Chapter 35 - Forged (1)

Althea Silvermoon:

My feet dig deeper into the scorching golden sand as I make my way further into the land of dunes. The sun sits hot on the crown of my head, and my forehead beading with sweats, trickles down, dampening the white cloth covering my eyes as I advance further into the land with no direction. With no aim.

I don’t know how long or how far I had travelled.

I have passed through lands, crossed the ocean. I have even travelled across the universe with Alex always by my side. The essence of my life now engraved on the entirety of the vast universe.

Had it been a century? A millennium?

Or had it only just been years?

I look up to the sky, feeling the sun hard against my face and I exhale tiredly.

I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore.

The only thing that I knew was that I was once again back on this deserted land, occupied only with silence and the occasional howling of the wind.

But my soulless body preferred its silent words anyways.

I preferred to indulge myself in its torture, my body not capable of hurt anymore. The most it did was react to its surrounding, sweating when it got too hot, shivering when it got too cold. I ate, my hunger never satisfied, my legs advanced further never reaching the end of its journey.

I stand by the edge of the cliff, overlooking the land with the eye of my mind and smell the soft breeze of the fresh water against this heat. A puddle of fresh water was beneath us. And like always, Alex carries me in his arms, his proud wings flapping silently as we descend to the ground.

Not a word exchanged between us. How long had it been since I last spoke? I wonder.

Crouching down, I take the hood off my head and reach down until I feel the surface of the water on my fingertips. Digging my hands deeper, I draw out some water in the curve of my palms. Then I let the cool liquid slip in through my chapped lips, as my parched throat finally quenches its thirst.

Letting the water cool my fatigued body, I breath in the hot air. The desert was an enemy to mankind, its womb too harsh to bear any fruit. And I wonder why my journey led me back onto this land again.

But then I hear a cluster of life distance away, marching towards us, heading our way. It must be them again. The only people that dared to call this land their home.

So, I just sit idle, putting the hood back over my head, as I wait for them to arrive.

“Alex, Abe? Is that you guys?” I hear a familiar voice of a man as I hear their footsteps inching closer to us.

“It really is you, huh.” His heartful laughter rings throughout the empty desert. “How long has it been since I last saw you? It’s so good to see you again.”

“It has been quite a while Mark. But it is good to see you too.” I hear Alex move in front of me to greet them.

“What brings you to the land of sand again? Don’t tell me you still haven’t found what you are looking for?” He still has that playfulness in his voice laced in that childlike mind of his. No matter how much time passed by the world wasn’t strong enough to sully his mind like it once did mine.

And when Alex replies with a small chuckle, Mark lets out a sigh. “Then you are definitely coming along with us.”

“Sorry Mark, but—”

“Stay a few days, at least, who knows if the sand might bring you what you are looking for. And they would all love to spend some time with you too.” With a loud pat of a shoulder, I feel him inching closer towards me. “What do you say Abe?”

Although I would have much preferred the company of the silent night, I just nod my head. It wasn’t like I was rushing to go to a particular place. It wasn’t like I was in a hurry to be somewhere else-

Then his blue eyes flashes across somewhere in the corner of my sealed eyelids. How long before I finally see you again?

“Still don’t talk much huh?” I hear his chuckle as he leads the way and I quietly follow them, listening to the sound of their soul as they move onto the land.

I have long fulfilled my half of the promise. I have long reached my divinity as I hold the crown of heaven in my eyes. And if I were to let the blindfold off, the silver in my eyes would be the proof of my belonging.

But no matter how much or how hard I knocked on the heaven’s door, it never welcomed me back. Only a voice whispering my mind that ‘it was not the time’. So, I refused to open my eyes yet. I refused to see anything but him.

And as my voices too got unheard, my lips too stopped forming words.

And now I live life just as a vessel of half my soul. Incomplete.

