Desmond ran around his room, cleaning up any mess that he could find. A wrapper here. A misplaced book there. Notes out of order. Bed not perfectly made. He had to stay. What if Airya came back and couldn't find him? What if she wanted to forgive him for not being understanding enough?
He ached to go out and look for more people. He needed to make someone happy. He had to find happiness. He had to be happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. What was happy? What was helpful? What could swarm his brain with knowledge? What could bring him fulfillment? Any fulfillment. His world needed fulfillment.
He almost choked on the surging thoughts threatening to drown his brain. Thoughts that he always tried to hold back. Panic that he tried to never deal with. Words, thoughts, feelings that always pummeled him if he didn’t keep himself closed. Ever since that night. Ever since his parents.
No. No. He couldn’t let his thoughts drift there again. Not at this time. Not when he did not feel safe with himself.
He sat down and opened his laptop. The black screen showed his scarred face. He cussed at it and slammed down the top to close it again. Then he ran out of his room. He wished he had someone to call. He wished that he had somewhere to go. He hated being alone. He hated having only his thoughts.
He couldn’t believe he had not been sympathetic. That he had been so truthful that it had hurt her. Everyone was different. Everyone dealt with things in different ways. It wasn’t right for him to push her in a direction she was not ready to go. To push her into doing things in the way that he dealt with his problems. Not when she might have needed something else entirely.
He couldn’t believe he had done that to her. Couldn’t believe he had driven her away.
He heard a tap. Then another and another in succession. He looked up at the living room window and saw Hethei. His heart leaped. He ran to the window and opened it to let him in. He looked to the ground for Airya. The jitters he was feeling began to calm, knowing she was back. Knowing that he had a chance to apologize. Because if she never came back, how was he to get to her?
He had to be more patient when it came to her understanding different cultures and people. It wasn’t like that was her passion. It wasn’t like that was why she breathed. This time he would hold himself back a little so she wouldn’t break.
She was the only true friend he had. And maybe one day, she could be something more.
Hethei flew in. Desmond looked to the door waiting for a knock or anything, "Where is Airya?"
Hethei opened a small portal and then screeched at him frantically.
"Hethei, calm down," he forced himself to smile to maybe encourage the bird to calm, "I can't understand you when you are going that fast."
Hethei looked to the portal.
"Where is Airya?"
Hethei started screeching again and flapping his wings while he clawed into the couch.
"Hethei. I don't understand."
He flew off the couch toward the portal and then swung around toward Desmond and then back again.
"You want me to go in there?"
Hethei settled on the ground. Desmond took his calm as a yes.
"I can't fit into that. It’s too small." Desmond pointed out.
He watched Hethei, waiting for an answer or a solution as the bird seemed to concentrate and then shake. The portal got a little bigger, but not much. Not wanting the bird to strain himself, Desmond went toward it and put his hand inside feeling the pull he had felt before with Airya. He looked to the bird and shrugged like he had tried. The owl looked back in horror. To show him again and prove that he really was trying, Desmond put his hands to the edge of the hole and tried to pretend to pull it wider, but it seemed like the world did actually give away, stretching the hole and keeping it where Desmond had pulled. He did it again to the other side, and the hole pulled wider again that way. He then did it to the top and to the bottom. It was like pushing water away in the air but looked as if he were pushing away a sheet of paper. He looked back at Hethei confused when the hole was finally big enough for him to enter.
Hethei didn’t look perplexed about it, only determined. He flew into the portal. Before it could close up, Desmond went in after him.
They ended up in Ausrine. The skies around them pink and purple bruises. There was a frantic static in the air around them closing in, making the hairs on Desmond's body rise. The lake near them was murky and dead, and the temple…. there were screams rising from the temple.
A small worry started to worm its way into his stomach for Airya. He wanted to run and see what was wrong. His body even urged him forward, but for some reason his mind told him not to go. What if it was a danger that he knew nothing about and couldn’t help her against? It had to be something bad if Hethei had come to get him. He looked down at his scarred hand. When he had run into danger the last time, it had not solved a thing. His mom still had died and he would have been killed too if it hadn’t been for his uncle.
Desmond clenched his fingers closed until he felt his arm straining, "What do we do?"
Before Hethei opened the portal, Desmond already knew where the bird wanted him to go. A sick feeling that hardened his insides made it hard to breathe. He was frozen as he watched the small portal open again from the bird.
They needed someone with some kind of power, someone else who knew Airya so Desmond wasn’t fighting this alone. The only person that he knew that Airya had mentioned before was Sedeth. The man who had wanted Airya to be his. Desmond's heart was on fire. Another king like her who could understand her more than Desmond ever would. A king who could give her a kingdom and a true purpose to life that equaled the one she felt she held now.
