Witch's Daughter And The Devil's Son

Drayce let go of Lady Tyra’s hands which caused her to teleport with him and he ran towards Esther.

His voice pulled Esther out of her daze and she looked at the little boy running toward her. She immediately moved her hand and stopped him with her powers.

Drayce found himself unable to go closer. He was stopped by a barrier of invisible energy, preventing him from approaching his mother.

“Mother!”

He tried to push through it but he simply could not. He could not even teleport towards her. His mother was way more powerful than him. Lady Tyra went to him to stop him from pushing himself into that barrier. “Your Highness, you cannot pass it.”

“No! I’m strong! I can do it! Mother! Mother!”

Drayce didn’t give up as his tearful eyes remained fixed on his mother who was standing on the other side of the barrier. It was an image that would remain in his young memory and would continue to haunt him as he age—the lonely figure of his mother, her long white dress and the loose strands flowing along the wind, her sad face looking at him as tears didn’t stop rolling down her pale cheeks.

“Mother! Mother…don’t go…” he cried out, somewhat angry at himself for not being able to break through that barrier.

Esther, who was standing at the edge of the cliff, walked towards her son. She kneeled in front of him, but that barrier remained steady between them, which made him unable to reach out for his mother. Those red eyes of his were begging her to not leave him.

“Mother…Take me with you…I will be a good boy… I won’t trouble you anymore…I promise…” he cried with soft sobs, trying to control himself.

His tiny hand rested on that barrier, wanting to touch her. She put her hand over that barrier directly opposite his tiny ones, but their palms could not touch each other. Esther knew, if she was to remove that barrier and her son clung to her, she wouldn’t be able to push him away.

Swallowing her pain, she spoke up, “Dray, listen to mother.”

“Mother…I will listen to everything…Just don’t leave me…” he sobbed.

“Dray, Mother has to leave but cannot take you with me,” she said, her own voice choking with heartbreak.

“Why? Is it because I’m naughty…?”

The sudden arrival of Drayce shocked her. As a child, he was normally someone who wouldn’t wake up on his own unless she or his nanny would wake him. There should still be about two more hours left before he should be awakened…

“I-I had a bad dream…” he started hiccuping. “Mother drowning underwater…It’s scary…I don’t want Mother to go…”

It surprised Esther as she looked at her son in disbelief. ‘So he got a premonition? He already saw what I was going to do?’

As punishment, she had to leave, but she had no courage to keep living without her husband and son. She was a weak woman at heart when it came to her loved ones. If she wouldn’t take drastic measures to keep herself away, she was sure she would return to them sooner or later.

Being an immortal was like a curse now that she had to keep living without getting back to them. What she had decided herself was to submerge herself deep down the river bed, using a spell where her soul would fall into eternal sleep, never to wake up unless something disastrous happened to pull her back.

Only a calamity that could destroy the kingdom would be able to wake her up, but as the Devil had already blessed the land of Megaris, it only meant such a calamity would never happen again and she would remain asleep under the river forever. She found this way better than continuing to live without being able to see her son and husband.

“Mother, don’t go…”

“Drayce, calm down and listen to Mother,” she said firmly this time.

Drayce listened to her and waited to hear her.

“Mother has to go. If Mother stays, she will be in pain. Do you want me to be in pain?”

He shook his head. “I don’t want Mother to be in pain.”

“If you are a good boy, you won’t stop Mother then.”

“W-Will it hurt too much?” he asked.

The tears that she held back once again rolled down her face. If something were to happen to Dray and Theron, that pain would be unbearable for her. “It will hurt a lot, Dray. Mother won’t be able to bear it.”

“B-But…I don’t want Mother to go away…I don’t want you to leave me alone! Please don’t leave me, Mother!” he cried loudly as he simply could not bear to part away from her. “Mother!”

“You are my brave boy. And I am not going far from you. Mother will always be with you in the form of this river. Whenever you want to talk to me, you can come here. Though Mother won’t be able to reply, I will be able to hear everything you say.”

Drayce nodded his head but he could not stop crying.

“Mother never asked anything from you, did I?”

He shook his head.

“Then I want something today. I want you to not follow Mother after I leave. You have to stay in the palace and be a good son to your father and be a good sibling to your brother. Be good to your nanny and your grandma, and even if I am not around, you have to remember all the promises you have made with me. You have to grow up into what Mother has always told you. Can you promise me that, my son?”

Despite his unwillingness, he nodded but could not stop begging her not to go. “Mother…don’t go…”

“I have to, Dray. I am sorry. I hope you will forgive Mother.”

He continued to shake his head, asking her to not leave.

“I will always miss you, Dray. You are Mother’s good son.”

After saying that, she removed her hand that was against his tiny palm and stood up. Her dress fluttered as she turned around.

“No!” It scared Drayce. “M-Mother, please don’t leave…I will be lonely without you, Mother…don’t go…”

Esther didn’t stop as she walked towards the edge of the cliff.

Lady Tyra could not stop her tears as well and tried to get hold of Drayce. The little boy continued to cry, but she could not do anything for him but embrace him. She carried him in her arms and held his head pressed against her shoulder. “Don’t look, Your Highness.”

“Mother! Mother! Tyra…Mother is…” he continued to bawl out his eyes as he wrapped his arms around Lady Tyra. The front of her dress was immediately drenched in his tears.

Standing at the edge of the cliff, Esther looked at Drayce for the last time. Somehow, seeing her son being comforted by Lady Tyra in her arms made her think he’s still like a baby.

‘It’s better this way. He will at least know where his mother is.’

She turned her head to look ahead and closed her eyes. All she could hear was Drayce calling her again and again, but she didn’t look at him. She didn’t want to be weak.

The next moment, she let go of herself and she was free-falling towards that vast raging river, the bottom of the cliff where the water was colliding against the boulders and rocky walls of the cliff, causing the large foamy waves to look terrifying.

‘I will miss you, my son,’ was the last thought she had before she broke into the surface of the water, slowly, ever so slowly, her body sank to the deepest part of the river where no light could even reach the bottom.

The moment she fell into the river, the energy barrier she formed using her powers disappeared. Sensing it with his own powers, Drayce scrambled out of the older woman’s arms and ran towards the edge of the cliff.

“Your Highness!” Lady Tyra followed him to stop him, and she was able to grab him just as they reached the edge. Drayce looked down at the raging waters as he cried even louder.

“Mother!!!”

He was about to jump down as well, but Lady Tyra held him tight in fear. Knowing that it was physically impossible for her to resist him, she hurried to remind him of his mother’s words.

“Your Highness, you cannot go! Remember your promise! You have given your words to the Queen that you will not follow her. You have promised you will do whatever she asked you—”

Yet he struggled. “Let me go! I want to go to Mother…”

“If you jump down, you will not be able to find her. She sealed herself with her powers. You will hurt her as you will break the promise you made with her. Do you want to hurt her?”

“I want Mother!” he cried and soon gave up on struggling.

Lady Tyra continued to hold him until he had cried himself to exhaustion. She didn’t know what to do after this.  Esther trusted her to take care of her son but…

How was she going to handle the broken heart of the little boy who had lost his mother?