No Regrets

Another attack of violent coughing hit him. Blood splattered on the stones like little crimson teardrops. Lovely, he thought, now I’ve got internal bleeding to add to my list of injuries. It didn’t matter though, and Eltrio knew it. He was dying, and nothing could stop it.

The troll’s club had broken his back. If the monster hadn’t lost its balance and fallen into the chasm it would have finished him off on the spot. Instead, the troll left the young man paralyzed from the waist down.

All in all, Eltrio had made remarkable progress, crawling with only his arms for over a dozen miles. He had continued to crawl even as his hands grew bloody from the continuous rubbing on the rocky ground, even when his nails began tearing off one at a time he hadn’t stopped, but it was over now. His arms had reached their physical limit. They felt nearly as limp as his legs.

He sighed. Never again would he see the girl that he loved. He had tried his best, but even then, he would never again see Xia.

From the first time he laid eyes on her, he knew that she was special. Though, he couldn’t have guessed just how much. They had fallen in love. Both of them having a secret. Each believing their own to be the larger. Eltrio was the Crown Prince of Argonia. Xia was of the ancient Dragovian race.

They loved each other so much. When their secrets came out, neither cared. They were still in love. But fate intervened, and Xia was taken away from him. Her own father, Chen Mui, had shown up out of nowhere. He had taken her back with him. Back to the Dragovian Sanctuary. A place so secret that no human had even heard of it in over a thousand years.

After Xia was taken away, Eltrio had searched the world over for clues as to the whereabouts of the Dragovian Sanctuary. His rank allowed him access to every major library in the world. From Trodain, to Arcadia, to the High Priest’s own private collection. He had searched as though possessed, and he had found the answers he sought.

He had told no one. Though it pained him do so, he had left in secret. Xia’s people wanted to live in seclusion, and Eltrio would respect that. He hadn’t told a sole about the Dragovians. But just because they chose to live in seclusion didn’t mean Xia should have to. He vowed to return to her side.

The road to the Sanctuary was long and treacherous. Even for a master swordsmen like Eltrio. After all, even master swordsmen could break their backs. He coughed up more blood. This time a far more copious amount. His vision grew dim. He had sacrificed everything on a one in a million chance of being reunited. It had failed.

Eltrio couldn’t see anymore. He began taking his last rattling breaths. Even if he had known what the outcome would be, he still would have tried. He didn’t regret his love for a Dragovian, for Xia, and he didn’t regret giving up everything for his love. He didn’t even regret dying so far away from home, away from all the people that knew him.

It had all been worth it. It was all worth that one chance in a million that he might have succeeded. There in a land completely foreign to him, Eltrio, the Crown Prince of Argonia, took his last breath of life.

“If I could do it all over, Xia…I would have tried again…”


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