As they stood before the circular ring, at Darius’ command, the array began to light up. The red energy traveled through the veins of the walls and onto the red nodes.
The mana was amplified by the red crystals before it circled around the rings, igniting the pathway with a blue hue.
The view reflected in Xion’s wide eyes, and Darius agreed with Allen’s earlier statement. This was indeed a gorgeous process.
The mana thrummed with a new vitality, shaking the entire room with it.
Xion could feel it pulsing in his veins. The rush of adrenaline drilled into his nerves, and his grip on Darius’ hand tightened.
The blue and red mixed up like a bright mix of forgotten galaxies, littered with broken stars, shining so prettily that Xion subconsciously took a step closer.
"It might be dangerous. We might get separated but the distance is usually short. I’ll fin-"
"It’s fine. I’ll find you." Xion said with such confidence that Darius had the urge to take him in his arms and ruffle the adorable little thing up.
"Okay. Find me then." As long they were together in the end, who cared who found the other?
Xion excitedly pulled Darius with him while carefully stepping into the threshold.
Just as his foot was about to land in the array, he halted. "What if we ended up transporting at some cliff?"
"You won’t." Darius had tested it before. He had carefully marked the areas to use as the final destination.
Although they might end up at a different site than intended, it would still be fine.
"What if we end up in a different area? Maybe some barbarian’s land? They will kill us on the spot."
"It won’t happen." Darius was patient enough. But he was only patient for Xion. If it was anyone else asking him all these useless questions, he would have kicked that person away long ago.
But a certain anxious kitten wasn’t done yet. He licked his dry lips, and despite his system telling him it was safe, he felt his nerves suddenly on high alert.
"But what if something went wrong and this array turned into a monster lair and then we get our limbs shredded by huge beasts that can only be stopped by that pretty woman- Ah!"
While he was rambling on, Darius directly picked Xion up and stepped into the array.
The air swished so fast it was impossible to see anything. So, Xion tightly shut his eyes and directly buried his head in the dip of Darius’ shoulder.
It took only nineteen seconds for the air to stop swishing
And even longer for Xion to finally open his eyes. "Are we there?" he asked in a whisper as if really not wanting to awaken some beast from his imagination.
"Yes," Darius, too replied in an equally hushed voice. Though there was an obvious tremor of laughter hidden in his words. "Want to see?"
Xion didn’t reply. He directly turned around only for the harsh wind to slap him on the face sending his black hair flying all over his head, turning it into a bird’s nest.
The Archduke had removed the barrier and now there was nothing protecting Xion from the cold howling winds.
’Brother is weak. He is not as strong as us, physically I mean. Please take care of him, Your Grace.’
Darius knew the feelings were mutual, and funnily they both were willing to give each other a bit of time just for the sake of Xion.
"Better?"
Xion blinked, flexing his fingers inside his gloves. "Yeah... but isn’t that... a lot of mana? Shouldn’t we save it?"
Darius stepped forward, the snow crunching under his leather boots, "If there’s one thing we don’t need to worry about, it’s my mana."
He was born with more mana than anyone else. When he was a child, it used to explode out, killing birds, and withering plants in seconds. It continued until he turned five.
That was when he learned to control it with the help of the teachers assigned to him. However, rather than control, it was more like suppressing it inside.
Xion was aware of only a little bit of Darius’ past. But even without knowing it, it still made him sad.
"You can put me down now. I can walk." That was all he could offer for now.
"No," Darius didn’t put him down; rather he held him tighter. "This way you won’t feel cold."
It was the mana barrier Darius must be talking about, Xion mused. After all, it was better to stay closer to the source of the mana for the better effect of the barrier.
But...
Xion couldn’t shake off the flustered heat curling up his ears. His boyfriend was so strong!
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