Hethei looked at him concerned, hopped over, and started pecking his shins through his pants. He ignored the pain and covered his ear and his ear and ear-hole with his hands. The waves of his scars under the numbness of his fingers made it so that he could barely feel a thing. He tried to release his tightening muscles as he tried to get the picture he had thought up of Sedeth out his head. Why? Why at this instant did his mind decide to haunt him? Jealousy. Burning jealousy like he had felt before on many occasions when it came to normal people and his friends. People without burns, people with normal lives that didn’t have to worry about the sun, about water, or stares. People who could live normaly. Those feelings danced close to anger. It made him scared. He had to shut them out. He couldn't lose himself. This was not about him. This was not about his traumas or his past relationships. He could not fall into a hole when Airya needed him.
He could, had to, keep the thoughts that he would never be good enough from ringing in his head for her.
He stepped toward the hole Hethei had brought to life and pushed one side aside as he stepped in. He then pushed the bottom part down with his foot to make it even larger.
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Hot wind burned his face. A few stray pieces of burning sand tried to blind his eyes. He brushed them away. They stood underneath the largest pyramid he had ever seen. He blinked hard and realized that it was the only upside-down pyramid he had ever seen and that a second one of equal size right-side-up was sitting above it. "Oh, Frek.” Even one of the pyramids was larger than Airya's temple, and he would have to meet the man who lived there?
Before he could think about turning back, both of his arms were grabbed. Hot metal scalded his arms as two soldiers dragged him to the opening of the bottom pyramid. He struggled. Sweat was starting to peel off of him. "Put me down, please," he said, "I promise I was going to go to your king anyway. Just, please. I’m not here to do anyone any harm!" As they drug him up the stairs, a flush came over his face that didn't have anything to do with the heat. He didn't want Sedeth to see him like this. Being humiliated the first time he saw him. He wanted to at least be able to stand tall and look as courageous as he could. He wanted to prove something to himself, whatever it was.
"Have peace!"
He looked up and saw the King standing at the top of the stairs. Hethei flew up over the soldiers and landed on the ground next to the king. "I know this creature," he looked to Hethei, "You can let the man go.”
When they let Desmond go, he fell to his knees on the stairs. Ignoring the throbbing in his bones, he stood and couldn't stop his eyes from slowly making their way up the King's muscular body that had a brilliant tan. His golden bands around his arms glistened, holding Desmond's attention for a second before his gaze went up to the man's face. It was strong and mighty, his eyes a brilliant shade of gold that had Desmond lost for words.
"What’s this, brother?"
A woman walked to stand next to the King. She wore a golden dress that shimmered in the sun. Her arms were across her chest. She looked down at Desmond like he was trash that needed taken out. For some reason, he felt the need to cover and hide his scars.
"Hethei brought us him," the King said, looking down at the bird awaiting an answer.
"Well then, someone talk!" the girl yelled.
"Aesha! Calm yourself."
The woman bit back the next words that had been about to come out of her mouth.
They both looked at him. Golden eyes. Such striking golden eyes. Almost like Airya's yellow eyes that he may never get to look into again if he didn't say something. All he knew was that he needed to save her and know she was OK. He needed to be able to look into her eyes, even if it was just one last time to apologize and say goodbye. And in order to do that, he would have to speak.
"Airya," he croaked, still standing on the staircase. It was hard to balance himself with the guards at his sides not holding him any longer. He didn’t know if it was from nervousness or the heat, "She’s in trouble."
"And who are you?" Sedeth asked calmly, with fire burning in his eyes.
"I’m Desmond. A good friend of hers."
"You care deeply about her," a flint of regret there and gone in the soft words of the King.
The Queen had a sour look.
Anger stirred in him again. Or was it jealousy? This man understood Airya. He could understand her better than Desmond ever could.
"Yes,” he answered, “And I know you do, too, which is why I’m here!" Desmond shouted the words. The truth. The truth that was hard to face. A man more worthy than him who could easily take his friend away. Someone who could give her so much more. Who could save her. Someone who could be more unlike he had ever been able to be. "Hethei brought me to Ausrine. There were screams in the temple."
Hethei started screeching in panic. Desmond was happy that Hethei couldn’t speak in-case the bird had seen something that Desmond wouldn’t have wanted to know about. Something that might have taken away his hope.
Aesha's face fell, and worry dropped her arms to her side. "Sedeth, she has no one. No one to protect her. It’s just her."
Sedeth shook his head, "But what could possibly be in her empty kingdom hurting her? Are you sure it’s anything at all?”
Hethei started screeching harder. He flew up and tore at Desmond’s hair, making him cry out.
“Sedeth,” the Queen looked even more panicked now as she grabbed her brother’s arm, “She has already been through so much. We can’t… what if it’s something bad?”
