- She said "Don't get too close.
It's dark inside.
It's where my demons hide.
And I answered....
"Get too close, there is a hell inside of me.
It's where your demons can live.-
Relationships aren't as clear cut as many who lack experience might think as they are as complicated and full of layers much like onions, Some people transparent as ghosts when it comes to who they are, but then there are those that hide behind masks.
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Anything worth its weight in salt starts from the very beginning, not off of the pretense of love at first sight. Only such things really happen in fairy tales and this isn't one of those stories, not even in the least. Love being such a weighted word some people find it hard to toss it around as if it would give the word more meaning.
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Between the two a slow friendship had started merely out of the fact their interests were similar. This is no love story etched in parchment of the most prestigious novels upon the library shelves. No, Darren and Nevaeh started from the bottom and even they never saw themselves coming to the cross roads of life they found themselves upon. There were no false pretenses between the two of them over the many times they had bumped into each other. Darren witnessing Nevaeh's hand buried deep in the chest cavity of whom he had thought the woman loved. Love, such a word that even Nevaeh found hard to say without being devoid of true feeling.
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Why is it so hard to find that one person that the word "Love" felt natural? Or even came with the feelings that it should. Heart racing, breath hitching....all things that even Nevaeh barely felt. Whether it had ever come for Darren was up for debate, especially at the beginning of their many encounters. Even as the question of the wedding band upon his finger. A question that hadn't been touched upon until the quest Nevaeh had brought the fallen upon. The true beginning of the relationship that deepened beyond friendship.
Forest surrounding them with no one else but themselves to entertain on the week long journey they had found themselves on. To help an ambitious sorceress with her goal of raising a dragon from the very graveyard they had fought off an undead dragon. The quest to get a relic from the tomb of Merlin himself.
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Times of peril often brings least likely of allies together and reuniting those who had drifted apart even for a little while. Even with new found intelligence and items that followed with quests leading to the down fall of Belial. Battles were fought upon many fronts. The Empire victorious with bringing back the light of the dual suns upon the land once more. If it had not been for this time... The Graveyard would have never been found and Darren and Nevaeh would have never ventured.
If someone believed in fate then one might say that such things had fated the two in venturing back to fulfill a long since dreamed goal of Nevaeh's. Though the two in question don't and never will believe in fate, one always makes their own destiny as Nevaeh was the epitome of such. Even if she was high born, she was left with nothing upon the death of her Father and her Mother abandoning her with the Emperor. Only with what she had she knew she had to make herself what she wanted to be, never expecting the Emperor to hand her things simply because he was charged with being her Guardian.
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Fate had nothing to do with their adventures, or their meeting in general as they both knew that each of them had a darkness within them. Neither of them afraid of letting it show.
You are Terrifying and Strange
and Beautiful.
Something not Everyone knows how
to Love.
~ Warsan Shire
With fragmented sanity and an adventure finished the two had drifted apart simply for the fact Darren hadn't been himself. Not enough so for human interaction, even when he had come out of hiding early it came at the price of Katalina, or was it Nevaeh? It was hard to tell even then as her sister had asked Darren for another chance. Even now Nevaeh didn't understand the woman's reasons or Darren's reasons for accepting her plea....
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Port Crescent, a beautiful place, one that Nevaeh had never been and hadn't ever thought of venturing there. Not until she found Darren trying to take off with her horse, Shadowstalker, for whatever reason. Compromising the two of them ventured to gaze over the sea. Nevaeh had been a busy woman, consulting in books and even a healer in correspondence to the man. Sanity fleeting and partly at the benefit of Nevaeh, but it wasn't a price she had asked him to pay. Why would she care? Why would his fleeting sanity matter to the Sorceress? Those were all plaguing questions until the woman realized something.....
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She cared for the man......
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Their story only continued as days went by, Nevaeh finding a spell with the help of her new found friend Eris that would replace the Healer. Of course Darren refused unable to come to grips about why the woman was so insistent on helping him. That same day missives had arrived for the two of them placing them in the same diplomatic missons to be carried out. Darren leading the mission to The Gloom Woods and Nevaeh The Dragon Peak Mountains, but they were all with each other despite who led and who assisted. Only adding to the time the two got to spend together; adding to the time that made their moments all the more electric.
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There was no denying the two of them had chemistry behind closed doors as he could get her blood going with the simple whisper of her name against her skin. Or the way he called to her from across the room with heat in his voice that only she had the grace of hearing. Desire for him running rampant just as much as it did for him in those moments as he lifted the veil and let her see how mad he was. Insanity gripping upon the man only solidifying those feelings of grounding him, but those thoughts were often forgotten under his attentions.
