CHAPTER 279: THE COTTAGE

The air in the pocket world still hummed with the fading echoes of their clash—the sizzle of lightning and the brittle crackle of ice. But the competitive fire had burned down to embers, leaving behind a warm, shared exhaustion.

As the last of Nero’s lightning flickered out and the deep chill around Khione receded, she turned to him, her chest rising and falling steadily. A small, triumphant, and surprisingly soft smile touched her lips.

"A break, I think," she said, her voice a little breathless. She gestured towards a path leading away from the scorched and frozen battlefield, towards a serene lake visible through the trees. "There’s a cottage by the water."

Nero, still feeling the pleasant ache of a well-fought match, nodded. A slow, answering smile spread across his face. "Lead the way my ice queen."

They walked in a comfortable silence, the only sound their footsteps on the soft earth and the distant call of a strange, melodic bird native to this pocket dimension. The cottage was exactly as she had described: small, built of warm, honey-colored wood, with a porch that looked out over the perfectly still, crystal-clear lake. It was a world away from the destruction they had just wrought.

Inside was simple and cozy—a large rug before a cold fireplace, a small kitchenette, and a single, spacious window framing the lake like a living painting. The moment the door closed, the last vestiges of their warrior personas fell away.

Without a word, they moved together. It wasn’t a rush of passion, but a slow, inevitable convergence. Nero reached for her, his hands finding her waist, and she leaned into him, her head resting against his shoulder with a quiet sigh. They stood like that for a long time, just holding each other, listening to the synchronized rhythm of their hearts slowing from the thrill of battle to the quiet peace of togetherness.

"You fought well, I was shocked there," he murmured into her hair, which smelled of frost and jasmine.

"I had to," she replied, her voice muffled against his shirt. "The prize was too good to lose."

He chuckled, the sound a warm rumble in his chest. He knew she wasn’t just talking about victory.

After a while, they changed out of their gear into soft, comfortable clothes they kept stored in their respective spatial rings.

"Let’s fly," Nero suggested, looking out at the vast, empty sky reflected in the lake.

Khione nodded. Together, they stepped onto the porch.

Nero closed his eyes, and with a soft whoosh, great wings of vibrant crimson flame erupted from his back, casting a warm, dancing light around them. The air shimmered with heat.

Beside him, Khione raised her hands. The moisture in the air crystallized, and from her back blossomed wings of the most exquisite, transparent ice. They were not bulky or jagged, but delicate and impossibly intricate, like the wings of a fairy-tale frost sprite, catching the light and scattering it into a thousand tiny rainbows. They radiated a gentle, refreshing cold.

With a shared glance, they kicked off from the ground.

The sensation was breathtaking. Nero’s flight was powerful, each beat of his fiery wings a surge of propulsion that sent warm gusts over the lake’s surface. Khione’s flight was utterly silent and graceful, her ice wings catching the air currents, allowing her to glide and spiral with an ethereal lightness. He was the sun; she was the winter moon, orbiting each other in the vast blue canvas of the sky.

They flew over the lake, their shadows dancing on the water below. Nero dove towards the surface, his wingtips skimming the water and sending up plumes of steam. Khione, laughing—a rare, crystalline sound that never failed to make his heart stutter—swooped down after him, her passage leaving a temporary trail of frost on the water that glittered in the light before melting away.

He flew up to meet a fluffy, isolated cloud, plunging into its cool moisture and emerging on the other side with his hair damp and a boyish grin on his face. Khione followed, weaving through the cloud, her ice wings leaving delicate, frozen patterns in the vapor that hung in the air for a moment before fading.

There were no words. They spoke through the language of flight—a playful chase, a synchronized loop, a moment spent hovering face-to-face, high above the world, their contrasting wings beating in a harmonious rhythm. He reached out, and she took his hand, her cool fingers lacing with his warm ones. They drifted like that for a moment, a perfect, suspended point of fire and ice, connected.

When they finally descended, landing softly back on the cottage porch as the sun began to set, painting the sky in hues of orange and purple, the world felt new. Their wings dissipated—fire into embers, ice into mist.

They made a simple dinner together in the small cottage, their movements around each other practiced and easy. After eating, they sat on the porch steps, her leaning back against his chest, his arms wrapped around her, as stars began to prick the darkening sky.

It was in this quiet, under the blanket of a foreign constellations, that the depth of their feeling settled around them, as real and comforting as the warmth of his body against her back. It wasn’t about epic battles or world-shaking power. It was about this. The shared silence, the effortless understanding, the simple, profound joy of being together, away from everything and everyone. It was a romance built not on grand declarations, but on a thousand small, perfect moments, and this day had been filled with them. They did not care about the outside world at the moment, only focusing on themselves, enjoying this peaceful moment, creating more memories together.

After a long moment of silence, indulging in these quality times, Khione initiated a conversation.

"The world must be thrown into the chaos, I mean the seven families must be all aware of your exceptional feet by now. Each one scheming how to make move on you. You are something they must have."

"I’m well aware of this but I’m not afraid." Nero responded with a smile. Khione could see confidence in those ominous red eyes. She was curious about where his confidence came from.