Crossed by the stars – to love & to reunite

Enzo sighed and pulled the hood of his cloak down. He had made sure no one had followed him, and he couldn’t even sense anyone with his furry wolf ears that protruded out of his silky black hair. He had trekked towards a small, lonely wooden house on the hill surrounded by thick bushy trees.

From now on, he should be safe, away from prying eyes as he was now surrounded by the scary greenery and eerie silence. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before knocking. He was quite nervous. It had been long since he had met his girl and he couldn’t wait to see her again, kiss her senseless and comfort her through the night. It was rare times like these, that he was willing to wait for when it was just them two and the world didn’t dare to disturb them.

In a while, the old wooden door creaked open, and a dazzling azure eye peeked out. Once, she recognised the person, the door opened completely and there appeared a beautiful girl in her village dress gracing her petite appearance. Her hair was tied back roughly with a piece of cloth, and she seemed to have been working before this decided meet, as there were splotches of dirt all over.

She happily jumped on the male and used her smaller arms to hug him. She was happy to see her lover. After all, how many moons had passed since they met. The girl was desperate to meet her lover just like Enzo had been. Enzo caught her mid jump and cupped her face, to give her a sweet, chaste kiss and then pulled back to smile at her. “I’m back, Sophie. Safe and sound.” He whispered softly.

Enzo strode towards her. “I will be here all night. I will leave early in the morn. You know what is happening tomorrow.” He smiled as he cupped her face and kissed her forehead. “Let’s not wait for that. Instead, let us enjoy the moments we have now.” Sophie nodded with a smile and skipped her way to the small kitchen she had. “I received your message this morn, so I had prepared your favourite meal.” She let out with a slight bounce in her step.

Enzo looked around as Sophie went on describing what and how she had prepared his meal. Sophie planned on making some mushroom soup from a special herb for herself, while Enzo had a bloody medium rare steak. Even though, Sophie is a complete vegetarian and harming animals was against her faith, for her man, she was willing to do as much as she could. She could break a small bit of principles, just for him. She wanted to do more for her lover, like break ties with her clan and elope, but for some reason, Enzo wouldn’t allow it. She never knew the reason why, no matter how many times she asked him.

Enzo observed the living situation that Sophie was in. It was a small cottage and honestly, despite the times the male has been over, he didn’t like the dilapidated state of the house and wished to take his girl away to a whole new world. He wanted his lover to taste the lavish lifestyle he was used to and give her the world on the platter. But deep inside, he knew. This was the safest place for them, away from the world’s eyes, protected by the barrier Sophie had constructed. She wasn’t one of the most powerful witches in the world for nothing.

The main reason why these two lovers can’t be together. They were in the Main Supernatural War – a war to test the supreme power of their sect and overpower the other through oppression. Enzo is a werewolf, belonging to the Telenys Sect, a sect that relied on unique bodily constitution which consisted of mainly shape shifters like werewolves, vampires, and mermaids. While Sophie belonged to the Taika Sect, the sect that focussed on various magics. This sect contained all sorts of witches, enchantresses, elves and even more. And now they both are in war owing to the immense hatred of their ancestors.

It was sad that these two lovers found love in a world full of war. Enzo could clearly remember the first time in this life when he met Sophie. It was near a beautiful lake, where she had a basket tied to her back as she gathered herbs while Enzo himself was deeply injured during a spy mission. He had managed to run away and take protection of the forest when he bumped into her. In the instinct to protect herself, Sophie pulled out her dagger in warning while Enzo backed off with his hands raised. He had to show her that he meant no harm. A moment’s pause. It clicked. Enzo recognised who the girl was. Of course, he had a rare blessing where he could remember his past lives. So, he clearly knew who she was. After all, she had been his lover for all his lives and no matter how many times he died, he would always remember her and search for her. Now he finally found her.

Enzo sighed. Even though he was so happy to find the girl of his dreams, he knew she had no memory of him. That was how they were cursed by their parents. For him to keep reincarnating and remembering everything while she became an immortal who would only forget who he is. It was sad. As if the stars never wanted them together in the first place. Which was the truth. The stars never wanted them together. They had to be apart. They couldn’t be together as it was against nature. The sects were very much against the pairing. But still, the two were ready to fight against the whole world so that they could be together, just the two of them.

