Our destiny

Long days passed, during which Daren never stopped looking for Candace. He went as far as the borders of the kingdom, to the most inaccessible places. His wound, instead of getting worse, got better, and he knew that was thanks to Candace. He knew that, before leaving, she had instilled her power in him.

Initially, Daren had wandered aimlessly, but then he had heard of a forest sacred to the Goddess of Creation, located on the border between Intial and Belsia, and had become convinced that Candace had retreated there.

He had learned to understand the girl's heart, and her intention to disappear forever was all too clear to him. She probably wanted Daren to live the happy life she'd wanted him to have all along. A life that, without her, meant nothing to the emperor.

In Daren’s mind, old lost memories had appeared, memories of a life that seemed not to belong to him. Painful but precious memories that matched the words he had heard Candace say.

And if, initially, everything had seemed absurd and impossible to him, if initially he wanted to forgive those who had made an attempt on his life, now Daren no longer had a shred of pity in his heart towards them, and he understood perfectly that things couldn’t have gone differently.

After a long wandering, the emperor finally reached the edge of the forest, and decided to rest in the small village before resuming his searches. He was tired and hungry, and his fine clothes were now rumpled and covered in dust. Despite this, the flame of life and enthusiasm shone brighter than ever in his eyes.

The landlady of the inn where he decided to stay was a robust woman with cordial manners, who immediately offered him a plate of hot soup and poured him a glass of wine.

Daren ate in the dining room, along with other guests, and happened to overhear their conversations.

"Did you hear? The Emperor seems to have been missing for weeks..."

"Maybe he's dead and they won't tell us."

"But the grand councilor and the head of the guards reassure the population every day… I think the emperor is busy with something important."

"We don't have to worry, do we? We still have the incarnation of the goddess, in case of need she will protect us."

"But the wedding? Wasn't the emperor supposed to get married?"

The innkeeper approached Daren, who stopped listening to the talk and gave her attention.

"Here it is a slice of cake to welcome you!" said the woman, placing a chipped plate in front of him.

"Thank you, you’re really nice."

"You know, you seem familiar… Have we met before somewhere?"

Daren smiled and shook his head. He could not reveal his identity to her.

"Tell me," the woman began. "What brings you to this remote place? This is certainly not a tourist destination..."

"Oh, I'm looking for someone."

The landlady became thoughtful. "Try to describe this someone to me, maybe I can help you!"

Daren closed his eyes for a moment, and Candace's image appeared before him. In that moment, as he brought her memory back to his mind, he fully realized how much he missed her, how important her presence had become to him.

"She is a woman with an enigmatic smile, with porcelain skin and long rose brown hair. Her eyes are like rubies, brilliant and sanguine, and she always has a melancholy air...."

The woman seemed surprised by that description, and her chapped lips parted in a wide smile.

"You're talking about Rose, aren't you? She's a very good girl, she arrived here at the beginning of the month and was immediately liked by everyone. Poor girl, she lost her parents as a child, and had to leave the man she loved ..."

Daren stood up and took her hands in his. "Please tell me where this Rose is. If it really is the person I'm looking for, then I absolutely have to talk to her."

"Well..." she looked uncertain. "Are you perhaps the man Rose told me about? The person she can't be with?"

Daren shook his head. "That's something she decided. As far as I'm concerned, I can't go on being without her any longer. She’s too important for me."

The innkeeper seemed to reflect for a moment, then said to him: "Rose's house is the last one before the path that leads into the heart of the forest. She rented it because she said she loved being surrounded by nature."

Daren squeezed the woman's hands lightly. "Thank you very much."

He paid for his meal and walked out of the inn, though the sun had now disappeared behind the hills.

The sky had turned orange, and everywhere shades of blood spread between the white clouds. Daren crossed the small village slower than he intended.

The tiredness that he had accumulated in his long days of walking had begun to subside all of a sudden, and now he was struggling to move any further. His legs had become boulders and he was out of breath. But he continued to advance anyway, until he arrived in front of the little house on the edge of the wood. The lights inside this one were off and there seemed to be no one there. Daren knocked on the door again and again, but got no answer.

He went around the house and approached the path of white stones that disappeared into the forest. Then, without thinking twice, he took it.

He was guided by that little white road that wound through the vegetation, but he hadn't considered the imminent arrival of night. After a while, he found himself plunged into a heavy, suffocating darkness, and the path ahead of him became barely visible. He didn't know what to do anymore.

He walked for a while in total darkness, until a clear and friendly light came to his rescue. It was the light of the moon. Thanks to this, the emperor once again identified the path and began to follow it with more decision than before, mentally thanking the luminous celestial body and thinking that this circumstance was very similar of what had happened to him.

He'd been lost in the dark for a long time before Candace came to light his life, and now he knew he needed her presence to keep moving forward in the light.

