Crimson Flames

“Mom, where are we going?”

“Not far, dear…” Her grip on my hand got tighter, “We’ll get there soon.”

Her voice was as light as the wind, eddied and swirled, but with an unusual thud. All the rest was quieter than the rustling of the leaves.

“Mom, is it a surprise?”

“Yeah, dear. It’s a surprise.” She didn’t look back, “It’s your birthday after all.”

It could’ve been just like any other day. No, even for a special day, I would rather have been happy with a simple one. The sky was the usual blue, with small patches of white cloud roaming aimlessly. It was an unknown path around the corner of the village, one I never had wandered to before.

“I’m getting tired mom. I can’t walk anymore.” I pulled my hand out from hers, stopping in my path.

“Just a bit more, dear. We’ll be there soon.”

“Where are we going anyway?”

“Luna, didn’t I say it’s a surprise?”

“I don’t want this.” I squirmed, pulling my gaze downwards. “I don’t want any surprises. I just want to have by birthday with you and dad and Mona.”

She knelt down, pulling me in her hands. “It’s alright, my dear Luna. I know that you love mom and dad so much. After we are done here, we will all enjoy your birthday.”

There are tears rolling down from mom’s cheeks, sunlight reflecting from them just like little pearls in sea-shells. Pulling myself out from her arms, I rubbed her cheeks, “Why are you crying mom?”

She stood up, looking at me, “Oh, it’s nothing dear.” She smiled back, “Just some dust.” A forced one.

She grabbed my hand again, her grip lighter than before. “Before that, tell me what you want for your birthday gift?”

We started walking again. “For my birthday gift, let me think… Maybe a pair of earrings. You know, ones with the aquamarine stones!”

“Yeah, they’ll really look good on you.”

“Do you think that too?”

“Yeah. Mom will get them for your birthday gift.”

“Is it a promise?”

“Of course, it’s a promise.”

After the long walk, we were finally there, as it seemed. Standing before us was a really old temple, one that god had forsaken. Run down, the nave inside visible through the broken bits in the walls, along with creepers climbing along making beautiful green graffiti. The roof arching skywards doesn’t seem to be of any help to fend of the sun or rain, given with all the holes and broken tiles. But the door to it seemed to have been repaired, along with some patches around the walls, hinting that people were still using it. We had come quite a long way from the village, and I had never heard about a temple this deep inside the forest.

Reaching their, we both stood motionless for a moment. My thoughts were all jumbled at this point, but before letting the silence take root, I spoke out, “Mom, why are we at a temple? What’s the surprise?”

She kept standing before me, without a reply. Her hands were tight fists, and a tremble resonated through her whole body. “Mom, what’s the matter? Are you all right?”

Suddenly, a eerie smell of fire and ash drafted from afar. I pinched onto my nose. “Mom?”

She turned around, but her gaze was seated away from me. “Luna, you know dear. Mom had lied to you about something. But I was scared that you would get mad at me…”

“What is it, mom? What did you lie to me about?”

She took a step towards me…

Then another…

And another…

She grabbed both my hands tightly. I could feel her trembling. Why is she scared? Did we run into some kind of trouble? I couldn’t tell. Just looking at her face, I couldn’t tell anything.

“What is it, mom? Why are you so scared?”

She finally brought her gaze back at mine. It wasn’t just fear taking over her emotions… there were tears which I couldn’t understand. “Luna, my sweatheart. Run away from here. I’m sorry but I had lied to you.”

“Mom, why are you joking. Isn’t this supposed to be a birthday surprise?”

She didn’t say anything. There are times when you don’t need someone to spell out every last of their words. Just by looking into their eyes, you can tell what they want to say. It was pain, what was there in mom’s eyes.

“Why will I run away, mom? What about you? What’s the matter?”

“I’m sorry, but you’ll just have to run now.” Her fingers caressed over my shoulders, and with a slight push, she distanced me from her. “Go back home and hide in your room. And don’t come out in the village. You’ll be safe as long as you’re inside.”

“I won’t go. You have to come with me!”

“LUNA! Do as I’ve told you!” She raised her voice, her words as tensed as her body. I couldn’t find anything to say, as if I had a basket of words in my hand, and they all suddenly fell to the ground. There was not enough strength in me to pick them back up.

“I’ll be back soon, sweatheart. So don’t worry about mom, okay?”

“Can you promise me that?”

“I promise that I will be back home soon.” She relaxed her whole body, bringing her voice down to a mutter, “So don’t wor…”

“I’m sorry, young lady, but no one is leaving this place.” A voice emerged from behind us, careful footfalls making their way right behind me.They were two men, both wearing clerical clothes, a long black robe. One of them as holding a book, maybe a scripture of some sort. The other person was standing beside him, his eyes were right into mine. “So you are Lunett Presphine, right?” He said, as he made his way towards me and grabbed my arm. “Is she just another one of those…”

“We will see that later. Belwar, take her inside.” The man with the book said, “Let’s get things done here fast and return to the village.”

“My, my, Olgar! What’s the hurry? Can’t we just have some fun with her?”

“Let go of me, you geezer!” I tried resisting, throwing random punches and kicks, but it was futile.

