The Death Bridge

From the shadows, a pair of silver eyes silently watched the scene unfold.

The white-haired man felt his heart shrink at the sight of the woman kneeling beside the grave, with her hands balled into fists and her head between her arms. It shocked him to see the stubborn, fiery woman in such a vulnerable state. He could not understand the urge to protect her that suddenly settled in his heart. He tried to fight it but he felt his willpower falter.

His feet were quicker than his brain and before he could think it over, he stepped out of the shadows. His feet carried him towards Raven. But when he came close, he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. What came over him? What is he doing? He started to hope that Raven didn't hear his footsteps and that he could retreat without her noticing. But then his heart dropped to the bottom of his stomach when he saw her move.

Hearing the footsteps behind her, Raven jerked her head up and reached for her bow beside her. But before her hand could reach it, Axil's deep voice made her freeze.

"It's me"

Realising that there was no turning back, Axil sat down beside Raven. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Raven spoke as she lowered her head.

"What are you doing here?", she softly asked.

"Couldn't sleep, same as you"

Raven lifted her head. "And you coincidentally decided to take a walk in the same direction as I?", she asked sarcastically.

Axil turned his head and silently looked at Raven. She quickly lowered her head again.

"No…After you left, I got up and decided to follow you", he said truthfully.

"Why?", she asked softly.

Axil frowned and looked down. Why did he follow her? "I don't know…You seemed a bit out of sorts"

{"You don't say"}, Raven thought with a tinge of bitterness. "It's none of your business", she said.

"I know it's not", Axil said with a soft sigh.

"Then why did you follow me if you know that?", Raven asked with a tired voice and turned her head to look at Axil.

The white-haired man shrugged and looked at Raven. The moonlight washed over her face, lighting every corner with a soft light. He saw the trails of the tears running down her face. His eyes followed them to the source. He felt his heart wrench as he stared into her eyes. They were clouded like a dark storm and held an emptiness that shouldn't be in the eyes of a living person.

Raven averted her gaze, not knowing what to say.

Axil softly sighed before stretching his arms out in front of him, hands pressed together. Raven glanced at him with a frown on her face. Suddenly his hands started to glow and he parted them to reveal a transparent, glowing orb materializing between his palms. Inside the orb was a dead rose.

The orb floated above Axil's palm as he held it out to Raven. "I want you to have this", he said softly.

Raven stared at the rose. Seeing her hesitation, Axil gently took her hand and placed the orb in her palm. Raven arched a brow and looked up at him.

"You want to give me a dead rose?", she asked sceptically.

A smile appeared in Axil's face. He lowered his head and chuckled softly. "It's not a dead rose", he said as he looked back up.

Raven glanced down at the orb in her hand and then back at Axil, a frown between her brows.

"It's a magical rose…here, let me show you", he said with a smile as he took the orb from Raven.

His hands glowed again and the orb dissolved leaving only the rose to float in the air. He carefully took the rose by its stem and held it out to Raven.

"It still looks the same, you know", she said, a faint smile tugging at her lips as she took the rose. "Dead and…wrinkled…and pointy."

Axil chuckled. "Prick your finger"

Raven jerked her head up and looked at Axil as if he had just lost all of his sanity. "Why would I want to do that?"

"Just do it. You'll see…"

Raven brought her finger to a thorn. She hesitated and glanced at the white-haired man. Her eyes met his smiling ones. She closed her eyes and lightly pricked her finger. She slowly opened her eyes and saw a small drop of her blood on the thorn. She felt a sudden sting in her finger and glanced down at her hand. She felt her jaw drop when she saw that the wound was completely healed. She looked up at Axil and was about to question him about this when the rose in her hand suddenly glowed.

Her eyes flicked to the rose and widened in surprise.

The rose's dead and wrinkled petals straightened and turned an into a beautiful, dark brown colour. A faint golden glow spread across the petals, leaving traces of gold behind. The glow reached the edges of the petals and framed them with a bold golden line. The brown-black stem turned into a dark green colour as the thorns slowly disappeared, replaced by small green leaves.

Raven stared in awe at the rose for a few moments. She finally lifted her eyes to the white-haired man's moonlit face. Her eyes met his and she saw that they were slightly glowing. Her jaw dropped involuntarily.

Axil felt a smile reach his lips when he saw Raven's reaction. He chuckled. He could guess what she was thinking. "Some other time…"

"What?", Raven asked, confused.

"I'll tell you some other time…why my eyes are glowing…"

"Oh, I, uh…didn't mean to stare…", Raven said as she lowered her head, her voice almost a whisper.

Raven slowly twirled the rose around in her hand as silence fell between them.

After a while, Axil's deep voice broke the silence

"It's called a Blood Rose…"