Anything For You
Chapter 154

**No Time To Die By Billie Eilish**

Grand Empress was sitting exhausted and heart-shattered in the same spot. The words written on those centuries-old pages of the Heavenly Book had no longer been blood words and the book was blank once again, marking the end of that story. She didn't believe that it was just the end of a beautiful love story. Indeed, Leevon and Calista didn't deserve a tragic end like that. She sighed hard and rubbed her knees; the latter had been numb because she was sitting in the same posture for quite some time now. Her eyes wandered into the room. It was simply lit. From what she observed, it was to be assumed that dusk had been showering the DAWN MOUNTAINS.

It was always the most pleasant time in the mountains when it was dawn of dusk, for the mountains blessed every creature with utter beauty and calmness at these times of the day. It had been full two days since she had last eaten anything. She had grown weak, and her senses were also turning drowsy.

Once again, her gaze shifted at the Heavenly book kept at the same mahogany desk in it's fullest glory, as if the manuscript was mocking at her. She had always been eager to find out what lied in there, but now when she knew it...it was becoming hard not to get affected.

Those contents and the past stories were utterly devastating. She wasn't worried about the past anymore. What bothered her was the future, a future of her dear grandson that she wanted to be bright and happy. But keeping in mind the past events and all things... was that even possible! This question made her restless enough to leave her seat and move towards the huge window by the brown couch kept in the south zone of her room.

Dim light rays were still entering the room when she pulled apart the peach flower-y curtains. The light rays immediately barged in like a naughty kid ready to mess up everything and fell over the blank pages of The Heavenly Book leisurely.

The blank old mustard pages shone up golden emitting a radiant and vibrant color, enlightening the dim room. It felt like hundreds of fairy lights were turned on. The light was so bright that it peeked outside the room from underneath the room door, and caught Carol's attention who had been passing by the room.

Her pupils dilated at the sight of that vibrant golden light, and her heart sank. Last time she witnessed something like this was when the Emperor passed away. She got anxious, and her mind started to formulate weird assumptions making her wonder if her Empress was fine or not.

She lingered outside the door for a couple of moments, but then decided to sneak in. It wasn't hidden from anyone that how much the old Empress adored Carol. When the girl had nothing left in her life, the old lady took her in as her loyal servant and Carol proved her worth. Now was a time when Grand Empress trusted Carol more than any of her maids and attendants. Carol treated the lady always just like her mother.

Her hands lifted up in bewilderment and she knocked at the door lightly three times. It was a gesture to let the Empress know that there was her outside the door and nobody else.

Old Empress had been submerged in the faint light rays coming from that curtain compartments and was enjoying the snow covered mountains. She was burdened and wanted to spend some time alone. This led to her not paging any close attention to the knocks. On the other side, Carol was turning suspicious since the vibrant golden light still didn't stop oozing out from the room. This time, she kept the fruit basket down at a little table kept outside the room and used both of her hands to knock at the door. The sudden loud knock pulled Grand Empress back into her realm of reality, and she turned around only to notice such a vibrant oozing light from the Heavenly book.

Her eyebrows scrunched and lines of fusses started to appear on her forehead. She wished to spare a more detailed glance over that phenomenal happening, but another loud knock accompanied by Carol addressing the old Empress brought her attention back to the room door.

She left the book as such, and moved her tired self towards the door, and unlocked the later releasing it's latch. Finding Carol ready to give another louder knock with her hands raised in the mid-air, she just raised one of her eyebrows; a gesture of questioning Carol's actions.

Looking at the old lady all fit and fine, just a bit tired, Carol heaved a sigh of relief and puffed out a mouthful of air in real. The lady was still standing at the same spot, waiting for an answer to which Carol looked here and there for an excuse and fetched the fruit basket instantly, moving the thing towards Grand Empress,

"My lady, it's been great weather these days and these peaches and cherries are so juicy. I plucked them from the eastern zone of our mountains just for you."

Grand Empress looked at Carol, who had been trying to hide away her uneasiness under that smile, and then at the fruits in that white basket made of the silken threads interwoven with bamboo fibres. It contained fresh fruits, and the cherries appeared to be deliciously juicy just the way Carol said.

Looking at those plump peaches, the Empress remembered her grandson Emerald when he was just a little pup. His cheeks were just like those cherries. Unwanted my, anxiety took over her mind once again.

Carol noticed that change of her expressions, and concluded that it was something related with Empress' family. She was although treated like a daughter, but she never muddled in the lady's personal affairs.

Trying to uplift her mood, Carol once again shifted the basket towards Empress with the same wide smile plastered over her face. Grand Empress took it and called Carol inside and gestured her to close the door afterwards.

The moment Carol stepped in, her eyes landed at the source of that vibrant light; The Heavenly Book, and she gasped.

"My lady, what is this? Is something wrong?" She couldn't help but inquire.

Grand Empress smiled faintly and responded in lowest tone,

"No, I don't think so. May be that light is coming from the curtains and is being reflected. Nothing else."

Carol heard the Empress and crooked her nose not understanding what the lady exactly meant by those words.

"Light rays? But my lady, there is no sun today. In fact, there hasn't been any sunlight since two days. And it's snowing outside." Carol reported the weather still puzzled as to why the Lady had been mentioning about sunlight when there wasn't any. "Snowing outside!" The lady mumbled questioning.

Carol nodded her head in agreement and fetched one of the peaches from that fruit basket. Handing it to the Empress, she added further to strengthen her point,

"Yes My lady. See, this peach still is very cold and it has some of the snow flakes sticking on it."

The old lady collected that peach and observed it clearly, but all she could see was light rays still barging into the room from those curtains and falling at the book.

"Carol, tell me what do you see in the book?" The lady found it all weird and asked Carol to report her observations.

Carol darted her eyes at the book, and responded after a second,

"My lady, the book is emitting some light and... and there seems to be some words written on it. But I can't read it."

"Don't you see the light rays coming from those curtains?" The lady was becoming worried by now. She thought she had been way too restless and was hallucinating for sure.

"No, My lady. There isn't any light." Carol said. She was getting worried for the lady.

"Carol, move closer to the book and try to read the words." The lady kept her one hand at Carol's head passing a bit of her powers to her.

Carol moved and crouched down to the level of that Heavenly book. As she was approaching the book, the vibrant light was becoming more tolerant and her eyes were adapting to it. Slowly, everything was clear and she could see the words imprinted. First, Carol gasped looking at the letter written in blood, and they were flowing down the page drenching that mahogany desk. She started at Grand Empress. But the lady was unmoved that led to Carol concluding that she wasn't able to see it.

To confirm it, Carol moved her right hand slowly towards the book and touched the mahogany desk with her finger. The finger dipped in that bloodstain, which was still afresh and she smelled it. The strong smell of blood hit her nostrils and she shifted her bead back instantly.

"What is it?" The lady asked Carol to which Carol just moved her finger towards her. As soon as the finger came close to the lady, she smelled blood, but she wasn't able to see any blood. Then she touched Carol's finger with hers and found the bloodstain over her finger. It was her blood, the same drops that she had offered the book two days ago.

Empress' eyes darkened and she urged Carol to read those words written on that page. But what Carol read struck her whole self like a thunderbolt. The words were, "Your End Is Near, My Lady."