SWNOVELS Chapter 12 Time is a leaf
Steel lowered her arms in silent defeat, her heart sinking as she watched the ship continue to sail out of sight. The small boat she had used to travel here was gone, reclaimed by the sea.
How could she tell the Queen that Seto was dead and that Trevor might as well be? She collapsed into the sand, her hair covering her face as she cried her selfish tears.
Rowan watched Aira stroll casually away, fearing he would never see her again. She had agreed to meet them in Caspian when she was finished with her quest, but Rowan sensed she was lying. Aira had so many secrets and he found he knew nothing about her. She made it clear that this was not her fight and that she did not care about the fate of the world.
Rowan forced his eyes away from the back of her beautiful head, hoping he was wrong. The misty rain ended as suddenly as it had begun, and he could not help but wonder if Aira had a hand in its cause.
Akari emerged from the shed wearing a pumpkin orange, embroidered sleeveless kimono top with gold and red thread in the patterns of the sun and koi fish. She had a black pair of form fitting shorts with an orange belt. On her feet, she had dark orange knee high boots with koi fish stitched in them.
Rowan could see the handle of a sai tucked into the belt, next to a folded orange and yellow fan.
Her hair was a rich black with natural cinnamon and gold highlights that sparkled in the afternoon sunlight. She had dyed some of the tips of her hair orange and wore it short in the front with locks of hair falling towards her face at various angles.
The back of her hair she had pulled back in a messy bun with an orange ribbon wrapped around it, the ends hanging by her neck. Two hair sticks, each with its own orange gem, crossed behind the bun.
Rowan could not help but notice how lovely she was, and turned his back to her, pretending to admire a lovely, pink cherry blossom glistening with rain that was hanging inches from his dark red face. Nyles, however, smiled wide, he too had noticed how lovely she was.
“Lookin’ good there m’lady!” Nyles teased, Akari’s soft almond colored cheeks burning red as she hissed at him to stop. But a shy smile had formed on her face.
“I was thinking, we should try the Isle of lost Sirens, it has always had an odd aura around it. I think the Light Element may be there.” Rowan said, nodding his head as though to help convince the two he was right.
“Alright, let’s get moving while there’s still daylight!’ Nyles exclaimed, lifting his foot to take a step forward then pausing.
“Can either of you fly?”
Rowan and Akari shook their heads no, a puzzled expression crossing their faces. Nyles nodded slowly, “Just checking.”
“Are you going to take off on us again?” Rowan asked Akari who smiled shyly as an awkward giggle escaped her.
“No, I am not. And besides, I have not seen Tawny since the festival.” Akari replied, glancing over her shoulder as she followed her new friends, a look of concern on her lovely face.
“I’m sure she’s fine.” Rowan said, remembering how angry the girl had been to discover he was a Reap. Akari did not seem to care, however, as she had said nothing about it.
“Why did you choose to go with us?” Nyles asked, twirling a cherry blossom between two fingers as he made his way out of the city. Akari’s face blushed red and she looked at her feet, not offering a response.
“It’s okay.” Rowan said, spying Aira running gracefully ahead of them, her long legs moving swiftly in the tall, lush grass. He resisted the urge to follow her.
“To be honest, I did not want to travel alone with Valeena as she appears weak and looks like she is always on the verge of tears. I know it is from her lack of self-esteem and from her time at the castle. Instead of growing stronger, she allowed the Queen to weaken her.” Akari was saying, her boots crunching on the dry sand, disturbing a pink butterfly that had just landed on a tall, straw colored weed.
Rowan let out a snort of laughter; he had never noticed that Valeena appeared to always be crying before and decided that he would make a point to check.
Akari blushed again but kept talking, her voice holding a soft underlining accent.
“Elden is dangerous, unpredictable and basically unstable with that curse pulsing through his veins. Instead of learning to harness the power of the beast, he’s allowing it to consume him.”
Nyles looked away, trying to shake the images of the night he lost Sheila out of his mind as Akari spoke. He had not spent much time with Elden since the attack and did not want to think that Akari was right. He had always known Elden to be stubborn, a strong fighter. It was not like him to give up and he hoped the girl was wrong.
“Aira is lost, she does not know her place in the world and that scares her,” Akari said, her orange eyes watching the elf in the distance as she ran out of sight, her body melting into the grove.
“And what about you?” Rowan asked her, suddenly not wanting to hear more about the others. He knew Aira was difficult and had just assumed it was her culture as he had never met another elf before.
Rowan felt a pang of guilt for not standing up for the others. He had thought it was amusing until Aira was mentioned. Rowan saw the laughing faces of his friends once more as he was about to be beheaded. He was not like those cowards! And he would prove it.
But still, Rowan felt oddly protective of Aira, even if she did not care for him in return. As Rowan allowed himself to fall deep into thought, Akari tilted her head, her orange eyes meeting his.
“What about me?” She asked, the question momentarily confusing Rowan as he let Aira slip away from his thoughts.
“I am just as lost as the rest of you.” Akari continued with a slight shake of her head. “I hide behind my friend when the world gets to be too much. I am no different than the field mouse hiding behind the snake for protection from the hawk.”
Rowan allowed silence to fall between them like a blanket of snow. He instead began focusing on the cherry blossom twirling in Nyles hand as angry bubbled inside him.
The gargoyle only stared at his stone hand as the blossom caught fire, the flames slowly eating away at the lovely pink petals until there was nothing but ashes.
Akari sighed as she watched Nyles blow the fire out as the last petal died, examining his scorched fingertips.
“I’m sorry,” Akari said softly knowing that she had somehow offended Rowan with her words. Rowan nodded slowly but offered no response.
