I stood next to Andrew, now changed into a black suit which in my opinion didn't really look right on him, to the side on the white painted podium looking down the red carpeted aisle and off into the flower fields and green hills beyond. On either side of the aisle sat a number of smartly dressed people, mostly players who regularly fought with us on Frontline, no one seemed to be present from any of the bigger guilds, while others were some of the merchants which we almost solely relied on for supplies. In the front row sat Andrew, Oliver and much to my surprise Ruby, who had obviously been invited but none of us expected her to come considering what happened with the Geocrawler back on the 56th floor. Only Aurora and Sky were missing from the group of familiar faces.
Suddenly from the end of the aisle appeared two figures, one in a midnight blue dress which fell to her ankles while the other wore a simple crystal white dress which fell to the ground and trailed a few centimetres behind her feet, while her silk like brown hair fell down her back shimmering within the sunlight. Aurora carried a clump of crimson red roses in her white gloved hands, which reached up he arm, her face was unusually calm and determined, but I noticed how she had her eyes closed as she walked down towards the podium. Sky who wore a strapped midnight blue dress which seemed to have tiny gems encrusted into it as she glistened with every movement.
As they walked everyone was silent and only the slight sound of the splashing water form the lake behind us could be heard. I quickly glanced over at Andrew and saw shock and amazement in his face but a look determination and a certainness in his eyes. The two of them walked without sound up the stairs and towards the centre, Sky moved off to the side and stood next to me while Andrew and Aurora stood close together in front of the reading podium which a grandly robed Priest stood behind, the couple linked hands seemingly with the intention of never letting go.
"We are gathered here, in this place of natural beauty to witness the holy joining of this magnificent couple!" the Priest cast out his voice for all to hear, "These two fighters have struggled through the turmoil of this vast and deadly world, but have found peace, solace and most importantly an unbreakable bond of trust between each other which has led to this most joyous of days. As our almighty sun watches over us these two courageous and resilient of people are to be eternally married." He continued "Now before the two are to be joined in the name of our loving deity, the two of you may pronounce your personally binding vows to each other." he ended with an inviting hand gesture to Andrew and Aurora.
The two turned to face each other, still holding hands and still close to the other, Andrew closed his eyes for a few seconds, took a deep breath and began to speak. "In this death game of a world all I really had to live for was the hope of escaping back home to my family and that hope came at a price of an existence of fighting and work. With my friends I was able to survive the days, I was able to continue the battle, continue to believe it was possible and continue to have hope. However that was only surviving, hardly living like in the real world. Then I met you. I got to know you as a friend and quickly as if you were family, you had started to make it possible for me to live and kept the hope within me burning. But I only realised how much I truly cared for you when I thought that I had lost you, in those moments where I thought you had died I had already begun to give up on life for there was no longer anything to live for. And so I promise to protect you and be there for you whenever, wherever, no matter what stands in my way. I shall stay by your side until I take my final breath and do everything possible to repay you for changing my life more than anyone I know has done before." He pronounced with complete sincerity and happiness of the moment.
It took a few seconds for Aurora to take in what she had just heard and I noticed tears begging to come to her eyes, she then took a few seconds to compose herself before she herself began to speak. "This game ripped everything I once had from me, my family, my friends and most importantly my will and strength that I needed to keep going. I had no one to talk to, no one to trust, no one to help me and no one to confide in. I was a wandering loner with little purpose in my weakness, no real hope of survival and no determination to fight on and get stronger. The day that you saved me from the Goblin marauders I had thought that I could move on and continue, in my weak final attempt at getting stronger I met you. My saviour from both the enemies which were so close to killing me off for good and from the darkness which plagued all players who were alone in the world. You allowed me to live on, become strong enough to fight, you taught me how to survive in a cruel world such as this but you also taught me to trust people once again and most importantly that life is pointless without someone you love and care for. I swear that I shall never leave you and my love for you shall never end in this world nor back in reality until the day that we depart from the living earth. Forever." She spoke initially with a forced composure but as she spoke her voice began to break into emotion word by word until the moment at the en where she was on the verge of tears of joy.
"Now that you may take the holy vows which have been spoken throughout the centuries and forever more." The priest announced with a surprising formality.
"I, Terra, take thee, Aurora, to be my lawful wedded 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, till death us do part." He spoke his binding vows quietly so that only those close to the couple could hear them.
"I, Aurora, take thee, Terra, to be my lawful wedded 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 cherish, till death us do part." She spoke her binding vows in a similar quietness to Andrew.
At this the Priest took out two shining gold band rings and presented one two Andrew and the other to Aurora, as they carefully placed the rings on each others fingers the Priest murmured a quick prayer and made the sign of the cross in the air above the two wedded couples. "In the name of our almighty god, I now pronounce you man and wife!" He once more cast his voice out to the heavens and before anything more could be said the two of them moved to kiss eachother without any discretion which for a few moments seemed to last for hours. The second they parted Andrew lifted Aurora off of her feet in a fit of happiness and laughter and everyone present stood from their seats began to clap and cheer in an almighty uproar of sound.
Aurora had her head close to Andrew's and he held her closely to himself as if scared of loosing her now. Andrew then began to walk slowly down the steps of the podium and along the red carpet. At this point Sky moved in closer, held onto my hand and rested her head on my shoulder while looking in happiness as the two walked from the red carpet into a pure white carriage decorated with bright flowers and gemstones, drawn by pure white Unicorns. The carriage quickly began to move after a short whiny of the unicorns and in moments the couple were of in the distance alone together.
"Well we won't be seeing those two for a while will we." I heard the quiet voice of Sky beside my ear.
"They need the break, have some time off for themselves without the worries of the front line. Lets go home for now, let the two newly weds have their time, they've deserved it." I reply slowly after a few seconds of thought, the two of them had fought so hard and could now have a time of peace, nothing should get in the way of their happiness now.