[i]So, here we are again. It's been quite awhile since I wrote anything for this community, but I figured I would give it a go. I hope you all enjoy it. As is the usual, feel free to comment, like, bump, whatever. I'll also be adding my usual poll for everyone to take, if they so desire, that is. I also tried to shorten the length of my chapters as I know that my past works have been pretty involved and quite overwhelming at times. Anyway, after a long hiatus, here we go![/i] As the gentle, sweeping rays of balmy, yellow light pierced the panes of glass in the ceiling above their bed, the two lovers lay naked, entwined in a mix of love and passion. Both of their lungs heaved, trying desperately to replenish the oxygen that was displaced by their lust. “You love me, right?” Mara Sov’s intoxicating voice filled the man’s eardrums with a reverberating sound of sweet gentility. “Now what makes you go and ask a silly question like that?” The man’s voice was low and deep and rumbled Mara’s cheekbones as she lay with her head atop his bare chest. “I don’t know. I just, I get the feeling sometimes that I’m all alone out here; even though I am surrounded by my guards and advisors, and my brother. When I look out to the sky and see all the dancing, shining stars; I just feel alone.” Her words carried a tone of the deepest sense of melancholy he had ever heard. But Greer could only smile at her. “Mara, my love,” Greer said as his soft, silky hands moved ever so carefully around her face, “you are the Queen, the Defeater, a warrior whose will to survive is as sharp as her blades. You are the strongest, most fearsome woman I have ever laid eyes on. Men throw themselves at your feet and beg for your mercy, women name their children after you, and their children’s children. Never you fear, my Queen, because on top of all of that; you have me.” Greer’s smile widened a little bit further to reveal his perfectly straight and white teeth. Mara Sov’s subtle purple lips parted as her blue eyes peered directly into his own. Her mouth began to move, but Greer couldn’t hear her words. “My love? Are you alright? I can’t hear you,” Greer said in a slightly panicked voice. Her lips were still moving as nothing but a hollow, empty void of air passed through them. “Mara! Please! Speak to me! Tell me you love me, tell me that you need me.” The grip his hands had on her face began to tighten. The beating of his heart was like a drum amplified to the highest pitch he had ever experienced. It tore at the flesh, bone, and blood that made up its home, pounding relentlessly, as if ready to burst. “Tell me that we can lie here, together, forever...tell me I’m the only one...please, Mara, please tell me.” Greer squeezed harder, but it was no longer the face of the only woman he would ever love. It was no longer the face of the woman who had filled his dreams at night. Now, the beautiful, pale blue face of Mara Sov was replaced with smoldering, smoking ashes. “Mara! Come back to me! Please…” Greer’s sobs racked his whole body as the ashes fell between the cracks of his fingers and onto the satin covers below. His eyes were shut, but yet he could still see. He saw the outline of her body, nothing more than gray ash that was gently disturbed by a slight breeze that began to intensify and blow the ashes away. On his knees, he frantically tried to scoop up what remained of his love into his arms, and despite all of his muscle, despite all of his might, he couldn’t save her. The wind had blown away the charred remains of his Queen, his only reason to live, and now, he sat on his bed. Hot, bloody tears streaming endlessly down his face. “Please...don’t leave me.” [i]Death to the Wolves: Among the Stars (Chapter 1: Part II)[/i]: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/164590162 [i]Death to the Wolves: Chapter Index[/i]: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/184038227/0/0