The Princess And The Demon

"Everything's set?" Henry asked no one in particular, he knew he had to get a grip on his emotions but they were simply all over the place, He didn't know what to feel or what to think, he desperately needed some rest and solitude to think things through, he was tired and sad and agitated and worried, nothing of this made sense to him anymore and he felt like he was standing blindfolded on the edge of a cliff, one wrong step would end life and so would standing still, all he could do was take cautious steps toward the unknown and wish to survive this storm without losing anyone or anything else.

"Yes Your Grace, Everyone are in there position, we are waiting for your signal", one of the shadow demons replied, their plan now was to use the giant crossbows to attack the castle from all sides all at once, their next step would be decided by the outcome of this attack, he couldn't see any barrier around the castle but Rima confirmed that her ghosts were not only met but destroyed by one, in that case it must be some invisible magical barrier that was somehow immune to magical attacks, Henry hoped that would make it vulnerable to physical ones because he had no idea what to do if it wasn't ...

Taking a deep breath to clear his head, Henry nodded to the demon who mindlinked other troops to attack, in a fraction of a second, the sky was lit up by thousands of fire arrows all directed toward the castle, what looked like hours of holding breath and anticipation was actually few second before the arrows crashed mid-air, all of them with their fire absorbed by something invisible, Henry clenched his teeth, giving orders to adjust the crossbows angels to his a lower area of the barrier and then a higher one in a third attempt, but unfortunately it all went the same way, This was exactly what he feared, the barrier was too strong without weaknesses all along it perimeter, Everyone looked at him waiting for one of his usual smart last minute decision but he had none, this wasn't an enemy he could trick or a dispute he could solve, it was something over his power, he opened his mouth and closed it several times, not knowing what exactly to tell thousands of soldiers waiting for his next command...

The command never came but instead a terrified scream did, Henry who was still thinking looked where the soldiers's widened eyes were looking and a sudden panic rose in his c.h.e.s.t...

The giant golden trees they were surrounded with started to shake violently before moving, their roots were ripped off the ground and their branches and leafs were caught on fire, black smoke hid the sky and turned the air around them barely breathable, the trees then started attacking the troops, the close ones hitting and stepping on them while the far ones were throwing them with burning colts, the entire forest was on fire and there was no place to run, panic quickly took over the troops that lost their formations in a futile attempt to run away, the ice demons did there best to suppress the flames while others attacked the cores of the trees but it wasn't enough, Henry cursed under his breath while dodging the colts, how could such combination even exist?! Usually fire was the natural enemy of trees! So how were they attacked by burning trees?! And how to defeat them?! Or more urgently; How to survive their attack?!

From the corner of his eye, Henry got a glimpse of Rima running toward him while freezing some trees on her way, She looked worried, what he did not know was how terrified she actually was, Fire was ice natural enemy and her greatest phobia, being surrounded by fire was a true nightmare to her, Yet she barely cared for herself in that moment, all she could think of was Henry, he was a human after all with no way to shield himself from the attacks, She run toward him panicked, her eyes glued to him, afraid that the moment she blink he would be gone, She was hurt by his previous behavior, his anger at her was justified but she wished he could give her a chance to explain herself instead of labeling her guilty and turning his back on her, putting a huge gap between them but none of that mattered now, none of it would matter if he died, Henry on the other hand was torn, he felt like this was the end, He wanted nothing more than to run toward her and take her in his arms one last time, his heart was aching for her, craving one last touch but something just wouldn't let him move, a bile in his throat stopping him from saying her name, it was too painful he needed a moment to gather his swallow his distortion, A wave of smoke hid them from each other and the last thing Rima saw, was Henry breaking their eye contact,looking away from her...

Smoke surrounded the ice queen, Frozen tears fell from her eyes and rolled on the ground beneath her, She hoped his previous behavior was lead by shock and anger, that once he calms down he would understand her motives and forgive her, But that last look, all the mixed emotions in his beautiful eyes, and the way he broke their eye contact made her realize that the gap was simply too wild to cross, He had made his mind already, to end what ever they had, and bury their newly born love story under all the hatred and animosity their kinds shared over the years, He abandoned her, broke the heart she kept safe all her life to willingly give to no one but him, he threw it back at her feet, broken beyond repair...

Rima lost sense of her surroundings, the unbearable pain in her heart slowly taking over her entire body, her hair started changing color into a snowy color and her skin was turning into a pale blue similar to a frozen corps' skin, Henry who took a second to gather himself looked back to where she was standing but he found nothing, only the suffocating cloak of smoke and fire, he looked around him in a desperate attempt to locate her before a deafening scream nearly ripped him off his sanity...