“Huh, what did you say!” Yelling back at me, the man shoved me down on the ground. Taking a step back, he threw a kick right into my stomach.

“Be happy that you pests are getting a chance to offer something to your Goddess. Better than ending your lives groveling on other peoples feet.”

I groped my stomach, as I felt the pain stinging in my whole body. Small drops of blood started sopping from the corner of my lips. It was bitter, the taste of the blood in my mouth. I couldn’t bring my eyes to look at them, there was nothing but animosity pasted on their face. They were laughing at me, though it sounded so horrible that it just felt unnatural.

I had lost the last ounces of strength left in me to even pull myself back up. I tilted my head towards mom. Fear had taken the entirety of her body as it seemed, even her fingers were stuck in place. I wanted to call out to her, but through my lips my voice only crackled.

“Come with me, you bitch!” The man tried grabbing onto me again, but I pushed myself away from him.

“What are you two gonna do to me?”

“Huh, you don’t know? Well, that’s bad for ya…”

“Please, don’t d-do anything to her.” Mom rushed right between me and the man, spreading out both her arms. “Let her g-go.” Her words stumbled on her own mouth, sounding the same as the fear making her legs tremble.

The other man, Olgar, spoke up again, “Do you know, Mrs. Presphine, what you are saying?” Till now he was just observing the whole situation, indifferent to anything anyone said.

“You can do anything with me, but please let my daughter go. I beg.”

“Mom, what are you sa…”

She looked back at me, with eyes as cold as ice. But behind those eyes were a mountain of pain. I could feel it. The world never moves in just one direction, rather like a swarm of moths, in all directions. And at the end like the moths squirming inside of her, they finally settle to after being drawn to the flames.

“Are you serious, bitch?” Belwar said while rubbing his hands, “Can you hear what you’re saying?”

“Yes, you can do anything with me, but let her go.” Her voice calmed a bit. As she said, her hands made went up to the top of her tops, slowly going down while taking off the buttons.

But drawn to those excessively intense flames of hope, they can’t but only scorch themselves into ashes. But even knowing her own wings will be burned off, she still wont let lose that light of hope.

“Luna, run away now. Your mom will handle here everything…” She sounded unnaturally clam saying that, ‘And take care of Mona for me. Is your mom asking too much?”

Yes, you are asking too much from me. But I couldn’t bring myself to think anything else, other than to run away from here. My legs felt alien to me. But whatever strength I could muster up, I used it all to get up on my feet. Their eyes were away from me. I realized that it was the chance.

But that chance never came though. The entrance to the temple creaked to the side, and a tall figure emerged from the shadow inside. On that huge body the black robe seemed like festival getup. His presence had a totally different effect on the other two men. As just after setting his eyes on them, they froze on their feats.

“You two, tell me what the hell is going on?” His deep and cold voice rang like the temple bells in my ears.

“Um-m, actually, the things is Mr. Beryn, we were just going to…”

“Just going to what?!” He yelled at the two of them, making his way towards us. “You lackey’s cannot even do a simple thing!”

I realized then, the clattering sound that he made while walking, a sword strapped around his waist. He was taking shallow breaths, and as he stopped right infront of us, he placed his hands over hilt of his sword.

Today, it was hard to tell, what kind of twisted fate the world had in store for us. I just wanted it to be like any normal day, just a normal day. But now, even this normalcy is coming with a heavy price.

“Thou pledge to the heavens, my sword is thine judgement.”

The sword pierced through like a needle smoothly making way through a fine leather, and with another fierce swoon he drew the sword back, splattering the blood on the ground. The next thing, mom fell over me like a puppet with its strings cut. Her arms landed on my shoulders, slowly sliding to the ground. The light of her eyes, brown like spring wood, was fading away. “Mom, hang hold of me, mom!”

“Mona, my sweetheart…” She took a pause, one that felt eternity, “I guess I hadn’t got the chance to tell you this…”

“Stop talking, mom! I beg you!”

“Happy Birthday, dear.”

My fingers clamped over the wound. But no matter the pressure I applied, the blood still gushed between my fingers and oozed my hands.

The smell was bad and strong, strong enough to make the smell of the summer go away. Her eyes had rolled back, and it wasn’t cold that was death, it was the feeling of nothing.

“Mom! Mom! Wake up mom!” All my crying, but she wouldn’t move a finger, “Please don’t leave me, mom!”

Time itself had become something stagnant, the figures around me stopped along with its flow. Like statues of wretched demons. What was moving was only the fear in me, taking root deep inside my heart. It was like the burned scar on mom’s face opened up to an ugly lip whispering in my ears, “You are the cursed, you damned wretched. You are the cursed!”

On its own my body jumped back. The coldness nettled from the tip of my fingertips through my spine up to my toes. And with that coldness, my whole world turned into blue and grey.

“Huh, look at that, little girl. She died trying to save you… Isn’t it pretty?” Belwar said with a wretched smile.

“I’ve had enough!” Mr. Beryn’s voice thumped on our ears, “Bring her in. And you two will clean it up later.”

