Rejected By My Mate

When Alice couldn't feel the woman's aura for days, she felt anxious. What if something happened to the woman? Who would take care of her children? Her worries grew, and she felt really frustrated now.

She heard her babies talking about looking for the woman instead. They kept waiting every day, but the woman never appeared. She felt worried for her children, so she desperately tried everything in her willpower to wake up. She fought the heavy pressure that keeps pulling her deeper into the darkness.

Anxiety kicked in when she didn't hear her babies anymore. Fear struck her and Alice tried to use the energy that the woman transferred to her. With all her strength, she pulled herself up forcefully and when she finally saw the light; she felt overwhelmed. At long last, her eyes open sleepily and notice that she was floating inside a golden transparent cocoon that was filled with gravity. She looked around but didn't feel the presence of her twins. She felt anxious and tried to break free from the cocoon multiple times.

Fortunately, the cocoon broke after how many attempts and she stumbled weakly to the ground. Her throat felt so dry and she gasped for air. She tried to stand up, but her knees felt so weak and instantly gave in. She slowly got up again and walked step by step until she regained her balance. An agonizing hour later, she searched the house, hoping her children were sleeping, but no sign of them. Suddenly, her stomach grumbled loudly and ached slightly.

“I'm hungry,” she mumbled in a hoarse and low voice, and she felt strange with her own voice. It has been a long time since she hasn't spoken. She wonders how long it has been.

She climbed down from the tree house, and an unknown forest greeted her. With a deep sigh, she walked around the forest to look for food. Then she found a magical fruit tree. She climbed up and picked the purple round fruit. After knowing it's edible, she took a bite, and the sweetness touched her taste buds. Instantly, she regained her full energy after eating the whole fruit. She picked three more fruits and then climbed down. She still has to find her children.

When she stumbled into a waterfall, she saw a small trail and dashed towards the trail, hoping to bump into someone. But the trail led her to a small cave. She hesitated whether to go in or not. She sighed and turned around.

However, before Alice could walk away, she felt a familiar aura inside the cave. It was faint, but she was sure that it belonged to the woman who took care of her children while she was sleeping. She ran toward the dark cave blindly because her eyes, that automatically glowed brightly in the dark before, didn’t work anymore. She wondered what happened. Was it gone when she used her eye's power in the eternal unknown?

She sighed and continued walking with a small fire on her forefinger to see the way into the dark cave.

“Hello? Anyone?” she called out. She heard a low grunt and a muffled sound. When she reached the dead end of the cave, she saw the woman lying on the ground helplessly with wounds all over her body and her clothes were soaked with blood. The woman opened her eyes slightly, but widened upon seeing her.

“I... I know you!” the woman let out in shock, but then groaned in pain from the sudden movement. The woman coughed up blood. Alice didn’t waste any time and quickly healed the woman's deep wounds. The woman was badly injured, and it took a while to heal all her wounds.

"What are you doing here? Why are you wounded?” Alice asked, but the woman was just staring at Alice unbelievably without batting an eyelash, like she was mesmerized by the woman in front of her.

After the woman's wounds fully healed, the woman thanked her and they introduced each other's name.

“My name is Ashley.”

“I'm Alice.”

The woman smiled at her. Then Alice handed the purple fruit to Ashley to regain her full energy. Ashley ate the fruit gladly in silence. Alice just watched her until she finished eating the fruit.

"So tell me where are you from?” Alice asked and scanned her appearance.

“Who?”

“The Destiny itself.” Alice said and smiled.

"You care for us, after all. Thank you, Destiny.’ Alice said in her mind.

"Huh?" Ashley was confused, but she considered Alice's speculation. “Maybe you are right. But the weird thing is, how did I get into the forest? The forest was really protected. You notice the heavy pressure, right?” Ashley said, her eyebrows furrowed together while still trying to decipher the mystery that happened to her.

"Yes. It's too strong, like it was protecting the forest.” Alice said.

“So, imagine how I got there when it's protected? Without the twins’ help before, I wonder if I can get out of that forest alive. Your twins are really powerful and awesome.” Ashley smiled and now she misses the twins more than she could imagine. She was with the twins for more than a year and she considered them family.

Alice smiled and heaved a deep sigh upon remembering her unseen children again. She wonders what they look like now. They were just too little when she first saw them.

Meanwhile, the twins with Azrael and the sisters kept searching around the forest, but still no sign of Alice. Their anxiety came back again and couldn't help thinking if Alice was really awake or somebody took her out of the cocoon.

"What if Alice came back to the castle?” Val said, and the others stopped walking.

"Why haven't we thought of that possibility earlier?” Damona let out and everyone chuckled at their stupidity.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Demonise said.

“Let's go,” Azrael uttered, while carrying the twins in his arms.

"We don't have to fly to get out anymore. We could walk that path out of the forest exit.” Yzzabelle said, while pointing at a clear path.

They followed the trail, and it took them some time to reach the exit.

“Wait,” Willow stopped them when she noticed some shoe prints. “There are shoe prints. It belongs to two people, and it's new.” She said and the others also looked at the prints and the direction it's headed.

The twins stared at the familiar shoe prints that had the shape of flowers. They only know one person who has that kind of shoe print. The twins’ faces light up with excitement.

“It belongs to Aunt Ashley!” Yzzabelle blurted out excitedly.

"Aunt Ashley came back! Maybe she had our mother with her!” Ezzekiel let out with excitement. “Let's follow the prints!” Xandra uttered and walked first, although her heart was racing in anticipation. She couldn't wait to see Alice again.

The others also felt the same. Excitement rushed through their veins. “Did it rain? Why didn't we feel it?” Azrael uttered.

“It actually didn't rain inside the forest.” Ezekiel said.

“Really? That's weird.” Val uttered.

They followed the small pathway in the center of tall grasses until they reached another vast forest. The twins slowly got an idea of where Ashley wanted to go.

“We now know where they are going!” Yzzabelle let out.

“Where?” Azrael asked. He couldn't hide his excitement, either.

“There's a village two hours away from here! Aunt Ashley might think that we went there to find her when she couldn't find us instead!” Yzzabelle said and felt giddy.

Azrael and the sisters smiled. They hope the twins were right. They have to bring back Alice today no matter what. The others are still waiting in the castle for their returns with Alice. Fate really plays with them. The more they wanted to see Alice, the more their anxiousness and frustration growing because they felt like fate deliberately delayed their reunion.

To reach the village faster, the twins teleported all of them into the elves’ village. When they arrived, the people stared at them in awe, and a commotion started.

"Ahh, the great sextuplets!” The elves yelled with happy faces and the sisters could only smile at the crowd while looking around with nerves skyrocketing.

Azrael and the twins were also scanning the crowds with hopeful expression. The twins closed their eyes while trying to locate their mother and aunt Ashley's aura. A little while later, they looked at each other with wide eyes and grinned. They jumped down from Azrael's hold and ran away in a hurry.

“We found them! Hurry!” Yzzabelle shouted.

Azrael and the sisters were stunned, and they quickly followed the twins, who ran so fast they barely could keep up. They all stopped dead in their tracks and gasped in surprise. 12 meters away from them, there stood a certain woman with long silvery blue hair shining in her glory that they've longed to see. Automatically, tears streamed down their faces with happiness. At long last, they've finally found the missing piece in their lives.

“Mother! Mother!” The twins shouted with glee and tears streaming down their faces in happiness while running towards their mother that they've been longing to hug and hold. It's the moment they've been waiting for.