He walked for a long distance, until his legs began to tremble and his vision became blurred. He was at his limit, and he knew that, sooner or later, he would give in.

Just when despair had already pervaded him, Daren arrived in a clearing illuminated by the moonlight, where a stream of crystalline water flowed, surrounded by wonderfully colored flowers. Daren looked around in surprise, until his weary eyes met a sight that took his breath away.

In the center of the clearing was a modestly dressed girl washing her long hair in the stream while singing an all too familiar ballad.

"She loved someone with all her heart.

Someone who’s lost in the darkness of death.

Someone whose soul was like snow.

Someone who didn't belong to her.”

Daren took a step forward, still staring at the girl.

“But her white spirit is now black, and what is lost she brings back.

She took the halo on her head and broke the bonds of time.

She took the wings she wore and ripped them apart to weave new threads.”

When Daren was finally behind her, he felt a feeling of absolute relief wash over him.

“Now she walks on the clear snow she loved so much, leaving footprints of her hostile blood.

Reaching out to the one she once loved.

In the eternal, crazy ballad…”

“… The ballad of snow and blood,” Daren whispered, finishing the sentence and ending her chant.

The girl turned in his direction, astonishment painted in her red irises. Despair and joy fought each other fiercely in her eyes while tears the size of pearls began to fall from them.

Daren reached out a hand and placed it on her face, caressing it gently.

"Candace…” he whispered her name as if it were a prayer, something sacred, then brought his face close to hers. "Or maybe I should call you 'Rose?' he asked with a hint of amusement.

They kissed without hesitation. Candace sank her hands into Daren's hair, pulling him towards her. It was a timeless kiss, deep and desperate.

And when Candace pulled away from him, the tears on her face were gone.

"Why are you here?" she asked. "You shouldn't have looked for me. You should have forgotten me, Daren..." She sounded terribly frustrated as she spoke those words.

"Forget you?" the emperor asked. There was a thin veil of irony in his voice.

"How could I forget you now that I remembered you? Now that I know who you are..."

Candace's eyes widened and her lips parted in surprise. "What do you mean?" she asked in a tense voice.

Daren caught his breath and leaned forward slightly. His tiredness was now unbearable.

Candace wrapped an arm around his waist and helped him lay down, resting his head on her knees. Daren watched in fascination as drops of light separated from the girl’s body and entered him, giving him new strength and vigor.

"You are the incarnation of the Goddess of Creation," he said. "The one who framed me and had me sentenced to death. The frightened girl I met in my cell and with whom I spoke in my last days of life..."

Candace's expression remained unchanged, but a single tear slipped down her cheek.

"How did you remember that?"

"It was thanks to you. I overheard you talking about it with Galiel."

Candace shook her head. "I thought you passed out..."

"Well, you were wrong…"

Candace was silent for a while as her hand gently caressed Daren's hair.

"You are right. I’m the incarnation of the Goddess of Creation, the one the Roliands abused and used to eliminate you..." A bitter smile appeared on her lips. "In the timeline where I come from, Marcel and Galiel had arranged with the Roliands to keep my existence hidden. Dia, who was an orphan raised on the street, was brought to my family and presented to you as the goddess’ incarnation. I was always with her and used my powers to pretend they were hers. Later, Dia was killed, and the blame was placed on you. I too was sentenced to death as the guardian of the goddess’ incarnation, who hadn't done her job properly." Candace looked up at the moon. "I had suffered all my life. The Roliands beat me and humiliated me… they had always used me as an object, and nobody cared about me. I had lost faith in human beings, and I hated them all, from the first to the last. But in that cell where I met you, I learned what kindness really was…" Candace took Daren’s hand in hers. "Daren, you were the first to treat me kindly, to show affection for me, to care for me… I was resigned to dying, but when they killed you, something clicked inside me and led me to commit a grave taboo ..."

"What taboo?"

A spark of sinister determination gleamed in Candace's eyes. "I stopped time," he revealed in a breath. "I stopped time and rewound it, determined to change things."

After that confession, Candace didn't speak again. It was then that Daren decided to take the helm of the speech and ask her questions: “So everything you've done since we met at the winter party, has been for the sole purpose of saving me, isn't it?" he hesitated for a moment. "And not just me, but Dia too… and even Eldan and Jared."

"Do you also remember their deaths?"

Daren nodded. "Jared sacrificed himself to try and get me out of the palace, and Eldan did the same thing to try and get me out of jail."

Candace closed her eyes for a moment. "That's right," she confirmed.

Daren sat up, still looking at her. "Why didn't you tell me? Why did you fight alone? All this time, I've done nothing but look at you warily... when, in reality, you were the only person who gave everything for me..."

Candace shook her head. "It's not like that Daren..." She sounded conflicted. "Actually, I did all this for myself. I sacrificed my good nature and dedicated my soul to evil, only because I didn't want to accept your death. Now I’m equal to a fallen goddess, I’m a far more dangerous creature than a demon."