         As I was being dragged by the two of them inside the temple, looking back at mom, her inanimate body seemed like a little girl in a deep sleep. No matter how much I yelled or cried, she wouldn’t listen, nor budge, yell at me for throwing a tantrum.

“Let go… of me…” My voice was breaking,barely coming out, “Don’t leave me alone, mom…”

“I’ll be back soon, sweatheart. So don’t worry about mom, okay?” Her voice echoed at the back of my head. She’d promised me, that she would buy me the earrings, we would all enjoy my birthday. She would be back home with me. She’d promised me, after all.

“She’s already dead, so stop whining!” Belware whizzed, "Or you’ll be the next to join her."

After going inside, they closed the front entrance. The place was damped, with a mushy smell surrounding us. The place lives as if under constant shadow, as if the sun keeps reaching for those walls that shrink away. So does the windows stay black without the rippling effect of the light, never knowing that the dust that clings, the dirt of maybe years. The floor was so cold to the touch, stealing the heat from my fingers, never caring if my own heart froze.

They brought a rope from the corner of the room, where some wooden boxes were stacked. They tied me with a pillar at the center of the big room. “Stay here, and don’t try to escape.” Saying that, they both went inside another room.

Sunlight creeks through the small holes in the rooftop, bringing in bare lights to keep my tears at bay. The darker it becomes with the shadow of the clouds, the more the fear takes over my tired body like fleeing in a nightmare. Deep down, my thoughts keep tumbling in the abyss of my mind, with burned down rope ladders. Time ticks slower than I can imagine, and the serenade of the cicadas crying even more distinct.

Suddenly, I noticed that the same eerie smell I felt earlier was coming from the room the two just went in. Something was burning there. I could also hear their voices coming from there faintly. Long conversations, very long. I kept wondering what they were talking about, and what they intend to do.

After some long and hideous moments, the three of them came out from the room. Mr. Beryn and Belwar were the first ones to come out, followed by Olgar carrying something with him. It was wrapped around with a white cloth, something of arms length. Standing infront of me, they took their time to glare with me with those bleak eyes.

“Ahh man. I’m feeling sorry for the little girl.” Belwar grinned, “Can’t we just let her go? She has already suffered enough.”

His eyes said otherwise. He was having fun.

“What kind of blasphemy are you saying, Belwar. You will bring the curse of our Goddess upon us!”

I interrupted, “So this is all for your so called ‘Goddess’?”

“What are you saying?”

“Did your Goddess order you to take the life of another person?”

“Keep shut, you wretched! Didn’t anyone teach you anything till now?” Olgar raised his voice, “it’s you pests who never show your gratitude, even after our Goddess is so generous to you all.”

“Then what about you people? What do you do to show your gratitude? Take innocent lives?”

“You don’t need to talk anymore. Just return the gift your Goddess had given you.” Olgar calmed down a bit, while turning to Mr. Beryn, “That will make you the least useful to the village, and to our Goddess.”

“Who are you to decide who is grateful and who is not?”

“Little girl, I guess you have the wrong idea…” Mr. Beryn said, composing himself, “You see, we are all made from the same elements, yet in different forms. But our Goddess pours all her love in shaping each and every one of us. Even then, we are trapped in cages, scattered everywhere. Wherever you take your eyes, you will see these unsightly cages.”

He cleared his throat before continuing, “And it is us humans, hiding ourselves inside these cages. We were given a life with a meaning, but end up locking ourselves from everything around us. At the end, we lose ourselves, our shape, who we are, and what we were meant to do. Rotting ourselves in the end.”

“But in those cages, in their dark corners, some will find the light of destiny. Only the ones chosen by destiny are able to reach to the light. Otherwise the darkness will consume you as a whole.”

“I can’t understand anything you are saying.”

“You don’t need. You should just rejoice, Lunett Presphine, for you will be given a meaning for your life.”

“Mr. Beryn, if you may…” Olgar prompted, handing over the thing to Mr. Beryn after unwrapping it. A sword with a blade broken in half. Something was engraved on the blade of the sword, in old Katerenin letters. I’ve learned that from my grandmother. The words of our Goddess.

Mr. Beryn closed his eyes and took a deep breath, fixing his gaze right at mine. “O' divine beings who dwell beyond the mortal lands. By thine will thou burn to ashes all that opposes ye. So lend me thine gift and guide me with the crimson flames.” A magic incantation, following which he pointed the broken sword towards me. “Ablaze”

The serenity and coldness of his voice, and the blemish red flames conjuring the sword. My emotions were going in a rampage in me.

It was a memory of a glittering morning, far far away from when I could remember. It was all flowing back to me again.

“Mom, how did you burn your face like that?”

She was standing there by the fireplace, preparing our meal. Listening to me her hand went up to her face. “Oh,this?” She turned around with a faint smile at the corner of her lips,”It’s nothing. I’d spilled hot water on myself.”

“Silly mommy. Can’t even take of herself. I guess I have to look after you.”

“Oh, but you’re still so small.” She grabbed me and took me to her lap.

“I’ll become tall soon. Tall and beautiful like you!”

“Don’t be silly, my little princess. You will become even more beautiful than your mommy. I can tell that!”