Every shop that Melanie and Joona approached, the pair were met with nothing but kindness and compassion. Everyone was saddened by the loss of their King and felt for the Queen. Each time though, Melanie whole heartedly replied that she firmly believed the kingdom would heal and grow in unified strength.

Each time she was embraced or bowed deeply to. Every community that lived within the city offered its whole hearted alliance and support to the Queen. By the time Melanie and Joona had walked up and down the city streets through all four corners of the city, the morning light had given way to the moon's gaze.

*****

Lynx stood patient and silent as he watched the wagon roll up to the courtyard. When Joona and Melanie stepped out he moved closer, clipboard and notebook in hand. Lynx had thought long and hard about what he was prepared to say.

It was a decision he had not come to lightly but nonetheless he felt it was right. However, before he could open his feline fanged mouth, Melanie spoke first.

"A meeting. Right now. Go get the Generals and Joona, grab Brandi."

Joona hurried off without another word.

"I will get Maalceus and Kelly."

"M-my lady. Please. What is the meaning of a meeting at this late hour?" Lynx asked.

"You'll know soon enough. Please hurry."

*****

General Lin and Wyatt sat in their seats looking irritable and tired. Kelly and Maalceus looked pleased and still very much aroused even though they had spent more than half the day having sex together.

Brandi and Leonardo sat close together, something for which the feline advisor took particular notice of. Joona stood behind Melanie and made firm eye contact with everyone at the table before speaking.

"I just came back from the city." She smiled a wide smile, one that she had not worn in weeks. "I did not believe we would get such a warm welcome from the people-"

"Did they jump at you my lady?" General Wyatt cut her off. "If any of them-"

"General please!" She raised her voice to calm him down. The General sat once more, though he looked on edge.

"The people of the city embraced me. Openly." Melanie chuckled.

"They hugged you?" Kelly asked, her Daemon eyes widened.

"Yes they did and I hugged them back."

Everyone knew touching the royals of the kingdom was against the formal laws. It was a punishable offense, one that Lucian had disliked and now Melanie had broke.

"Joona and I walked the entire city today. We talked to dozens of shop owners and merchants and each one of them offered their race's allegiance."

Melanie smiled as all eyes went wide with disbelief. Only Kelly and Brandi missed the importance of it. All people within the kingdom did not have to swear an oath or fealty of any kind to the king or queen. Only those that joined the guard did. For a person or a person's race to swear allegiance to another was like signing a contract of support and alliance.

They would fight and defend both the queen and the kingdom if called to do so. In the history of kings and queens, no race or person had ever made such an alliance in Vervania.

"They did this...of their own accord?" Lynx asked.

Melanie lifted up her right and left sleeves revealing names, clans, families and covens that had been magickally inscribed upon her pale skin. Melanie had only noticed the inscriptions after the third contract made while walking the city. Each contract within Vervania was one of binding. Something that Melanie had little idea of until that day. All eyes moved to inspect the inscriptions closer.

"You've done an incredible thing my Queen." Maalceus bowed his head. "My father and his before that could not claim alliances. Yet you embraced the people of this kingdom with open arms and received it easily." He chuckled under his breath. "Only a true leader, born to bare the mark of royalty could do such a feat without trying."

"What did you tell them my lady?" General Lin asked.

"I promised them unity and a healed kingdom. We all lost something in the war. We all hurt and bled in some way. However we will heal together and grow together in unified strength." She repeated the words as though they had been imprinted into her memory.

A wave of pure emotion washed across everyone, along with the urge to embrace their queen. Even the unemotional general Lin could not hide her tears that trickled down her placid face.

"Which is why..." Melanie started to say as tears fell down her face. When she felt Joona's hand touch her shoulder she reached up and squeezed it.

"...I have decided to leave m-m-my king-" she stuttered, forcing out the sentence amidst her growing tears.

"-rest in peace. For five thousand years he has fought for this kingdom. He has deserved his rest. It is our job." She stifled a cry that nearly broke her composure. Kelly wanted to go to her friend but Maalceus held her with a steady hand. He needed to hear her finish her declaration. As did all at the table.

