Lord Shadow

'A message for me?'

'Don't worry. The message is not long. They seem confident that you would come for me'

Azief smiles bitterly and said

'Was there ever any doubt?' Then he said 

Katarina. I would always come for you'

Katarina only smiles and said

'I have faith' she simply answers that.

There is another silence between them. 

For a moment, the words that they say seems to reflect the things in their hearts. 

Yet, each time, there is always something that just is not complete. Never…. all the way. Because while love is not complicated, life is. 

Azief did not start anything with Katarina. Because he did not want to cheat toward Sofia. Sofia had a bad past

Her boyfriend once cheated on her. And Azief don't want to be that person to her. He doesn't want her to see him and remember that past memory

He doesn't want her to see him and think of him as a man that betrays him. Because Azief had been betrayed before.

And it is not a good feeling. Trust is not easy to gained. 

But it is easy to break. 

When someone trusted a person heavily, and to see that trust being betrayed, the feeling of betrayal is like a poison running through your veins.

It forms a trauma. It makes you hard to trust anyone else. And at least, Azief don't want to be like that to her.

That is why Sofia was always obsessed about being the only one. 

It is not that she simply wanted to monopolize his feelings. She simply didn't want to get betrayed…. again.

She fears that Azief would one day betray her. 

And that fear drove her to feeling insecure. 

It drove her to be something she is not, this jealousy incarnates, this highly volatile emotional person and she does not like that.

She sees herself changing and not in a good way and she knows sooner or later, she would either end up hating herself or hating him

And the conclusion of that scares her. 

Because she is done hating herself and she never wanted someone that she loves become someone that she hated. 

And Azief understand it. 

So, he buried his feeling towards Katarina. He wanted Sofia to see that he is committed to this. That he believes in the two of them

He believes in them…...together.

But each time Sofia ask the question about Katarina, he would never give Sofia an answer. Because he didn't want to lie. But if he speaks, then that would break Sofia heart. 

He had made a promise to Sofia. That he would never lie to her. That is a promise he had try to keep.

In the end, he still hurt Sofia. Only it is not lies that hurts her. It's the truth. And the hurt has become so much, that she could no longer bear it.

Because she would always be wondering when she was with him. Is she the one that he settled for?

Did he choose her because of some sense of responsibilities? Is it because of old memories that he chose her?

That is what she thought. And such thought could breed resentment. And because she did not want to hate him, she let him go.

And that is why she went away. 

Just a few days ago, he had broken up with her. As such, he could not just suddenly be with Katarina, at least not in the way that Katarina wanted.

Because then when they got back home and if Sofia see him with Katarina, he would hurt Sofia again.

She might think that she was right all along. That she was the chain holding him back. That she was…. the woman that he had pitied. 

He doesn't want her to think like that. He doesn't want to make her feel like she had never been wanted.

He had been in a crush. he had felt what it was like to love someone and knowing that someone would never love him back

However, he has never been in a situation where the reverse happened. He did not know what to do when the role is reversed.

And it was him that is loved so fiercely and so passionately. But he does understand sadness. He does understand the feeling of not wanted. 

And he never wanted Sofia to ever felt such feeling. 

What he felt for her was not a lie. And he would never want her to think like that. That every memory, and everything that they shared was a lie. 

But his heart itself is not ready to let her go.

Because he still remembers. 

He still remembers every moment, he still remembers everything about her, and each memory that he had of her, he still cherishes it.

And even though he still can't forget her, and even when he wants her to stay, facing having to spend his life without her, the only thing he could do as he was leaving, was letting her leave with ease.

Out of all the things he could do for her, Death Monarch, the strongest person in the world, the person that the Six Great Power all have to bow to, a person that could cover up the clouds with one hand, this person, when the one person he loves wanted to leave him, the only good thing he could do for her, was to respect her wishes and let her go. 

It is sad that when the only thing you could do right with the person you love, is to let them go.

It is alright for him to let her go. It is alright to leave him. Because he could wait for her. She had waited for him before.

Maybe this is his turn to wait. He still has that hope in his heart. 

And even if he did want to be with Katarina, he did not want to do it like this. he did not want to make Katarina felt like she was the rebound.

That is just wrong to him. He came here to save her. And seeing her fine is already good enough. 

They now have just to come back home. As for anything else…. they still have time. 

Katarina of course did not know what happen to Azief. 

She did not know that Azief had broken up with Sofia. But even if she knew, she would not just come to him like that.

She is always honest of trying to take what she wants. But not in this way. Because regardless of what she feels for him, she cares more about what he felt.

To her, if she does know that Azief had broken up with Sofia, knowing that Azief had tried to marry her, she would ask him

'Are you fine?'

So, Azief did not take a step forward and Katarina did not push him. If it's meant to be, it's meant to be.

Katarina did not once say she loves him the moment she knows that Azief is with Sofia. 

Those words…now it is a word that requires her to muster a lot of courage to say. Because she was afraid that the moment she said it, they would grow apart.

It is amazing how life and love works. If she had never met him, never fallen in love with him she would not care about never meeting him again

But once a bond is formed, once love blooms in one hearts, even when it hurts, you still want to be around that person, that thinking of not seeing them again is a torture itself. 

If she knew it would hurt this much, she would not have started. But since she had already fallen in…. this is the best thing she could do.

They walk slowly but unlike before when they were talking, there is this awkward silence between them. 

She is also silent and Azief just…. trying to hide what is in his heart.

Katarina then broke the silence

'The message'

'Ah, the message' Azief exclaimed like he suddenly remembers something. Katarina chuckles a bit 

Only in front of her, the fearsome Death Monarch would look so flustered. She wonders if more people could see this side of Death Monarch, maybe more people would love him

But then thinking that she would have more rivals, she thought it is quite alright that not many people know this side of him

The side of him that only she knows

And then she said the message 

'The Orvanians said that you are now on their watch list. It is better for you to not attempt any time warping, reality bending, multiversal travel for a while' Katarina had not known the full story of what had causes the Multiversal Convergence. 

But she knows now. 

Since it is related to Death Monarch, of course Katarina dig all the information she could get from Sith'venar. 

Sith'venar also already knows who Katarina was. That is the reason why he had sent a Battlestar to pick her up the moment she escaped the Demon King grasp.

>>>>