The Hands of Time and Love

“You—”

“Me!” Lucifero said joyfully.

“I know I obliterated you. How are you here?” Aria drilled.

A musty odor curled around the bars of the cell; things were bad enough, dealing with the devils. The walls were soaked, and the cell floor was frighteningly cold which only added to Aria’s woes. If the devils didn’t kill her, the encroaching mold probably would.

She snuck a quick peek towards Brendan who was deep in conversion with Lyra. Their body language indicated some level of disagreement though she had no idea what they could be on about at a time like this.

“I’m sure you’re familiar with the whole ‘cats have nine lives’ thing.” Lucifero grinned. “For us devils—”

“Enough, you blabbermouth, before you say too much. This is why you were better off staying dead.” Mikaun’s voice emanated from the shadows. “Don’t listen to him. He’s an idiot, hence why you were able to snuff him out again.”

“Again? So I was right after all. Saint Miruna did win his fight against Lucifero, but how many lives do they have, exactly?” she wondered.

“My brother is also an idiot,” a pompous female voice said.

Aria had heard enough. Lucifero was back in action and Mikaun was— She couldn’t think of a word to describe something like Mikaun. Devil was truly a perfect fit.

“What I don’t understand is why you’d warn us about yourself, choose to help us, and then bring us here.” Aria caught the piercing gaze of glowing eyes in the dark. She shivered.

Heated whispering erupted from the back corner of the cell only adding to Aria’s frustration. Before she could turn around and yell at the two bickering idiots in the back, a loud slap arose from Brendan’s cheek.

“Men,” Lyra groaned telepathically. “Aria, I need you to buy us another minute. Just keep those three busy.”

“No pressure, Lyra,” she replied sarcastically.

Mikaun piped in again. “You’re a smart girl. I see no reason for us to answer your questions, Aria. You can put two and two together.”

“Since we’re all here now, how about your sister introduce herself? I have a right to know who my captors are and everything, do I not?” Buying time wasn’t her strong suit, but she was great at conversation. “Oh, and Lucifero?”

“Yes, dear?”

She threw up in her mouth a little. “Would you mind giving us a little space? Since I already know you so well, I’d like to get to know the twins a little better. I won’t hunt you down right away when we get out of here if you do. Deal?”

Lucifero’s laugh boomed through the dark corridors, bouncing off concrete walls into a labyrinth of dark corridors. “Very well then. If you really think you’ll live long enough for another fateful encounter, then I look forward to our rematch.”

“Yes, it will be quite… blistering.”

“Wait for him to disappear then grab Brendan. Hold him tightly,” Lyra telepathized. “You’ll know when.”

Aria pressed for conversation once again. “I mean, I guess you don’t have to tell me,” she said, addressing the twins, “but I just thought we should get formalities out of the way first, before we try to kill each other, you know?”

“I kind of like you, Aria.” Mikaun’s sister stepped out of the shadows revealing long, dark hair. Red eyes bore holes into Aria’s soul. “I go by Herlit. Technically, I’m ranked higher than my brother over there, but Ahzef has designated me as fifth despite proving my strength.”

“Why is it you think you’re stronger than me?” Mikaun retorted. “Ahzef ranked you fifth because you have too much of a temper. Look at me; nice and cool.”

“You’re also an idiot,” Herlit gritted.

A warm hand pressed against Aria’s back. A rune ingrained itself in her mind—a teleportation spell. It was basic magic, taught at the elementary levels of instruction, but this spell was loaded. Mana poured into her veins like a river; she felt as weightless as a cloud.

The spell was designed so the caster could freely teleport any object that bore the rune, so long as they could clearly picture the location they desired to transport the object. It was a spell rarely used for human teleportation due to the vast amount of mana required to teleport a person.

Aria’s eyes widened at the realization. “Lyra, you can’t!”

“I’ve already imprinted the rune in Brendan’s mind as well.”

Mikaun and Herlit continued to argue over who was the stronger devil though it seemed to have devolved into a contest of who was Ahzef’s favorite. “Yeah, well, Ahzef told me I was doing a good job, picking up your pieces, dear brother.”