“So, are you some sort of mystic?” Nyles asked Akari, trying his best to change the subject.
Akari laughed softly and shook her lovely head no. “No, well, perhaps a little. I cannot predict the future if that’s what you are asking.”
“Aw, why not? I wanted to know if I would be as rich as I am handsome one day!” Nyles teased, striking a pose reminiscent of a model posing for the camera.
“Time is nothing more than a river through space with veins branching off in various directions.” She replied, feeling her anxiety spike as confusion fell on Nyles’s stone face.
Akari reached into the desert sands, removing a golden leaf that was half buried. She held it up to the mid-morning sun, the light making the leaf translucent.
“Take this leaf, for example. Time is the stem, the veins, each one forming different patterns depending on the road you take.” Akari tried to ignore the look of doubt that was exchanged between Rowan and Nyles.
“Say-Say that I took this rock.” Akari bent down and removed a stone from the sand this time, holding it in her hand for them to see.
“Now, let’s say I threw this rock at you.” Akari tossed the rock in the air and caught it smoothly in her small hand, smiling, cocking her head sideways at Nyels. “What would you do?”
“I’d move.” He responded, making ninja sounds as he ducked dramatically to the side, laughing.
“But what if you did not move? What if you did not see me toss it?”
Nyles scratched his head in thought, shrugging as he replied, “Then it would hit me.”
“Or, if my aim was terrible, which it is not, it would sail by you and leave you unharmed.” Akari countered with a hint of a smile.
“See, there are so many different outcomes that there is no way to predict the final one,” Akari said, rearing back and releasing the rock into the air.
Rowan’s scarlet eyes watched in delight as the stone flew through the air and struck Nyels in the shoulder with a solid thunk sound.
“And you thought you’d move.” Akari laughed, her voice soft but full of mischievous joy. She released the leaf into the gentle wind as Nyles laughed, rubbing his shoulder and shaking his head.
“I didn’t think that you’d actual throw it at me. But that’s the time leaf for you.”
Akari laughed but felt the need to correct him. “No, time is a river, not-”
“Nope! Time shall forever be a leaf in my mind now!” Nyles cut in, holding a hand to stop Akari as she opened her mouth to protest.
“If you-” Nyles cut off mid-sentence as a terrible screech cut through the air, resonating from their right. “The hell is that?”
Akari and Rowan followed his gaze as something a dark shade of red, cut across the brilliant blue, cloudless sky and landed in the field several feet from them, sending up a massive wave of dust and debris.
Akari watched as the giant bird, known as Jupiter for its brilliant red body and massive wingspan, hobbled to its lizard-like feet, screeching madly in anger.
It began to flap its giant wings, sending blood and feathers into the air as it feebly tried to lift ifs heavy body off the ground.
Several of the plates running along its spine were cracked or missing. A long, bloody wound ran the length of its body.
Another bird, this one a brilliant green and resembling a flying, fat, crocodile named Avian Dile, leaped off the ground, having fallen to Gaia unnoticed with the red bird.
It was airborne again in a matter of seconds, its body more nimble than Jupiter’s, despite its weight. flames erupted against its scales as the Jupiter launched a fiery attack.
The Avian Dile swung its long, whip-like tail, landing a blow on the mouth of the red beast, blood raining through the air as the fire ceased.
Jupiter lunged for the Avian Dile, its massive, deadly, teeth sinking deep into the neck of the green beast as it whipped its neck back and forth, roaring in pain.
Akari saw fire burst to life around the fighting beast, the scent of smoke and burning grass filling the air. The ground began to tremble as Jupiter cried out, releasing the neck of Avian Dile, blooding pouring from the puncture wounds and down onto the head of the bird.
The field around the fighting beast cracked and splinter as it was lifted into the air, like a floating island, dirt, and grass raining back down to the earth below.
Nyles was using his crystal to manipulate the ground, his face twisted in determination. Rowan used his crystal to light the ground on fire once more.
Akari watched in fear as the newly formed island slowly moved towards the sea that was barely visible on the horizon. The two fighting beast screeched and roared, rolling off the island and twisting to the ground with an audible thunk.
Jupiter released another gale of hot, orange flames from its deadly mouth as the Avian Dile fled back into the sky, flying at an angle due to an injured wing.
The might bird remained motionless on the ground, engulfed in the deadly flames that were still eating away at the field.
Rowan ceased the fire that he had created, staring at the red lump that was the bird’s body. Jupiter remained still, the smoke of the dead flames dancing around it.
Rowan could no longer spot the Avian Dile, as it had flown out of sight, its blood still drying on the ground below. His heart was pounding loudly in his chest and it took him a moment to realize that someone was speaking.
“Why are they so far from home?” Nyles was asking, forcing his eyes away from the body of the beast, unsure if were alive or dead. He wanted to find out for sure but knew there was nothing he could do for it anyway.
“The planet is changing,” Akari said as she took a few shaky steps forward, her body still pulsing with fear.
A soft screech resonated from the injured beast as it lifted its head. Jupiter pulled its might body up, stumbling forward, its wing bent at an awkward angle.
Akari refused to look, her eyes staring at her small moving feet as they carried her across the field. The light rain that began to cry from the cloudless sky felt wonderful on her hot skin.
She took no notice of Rowan or of Nyles as they began a conversation about the fate of the planet.
“Even the Red planet seems bigger.” Rowan noted, spying the faint red planet against the blue canvas of sky.
Firrian was not usually visible during the day as it was far too small to compete with the light of the sun. Akari felt fear growing in her heart as she glanced at the red dot.