Beautiful Illusion

"Until eternity? What does that mean?" She asked again, her voice shaking with fear, though she was trying to act calm.

"For every minute we are together, I'll make sure to take care of you," He leaned closer, his lips barely grazing her ear. "Your life is my life and I will keep it well."

She shivered as the sensation of his warm breath against her cheek sent chills down her spine. He pulled away and gave her a sad smile.

"We already shared a bond," he explained, looking at her forlornly as his hand moved up to stroke a strand of hair out of her face. Her eyes widened in shock at what she heard.

"Bond?" She paused for a moment, "What bond? Tell me!"

"We've shared blood, that has established a blood bond between us. Our souls are linked together by an invisible thread. It is the purest of the bonds that bind two creatures together." He said everything like it was no big deal.

"Are you crazy? Why would you do that?" She was getting frantic. Her eyes moved around wildly as she clutched her hair with frustration.

"As much as I'd love to take the blame

for it, I won't. I'm tired of being blamed

for things I had no control over. You woke up a merman who had been starved for centuries. You should be ecstatic your corpse isn't rotting at the base of the underground cage. After all, you were the one who kissed my stone statue with an injury on your lips. If there was no injury, if there was no blood on your injured lips, my already deteriorated body will still be trapped as a stone statue."

His face was expressionless, but there was something in his voice that suggested he didn't enjoy this process either. The coldness in his expression unnerved her. His eyes narrowed into slits, and his jaw tensed even more. "You gave me liberation and in return, I gave you protection... and freedom".

"Please sit," he pointed towards the chair next to him. With hesitancy, Rachael walked over and sat down. Icarus walked over to a large shelf and opened a drawer.

He took out a bottle filled with green liquid and examined it for a few seconds. As he came back over to where she was seated, he crouched down in front of her. HpRachael felt herself involuntarily flinch away from him.

"Don't worry, I'm here to treat the injury you sustained with the bid to draw out your blood." His bright blue eyes were fixed on hers and she could swear they were glowing softly. "It's okay. I only want to help." He held the bottle out to her and smiled.

He took out her hand and examined the injury. As his slender fingers touched her skin, pain shot through her and she gasped quietly.

"The wound is quite deep. Just hold tight and try not to panic." He instructed, and carefully poured the green liquid over her arm before closing the bottle.

She felt the cool liquid seep into her wounds, soothing her burns in an instant. Icarus bit his fingers drawing out blood.

"Take, this will help your wound heal within seconds. There's a rapid healing effect in our blood," he explained and pressed his fingers against her lips.

A light sensation followed immediately.

Rachael obediently drank the blood from the tip of his finger, letting the crimson liquid wash over her taste bud. The feeling was strange and almost euphoric.

She could feel her muscles begin to relax.

Her skin tingled as it grew warmer and she could feel it spreading through her body. A pleasant warmth engulfed her and she sighed contentedly. Her mind went blissfully blank as her nerves relaxed and her breathing slowed down.

As the last traces of pain faded away from her body, she felt an overwhelming sense of peace engulf her. Icarus removed his finger from her mouth after a few minutes and watched her closely.

"That will speed up the healing process a bit more." He told her. He picked up the bottle and returned it to where he'd kept it before.

"Who was that person back there in the theater that looked like you? And why did he look so familiar?" She couldn't keep herself from asking as he turned towards her.

"I don't know. But one thing is certain. That person is not me, " he answered and shrugged, "and I can assure you it was a plan devised to deceive my people into believing I was killed during the great war when clearly I was not." His expression darkened as the words left his mouth.

"Why? And how was it possible for someone to look exactly like you? Rachael asked worriedly.

"Don't underestimate the power of my people. Few ones among them have the ability to cast a mirage on something or someone in order to replicate the physical appearance of something that never was."

"You mean a witch?" Her voice faltered slightly.

Icarus nodded, "Yes. In your language, you call them witches. But here, we call them Sarj. They are gifted in the art of casting illusions using their magic abilities. They have also been known to use the power of illusions to create a perfect copy of something." He paused as if considering whether he wanted to speak further about this subject.

"My reign didn't end back then. They robbed me of my kingdom. Snatched what was rightfully mine. They took centuries of my life away from me. But they could never erase me from the pages of history," He paused to laugh coldly. It

was the most terrifying thing she had

ever heard.

"So they had to deceive the rest of my people by creating a fake illusion that looked like me, while I was betrayed and forcefully trapped beneath the depth of the ocean. Frozen like a statue for ages." He stood and walked over to a window. He stared outside for a while before turning back to face her.

"Nobody knew the centuries of pain I endured. Now I'm back, to reclaim what was rightfully mine." He crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall.

A flicker of uncertainty crossed his features, and a look of doubt clouded his eyes. At that moment, Rachael realized that the merman too was lost, searching for something elusive and unattainable.

She felt a pang of sympathy for him, sensing the sorrow that lay beneath his grandeur. She shuddered at the idea of how these people were able to manipulate him and his people at the same time

"I must uncover their plans. I must find those responsible for all of these," his fists clenched at his sides in anger as he walked towards the door.

"Icarus...." she called softly, stopping him. His head snapped in her direction as he stopped in the doorway. Her heart broke when she saw the sadness that was etched upon his handsome features. She hated seeing him like that. It was painful to see him looking so vulnerable.

"Thank you..." She murmured, hoping he understood what she meant.

"Thanking me won't be enough to equate the amount of love I had for you, despite how you betrayed and forgot me, Reginà Màe," he replied, giving her a sad smile, before opening the door and walking out into the hall.

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