Althea - The Dark Goddess

Forged

Althea Silvermoon

My feet digs deeper into the scorching golden sand as I make my way further into the land of dunes while the sun sits hot on the crown of my head. And my forehead, beading with sweats, trickles down, dampening the white cloth covering my eyes as I advance further into the land with no direction. With no aim.

I don't know how long or how far I have travelled.

I have passed through lands, crossed the ocean. I have even travelled across the universe with Alex always by my side. The essence of my life now engraved on the entirety of the vast universe.

Had it been a century? A millennium?

Or had it only just been years?

I look up to the sky, feeling the sun hard against my face and exhale tiredly.

I don't know. I don't know anything anymore.

The only thing that I know was that I was once again back on this deserted land, occupied only with silence and the occasional howling of the wind.

But somehow my soulless body preferred its silent words.

I preferred to indulge myself in its torture, my body not capable of hurt anymore. The most it did was respond to its surrounding, sweating when it got too hot, shivering when it got too cold. I ate, my hunger never satisfied, my legs advance further never reaching the end of its journey.

I stand by the edge of the cliff, overlooking the land with the eye of my mind and feel the soft breeze of the fresh water against this heat. And just like that, Alex circles his arms around me, and soon we descend to the ground with his mighty wings silently flapping behind him.

Not a word exchanged between us. How long had it been since I last spoke, I wonder?

Crouching down, I take the hood off my head and reach further down until I feel the surface of the water against my fingertips. Then digging my hands deeper, I draw out some water in the curve of my palms and let the cool liquid slip in through my chapped lips, as my parched throat finally quenches its thirst.

Letting the water cool my fatigued body, I breath in the hot air. The desert was an enemy to the living, its womb too harsh to bear any fruits. And I wonder why my journey led me back onto this land again.

But then I hear a cluster of life distance away, marching towards us, heading our way. It must be them again. The only ones that dared to call this land their home.

So, I just sit idle, putting the hood back over my head, as I wait for them to arrive.

"Alex, Abe? Is that you guys?" I hear a familiar voice of a man as I hear their footsteps inching closer to us.

"It really is you, huh." His heartful laughter rings throughout the empty desert. "How long has it been since I last saw you? It's so good to see you again."

"It has been quite a while Mark. But it is good to see you too." Alex moves in front of me to greet them.

"What brings you back to the land of sand again? Don't tell me you still haven't found what you are looking for?" He still has that playfulness in his voice laced in that childlike mind of his. No matter how much time passed by the world wasn't strong enough to sully his mind like it once did mine.

And when Alex replies with a small chuckle, Mark lets out a sigh. "Then you are definitely coming along with us."

"Sorry Mark, but-"

"Stay a few days at least, who knows if the sand might bring you what you are looking for. And they would all love to spend some time with you too." With a loud pat of a shoulder, I feel him inching closer towards me. "What do you say Abe?"