Information

SpiritShadow
Legacy Name: SpiritShadow

The Nightmare Archan
Owner: StarofEvening

Age: 18 years, 7 months, 3 weeks

Born: August 24th, 2005

Adopted: 18 years, 7 months, 3 weeks ago (Legacy)

Adopted: August 24th, 2005 (Legacy)

Nominate Pet for Spotlight

Statistics

• Level: 278
   
• Strength: 696
   
• Defense: 695
   
• Speed: 692
   
• Health: 692
   
• HP: 684/692
   
• Intelligence: 556
   
• Books Read: 555
• Food Eaten: 0
• Job: Hotel Chain Owner

I remember the first time I laid eyes on her. She was at the lunch table with her fire licked strands of hair flowing back from her face and head tipped back, laughing at some joke her friend had shared. My breath literally seized in my lungs and I couldn’t get the sound of her laughter out of my head for days. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I didn’t know what had happened to me since I never gave the ladies a second thought. I was too busy planning my empire to dally with distractions until I saw her, but after all I could think about was her safety and happiness.

She wouldn’t give me the time of day at first. She preferred ‘pretty boys’ with dashing hair and lighthearted ways who could show her a fun time. She had no interest in someone with a heavy soul who had already dealt with living and with loss. I hung in her background like a moon to the Sun, orbiting but never coming close.

Gradually as we progressed through school and she was occasionally in a class or two of mine, I earned my way into her good graces. I became her friend and subtle bodyguard, inspecting those would be suitors with an eagle eye and flex of muscle encouraging them not to misbehave.
I gained her secrets and her trust but despite my best efforts I knew she could never quite see us together due to our differences. She often teased me and told me to lighten up and I often chided her to be more serious. I knew the world was not always a friendly place even if she didn’t. Friends encouraged me to look elsewhere for a companion and tried to introduce me to other girls but I knew in my heart that it was her or it was no one so I didn’t bother.

I might have lived a lonely existence, participating in bar fights and questionable pursuits, relegated to the realm of ‘friends forever’ had her life not drastically changed. I might have never have had the privilege to protect her instead if her parents hadn’t died that summer. I often wish that the fates would have been kinder for her sake, but of course I couldn't change the past. I could only do my best to smooth the path of her future.

It was right after graduation; a freak accident that couldn’t have been avoided. A tree fell onto their carriage from a sudden lightning storm. Angel had been a sheltered child and had everything she needed provided for her. The loss of both of them was not only an emotional one but also left her with a learning curve as she struggled to plan their funerals, buy groceries, and manage her dwindling funds. Unfortunately her doting parents had not been forward planners. Angel was forced to sell her palatial family home and raid her college fund to settle all the credit accounts her parents had left behind. I watched as she quietly gave up her dreams of college and a better life and frantically tried to figure out what came next.

My own world was shattered when at eight years old my mother passed; despite my title and lands without a guardian I was drafted into Merana's army. I spent years training and battling for the evil sea witch before I was able to escape to Centropolis and make a better more tranquil life. Even now, my weapon collection was a vice and a comfort due to my experiences. I had lived through loss myself and so I understood better than most the anguish and loneliness she was going through.

Try as I might to hide it no one could deny, not even myself, that I was quietly and irrevocably in love with my fire-haired maiden. Consequently, It was no surprise to anyone when I took up the mantle as her protector once more. I showed her how to manage the meager amount of SP she had left and helped her create a resume to find a job. I encouraged her through interview after interview until she finally landed a decent position as a front desk assistant at City Hall. I shared the best and thriftiest ways to buy groceries and slept on my living room couch while I insisted that she take my bedroom instead. Finally when she was on her feet I helped her find the cheapest and safest apartment possible in her budget and I did the unthinkable.

I let her fly.

I knew the position I was in. I could convince her to stay with me if I really tried. I could keep her. She might be a little broken, but she would be mine, wouldn’t she? I suspected in my heart that it was wrong and knew it for sure after a chance meeting with Alexander, the Librarian. I had come in for books on hospitality management and financial planning and he had just mended the wing of a sparrow he found on the Library steps. As I watched him release it into the air, he looked meaningfully at me and said, "If you love something, you should set it free. If it comes back to you that you will know if it was really meant for you." I pondered his words and how he meant them to apply to me for quite a while before I felt I had divined the meaning. His sparrow came back to sing outside the Library window after a few weeks, but I was not to be so lucky.