I loved her not for the way she danced with my
Angels.
But for the way the sound of her name could silence my Demons.
The Gloomwoods had been a fruitful adventure, diplomatic or not as they had learned many things about why trade had come to a halt. It was hard to trade when Mercants and other Caravans of good went missing time and time again. Goblins and Orcs had been the culprits in such endeavors as they were the bandits that decided to rob caravans of their goods. The two of them, despite having 87 men had thwarted it single handedly considering it was merely a band of four Goblins and eight Orc at the time. Their twisted natures coming out then once the trap was sprung, with tourture and skinning of Orcs to make a sign warning all who dare cross the Empire again. The fates had brought two of the most twisted of people together. in ways that most would have never expected. The two of them desired one another in ways most people would shy away from.
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Before long a rider had come to fetch the Dark One, a matter of great importants left them to only be able to spend one more night with one another before she watched him ride off into the sunrise. Which had only given the Sorceress enough time to enact the vengeance that she had promised the Demirel family. All to which sent her on a spiral she never thought she'd find herself in.
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Watching the Princess and heir apparent to the Deathstalker name reunited with her Paramore had send Nevaeh on a spiral she never thought she would go on. the feelings of falling.... Falling hard in love with a man that she never thought she would. With a feeling that she had thought she buried deep within the graveyard of her heart one hundred and seventy-five years prior. Apparently it too could rise from the dead as Razael did, as many had tried to resurrect the emotion of love but had failed.
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Sometimes one never realizes how much time actually goes by when the days seem to drag on for an eterinty. It had been three weeks since Nevaeh had seen Darren, or heard from him after the morning he left to go back home. Turbulent times were those three weeks as Nevaeh was lost in her own mind for most of the time contemplating thoughts and doubts of how she was feeling, In that time she had killed Elven Zealots and contemplated every complicated emotion she may of had were she a normal woman. Feelings and emotions that she hadn't used in so long they were foriegn to her. Or perhaps it was more the fact that she had never "Loved" anyone before. Which left her in a almost lost state to where she wasn't even aware of most of the things around her. At least that was how it seemed to be considering she'd stare off into space lost in thought to the point that she found it hard to resurface.
Within that third week word had been recieved by missive sent by an Imp baring a missive and velvet pouch. Given a gorgeous necklace and word that he had been trying to get back to Larlandarl, but so much had been keeping him from returning. His words about the necklace being special due to the stone it housed was rare and precious to his home. Worthy of only the most beautiful of Royals which had her curious how he could get his hands upon such a beautiful stone if it was so precious. That was until she asked the Imp what Darren was to him and the truth had been revealed. Darren was the Fallen King of Cerulia to which she found later on to be because of the passing of his sister.
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His return had been a turbulent one considering he returned by boat to which she ended up reaching the end of her ability to remain calm. The storm that brewed above the coast of Larlandarl as she stood above the Port atop the cliffside as the waters became choppy and the sky dark with thick clouds that were illuminated with every flash of lightning.
Unaware of the fact that the man she had been waiting all this time for was actually upon the large ship with black sails that approached the port. Far to lost in her own thought to pay attention all that much, though still very aware of everything that surrounded her. Never did the lightning that scattered across the sky ever connected with the ground.
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Much to her own storm within her mind it seemed that even Darren felt the same turbulent feelings since he recognized the work of the Sorceress as they reflected almost the same turbulent feelings within him. All it took for her to calm herself was the sound of his voice telling her he was there lacing the wind that whipped around her.
The Proposal
It was that day that it rained simply because the sound of his voice within the winds had brought a sense of calm back to her chaotic mind. The man she had been attempting to wait calmly for to return, had finally come back... Home....
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The Gala had been fast approaching, and considering the War Witch had thought she would end up attending it alone. It had pleased her to have Darren back within Immortalis, though that wasn't the only reason the woman was happy of course. To have him back made her chaos within her mind quiet to a dull roar versus the screaming that had taken place within. The night before the Gala she had ended up getting stoned and drunk within the Opium Den with the eldest son of Drenai, leaving her to sleep off a hang over the day of. The events of that night would be something she wouldn't expect considering it was about the Empress' return, the Engagement of Shaughnessy and Iskandar as well as a memorial of the fallen Champion.