She was right. Airya had been through a lot. He was starting to see now that he should have admired her more than he had. That he should have heard her pain a little clearer when she was trying to speak, instead of correcting her, and telling her how she should have been thinking and feeling instead.
"Sedeth. We need to go. We need to go and see if she’s ok. We need to protect her!” Aesha pleaded.
"Aesha. You know we can't leave and her Kingdom isn't ours to protect if it’s being taken over by something that’s after her. If she had continued stealing like she was when we met her, then maybe she found another enemy on her way. She’s a Queen. She can fight against it. I have seen her work. She is resilient, resourceful, and strong,” but even Sedeth’s words held uncertainty. Desmond could hear it.
"I don't care if it isn't our Kingdom, Sedeth! She’s our friend! She’s Airya! We need to help her if she needs it!"
Rage tore through Demond’s heart. This man was a king and had the power to save the woman he had proposed to and refused to do it because he didn't want to leave? "You care for her, don't you?! If you care for her, how can you refuse to save her?"
Sedeth turned to him full of rage, "I can't leave my kingdom! I can't leave this place unprotected and abandon my parent's legacy that they had left for me. This kingdom has stood its ground for hundreds and hundreds of years. I cannot be the one to let it fall!"
"It won't fall, Sedeth. Just let me go, please. Please, let me go. I promise I won’t ask to leave again. You can stay. You can stay right here. Just let me go and help her. Please. I’m begging you. Just once."
Tears fell onto the King’s hand from the Queen, but the King shook his head, "Aesha, I'm sorry. I can't. Our duty is to our people and our kingdom. What happens if you leave and I can’t uphold the Kingdom myself? What happens if something happens to you? It all will be blamed on me by our ancestors and all before us."
“But Sedeth,” the golden queen was on her knees begging, sobs ransacking through her chest. “I love her. She needs me. She needs us.”
Desmond’s mind stuttered. She loved Airya? Did Airya love her? Was that why-
Sedeth shook his head and grabbed his sister's hand, pulling her up off her knees. She looked at him shocked, as he stood there in silence for a moment, glaring down at her, "I know you loved her.” He paused, "And I understand why. But she chose her people over our kingdom. She chose an empty kingdom over being with you. How can you ask me to choose her over my people? How can you ask me to let you go?"
"Because she has no one. She had no one else to uphold her Kingdom or to carry her legacy. You understand that. I know you do. It all rested on her. You can’t blame her for not choosing me over that. I can’t either… no matter how heartbroken it made me.” Aesha wrapped her arms around the King, hugging him tight as she cried. “And I’m not asking you to choose her over our people. I’m asking you to choose me. I’m asking you to choose your sister.”
Sedeth's jaw tightened. He inhaled deeply and then exhaled before looking Desmond directly in the eyes, "You’re a brave soul to come here and ask for the help you could not provide. You are a worthy soul to convince a king to face fears he didn't realize he had. Fears that he aligned with duty.” He sighed and unwrapped his sister’s arms from around him before holding her at arm’s length to look into her golden eyes. “A king shouldn't let fear keep him from being what his people need. A king should not let fear keep him from protecting his sister’s heart, even if half of her heart is in another kingdom…” it was the first and only time that Desmond thought he would ever see a king bite the inside of his cheek. "Now tell me. How do you plan to get to Airya? And will you return?"
“I will always return for my people, Sedeth,” Aesha answered.
Desmond stood tall, "Hethei can open a portal. I don’t know if you want to send anyone else, like an army, but we can push Hethei's portal away to open it larger for more than just Hethei to fit through.”
Sedeth nodded, "Aesha, you will go alone. I will not waste my people if nothing has occurred. If something has and can’t be handled, you are to come back here, and we will assess the situation. We will determine if magick is needed or if you will need an army. I hold my trust in you, little sister. You have lived life to this point loving and caring for our people as if they are your own. I trust you will be back to continue that protection."
She nodded and started down the steps to Desmond, but stopped, "Sedeth, you will make the Brillia line proud."
As soon as she reached Desmond, she grabbed his arm in her solid warm hand and began pulling him until they were behind the giant upside-down pyramid with Hethei flying close behind.
When they stopped and she let go of him, she didn’t look out of breath, unlike Desmond, who had to hold onto his chest for a moment, the heat of her world in his lungs.
“What are you waiting for? Let’s go!” Aesha demanded.
“Do you, do you really love her?” Desmond wheezed, forcing himself to stand straight again. He felt sweat pooling in the indents that scarred his face.
“Of, course I do! She’s one of a kind! Let’s go!”
And for some reason, hearing her say that and having watched this queen fight for Airya, calmed Desmond’s thoughts. His waves of panic and rejection were gone as Hethei opened a hole in the world. Hethei flapped his wings to keep himself steady and off the sand as he waited. Desmond stretched the hole before going in, followed by Aesha who did the same.