I knew she suspected that I was still in love with her but that I was too much of a gentleman to add my feelings to her already crushing burden and it was true. I continued on instead as her supporter and her friend. We saw each other often and I grew quietly prouder and prouder of her independence and success. I was the first person she called when she got promoted at work to Assistant of the Chairman. She came over to show me her acceptance into night college and sought my opinion in buying insurance, investments, and career advice which I gladly gave. I just wanted her to be happy. She dated occasionally and sparing my feelings by never mentioning her experiences with her suitors, but I heard about it in the village as I ran my errands and my heart felt the slice and bled anyway.

As a year passed, and then two, I began to wonder if I could continue to be of her life but not an integral part of it. As it got harder and harder to keep up my friendly farce in front of her, I started to make silent plans to love her from afar and move five hours west to Veta Lake. I had worked my way up through the ranks at a stylish high rise hotel called the Crown of the Royals and had been managing it for quite some time. There was a business venture in Veta Lake that I thought would bear very profitable fruit but it was going to take my personal commitment to make it happen. An old run down hotel on the lake had come up for sale and I had just enough to buy it and fix it up. I knew would always love my fire haired maiden, but maybe loving her from afar and seeing her on occasional holidays would hurt less when she eventually settled down and had children of her own with someone else.

When the time came, I invited her over for dinner. I made filet mignon and served handmade mulberry wine to show off just a bit and steered the conversation into neutral topics. Once we finished dinner I invited her for drinks in the study and I told her about the venture and the possibilities it had for my future.
Before I had even finished, her eyes teared up and she said. “You’re leaving me, aren’t you? This is your dream, and you have to go chase it down.”
I smiled at her with the best smile I could manage and replied,”My dear, it is but one of my dreams, however one that I have a greater chance of success with than my current pursuits.”
She nodded her understanding and whispered, “What am I going to do without you?” softly to herself.
I touched her hand and said, “You are a smart and beautiful woman, Angel. You don’t need me.
You and I both know that I am standing in your way here in Centropolis.”
“What do you even mean? You know you are my best friend! You aren’t standing in my way!” She exclaimed, shocked at my outburst.
I gave her a knowing look and believing I would forever wonder if I didn’t share the truth with her just once more, I continued on. “I don’t imagine too many suitors are willing to go up against me to ask for the pleasure of your time, now are they?”
Shock, awe, and then the beginnings of understanding passed over her face. “You think…what do you…have you said…..” her voice faded off as she struggled to put her thoughts in order.
I smiled at her again, sadly this time and said, “I have not discussed anything with anyone, my Angel, but it is no secret in town that I would protect you with my last breath. There are few that would be able to go up against my strength, but to also have to compete with the depth of my feelings for you as well? Suitors would be hard pressed to compete and they know it. You can’t honestly tell me that you don’t know how much I love you, can you?”
She colored a most becoming pink and looking to the ground, saying nothing.

“I imagined as much, my dear,” I said calmly as my heart broke just one more time. “This is one of the reasons I must leave you, for your sake, as much as my own. Maybe there is someone out there that I will love who can love me back. I do not wish to burden you with my feelings any longer and I have no wish to cause you guilt or pain. You have always been honest with me but I was determined and stubborn in my hope that you might someday change your mind. You deserve to be happy with someone whose feelings you can return, my Angel, and I do not want to stand in the way. I hope that someday you may enjoy the feel of loving someone as completely as I love you.”
She stood, shaken at my words, and put a hand to my cheek. “Dear Spirit,” she whispered as a tear traced down.

“No tears for me,” I said, gently wiping away the moisture. “You know I can’t stand to see you cry.”
I watched as she mentally composed herself to save me the pain and I knew that somewhere in her generous heart was some type of affection for my well being. I knew this might be the last time I saw her so I committed her beautiful face to memory and then just before she left I threw caution to the wind.
As she lifted her face to speak I instead cradled her in my arms and leaned down to touch her lips to mine, pouring all the love I had to give into the gesture. The moment suspended in time as she kissed me back and for just a second I could see the future as it could have been, with her at my side as I reopened the Lakeview Resort, us marrying under a flower covered arbor, her effort as she blessed me with our firstborn, rocking on our front porch once the children had grown, dancing at our 50th wedding anniversary.
When the kiss ended and I released her, her eyes met mine once more and they were drenched in tears.
“Goodbye, my Angel, my love. Please be happy,” I murmured against her beautiful face as I pulled away.
“Oh Spirit…”she replied tenderly, and before she could lose it completely, kissed me quickly once more and dashed out my door and down the steps.