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It wasn't until the moment the Princess called forth the Fallen King and had him present the fallen champion's sword as well as called forth the War Witch. In order to honor her in her task of assisting in the rescue of Iskandar and enacted vengeance upon the Zealots in the name of the Demirel family. It was then that the man thanked the Princess for the opprotunity she had presented him with and took the War Witches hand. In front of everyone present at the Gala the man went to his knee and pulled out a ring. Oh how the chaos in her mind returned then, but instead of coming out as storm clouds over head instead presented itself in tears as she listened to the words he uttered. Words that she had never thought she'd hear from the man himself.
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"Darren took a knee. “Nevaeh Campbell, there is so much about you that I have left, still, to learn… but the things that I do know… I could ask for no better a Woman. Since the day I met you, you have done nothing sort of amaze me. You are the order to my chaos. The light to my dark.” He paused, listening to Himself speak. He was extremely corny at the moment. “You, and now everyone else here,” He chuckled lightly, pausing a moment to take a deep breath, “know that this is not my native Land. But you also know that I have chosen to make it my Home… and I do so because of you.” Was He starting to cross that line into Love? “That being said,” He cleared His throat once more, making sure His voice rang out clearly. In the brief pause, He would dip His left hand into His pocket and withdraw a simple ring made of Dragon’s Breath and White Gold. On the band itself, small etchings that He would later teach Her the meaning of. “Will you do me the honor of becoming my Wife?” Once the words had left His lips, it seemed He held His breath for a long moment, His face upturned as He held the ring out between His fingers."
~ Darren Magnus (Night of the Gala)
To the fact that this man that had stolen her heart without even even realizing it up until the night she rained fire down upon Losandor was no proposing to her had Nevaeh reeling. Of all the doubts she had been having melted away in that single moment as they turned into tears of what would have at one point been of fear of losing him. Now they were of joy that she didn't know she could truly feel as she accepted the man's proposal to the sound of a cheering crowd who now... Had officially seen the stone cold War Witch cry. With a simple yes and the ring slipped upon her finger she had whisked them away from the prying eyes of the public so she could have a single moment alone with her now fiance.
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Engagement would and forever be the easy part in all that was going to unfold in the lives of the Dark Couple. A King in his own right Darren often found himself pulled away from Immortalis to deal with political business and anything else that contributed to the rule of his people. Engagement to the War Witch upset many people, the purists of his country unable to accept another Outsider as a Monarch. Never the less Nevaeh hadn't heard much on that matter until recently after her arrival in Cerulia. Not wishing to be left back in Immortalis while he was gone more then he was around. It had happened with a bit of anger and the truth of his previous wife's demise at his own hand.
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Truth coming to the surface, a truth that he had thought would have frightened her. What good it did to tell her simply because it only made her love him all the more. Quite a shock to know that the woman didn't flinch at the knowledge despite the fact that the Fallen King pressed her against the wall and made sure she knew. All of this after a slight fright that something happened to the War Witch after an an unfortunate mix up in her workshop. Ending with him, more or less, busting through her door.
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With a heated conversation and reiteration that she wished to join him on the next trip that was happening that night. A trip upon the Umbram Mortis with a superstitious crew to a land that she had yet to visit.
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Political Agenda's
Being a King, is full of meetings with Adviser's, making appearances, and so on to appease the populace on the countries being ruled. This of course was no different then the newly appointed King of Cerulia and Nevaeh's Paramour. At least that was what she considered him to be at this point in time since she had come to find she loved the man. Is love even feasible for a woman such as the War Witch of the Deathstalker Empire? Apparently it was and she had fallen for the darkest male to ever walk the planet's surface.
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To even put it lightly the man actually radiated darkness from every facet of his being. Still the woman stuck around and found more to love about him and slowly she could tell he began to feel the same. A man of very few words but it wasn't hard to tell in the simple words he spoke to her. One being a single word, being her name of course, that held so much more then what could ever be said. The feeling behind it; the desire, the need, and in some points love. Every passing day while within the foreign country that she would marry into, things became easier between them. The man admitted a few times that he'd much rather be with her than a group of men talking politics. A man that wanted to show her all that he could about his home. Even if the man had started to fine a home within Immortalis, now.... well now he had a country to run.
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Days turned into weeks and all the same weeks turned into months in the time they had spent within the borders of Cerulia. The Capitol city Liyal was beautiful and full of life with the number of diverse cultures that resided within its city limits. Having witnessed Fall and Winter within the city, it was all new wonders to the Queen Consort to their Fallen King. As it were though many in the Kingdom were not happy with who the King had chosen to be his wife. Meeting after meeting seemed to have a common theme despite how many times the King reiterated that she was to be their new Queen.