"What does it mean?"

Candace sighed. "Rewinding time is taboo, and there is a price to pay. When I die, my soul will never reincarnate as it has before." She smiled. "I have memories of all my previous lives, you know? The power of the goddess allows me to. Before this life I lived in a place called 'earth'..." Daren saw a glint of melancholy in her irises. "This life is the first were I've met someone like you, someone worth going against anything for, someone to sacrifice everything for."

Daren felt a lump form in his throat. "So... you will really die?"

"Yes. This life is the last one I'm allowed. This is my punishment.”

Daren squeezed her hands and brought them to his forehead, then kissed her fingertips. "Then, please, let it be my last life too. Use your powers and make this the last life for me too. I don't need any more lives. I don't need any more chances. Let you be the last of all things. You are the only one I want."

Candace gasped, unable to get a word out.

"Marry me, Candace. Stay with me until death do us part. In that prison I didn't have the chance to ask you, because my life was over, but now that you have given it back to me, I offer myself to you with all my heart."

Candace shook her head, escaping Daren's gaze. "I can't... Daren, I can't. I come from a family of traitors… I’m an evil creature..."

The emperor didn’t let her go. "Candace, you said earlier that you did it all for yourself… what did you mean? Why should saving me have been an act for yourself?"

She hesitated, biting her lip. Then she closed her eyes and admitted: "I wanted you to live… because Ilove you."

“If you want me to live…” Daren brought his lips to hers again. "Then stay with me."

They kissed again, and Daren ran his fingers through her damp hair, weaving them through the colored strands.

As they pulled away from each other, Daren said to her: "I love you too, little devil. You can be the worst demon in hell, or whatever you want, that won't change. You've turned my life upside down, and now you have to take responsibility..."

Candace threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, as if she feared he would disappear at any moment.

"I'm so glad you're okay... so happy to be back here..."

"Me too, Candace. Me too..."

* * *

When their returned to the palace, the castle staff welcomed them with a large banquet. Daren and Candace put on new clothes and became the emperor and the future empress again.

Dia burst with joy and never left their side, as well as Eldan and Jared, happy more than ever to have them back.

The wedding was fixed as soon as possible, and the ceremony was the most beautiful Intial had ever seen. Candace, wrapped in the whiteness of her dress, was greeted by Daren before crossing the long corridor that would lead her to the coronation hall. The emperor was holding an immense bouquet of red roses which he offered her with a smile, before walking with her towards the hall.

No one objected to their union, and the two were finally husband and wife.

During the party that followed, Daren danced the entire time with Candace, convinced he was living a dream. Maybe, he thought, he really was dead, and this was heaven.

Eldan and Jared approached them with Dia to offer their congratulations.

Candace embraced them both, staring at them with a smile full of tenderness.

She and Daren had decided to reveal the truth to the two, and Candace had told them about the previous timeline. In particular, she had talked for a long time with Eldan alone, and by the end of that talk, the two of them seemed even more friends than before.

"I'm so happy to finally see you together!" Jared exclaimed, wiping his watery eyes.

"You really are a wonderful couple," Eldan observed.

Candace picked up Dia and thanked the two. Then, she and Daren walked out onto the terrace, contemplating the remnants of the snow that was slowly fading, giving way to spring.

"You'll never tell me what's going on between those two, will you? I have the impression that you know a lot about them..."

"You really didn't get it?" Candace giggled. "In the previous timeline, Eldan was devastated by Jared's death, and his sacrifice wasn't all that casual..."

"Why would he seek death?"

"For the same reason you told me you can't live without me," Candace replied, playfully touching his nose with the tip of her forefinger.

Daren's eyes widened. "Now I understand..."

"You're a little slow for this stuff," she teased.

Dia raised her hand at that moment and pointed to the sky. "Look! A shooting star!"

"Did you make a wish?" Daren asked, as he took her from Candace's arms to give his wife some rest.

"Of course! I wanted to stay with you, forever. That’s my wish!"

Candace saddened in hearing those words. "There's no such thing as 'forever', Dia... Everything has an end."

Daren then took her hand. "Then, let's say 'until the end of this life'. Let's hope we stay together until the end of this life and be happy, shall we?"

"Yes!" Dia exclaimed.

Candace rested her head on Daren's shoulder and smiled with a bit of her usual malice. "Are you sure you want to stay with me for that long? I'm a very dangerous demon, Mr. emperor..."

Daren laughed softly and leaned over to look into her eyes, those bloody eyes he loved so much.

"Don't you know? The impassive emperor of Intial can be very dangerous too..." he provoked her. "Besides, our destiny is to be together, isn't it? It's our ballad..."

Candace smiled sincerely, as she had a few other times.

"The ballad of snow and blood.”

END