“So, where have you been? Where far did you travel…” Their curious mind echoes their thoughts aloud. But I mute their voices, preferring the silence of my mind over their laughter. We continue down our path paved on this barren land, covered with fine layers of sand. Their voices echoing the emptiness, while mine silencing their happiness.

And as we move further into their ground, the dust hits harshly against the surface of my exposed skin. A bittersweet pain. But nothing hurts more than the pain of separation. Of longing.

And only now do I understand his pain of awaiting. How much it must have hurt him. How much pain he must have been in. But still, my yearning was nothing compared to his…

Soon the voices that only sounded distance away rings loud in my ears as people surrounds us, welcoming us back. Their caring words invites us into their lives again. Even if it was only for some days.

But I remain apathetic to anyone and everyone that tries to knot me into their lives. It’s not that I don’t want to, I just can’t anymore. The smile doesn’t form on my lips, my face has forgotten happiness as my eyes has forgotten the light.

Their warm greeting, their selfless queries, none of it reaches my heart. For my heart has long been wounded. Ripped apart. So, I remain silent as they pull me further into the heart of their home.

I feel the warmth of the fire as I sit myself on the blanketed ground. Night must be on its way once again. Then their chatter continues along with their heartful giggles, and I wonder how they could tolerate to be near me.

“If it wasn’t for Abe, I wouldn’t live to see this day.” I could hear the smile in his voice as I felt his eyes on me. “Thank you, Abe, for saving me. Saving us. I know that just a simple thank you is not enough but that is all we can give you.”

I simply nod and lower my head down, returning to face towards the warmth of the fire. I pull my knees higher and wrap my arms around my legs. Placing my chin on top of my knee, I let myself be free of their conversations once again.

Although I did not share their feelings, but still I preferred the sounds of laughter, one filled with happiness than the cries of sufferings, one that came with pain.

I still remember hearing the dread of the land when I first came across this pack. This land did not always hold this happiness. The Sole pack, they called themselves. The sole survivor of the desert. But all I sensed that day was another victim of the desert, another group on the brink of their extinction.

A group of rogues that wished to live in a pack again.

With no place to return, no place to call home, they had chosen to remain on this barren land until their bare bone was the only proof that they once lived. And as my father’s words chanted itself over my head for the uncountable time, I had healed the hurt and guided them home as promised.

Maybe that’s the reason they could bear to be with me. For they only saw me as their saviour and nothing more.

I sigh softly as I feel the warmth of the flames. The only proof that I lived was the light rise and fall of my chest. Although alert, the only melody I was interested in listening to was the soft crackling of the wood as it sacrificed itself and burned into ashes.

Thump.

All of a sudden, I hear my heart thump loudly.

Once. Just once.

But it was enough to break me out of my empty thoughts. Lifting my chin higher, I place my palm over my heart to feel that lost sense once more.

Sadly, that was all it had to offer me.

Balling my fists, I bite the bottom corner of my lips as his face flashes across my eyes again. Ah, I missed him. I miss him so much.

Even if I wanted to cry, my heart had no more tears to offer my eyes anymore. It was as if it had dried up the entire ocean, melted the peaks of the mountains and had itself become like this land, dry and barren.

And just when I think that this feeling will soon vanish, it thumps again. Gentle yet hard. Then I feel my heart beat once more, slow yet loud. Tightening my grip on my heart, I let out a long exhale in hopes to somehow calm, to somehow understand it once again.

But when I do inhale the air back into my lungs, I end up inhaling him.

The scent of the fresh mint that my lungs forever craved, my heart always sought, and my soul always waited for.

Alerting and expanding the horizon of my senses, I desperately look for a proof of his existence. A proof that I was not being delusional. Abruptly standing up, I do a full circle, lightly sniffing the air of him as my heart now thumps loudly in my ears.

With trembling lips and fingers tightly locked over my heart, and without much thought, I advance forward towards the heat of the flames where his scent was strongly wafting off from. And just as the heat of the flame touches my skin, I’m hauled right back.