As the Months went on the two of them had done as much as they could between meetings and outings to strengthen the bond between them. With rides through the country side that led up to the mountains and was able to look upon the city and some of the land beyond it. The sea glistening beyond the city where the Umbram Mortis sat at the port. Dinner within the city on other nights, and the secrets of the city being revealed to Nevaeh which only intrigued her more.
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Winter hunts along side Darren brought memories of the times they spent in the woods of larlandarl and hunting to feed a small unit of men. Or the first time they had traveled alone and hunted just for themselves. On top of all that the two of them would train together when they could to teach one another things the other didn't know. Nevaeh taught Darren various magical skills and Darren taught her more advanced hand to hand combat.
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Like any other Noble court there would be parties and gatherings hosted by higher nobles making their appearances but even Nevaeh could tell she wasn't always the most popular woman there. Merely tolerated for the sake of the King being there.
Blood in the Snow
After a time Nevaeh had been told of a place that Darren knew would excite the woman and her love for knowledge. The Sanctuary of Cerulia was a school of Magic where people of various ages went to learn about Magic and all that came with it. A vast library of magical knowledge and histories were housed within its very walls. The Sanctuary was housed within the mountains two to three hour ride from Liyal. Wards surrounding the Sanctuary tested wills of those who dared try and keep those unworthy away from it. Nevertheless Nevaeh triumphed the trials that she and Shadow were put through and gained access to the vast library to which Nevaeh immersed herself within for days at a time only traveling down the mountain again to return home.
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In this time Nevaeh had angered someone, causing them to hire Mercenaries to hunt her down and attempt to kill her. What better time then within a snow storm atop a mountain? Just outside of the line of the wards was where it happened. That was the night that Darren got a glimpse into his true feelings.
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Magic was potent within this moment as all time seemed to stand still as snow flakes had stilled and the wind fell silent save the sound of bow strings releasing and arrows slicing through frigid air. Four arrows had made their mark within the War Witches flesh as did one within Shadowstalkers flank. The sequence which had brought the woman down with a horse falling upon her was enough to rob her of breath and magic. Arrows tipped with runes of absorption that slowly robbed the woman of her magic, without it returning quickly. With a spurt of energy Nevaeh managed to get her and Shadowstalker safe from death, but it had come at a price. Leaving herself vulnerable to anyone at that point as she was carried in by guards at that point.
The moment the Fallen King arrived and witnessed Nevaeh's prone form upon a table bloodied and unconscious. It had seemed he might have lost it at that moment but for the sake of his woman he kept his cool. Soothing the pained Witch despite the fact that she swung blindly finding comfort within his embrace as the healers worked quickly. Penetrating wounds upon her upper torso, broken ribs on her right and an arrow within her right thigh was enough to make the War Witch weak and defenseless had it not been for him.
Carried back into their chambers the man cleaned her up and let her rest before he went on a hunt of his own. Hunting every man that was responsible for harming the woman he loved, as words he spoke to Galen had gone unheard by Nevaeh herself. The day she had finally awoke, she had found him to be gone. Two days it had taken before he returned bloody and holding two severed heads and two live men. The Fallen King let many see the darkness within him at that moment but it all dissipated within the moment Nevaeh was upon him. The weight behind her name leaving his lips, was borderline relief as he pulled her into a kiss of all kisses. Though it was at that point that Darren had realized just how depleted her magic really was setting him on a path to protect her more so.
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It wasn't long before Darren approached Nevaeh to convince her to go to Immortalis for awhile to give out invitations to their impending wedding personally to those she cared about. On the upside that Darren knew she would be safe from the Cerulians and him as everything that had transpired left the man shaken on the reaction that had come over him the moment he saw her there...injured. With only a little bit of a fight Nevaeh had agreed and was shipped on with the only man that Darren truly trusted with Nevaeh's safety whether Nevaeh asked for it or not.
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Wedding Bells
Time seemed to pass slowly upon arriving within Immortalis. The time it took before Galen was back at the port waiting to take her back home to her King, along with a few of the Royals and the Demirel Family. Despite the fact that Nevaeh had expected Darren to come himself as he had promised to meet her it had come to the realization it wasn't going to happen. Nevertheless it had come to be time that it was needed that she returned to Cerulia for the wedding of the War Witch herself to the Fallen King.
