The sun hung directly overhead as Vur stood in front of an archway with his back to a pair of white double doors. To either side of the archway was a wall of mist that obscured the view of the guests waiting on the other side. He wore a black suit with dark-gold cuffs; a glossy red tie hung from his white collared shirt beneath his suit. The makeup had been washed off earlier and his pink heels had been replaced by black leather dress-shoes. A ripple in the air next to him caused his sleeve to flutter.

Tafel appeared beside him. She shielded her eyes from the sun with her right hand over her veil. “Tafel,” Vur said and extended his right hand. “You look nice.” Tafel smiled and grasped his hand with her left.

“You look nice? That’s it?” a voice said from underneath Vur’s suit. His suit’s shoulder bulged and Rella crawled out from underneath his collar. “Your vocabulary needs some improvement. At the very least, you should describe her as beautiful or stunning.”

“Yeah,” Bella said and crawled out from the other side. “She spent hours to look like that and the best thing you come up with is nice?” She turned towards Tafel. “Say something to him.”

“But I do look nice, don’t I?” Tafel asked and glanced at her dress. “And I know Vur’s trying; his nice is a normal person’s beautiful. More importantly, why are you hiding in his clothes? You should be waiting with the other guests.”

Bella and Rella glanced at each other before darting back within Vur’s sleeves. “No one’s here except for some talking lint,” a muffled voice said before falling silent. Tafel sighed.

“Shall we go?” she asked and faced the double doors. Her heart pounded and she squeezed Vur’s hand tighter. Vur pulled Tafel closer and she wrapped her arm around his. A muffled squeak sounded out from Vur’s sleeve.

“Are you nervous?” Tafel asked.

Vur shook his head and took a step forward. He pushed open the doors with his free hand and stepped through the archway with Tafel next to him. The noisy field fell silent as the doors creaked open, their sound amplified by wind magic. A red carpet extended from the doors towards an altar that was nearly a mile away. The crowd was cleanly divided: the demons on the left-side of the carpet and the humans on the right. The elves were located behind the altar with the humans and demons from Konigreich.

The ground trembled and thousands of skeletons popped their skulls out of the ground between the legs of the spectators. They all inhaled at the same time and began to sing in a choir-like manner, surprising everyone around them. A hundred fairies flew up into the air, holding onto a silk screen with a projection of Vur and Tafel for the whole crowd to see. As the duo walked down the aisle, a dryad, cloaked by fairy magic, followed behind them, causing flowers to grow from the ground they stepped on.

The crowd was silent as their leaders walked down the aisle with their heads held high. A chilling pressure emanated from the mountain in the distance as the dragons residing there fully displayed their auras, watching the child they raised. The children in the crowd didn’t fidget and the babies didn’t cry. The only sounds that could be heard were the angelic voices of the skeletons and the faint fluttering of fairy wings.

Twenty minutes passed before Vur and Tafel arrived at the altar where Michelle waited with a book spread open in front of her. A golden light surrounded the altar as a glowing sphere with eyes hovered in the air above it. As Vur and Tafel ascended the steps towards Michelle, Floofykins darted out of the white double doors with a red pillow—that had teeth marks on one corner—strapped to her back. On top of the pillow laid two rings: one gold and one silver. The crowd raised their eyebrows and one demon, named Gabel, directly fainted at the sight of the blue thing trampling over the flowers.

“Welcome everyone. We are here today to witness the union of His Majesty, Vur Besteck, and Her Highness, Tafel Besteck,” Michelle said, her voice amplified through wind magic. The singing of the skeletons gradually faded away. “This is not just a unity between the two nations they represent, but, more importantly, it’s the union of two people who are in love with each other.

“Everyone present today was invited to this ceremony to bear witness to this miraculous event. You are here to listen to the vows that these two will exchange and forever be their witness. Will all of you do everything in your power to support this matrimony? If so, please respond, “We will.”

“We will.” The ground shook as everyone, including the million skeletons, responded at the same time. Grimmy roared and belched a breath of black fire into the air above the crowd, nearly burning the fairies.

“And you, Vur Besteck and Tafel Besteck, have you come here today with the intention to be legally joined in marriage?”

“We do,” Vur and Tafel said, holding hands.

Michelle nodded. “Repeat after me,” she said and began to speak.

“I, Vur Besteck, do take you, Tafel Besteck, to be my wife; to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health; to love and to cherish; until we are parted by death.”

“I, Tafel Besteck, do take you, Vur Besteck, to be my husband; to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health; to love and to cherish; until we are parted by death.”

“May I please have the rings?” Michelle asked and glanced at Floofykins who was panting and lying on her stomach. Floofykins shook her head and ran behind Tafel’s legs. “Please?” Floofykins shook her head again. Tafel sighed as she picked the rings off of the red pillow and handed them to Michelle.

“These rings serve as a reminder of your eternal love. A circle has no beginning; a circle has no end. May your love forever be as unbroken as a circle. Vur, you may place the ring on Tafel’s finger and repeat after me,” Michelle said.

“Tafel Besteck, with this ring, I join my life with yours,” Vur said and slipped the silver ring onto Tafel’s finger.

“Now Tafel.”

“Vur Besteck, with this ring, I join my life with yours,” Tafel said. Her hands trembled as she slid the ring over Vur’s knuckle.

“Vur and Tafel, in the presence of everyone in the three kingdoms (except Gale), you have spoken the words and performed the rites which unite your lives. By the power vested in me, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride!”

Vur raised Tafel’s veil and gazed into her eyes. The two smiled before they embraced each other. A golden light shone down on them from the sphere in the sky, bathing the two in a soft glow. The audience cheered.

Lindyss sighed as she leaned back against Grimmy’s forehead, watching the two snog each other. “Are you upset that the bishop didn’t ask if anyone objected?” Prika asked from next to her with a grin. “I bet you would’ve and stole Vur from under Tafel’s nose.”

“I’m not upset,” Lindyss said with a snort. “I’m just starting to feel old.”

Prika laughed. “You’re almost a thousand years old and you’re just starting to feel old now?”

“Shut it,” Lindyss said and scowled. “He’s really all grown up now, huh?”

 

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