Daevas -I- ✔️

Chapter 13.4: Resolve

Ari's arms shook as he picked himself up from the ground. He grabbed his throat and looked at Kaval with watery eyes. He could not be dead. He could not be. The thought caused his throat to become dry. Ari found it hard to swallow and his heart continued to beat out of his chest. Ari had to do something and do something quickly. He rose to his feet and made his way to Kaval, but he was stopped by the earth shaking under him. It made him lose his footing and fall to the ground again. 

"I told you not to touch him," Auovin growled. The pressure he put on Inge's neck increased causing Inge to tape at his foot. 

"I am sorry. Forgive me. Forgive me," Inge wheezed.

 As soon as Inge tried to rise again Auovin slammed him back into the ground with his foot which made the earth around them rumble. Ari's eyes widened at the thought of that being the cause of the shaking. He knew Auovin possessed a lot of power but he had never seen it like this. Auovin let go after a few seconds passed, but he continued to glower at Inge.

"I would not have gone on and done this if you would not have become sidetracked," Inge said as he coughed and held his throat. 

"I know what must be done. I have not lost my way," Auovin hissed.

"Then do it or I will do it for you!" 

Auovin turned his attention to Kaval causing Ari's to grow wide with fear. Ari quickly rose on his two feet, disoriented but well enough to make his way to Kaval. He would not let Auovin hurt him. Kaval protected him, after all. He was responsible for this-- for him. 

"Move away from him, Ari." 

"Kaval h-he tried to protect me. He means me no harm. That thing over there does yet you insist on hurting Kaval. That is not right." 

When Ari looked up at Auovin fear nestled in the pits of his stomach. The same kind of fear he felt when he first met him. It caused his arms to shake and grow unsteady, but Ari was resolute in protecting Kaval even if it was from Auovin. Kaval was his friend.

"Move," Auovin growled, sending a shudder down Ari's spine. 

Ari shook his head no. He could feel Auovin's gaze on him burning holes into him.

"If you would have stayed and listened to my words, it would not have to be this way. If you would have--." Auovin shut his eyes angrily. "If you would have stayed with Cyrus and not with him things would be different, but you never listen. You never learn. All those who know of me would never think to do half the things you do. They are right. I am far too soft on you." Auovin tugged on Ari's arm, lurching him forward and away from Kaval as easy as lifting a pebble. 

Ari grabbed a handful of dirt and crumbled it in his hands. He was just as weak as when he did not know what he was. Nothing had changed. If only he was stronger, he would not be taken so lightly and at the mercy and whims of others like him. Auovin would not listen to him. Not when he was like that. It made his eyes become blurry at the thought. Kaval was his friend, his only friend, and to lose him to a person he thought of as his lover was far too cruel. Ari's heart twisted and pulled in his chest as Auovin's foot rested on the rod Ari had nearly pulled out.

"If you hurt him--"

"I do not care," Auovin said matter-of-factly as he pressed the blue rod back further into Kaval's chest with uncaring eyes. "Hate me, I do not care. Forgiveness and love is not something I ever wanted from you in the first place. It is not what I need." His yellow eyes met Ari's gray ones as he said this. There was stabbing feeling in Ari's chest as he looked from Kaval to Auovin with angry tears flooding down his cheeks.