Acropolis

Wilderness

The heat suffocated Acacia, drilling her forward. She felt all too willing in Kazimir's errand but knew he had efforts beyond her control in Acropolis. The town fared her goodbyes as the rocky outcroppings became gauzy with haze and Acacia neared the forests without instruction or knowledge. You could hear lutes, but it melded into the tinkering of the wood with clandestine noises of birds and insects resounding like cymbals from the gypsies of Acropolis. If only she didn't have to leave her temple sanctuary to find Jason; whatever creature might have found her in the city, she ventured staying at temple was wiser. As long as Jason stayed in Acropolis after she captured him, under temple watch and kept his surrender, it wasn't her quarrel to seek and make alliance with a town she barely knew. However, the thing she guarded most wasn't her safety but her abilities and the lead-laden bow and arrow. The tall, lush trees clouded the night, giving her seclusion.

She found in this newest sanctuary the imagining of Kazimir patiently waiting, and his image gave her company by the fireplace in the center of the clearing. His warmth was stronger than the fire of Daphne, but he still had an air of cool, grounded thoughtfulness only meant to steady his passions and blazing presence. As she looked up at the stars, they looked ten times brighter, like someone sent away millions of lanterns. Maybe there was a single star for everyone who existed on Earth, or in Acropolis, or even in the stretches of unknown space. Some people we will never meet, she thought, but somehow, we are connected through another, even by an imprint such as a star as our destinies are imprinted by some outside force of other connected worlds.

She remembered Kazimir's telescope he found in Acropolis last night and his mirthful words: "Look through and you will see our existence, where we are. Therefore, are we." The apparition through the telescope appeared to be an orb with a churning red surface as if someone had boiled blood. She had seen something similar to the swirling globe, but nothing so dangerous up close. Kazimir narrated the constellations, giving the stars names, stories, and personalities. They even had music which Acacia could hear as the sounds of the village faded into glimmers of high-pitched whistles, their harmonies beaconing in and out like far-away chimes. One story spoke of a hunter who had fallen prey to a siren only to lose a fight with a unicorn. Others were more soothing and haunting like the parable about a star that had fallen to lead the famous sailor Anthony back home.

Out of the reaches of her earth, time elapsed even more, and she would wonder if everyone and everything she fought for would be futile if it came to ruins. Acacia couldn't see the time but there was hope a citizen in the next village could give her the hour. However, in this new but old world, time was relative. She wanted to think of Conrad if only his image wouldn't haunt her. The fire was a hypnotizing tune and sight although it would be much easier to sleep to the sound of lyre and mandolin. Yet she failed to find a reason for distraction considering Conrad's death. Death's course flowed differently in Acropolis, but the consequences remained death.

Acacia instead thought of the constellations and learned from their instructions according to Kazimir. The compass she packed in Kazimir's leather duffel was not alone and neither was she. Acacia dozed off into the fire, sleeping on the pine needle floor, the closest thing to her mattress, and rested her head on the luggage of very small necessities.

While asleep, the world became the red orb in the sky, or what it appeared to be. The inferno blazed without a spark and only some rising mist of smoke came from the ground. The earth illuminated with crimson clay. Flashing white thoroughbreds ran either from the mist or into it. They raced so fast that only their tails and flanks were visible. Soon she was so unsure of time and place even direction was lost and soon she was surrounded. Her mind elevated into the smoke as the sky became brighter and reason flooded in like vertigo. Her consciousness came with the morning sun. It was still so early, but it felt too late.