“Oh yeah? Why do I have a hard time believing that?”

Aria turned to face Lyra who had fallen to her knees. The mana-consumption for human teleportation was more than most could handle. Lyra’s title as princess gifted her large reserves of mana, but not even she could manage the amount needed to teleport three people. She looked exhausted but her determination was stronger than steel and someone had to make it out or their efforts would all be in vain.

“Lyra—”

“You can’t change my mind, Aria. Brendan already tried and he ended up with my handprint on his cheek.”

“But how are you planning on getting out? You’re the Princess of Chiipha! It takes two to tango, you know.”

“I’ve already passed my duties down to the next in line, after I’m gone. Once you regain your bearings after you land in Chronid, head to the far northern point of town. Use the image I’ve given you.”

A new image flashed into her mind—a small out-of-the-way town. Stone and plaster houses made up much of the residential areas, but the northern front of town seemed quite lively. Bright lights, food stalls, and what looked like a large outdoor theater.

“You’ll know where to go when you get there.”

“Enough of this!” Herlit shouted. “What are we going to do with them?” she pointed towards the cell.

“Maybe if you’d get out of my face, we could figure something out!” Herlit backed off. “Now then, what say you, dear captives?” The devils turned their attention to the cell, but Aria and Brendan had vanished.

“Huh? Where did the other two go?!” The twins shouted simultaneously.

Only Lyra remained in the cell, spent of all mana. Her skin was whiter than paper as she laid across the cold stone floor, limp. A small smile lined her lips. She’d accomplished her part, but the rest would be up to Aria and Brendan.

Mikaun entered the cell first, thoroughly examining Lyra’s body. The devil shook his head.

“Crazy girl. She sent herself to an early grave. For what?”

“She wasn’t dumb enough to not have an heir,” Herlit said. “Report to Ahzef. I’ll chase the other two down.”

Mikaun nodded.

                                                                               ***

“How could she just— Just end her own life like that?! Oh my god…” Aria was visibly shaken.

“Aria,” Brendan said, wrapping his arms around her, “there wasn’t anything else we could do. Lucifero, who you and Lacia struggled with, is clearly back and in top shape. Meanwhile, here we are, straggling, trying to find some consistency in all of this.”

Pale moonlight transformed Aria’s skin into a pearly glow as she stood underneath the starry Chiipha sky. Brendan’s arms felt… comforting. This was the first time they’d truly been alone. How long ago was it that they’d come face to face in that strange other world, after having relived the most tumultuous days of her life?

“Aria?” Brendan’s voice rang in her ears even as she inadvertently tuned him out.

Here they were, alone in a strange new world with no idea how to get back home, “If there’s even a home to return to,” she thought. She shuffled her feet, expecting to feel the damp touch of dewy grass on her toes. To her surprise, sand rushed into her sandals instead, the fine particulates scrambling to find a place they belonged as well.

She recalled the place she’d been thinking of when they teleported, but wherever they were now wasn’t at all what Lyra had shown her. Sand and rocky outcroppings spanned for miles as starlight illuminated the surprisingly verdant moss that hugged the bedrock, adding a touch of color to the faded browns and yellows. The occasional spiny desert tree dotted the sandy landscape. They looked parched yet their bristles remained as green as the mossy bedrock.

“Where are we…?”

“Aria, heads up!”

Brendan tossed her a large fruit of some kind. The outer shell was tough to crack, but the insides were filled with sweet water and citrusy juices. She never understood how anything grew in a desert; the foreign fruit only confused her further.

“How about we stop putting off what happened back at the Gila gate? There’s no one around but you and me and I know you’re just as anxious as I am to figure out what happened,” Brendan said as he laid back in the sand, arms crossed under his head. He gazed up at the starry sky.

“Brendan… I don’t know…” Her voice was shaky. “We’re stuck in the middle of a desert in a world we know nothing about. We teleported somewhere we’ve never been and it’s starting to get cold. Why now?”