Sophie had seen that Enzo was deeply hurt and was tearing up. She put the dagger away and began to help the enemy. Though Sophie never really wanted to be a part of the war, she felt something weird if she indulged herself. She never knew that the reason was Enzo himself; so, she only believed in protecting herself.

Enzo watched as Sophie dragged him home and bandaged his wound. He wanted to tell Sophie the truth but feared that there would be a bigger consequence to pay. Instead, he did something that he did every time he found her. He showed the incomplete mark he had. It was a small jigsaw piece of a heart. Sophie was confused and showed the same mark she carried on her body, which was on the nape of her neck. Enzo smiled. This was enough proof of the love between them as they had seared it on each other’s bodies as a remembrance. It had happened the first time they were cursed. To date, it is the only thing that proved that they belonged with each other.

Back to the present, Enzo sighed again as he sat on the small, ragged bed Sophie had in her house. Sophie peaked out of the kitchen. “Anything wrong, Love?” She asked. Sophie was getting his meal out and setting the table for him as he watched her with love brimming in his dark abyss like eyes. Enzo shook his head. “Not really. I just wish I didn’t have to go tomorrow.” He let out softly. Sophie bit her lip. She could understand how her partner felt. She, too, felt the same plus she was scared for Enzo. He played an important role in the war. He was the tactician and the captain of an entire battalion while she had just taken up the job of a simple healer. But no matter, how much Sophie would want to heal her soldier in battle, she couldn’t. This was tough on them. They have a load of responsibilities that they were forced upon and the urge of just giving them up and running away was high.

The entire time, supper was silent, but they spoke with their eyes. Once their meal was finished, she cleared up the table and they silently shared the tiny one-person bed in each other’s embrace. They didn’t need words, but they could sense the longing and desire within each other.

Just like many other times, hours felt like barely minutes, and it wasn’t enough. Morn had arrived and Enzo had to leave. Sophie had fallen asleep, and he couldn’t bear to wake her up. So, he got up, got ready to leave, kissed her chastely and then proceeded to leave. Sophie was unaware that her man had left, and she slept for a while before she got up to an empty bed. She looked around and found a letter near her pillow. She picked it up and read the contents with a soft smile. Enzo was promising that he would return to her. She hugged the letter with a smile and got ready to go into war.

However, seems like the stars had other plans for them this time.

The war was terrible, where the Death distinguished no one and went on its own killing spree. It had taken a whirlwind of chaos and both sides had heavy losses that they had to retreat on a stalemate. Sophie was working hard as a wave of injured soldiers kept rolling in while she shifted from person to person to heal them. She barely had time to think as she invested herself into her work of saving lives. She was slowly getting tired and tired as her powers were getting drained out at the speed she was using them.

During the screaming chaos, a loud voice broke her out of rhythm. An envoy was looking for her. Sophie smiled. It must be Enzo with a letter to comfort her of his safety. She ran to the messenger and snatched the letter from him, tore it open to read its content. Her huge smile began to slowly disappear as her eyes began to brim with tears as she read word by word. By the end of the letter, it burnt up into ashes as she let out a loud, screeching scream that soon rendered her unconscious.

200 years later…

Enzo was sleeping in class. He was up all night, reading this new novel he had found. It was the recommended Bram Stoker’s – Dracula. It had made him chuckle at the human’s thought of vampires. Their ideas weren’t that far, but it wasn’t that close either. Now that he was sleeping in a class that was being taught, he kept thinking about the difference and how he too would bite his lover once he found her.

A sweet voice broke his thought process. “Hello? Excuse me? Are you awake?” She asked. “I am Sophie, your new classmate and desk mate. Can you give me place to get to my seat?”  

Contributor: Sanaya Parkar

About our Writing Program Student
Why fit in when we were born to stand out and do greater things? A passionate writer for whose words come naturally as ants to sweet jaggery along with design running in the veins. An avid reader, researcher as well as a learner whose dream is to change the world with each step.