Chapter 16: The second guardian

The sky was dotted with stars when Pandora reached the lake. The waters, calm as a well-kept secret, reflected the silver light of the moon, creating an almost ethereal scenario. On the lawn at the edge of the shore, a blanket of velvety cloth was stretched out, with small enchanted lanterns floating around, emitting a soft glow that danced with the wind.

Persephone was sitting there, knees bent, holding two crystal bowls with an amber-colored liquid. When he saw Pandora approaching, he smiled so lightly that his face looked even more beautiful under the starlight.

"I thought you wouldn’t come," she said, holding out a glass.

Pandora accepted and sat down next to her, trying to disguise the acceleration of the heart.

"I said I’d come. I just didn’t promise it would be easy."

"Nothing worth it is" replied Persephone with a singing smile.

The conversation began light, punctuated by laughter and subtle provocations. They talked about the classes, the eccentric teachers of Arkanum, their first impressions of each other... Persephone confessed that he found Pandora mysterious from the first day. Pandora, smiling, admitted that she was nervous whenever Persephone looked at her as if she could see through her.

"I can," said Persephone, leaning a little further.

There was a pause. The silence between them was not uncomfortable. It was dense, as if everything in the air were suspended, waiting. Pandora did not back down when Persephone touched her hand. Nor when she leaned over, her lips a breath away.

The kiss happened with the softness of a promise. A calm touch, but full of restrained intensity. Like something both have waited too long.

When they walked away, Persephone’s eyes were swollen, but the smile on her lips was sincere.

"I... think I’m falling in love with you," she said, as if she didn’t want to keep anything else.

Pandora did not respond immediately. She just held her hand more firmly and lay down in the blanket, pulling Persephone along. The two stood side by side, looking at the sky, feeling each other’s beats.

The wind whispered among the trees, and the stars up there seemed to watch them with complicity.

No words were said after that. It was not necessary. The moment spoke for them.

The night was slowly advancing as Pandora and Persephone returned to the Dawn House. The corridors were silent, bathed only by the blue light of the enchanted lamps. The mood between the two was different now - denser, more loaded with emotions that did not need to be said.

As they entered the room they shared, Pandora hesitated for a moment. Persephone’s gaze reached her with tenderness and a touch of restrained desire. She approached slowly, as if afraid to break the enchantment of that night, and touched Pandora’s face with her fingertips, tracing a path up to the line of her chin.

"It’s okay if you want to stop here," muttered Persephone, her eyes fixed on hers.

Pandora just shook her head, silent, before shortening the distance between them with a calm but intense kiss. It was as if, there, in that room that witnessed so many doubts and silences, the answers had finally found space.

What happened next needed no words. Between soft caresses, whispered smiles and mute confessions, Pandora surrendered. Not to an impulse, but to the connection that had grown between them day after day. A bond woven in magic, desire and confidence.

The night slowly hid behind the heavy curtains as they fell asleep, entwined, bodies in peace after the chaos that used to surround them.

The next morning, Pandora was awakened by a soft touch on her lips. Persephone’s kisses were delicate as petals landing on her skin. When he opened his eyes, he found her face so close that he barely needed a breath to hear it.

"I love you" whispered Persephone, as if she was confessing a spell she had kept for a long time.

Pandora didn’t say anything at once. She just smiled, feeling the warmth of those words pulsating on her chest as a new promise. And, for a moment, the world outside didn’t seem to matter.

╔══ ❀•°❀°•❀ ══╗

The forest surrounding Arkanum seemed to pulse with a different energy that night. Morgana was alone, sitting on the edge of the clearing where her mother used to train her. The full moon crossed the leaves, drawing silver patterns on the ground, and the wind brought an ancient whisper that spoke directly to his heart.

It was there, in that heavy silence, that the vision came.

Everything around it faded like smoke, and Morgana found herself in front of a battlefield covered by a dark mist. There were screams in the distance, magic crackling in the air like thunder in war. And right in the center, between blood and chaos, she was... next to Pandora. The fairy, with her purple hair loose like mystical flames, channeled an ancestral power that tore through the sky - and Morgana, transformed, with her eyes shining in wild gold, fought by her side, protecting her with every heartbeat.

When he came to, he was panting. The vision was too intense to be just a dream. It was a warning. Or maybe... a reminder of what was yet to come.

With her chest cramped, she walked back to the campus, following her instincts until she found Pandora in the gardens of the Dawn House near the greenhouses. Pandora was distracted, watching small enchanted flowers open under the moonlight. There was something peaceful in it, something that made Morgana forget the weight of the inheritance she carried.

"Hi," said Morgana, the softer voice she used to be.

Pandora smiled and approached, noticing the strange expression on the werewolf’s face.

"Are you all right?"

"Today is my mother’s birthday - confessed Morgana, the look lost in the shadows.  "I pretend I don’t care, but... I miss her every day."

Pandora came closer, touching the girl’s arm gently.

"You don’t have to pretend with me."

It was at this moment, surrounded by pain and something stronger growing inside of her, that Morgana leaned down and kissed Pandora. A kiss that mixed longing, impulse and the beginning of an acceptance she had long avoided.

But fate never sleeps. On the other side of the garden, among the trees, Persephone watched.

She made no noise. She didn’t say a word. Just clenched her fists and, with her heart burning, turned around and returned to the House of Dawn.

Hours later, already in the room, Persephone was sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting. Anger burned under the skin, but what hurt was the emptiness that felt in the chest.

She didn’t know what she would say when Pandora came through the door.

But I knew that something inside of her had changed.