“Because, we have to figure us out before we can figure anything else out. You were gone for two years, remember? We all thought—”

“No, you’re right. As much as I hate feeling like I don’t even know myself, I feel like I know even less about you, Brendan. We never got to catch up… after the accident.” She turned away, afraid to face the boy who’d given her so much hope. She knew this wasn’t the time to get emotional, but she couldn’t help it—life hadn’t exactly been easy.

“You don’t have to blame yourself for what happened. The accident was just that and there’s nothing that’s going to change what happened, but I swear to you I still lo—”

“Do you, Brendan? Do you really love me? How can you even begin to understand what I’ve been through?” She turned to face him; her eyes swelled with tears. “I know you say it’s not my fault, everyone said that, but I haven’t even told you the whole story yet. No one knows what really happened.”

The air around Brendan and Aria filled with static, discharging into the atmosphere. Dust glittered in the air like fireflies: fiery oranges and even an occasional white grain that resembled snow. It was like diamond dust, but more beautiful. The dust acted like a conductor as it made contact with the ground, creating a luminescent floor of soft orange and white. It was unlike anything Earth had to offer.

What was a dull bed of arid brown had been transformed into a sea of color. Grains of sand were picked up and deposited by the wind, generating make-shift waves on the desert floor. The light briefly dimmed before a rhythmic crescendo back to full luminosity.

Brendan sat up, awe-struck by the falling sand. He opened his hands, allowing it to accumulate in his palms. A light tingling sensation ran through his fingers like a winter’s chill but more… electric. Even separated from the rest of the ground, the sand remained illuminated. Like snow, it continued to fall until the desert was completely awash in hues of orange and white. The hair on his arms stood on-end as if it were being pulled by an invisible force. He brushed them down only for them to shoot back up like weeds in a poorly groomed yard.

Brendan’s ears grew warm; faint whispers tickled his inner ear. “The girl is right, Brendan. You do not know the full story.” He bolted upright in surprise. “If you cannot understand the girl you claim to love, your journey will end here.”

A veil of sand began to swirl around Aria, briefly obscuring her from Brendan’s view. The veil expanded outwards at a frightening pace, evolving into a ferocious sandstorm that seemed more like wildfire. Lightning crackled overhead, spawned by the positive-negative charge of the ground and atmosphere.

“I’m trying, dammit! This affects both of us,” he shouted into the raging sandstorm, “but just who or what are you? How do you know what I don’t?”

The whispers came again: “What she has told you is only half of the story. In order to receive the half you do not know, you must be willing to understand the pain she carries and why.”

“I’ve been prepared to give my everything to be her everything since the beginning. Whatever obstacles may obstruct my path, whoever tries to stand in my way, I will not break my promise.” He shielded his face from the stinging sand, trudging forward through the raging storm. “If my heart’s a mess, what is hers like?” he wondered.

“Like a bird must first learn to fly before it can leave the nest, a heart must learn to love before it can be complete. If you are truly compelled to save that girl, then go. The fate of your journey to come hinges upon the success of your trial.”

A small window opened in the rush of sand where Aria sat, holding her knees to her chest. Fresh tears dampened the sand at her feet. Brendan slogged his way through the fresh dunes as he called out, but his voice was caught in the wind. He gritted his teeth, frustrated not just because he couldn’t reach her but by his own inability to understand the girl he loved.

“I can do better,” he thought. “Lyra sacrificed herself to save us and all I could say was ‘there wasn’t anything else we could do.’”

The whispers had grown into a mature woman’s voice—a familiar one. “Brendan Greyriter: this will be your most harrowing trial yet. I pray that you find success.”

Sand continued to pile up as the storm grew increasingly ferocious, leaving Aria to fend for herself, sand swirling around her, creating dunes of sand feet high. Her thoughts crept into Brendan’s mind: “I wish I could tell him the whole story…”

“I’m going to fix this, Aria. I promise.” He wrapped his shirt around his face to guard from the stinging particulates.

He closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he stood at the turning point of Aria’s life: the night of the accident.