My heart hammers fast and loud as my breathing gets laboured. How long had it been since I felt this? How long had it been since I felt anything at all?

“Abe are you okay?” Voices surrounds me as I get crowded with more bodies. “You were walking into fire. You should have told us if you needed anything.”

Worried voices speak amongst themselves as they search for any wounds on my body while I remain still and let them as my mind wonders miles away. Or maybe just a distance away.

“What is going on here?” Another voice follows through, and the bodies now move away from me, giving them space.

“You are back early, Judy.”

“Damn right I am, Mark.” I hear Mark chuckle as they continue their bicker. “I don’t see Aries with you though.”

And my thumping heart stills for a second when I hear his name again.

“Aries is just coming around.” And now my heart starts pumping with force. “Ah, there he is. Took you long Aries…”

But I cannot hear anymore as the only sound I hear is my heavy breathing and the drumming of my heart. I inhale more and more of the air, filtering every other scent so I could just get intoxicated in that scent alone.

Then I hear a heartbeat so familiar to my soul. Lowering my head, I just listen, feeling my own heart, beat along with it, synching in perfect harmony. As if the tune was rehearsed.

A light squeeze of Alex’ hand pulls me back, but I am incapable of any movements. “It’s time you see the world again, Althea.” And with a soft whisper his hold on me too leaves, leaving me empty but filing me once again with hopes.

I shift my entire focus on that one heartbeat, that scent and that footstep inching nearer, closer to me while I remain frozen on my feet. But as time drags itself painfully slow, my longing hands reaches forward to feel it again. To feel him again.

The sizzling of the currents. The sparks dancing upon his touch. The fire that scorched me alive, yet I wanted nothing more than to feel the heat of his flames again.

I reach higher desperate longing in my trembling hands. I reach further until I feel the surface of his hard chest, thumping fast against my fingertips. Thinking as if I had dreamed, I place my palms flat over his heart and spread my fingers as I breathe, as if suffocated. My lips now parted inhaling the air in its stead.

Bringing my other hand to his chest, I tightly clutch onto the soft fabric on his body. But this was not a dream. I was very much awake, and he was very much present here. With me.

I breathe yet I gasps for air. My feeble hands hold him, yet he feels distance away. He is here yet I yearn him.

Until I feel his gentle touch.

His large hands now wrap around my small fists, sparking that sweet current of our togetherness. Oh, how much I longed to feel this? How much I missed his touch?

I take a step further into him, placing my forehead on his hands as I feel the hot trails of river once again stream down my eyes. Then I place my face flat on his chest as I bury myself into him and as my lips mark him mine.

And I breath him in, like I had starved my lungs of air ever since he left. I breath him in through my nose, my mouth, my entire heart and soul.

And when he takes the hood off my head, a sob finally racks out of me for I felt the softest touch of his lips against the crown of my head and his arms around me, pulling me flush to his body.

I cannot help but let these raw emotions out of me as I clutch hard onto his chest as I let the tears soak the thin fabric on his body and as I let myself believe once again that he was real. Very much alive and here in my arms.

I’m never letting you go.

I promise myself as I nudge my face higher into the curve of his neck. And as my selfish heart got the best of me, I pull him down and tiptoe myself up at the same time. Placing my lips on the curves of his delicious neck, I open my mouth wide and let my now sharp canines pierce right into his flesh.

And I bite deep and hard as I hold him tighter in my embrace in fear that he might repulse, push me away from him. But he only ever caresses the back of my head and pushes my face further into the curves of his neck.

Tears flow freely dampening the white cloth over my eyes as I dig myself deeper into his body as if already being in his arms was not enough. Then I drink the sweetest honey of his blood and the nectar of his soul as I claim his body mine. Now, there was no power in heaven or hell that could pull us apart.

For I have forged his life with mine.

Now he was as much mine as I was his.

He is mine!