369 Alive, For Now

Vyrena knew this was an opponent she was not capable of bringing down. At the very least, not yet. Seeing such an enemy before her did not make her cower in fear. No, it ignited a fire in her heart. 

She wanted to become stronger. 

Willow stood back up. She wiped away the blood stain on the side of her lips. 

"He makes me stronger," she argued. 

She was fearful of his rage ever since she was young. But still, she had bravery and courage within herself. 

The Arantaur shook his head, "No, he makes you weak. He makes you pathetic. With him by your side, you can never return to my side. You can never become an Immortal," 

With that, he turned away from her and walked away.

Queen Willow crumbled to the ground with tears in her eyes. But she refused to cry. She was not weak. She was a Queen. She had her spider beasts to take care of. Her father was wrong about her, about her relationship. 

But his words pierced through her heart like knives. It hurt. 

Vyrena sighed as she closed her eyes and shook her head. In that instant, she did not realise that Queen Willow had already sensed her presence.

"I did not take you for a spy, Vyrena," she said in a solemn voice as she was seated on the branch right next to her. 

Vyrena's heart skipped a couple of beats as she flustered. One moment, Willow was far ahead in front of her. In the next moment, she was seated right next to her. The powers of the Spider Queen seemed to know no bounds. 

"You scared me, your highness," Vyrena said awkwardly with her heart in her throat. 

"Well, take it as payback for spying on me," Willow joked with a grin. 

Vyrena chuckled, "Sorry about that, it was unintentional." 

For some time, both of them did not move. They remained silent for quite some time until Vyrena could no longer take it anymore. There was no point in them keeping quiet. 

But there was one thing Vyrena was curious about. 

"I have a question, your highness," Vyrena asked. 

"Ask away, Vyrena. But I shall reserve the right to answer or abstain."

"Very well, fair enough," Vy replied while nodding, "Who's the mystery lover?"

Queen Willow turned to Vyrena, she was surprised that this was the question she had wanted to ask. It brought a smile to her face, which upon further consideration, might have been Vyrena's purpose all along. 

Willow had half expected Vyrena's first question to be, who was the person she was speaking to. 

"You don't have to reveal that if you don't want to," Vyrena quickly clarified when she noticed her silence, "I understand if you want to keep it private."

"One sided love?"

Willow shook her head, "No, he just… does not remember."

Something about the situation made Vyrena feel as if she could relate. Unconsciously, she reached out to touch the pendant that hung around her neck. Did she have someone waiting for her? 

But she does not remember anything. 

"But you've got him by your side, right?" Vyrena asked. 

"Yes."

"Well, for most people, that would be more than enough." 

"I just, I just… maybe I don't know what I want out of it," Willow sighed, "Maybe it's my fear that if he remembers, he would choose to leave me for my sake."

Vyrena lightly pat Willow on the shoulder, "Well, don't make the decision for him. Who knows? Maybe the outcome isn't as bad as you make it out to be."

With their conversation topic getting pretty deep, Vyrena decided to change the subject so that they could get their minds off it. She knew the Arantaur was dangerous and Willow's association with him could spell trouble for them. 

Before Vyrena made any assumptions, she wanted to make sure she had all her facts right. Looking up at the night sky, Vyrena entered a state of panic. She had completely forgotten to return to the children and the rest of the survivors. 

"Ah I have to go!" She said quickly before hopping off the branch. 

"Go? Go where?" Queen Willow asked, shocked by Vyrena's sudden change of direction. 

"Back to the others! Wait, what about you?" Vyrena asked. 

"Me? I'll head back to find my spider beasts."

Before they parted ways, Queen Willow called out to Vyrena. 

"I have something to tell you! Let's meet at the marble building," the spider Queen instructed before leaving. 

"Alright, see you there!" Vyrena swiftly replied before heading back to the others. 

When she got back, everyone was relieved to see that Vyrena was alive and well. She quickly informed them about the reason why she had been away for so long. Much to her surprise, while she was gone, Mara woke up. 

She was shocked to see everyone and was even more surprised to see El injured. Her initial response was someone amongst the rest had injured El, causing her to fly into a rage. 

Ronni wrestled her and held her back while Sorren played the mediator. After hearing his explanation as to what had transpired, she finally simmered down. 

"I'm going to meet with Queen Willow and the spider beasts at marble building," she said to the rest. 

In light of what had happened recently, Vyrena had a change of plan. Instead of going on her own, they were all going to travel there together. In all the commotion, she also realised that they had not shared their findings with the rest. 

But seeing as how tired and worn out everyone had been from the attack, it was best to share the findings after everyone was well rested. It was still uncertain if they had seen the last of the attacks so everyone remained in high alert. 

Ronni, Sorren, Mara and Vyrena took turns keeping watch in pairs. Boss was already sleeping like a log when Vyrena returned. Using his healing magic had worn him out completely. 

El was resting too. The children had helped to clean and dress her wound after Vyrena left. She was happy to know that El's condition for now, was stable. 

Looking up at the sky, Vyrena realised that dawn would soon be upon them. They made it through the night. Though fatigued, at least they were still alive. 

Atleast, for now.