"It is our job to protect and rebuild this city and kingdom. If the Daemon come we will fight them. If the Vikara come we will break them. If the seas of the world rush at our gates we will push them back. Together."

Her indigo blue eyes looked at everyone at the table evenly. All eyes were fixed on her.

"Together." She repeated. "Agreed?"

Melanie received no disagreements from anyone at the table. No one could defy the heartfelt decision of the Queen.

*****

"W-where am...I?" Lucian asked as he sat up. A field of floral grassland expanded in his vision. A gentle breeze drifted across his face as he stared at the beauty. In the horizon he watched the sun rise ever so gently. Hues of soft peaches and oranges lit up the sky.

He knew he was supposed to be doing something. Thinking about something or someone but at that moment he felt only peace. So taken by the brightening sunrise he didn't notice the presence next to him until the silence was broken by her voice.

"A beautiful morning isn't it?"

Lucian abruptly turned to the right and stared at the woman. She wore a dress that matched the sky and had long wavy hair that matched the color of trees and earth. Her skin was the color of sand and here eyes held the motion and color of the ocean. Her soft smile was as warm as the sun's rays and her calm demeanor was like the full moon on a still quiet night.

"You once asked why." She said, her voice a soft melodic tone that reminded him of song birds. "Why you were not like the lady of the land. Immortal but not eternal."

Lucian furrowed his brows and thought back but his mind felt too at ease to think of things so far back.

"All beings are born whole and yet...they are fractured." She continued. "Their souls are missing a piece...a true piece of themselves that resides within another."

"A soul mate?" He asked.

"Precisely." She smiled at him. "When a person finds their soul mate they know it. They feel it. It is an inexplicable feeling of wholeness."

Lucian smiled wondering why this woman was telling him this. He had no idea what anything she was saying could mean to him or why it would pertain to his current existence.

"Come here child. You have slept for too long. It is time to wake up." She leaned forward and pulled his head down to her gently kissing his forehead with all the tender care of a mother. Lucian wanted to ask who she was and why she was telling him these things. Before he could though, he knew them.

Every answer to every question he wanted to ask was known to him. Lucian's eyes widened and he fell to a knee before the lady of the land.

"Please rise my son." She said softly.

Lucian stood up and felt a thousand things race through his body. A hundred thoughts spiraled through his brain as he remembered everything all at once. He looked at her and she smiled back.

"Your soul mate has healed the rift that you and your family before you created." She explained. "She has united the races and created peace once again. All she is missing...is her soul mate." The lady of the land stood up and waved her hand. Through the ripples in the air, a door appeared. A door that he subtly recognized from his life before.

"Go to her. Trust in her and your people. You do not carry the weight and responsibility of the world on your shoulders alone. Unite with your people Lucian Drakkon and celebrate your eternal life with gratitude and love."

"My lady." He bowed again.

"Go. Embrace your people." She smiled up at him and watched him walk through the doorway.

*****

In the fifty years that had passed since his death, Lucian's body had not aged one day. The ice crystal that kept his body in a constant state of limbo cracked into a thousand shards. The pieces scattered to the floor like diamonds in the darkness. Lucian sat up and felt his cold body. The hole in his chest had healed. His wounds and battle injuries had vanished.

With legs that had not moved in five decades he slowly crossed the dark room. Memories drifted back to him from a life that felt so far away and yet seemed like it had only been moments ago. The orbs along the ceiling lit up to a dark purple guiding him as he moved up the stairs.

He crossed the halls and up the stairs, each flight he climbed gave him renewed strength. As he approached the door to his room he paused for only a moment before walking in. His room looked the same. His bedding, furniture and style had not changed and there laying in his bed was his soul mate.

In the fifty years they had been separated, she had not aged a day. He stripped free from his robe and slid a hand onto her pale beautiful face. Her indigo eyes opened and she smiled up at him with loving eyes.

"I knew you'd come back." She whispered lovingly and embraced him with fifty years worth of love.

"And never shall I leave you again."