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The time upon the vessel known as Umbram Mortis Nevaeh was able to spend time with those that had joined her in the voyage across the water to the land known as Cerulia. Nervous about what was about to happen despite the fact that Nevaeh was happy it was happening. It had been the news that had been shared that Darren's last wife had met an untimely demise at his own hand. Hoping that she would survive longer then she had been able to. Granted Nevaeh figured that Sarah had been human and not as inclined in the defensive magics or skills enough to defend against Darren. A man of his own immense power and bouts of insanity.
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Met at the Port of Liyal Darren apologized about his absense and wrapped his soon to be wife in a cloak. After replenishing her magic Nevaeh hadn't even felt the need to wrap herself in a cloak while on deck of the ship and soon upon the docks. Quickly forgiven the two of them mounted their war horses and the rest of the group were rounded into carriages to take them to Liyal. Darren and Nevaeh veered off soon after to spend time with one another before the night of the wedding that would leave them without each other. During that time they simply road along the sea and talked about the feelings that had conflicted the man enough to keep him from joining her. All revelations to the depth for which Darren was realizing how much Nevaeh actually ment to him.
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The city was alive with celebration on the day before the wedding and continued for a week even after the ceremony had occurred. It was a beautiful ceremony as her wedding party that she had chosen consisted of Drenai, who walked her down as a father figure and Yusra her Matron of Honor and friend escorted by Darren's Best Man Galen. Vows spoken and rings given there was no better moment then the kiss and the moment the words of their vows sunk in.
"Darren,
I am Mayhem to your Chaos.
I can and will drive you crazy but…..
I am also passionate and will love you til death.
I am trouble and I can make you lose your mind….
But I am also Loyal and will never walk away.
Yes I am difficult and can make you mad,
but I am also fun and can make you laugh.
I am nerve wracking and I can make you fear for me.
But… I am also never going anywhere.
I am a rebel and I can drive you insane
but I am also fierce, I will fight for you till the end.
Know this…. I stand in the shadows of your heart
and I tell you now that I am not afraid of your darkness.
You are the missing part of me… I know this now.
And today I ask you to be my husband,
my partner, my strength
for the rest of my life.. “
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~Nevaeh Magnus
Nevaeh…
My promise to you is simple.
I will endure until the end.
I will be your one and only.
I will be your Lover… and your Friend.”
I’ll listen and I’ll nurture.
I’ll fight and I’ll be true.
I’ll do my equal share and I’ll never give up on you.
I’ll do my very best… to fulfill your every need.”
I’ll walk beside you, hand in hand.
And I’ll help you to succeed.
I’ll be your constant equal… and I’ll give you room to grow.
I’ll tend to you when you are sick, and build you up when you are low.
I stand before these witnesses and I say unto you…
No matter what times we face…
How dark or light our path becomes…
Our love will make it through.”
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~Darren Magnus
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“With this ring, I ask you to be mine…”
“Do you, Nevaeh, take Darren to be your One True Love?"”
"I Do"""
"Do you, Darren, take Nevaeh as your One True Love?"
"I Do"
The Day Her world went Black
A few years, two or three to be exact... All the light left Nevaeh's life despite the fact that Darren himself was far beyond light. Waking alone with nothing but a note upon the pillow beside her. "The kingdom is yours but I cannot be a part of it. Farewell Il mio cuore...Forgive me" script in his hand. Giving no rhyme or reason why he'd leave.
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Not much time after Nevaeh found herself to be pregnant and alone to rule a Kingdom that cared not for her. Darkness flooded the skies for several days, to the people of Cerulia it felt like an eternity. The despair the Queen felt was more than she could honestly handle but in light of the child(ren) within her, she put their well being before her own heart.
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The return of her King was a day that was to be celebrated, but as all stories have a beginning they also have an end. It did not end that day within Cerulia. No, it all ended within the Great Hall of Deathstalker Castle. After years of living peacefully with their two children and blossoming their love more. A darkness came across the lands of Larlandarl that set to change their lives forever.
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The day that the Dead King came to the shores of this reality and his was the day that their lives would change forever. Treason punishable by death was the tragic end to a love story of the centuries. A love that Nevaeh could have seen go on into eternity. All ending with one fell swoop of an ax wielded by the man that now let the world know was her Father. Allegations of Treason by Darren Magnus had ended his life that night. Scaring the Archmage for the rest of her life as flashes of his death still flash before her very eyes every day. A widow and a mother left to travel the sands of time alone left to wonder just what could have been.
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Perhaps one day she will find someone to fill the void that was left in the absence of the one man Nevaeh could say she truly loved.
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That is the End of a Love Story.