Chapter 31 : Rylan's Heart

Rylan

As night approached, the sun slowly dipped below the horizon, leaving a trail of fiery reds, oranges, and yellows before being covered by a sky of deep blues and purples. For him, the moment of sunset was a time he always enjoyed. He would sit in a tree and enjoy the play of colors as he contemplated.

However, like Carolina, this beauty was slowly disappearing from his life.

He often reflected and remembered the precious moments they shared a few years ago when their love grew and blossomed. He remembers Carolina lying comfortably on his lap, her head resting against his beating heart, on the leaves of the forest.

In that moment he felt the warmth of the woman he loved and he felt close to her. In those memories, he would bury his nose in her long, beautiful dark brown hair, smelling the herbal scent that always clung to her. The scent brought back memories of healing and caring, her way of always being willing to help people who were hurt or sick.

Carolina was a good healer who always tried to help others. He felt he could change for her sake, become a better man than the cruel werewolf he once knew. He was even willing to become an ordinary werewolf or a weak Omega if that was what Carolina wanted, as long as he could take good care of her.

His embrace would tighten, as if he was afraid of losing her, and in truth, he always was. Carolina had a very special place in his heart, and he felt that it was still there, even though she was gone.

As night fell and darkness covered the earth, only the moon and the stars lit up the dark sky. Rylan would think about the fact that he had lost Carolina and that it was his fault. He would think about the choices he had made and how his once suspicious attitude towards Carolina had been one of the causes of her tragic departure.

He would continue to think about his mistakes and how that feeling of regret lingered in his heart, especially at sunset, like tonight.

But then she came back to him. She walked among people who had come back to life, but there was an unavoidable difference. Although she walked and talked like a living, conscious human being, her heart stopped beating, and he knew that she no longer needed to breathe. Once, while asleep, he saw the air in her lungs stop flowing. Her body was no longer made of living human flesh, only a shadow and a soul.

He could still smell the scent of the plants attached to her body, but he could no longer smell the signs of life. What he smelled now was the stench of death. Although he knew she was dead, his longing to hug her remained, but her body was no longer warm when he felt her embrace.

Knowing this, he felt pain in the bottom of his heart. He was happy that the girl was still alive in some way, but he also felt despair because he knew that her soul could not rest completely.

Then there was Karenina, the girl who had come into his life. The first time they met was when Karen was a little friend of his, before the tragedy of the attack by the barbarian rogues forced her to leave the Moonlit Grove. The second time was when he was still under the curse of a black magic spell that kept him sealed for years, and he thought she was Carolina. In truth, she was Carolina's cousin and grew up to be a girl with many similarities to Carolina.

He felt close to Carolina again when he was with Karenina. He embraced her as he did when he held Carolina. But he knew that she was not Carolina, although in the past he had admitted that he sometimes wished that she was Carolina. That thought was something he despised. Over time, this feeling developed into a deep love for Karenina. He loved her for who she was, but there was a dark side to him that knew that he was also deeply in love with Karenina because she was a part of Carolina, something he hated in himself.

He feels that he doesn't deserve Karenina. Someone as good and pure as Karenina shouldn't have to be attached to a man like him, whom he considers a bastard. Even though he knew all this, he couldn't stop himself from feeling the urge to hug Karenina tightly, just like he had done with Carolina. He did not want to let her go. Even if Carolina did not return, he felt that he could act on his selfish desires and keep Karenina for himself. He couldn't imagine anyone else having Karenina, even now - though he couldn't quite claim her knowingly.

Awakening from his reverie, he noticed that night was falling, and darkness was creeping into the lush forest of trees and vines. Though the moonlight was fading, Rylan did not need the light, for his eyesight could see clearly in the darkness.

Standing hidden among the branches, having followed the scent of death into the forest, now far away from his group, he was at a loss as to where to continue his journey. The stench of decay and putrefaction was overwhelming here, and he felt that he had lost the trail an hour ago. Still, he refused to stop, believing that he could pick up the scent again.

But his efforts seemed to be in vain.

He looked down at the forest floor, trying to follow their tracks, but there was a strange mist swirling on the ground. This was not the red mist created by the little creature with the bag, but rather a rolling white mist. Carefully, he tried to stay as far away from the mist as possible in the trees, not wanting to be caught by its mysterious effects.

Even though he felt so tired, he would continue to search for Carolina. It felt strange, this tiredness coming on so suddenly. He didn't know what caused it, but he was too tired to think about it. His eyes felt so heavy, hard to open, and his whole body felt lethargic.

He finally decided to rest here for a while, on a branch that was safe from the fog. He knew he could only sleep for a few hours before sunrise, even though the thick foliage almost completely blocked out the light.

He only needed a short nap.

He leaned his back against the trunk of the tree where he was standing, comfortably on the hard branch, and let his tired eyes win the battle. He closed his eyes, his body feeling relaxed, and he sighed deeply as sleep finally crept over him.