, I never meant to hurt you." "But you did. You did Phi, more than you can imagine," I burst into tears as soon as I said that. He tried to gather me in his arms, but I moved back. "Don't touch me yet Phi, please," I said, holding out a hand in front of me.

"Okay, I will not do that. But I just want you to talk to me," he said. Talk? He wanted me to talk? If I started, I wouldn't be able to stop. I skirted around him and went and sat on the bed. "I think you should leave now Phi. I don't want to say anything that I may regret later," I said to him. "No Rain, I am done leaving. I am not going to leave while you stay here alone, thinking of God knows what! I am not letting the past 6 months go down the drain. You will talk to me dammit!" he said, his voice breaking at the end.

I looked at him, thinking of the past 10 years, thinking of that peck the very day I realised I was his mate, thinking of all the moments I avoided him, thinking of my hate. I tried to focus on his face, but my vision kept blurring with my unshed tears. I looked away. "Rain," he began gently. "I was an ass. But trust me, I never crossed a line. The first time she kinda kissed me, I was too surprised to do anything. It was so sudden, and in my wildest dreams I never thought that she would do it in front of my mate. I didn't even know you were my mate. I was wrong not to push her away, but she never tried anything else. The second kiss was on my 18th birthday. I was slightly drunk, and it was like a dare, so we just kissed. She made it clear she wanted more, and I made it just as clear, I did not. I may have hurt you baby, but I never went further than that. I never betrayed you." His words were painful to hear, but maybe a lot more necessary than I thought.

In my head, I had seen a thousand ways how this conversation would go, but I began with the one thing that had been the longest festering wound. "Why did you never bother to find out why your mark never filled? Didn't you ever care?" He looked taken aback at my question, but he readily answered. "Because I was an asshole of the highest degree Rain. I wanted to find out, but I was scared. I didn't want to hear the answer. A mate mark at that age was unheard of. And if I had found out what it meant? I didn't know what I would do. I was afraid of disappointing everyone. Which I did eventually anyway." His sadness and guilt were like a cloak, enveloping the whole room and making it so hard for me to even breathe.