Bloodlines of Archaea I. Afira
Fire Flowers

He took my hand as we ran, a blindfold around my eyes. He guided me across the island quickly as the sun began to set, saying he had something to show me. Excitement spread through my veins the same way a poison would. Our long day had come to an end. The moment the questions had ended, he had taken me by the hand, whispering in my ear to run with him. Then he tied a blindfold around my eyes just as I picked up my flowing dress with my free hand and had run with him, never turning back. My legs had fallen into an aching rhythm, used to the pain of our sprint. The squeezing pain each and every one of my muscles felt still couldn’t distract from the relief I felt to have Akuma there by my side, as always. “Alright,” he said, stopping his run.

He stepped behind me, untying my blindfold. As it fell to the ground, I could finally see the world once more. We stood in a meadow of Fire Flowers, each of their flaming petals blowing peacefully in the gentle evening breeze. Butterflies and bees worked quietly pollinating the flowers. “How did you do this?” I asked, still staring out at the wonderful setting scene.

He chuckled. “I started growing them before we left, but then I forgot about them. When we came up with our code-word, I remembered them. So when we came back, I went to check on them, expecting them all to be dead, but then I saw this,” he said, gesturing towards the meadow. “I guess the trick is to forget about them. I think when you and Grandma Lilly kept them inside they didn’t get enough sunshine,” he said, looking out at the sea of flowers.

I laughed quietly, remembering how frustrated Grandma Lilly would get when growing the flowers for me. “Thank you,” I whispered, a single tear running my cheek. I felt Akuma place his hand carefully on my shoulder, where I reached for it and grabbed it with my free hand. I felt him tense up for a short moment, before relaxing once more.

“You’re welcome,” he whispered after a while, his voice seeming to catch in his throat, but I continued to stare out at the flowers, thinking of the world before we left. Simple, easy and peaceful. We stayed the way we were for quite a while, neither of us speaking, just enjoying the little time we had alone without something to rush off to or someone who may need our attention. This was one of the few things I missed about our time on the sea. I looked down at the ball gown I still wore. It still blew in the gentle island breeze and I still held it with my free hand to keep it from getting dirty. I stopped thinking for a moment, quieting my buzzing brain with an attempt to forget my duties.

After a while, I noticed that my eyes had drifted to the sky, which was extremely dark, even for dusk. I knew the shadow creatures would attack at any moment, but this still scared me.

“Akuma,” I called his name, quietly.

He tore his eyes from the flowers and asked from behind me, speaking quietly, as if not to hurt my ears with his voice. “Yes?”

“Do you think everything’s going to be okay?”

He thought for a moment. “I honestly don’t know,” he said.

“It’s kind of nerve-racking just waiting for them to attack,” I said.

He nodded. “I wish we could just leave and replace the weapons ourselves.”

“Agreed,” I said. There was a pause. “But we can’t. Our island won’t be able to handle that. So we have to fight the shadows off and then replace the weapons fast enough to lead them away,” I said, listening to Akuma’s mournful sigh. There was nothing but the sound of the warm island breeze to be heard until I asked, “when do you think they’re going to attack?”

He was silent for a moment and I could feel his hand tense slightly as he looked up at the sky. “I would assume they are going for total darkness,” he sighed, looking back down at the flowers, his hand still on my shoulder. I realized how long I had held it in place, but decided not to care. “I would say they are going to attack very, very soon. We might have days...or we might have hours,” he said quietly.

I winced, knowing this was true, but wishing deeply that it wasn’t. “We’re not ready,” I said. “If they attack anytime soon, so many of us will die. That little boy didn’t even know why the sky was dark, people are still off in the sea fishing, if we are attacked by even the smallest army, most of us are going to die,” I said, a tear rushing down my face as I let go of Akuma’s hand, wondering if I should run back and tell the village what was truly happening. I turned to face Akuma.

He looked carefully into my eyes, seeming to sense my tenseness. “What do you think we should do?”

“I don’t know, they at least deserve the truth. I was supposed to tell them why we left, but I didn’t.”

“They’ve heard the songs. They know who you are and why you left.”

“Maybe so, but they don’t know what we’re up against or just how dangerous it is.”

“Afi, these people aren’t stupid and many of them have heard stories about what happened one hundred years ago.”

“Yeah,” I said. “But many of them only think that’s a legend.”

He laughed. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but this island doesn’t exactly know the difference,” he said. “Those stories are all they have,” he said calmly.

I smiled, knowing just how true that was. “But I’m their queen. I’m responsible for their safety and a lot of them don’t understand what is happening or that this is an actual threat to their lives,” I said. “I have to tell them.”

“Sure,” he said. “But do that first thing tomorrow. You may be queen, but you are also Afi. Someone who is not perfect, no matter how close you are,” he said. I blushed, looking into his dark eyes which seemed to sparkle with hope. “And someone who needs a few moments to just live,” he said, taking my hand and pulling me closer to the meadow. I laughed, forgetting about my ball gown for a moment and letting it drop to the ground as I followed him to the meadow of flowers.

When he stopped, he bowed his head low and held out his hand for me to take, asking, “M’lady, will you take this dance?” I laughed with a nod as he looked up. We stepped gracefully on the ground, trying not to harm any of the flowers. We followed the steps of a traditional royal island dance. A few moments into the dance, Akuma began to sing in his beautiful low hum. I joined him with my own star-like chime, our voices creating a timeless harmony. We sang the song of our lives. One of the heroes of our broken world, chosen by the gods with great power in their blood and in that moment in time, we were free from the worries and fears of our lives. The flaming petals blowing in the wind below the dark sky. An ominous feeling of something more than grateful footsteps. For the first time, I could feel something more for my best friend. I learned I was in love when it was just us, together, no one else, the way it had been for years.