The End

“The goddess of love, acting as a chain around the one that loves her. Poetic.” Ariet had venom in her words, but she truly seemed to be agreeing with my proposal.

“Is this something you are willing to swear an oath to abide by, Chosen One?” Ariet asked while looking towards Tiaria.

Tiaria’s shoulders slumped slightly, the stress seemed to audibly leave her body as she realized that Ariet would not force her to kill me. I then noticed a red blush streaking across Tiaria’s cheeks. I suppose in a way I did just propose to her. She was always cute when she got flustered.

“Yes, Lord Ariet, if Yu allows me, I will be his chains.” Tiaria replied, trying hard to keep a calm voice.

“You really didn’t have to word it like that.” I whispered to her, speaking out of the side of my mouth.

“Shush.” Tiaria replied instantly, also in a whisper.

“Archon Yusai.” Ariet’s voice cut through the moment of glee that Tiaria and me were having.

“A Chosen One, The future Goddess of Love and assistant to the God of Earth, Tiaria Mesquerdia, has elected to prevent your demise through a binding contract. Consider yourself blessed, and offer her the life she deserves while she is still human.” Ariet said the last part sweetly, but I could tell she wasn’t entirely happy about it.

“That was my plan whether you asked me to or not.” I said definitely.

I looked over to Tiaria who was glaring at me, unimpressed.

“Tiaria will be happy, you have my word.” I reiterated, this time more respectfully.

“Good. Chosen One, take care of the rest.” Lord Ariet said before vanishing into a quick flash of light.

The immense pressure which Ariet had been exerting onto the room was lifted, and a feeling of calm came over me. I looked over to Tiaria. She was still frozen in her reverent pose, she seemed to be deep in thought. After a moment she took a deep breath and stood straight, looking over to me with a nervous smile. Tiaria’s meek smile slowly started to tremble as her eyes watered up. I walked up to her and gently put my arms around her, Tiaria did the same to me. We shared a few moments of silence before Tiaria began to speak, her voice still quivering.

“I’m sorry, there was nothing I could do. Even if I refused to kill you I could never have fought back against Lord Ariet. I would have let her kill us both.” I could feel the tickle of Tiaria’s tears on my shoulder.

“The fact you would even refuse your god’s order to kill me was more than enough, Tiaria.” I said gently as I rubbed her back.

Tiaira held me tighter, I could hear her quietly sniffing. After a few moments she let go of me and backed up slightly.

“Let’s get out of here for now.” She said, wiping tears away from her eyes.

“Can we stay in this city? Now that everyone knows what I am, won't things be difficult?” I asked. I didn’t want to put unnecessary strain on Tiaria.

“No, we will have to leave the town. There is another city only a few days' journey from here called Kalider, it would be a good place for us to stay.”

“Ahem.” A raspy man behind us cleared his throat. Tiaira and I both turned around. We had forgotten that Halbert was also here.

“Apologies, I tried to give you both your moment, but I thought I would intrude now. Yusai, what Lord Ariet and Tiaria have given you is a great gift, make sure to treasure it.” He said.

I shook my head in agreement.

“Of course, I understand perfectly well how much courage it took for Tiaria to do what she has done for me, and how much magnanimity it took for Lord Ariet to agree.” I replied.

“Good, then before you leave make sure to pick up some finances from the treasury, and do say goodbye to Mira, Tiaria. She will miss you.”

With that the old priest walked out of the room, leaving Tiaria and I alone once more. Tiaria and I looked at each other, a slight smile growing on our faces. I reached out and took her hand as we walked out of the Tabernacle.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I held Tiaria’s hand as she leaned her head against my shoulder. The journey to Kalider had taken us longer than originally planned due to weather and banditry, but that delay had allowed Tiaria and I time alone to deepen our bond. Even though it was rough, the tree we were sitting against felt like a pillow of the finest feathers, as long as Tiaria was by my side. I looked at Tiaria and smiled, she was also looking up at me. Her eyes were beaming in the moonlight, she seemed to grow more beautiful to me everyday. Tiaria gave me a jeering pout.

“Are you just going to keep staring at me, Yu?”

I moved my head over and kissed Tiaria. She pulled me in closer and locked her lips around mine, not letting me escape. We held each other in a warm embrace as we shared our passion with one another. After a few seconds Tiaria backed her head slightly away from mine, looking up at me with absolute adoration in her eyes. Her smile seemed endless. I could feel her happiness emanating from her like an aura of magic.

“You know, in a way I did save your life.” Tiaria whispered with a treasonous smile.

“I suppose you did, are you looking for a reward?” I asked, playing along with her.

“Yes.” Tiaria gave me a bright smile.

“What do you want then? I don’t have a ton of money.” I joked, pulling out a few coins from my pocket.

“That’s true, you are pretty broke. We will have to think of some other form of compensation.” Tiaria said with her finger on against her cheek in a thinking pose.

“I know just the thing.” Tiaria exclaimed with a dangerous look on her face.

“What is that?” I asked.

“You will see once we get to the Inn.” Tiaria gave a quick giggle.

I laughed along with her before holding her tight once more.

“I’m glad things ended this way, truly.” I said with a serious tone. There were so many opportunities for things to go wrong, the fact that it ended with a happy ending was the luckiest thing I had ever experienced. If the gods weren’t mostly dead I would say it was divine providence.

“Me too Yu.” Tiaria moved her arms down my back and hugged me close, putting her head on my shoulder.

Ahead of us would be decades of exciting adventures and love.