Chapter 36
The Center of the Universe
Brewer’s Reputation: 840.
Dream Cutter Stone Shard Quest: 13,300/15,000 shards.
The road of chamomile and honeysuckle and curious roots and sleeping rocks ended at a stream. The day was hot, though it was dusk, and the stream offered a cooling air. Abigail brewed a few Sheltering attribute beers to keep us comfortable. The best one she used kept the mosquitos and biting gnats away. And since her sheltering attributes had been laid out wide, we were able to comfortably hunt for crawfish.
We boiled them in a small pot of water spiced with foraged peppers and with tomatoes, garlic, and onions. Above the fire, in a wobbling sphere of Brewer’s Bubble, I steeped our foraged chamomile for a soothing tisane. The fragrance of honey-musk suffused the area. Abigail took a deep breath and sighed.
“Mind if I grab some?” she said.
Little bubble by little bubble, chamomile tea left my Brewer’s Bubble. She was more than welcome to take some. I had a feeling that she would brew another attribute beer for fun, and that’s exactly what she did. She brewed a double attribute beer with chamomile and holy basil.
“Just try it,” she said. She handed me the open bottle of beer.
It was cold, and sandy foam cascaded over my fingers. I sipped the stout and returned the bottle to her. It tasted like molasses and black honey, patina, and crushed coal. The malt was like liquid dark chocolate on waffled quick-cake. The flavor was so gorgeous that I felt my brow wrinkle. I contemplated the flavors.
When I came out of my thoughts, a dizzying sight lay before me. The entire world was translucent. The trees, fire, stream, earth, and Abigail still existed; but all were translucent. Through the planet, I saw the stars. Through Abigail, I saw the stars. I also felt lighter than air. Unlike the Anti-gravity ale that was hard to control where there was momentum in my movements, I didn’t have to worry about that with this new attribute. My body simply floated like it was peacefully anchored.
We both rose to our feet and wandered over to the stream. Seeing through it was like looking at melting galaxies. Though I could discern the edges of the earth, everything further than a few miles was indiscernible. The opposite end of the world appeared like the further wall of a glass ball.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Abigail took my hand. I was soothed by the tea. I felt her gaze. I looked at her. I wanted to say her name. She turned to face me. My heart beat like I was on the brink of battle.
I leaned toward her. “Abigail…”
She leaned in. We kissed.
She pressed into me as ardently as the daisies were for the sun—as if one of us could lay like sunlight upon the body of the other. And she did press her body into mine. I wrapped my arms around her. Her hair fell over me, and it was like I was touched by a rumor of flowering mullein. A fragrance arrived like it was her familiar. Did it first curl around my legs and climb our bodies like aggressive vines? Was that how the fragrance came to me? It was the fragrance of body—of skin and hair and clothes that battled the heads of flowers. The fragrance entered me through my breath, and I felt my mind change colors.
The kiss became more! We came out of it with frozen breaths and gasping souls. Abigail held me closer. She put her cheek to mine and put her lips just at my ear. Her eyelashes flickered against my cheek, soft as the pollen of royal lilies. My eyes rolled back and I relaxed into her like we were supposed to topple over.
I felt her lips move to form the shape of my name at the edge of my jaw. She whispered and pressed closer. I felt her teeth on the tip of my ear. She pulled back and she pulled out of the embrace. Her eyes were like dusk. They were soft and almost closed and something burned in them. She grabbed onto a twist of my tunic and yanked. The universe of stars and clear earth pitched in a blurring arc. We were suddenly toppling over. Abigail fell back and pulled me down with her.
She laughed with delight on the way down. She shot a hand out. A bottle broke beneath us. She landed, not on the knuckles of hard earth and root and rock, but on a clear bed of cloud. I landed atop her and the wind was knocked from both of us. Instead of trying to regain our breaths, we kissed.
How fitting was it to see through the earth like it wasn’t there—like nothing was there. And even though I saw through Abigail’s form as well, I felt her. I felt her presence, her being, her soul, her character. She kissed like she knew things.
How fitting was it to feel like our kiss was at the center of the universe. I had come out to these northern woods to escape the world. To find myself in nature. To live out a peaceful life. She unleashed within me my tamed love for the world; she made it wild again! She matched that love. Our lives were parallel. Our candor was equal. When I left to find myself in nature, how could I have known that I had only been half a man until now. Our kiss was a language. It was barely one word. She kissed like she was telling me that she too had only been half until now.
The fire went out. Embers twinkled. Cooling steam rose from our mugs of chamomile tea. The earth became earth-colored again. Summer frogs croaked and trilled on the stream. A crescent moon pressed its light onto the trees and where it could on the forest floor. It waggled a finger of moonlight in the stream like it was stirring. Insects buzzed at the edges of our unseen shelter.