I left for Veta the following day, throwing all of my pain and loss into the grand reopening of the Lakeview Resort. I locked the emotion away into a gilded box with a jeweled key along with my heart and worked twelve hour days instead, scrubbing floors and making beds, mending linens and selecting menus. I interviewed tirelessly, searching for the right people to charm my guests and create a lasting experience that would have them returning again and again. I did not allow myself to replay the scene that night although feelings occasionally escaped the prison I had placed them in. The bonfire in the center of town was a bad trigger as it reminded me too much of her fire strands of hair waving in the wind and I absolutely had to stay away from filet mignon and the mulberry wine we had shared on our last night. Peeling bells made me think of her chiming laughter so I avoided the church when possible and left the city to grab a bite during the noon bells the first few months. Eventually, they were a fond reminder of her beauty and grace and I smiled to myself in remembrance of her instead.

Finally, after four hard months of refurbishing, the Lakeview Resort was ready. We had a grand town-wide event on the 5th of September and invited everyone in to view our labor of love. We offered half off stays to the townsfolk and free dinner at our beautiful restaurant overlooking the lake. A handful of people that had heard about our views had even booked rooms at the going rates.

I was roaming around the lobby greeting guests and accepting compliments on the fine fare and ambiance when I saw, out of the corner of my eye, flaming beautiful hair waving in the wind outside. My heart stopped beating and dropped to my toes as I watched her get out of the carriage and all my careful walls of protection tumbled down. The key was in the lock and powerful emotions escaped faster than I could react to stop them and honestly, it was a beautiful pain. I had negotiated with myself about going to see her over our months of separation and my dreams had tortured me endlessly with errant memories of her over the years, constantly placing me there as a spectator as if they had happened yesterday. It was always such a poisoned pleasure to see her face, no matter the reason.

My heart started beating again as she gracefully opened the door and her eyes met mine, never dropping as she glided across the marbled tile to face me, looking determined.

“You!” she exclaimed. “You had to kiss me! You had to kiss me with all that breath and fire and emotion!”
“I…uh…what?!” I stuttered at her, shocked. She had made the five hour drive to chastise me about a kiss that had happened months ago? I was momentarily stunned into silence.
“You just had to kiss me, didn’t you?” She demanded, with her eyes raised.
“Well, yes, I did,” I stuttered at her. “I don’t regret it either, it was the best kiss of my life,” I said defensively as I noticed a small crowd gathering around the outskirts of our spectacle.
“Well no doubt," she continued, "because it was the best kiss of mine too! Positively ruined me for all others, every date I went on and all I could think about was you, and the way you looked at me, and what you said, but what really clinched the deal was the way you kissed me. No one has ever or will ever kiss me like that again except for you. I kept telling myself that my soul mate was out there, that person to love me like no other and I never realized it was you! Standing behind me every step of the way, holding my hand and walking with me when I needed it, helping me up when I stumbled, and cheering me on from the sidelines when I had to go it alone. It was you! The whole time! Here I was expecting a neon sign, and instead it hit me when I wasn't looking and was so steady and pure and important that I never realized what it was until you left.” Her voice broke on the last sentence as tears started to fall from her eyes.

“I’ve come to ask for your forgiveness, SpiritShadow. You knew we were supposed to be together. You always knew it from the first time you met me, and I, I just couldn’t have that kind of faith in us or myself to know what I wanted. You have patiently waited for me for eight long years so please tell me, am I too late? Have I ruined it all? Will I go my whole life never having another soul shaking moment with you? Please forgive me, and let me stay with you. I promise you, you won’t regret it this time. I will treasure your heart the way I should have in the past, I promise.” Tears pooled in her eyes as she spoke and streamed down her face.

The whole lobby froze as they watched me and waited for my decision.

“You know I hate to see you cry,” I whispered, overcome with emotion. “Do you really mean it? Are you sure?”
“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my entire life," she said enthusiastically as she threw herself into my waiting embrace and pressed her lips to mine at last.
There was only one thing left to do. I kissed her back with all the pent up longing and sadness and love that I had experienced over the four months of our separation, cradling her in my arms and holding her close, treasuring her.
She laughed with joy when we broke apart and everyone smiled and clapped their congratulations.
“Does this mean I can stay?” She questioned. “All of my stuff is in the carriage.”
I roared with laughter. “That sure of me, were you? I have a suite of rooms here in the hotel until I’m able to build a home on some lakefront property I got with the purchase,” I said to her. “Maybe you can help me design it,” I winked at her.
“I have been known to have a talented designing eye, kind sir. It’s a deal,” she smiled as she linked her arm in mine. “Now please show me around. I’d love to what you’ve done here!”
“As you wish, my lady, this way, “I replied, leading her out of the door and on into our future.♥️

Code and profile design: User not found: ambien
Quote by Carl Van Clausewitz
Story by StarofEvening

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