Alchemy Of Abyss

Chapter Six~1

Mykonos, Greece, June 15, 2019.

The crisp salty air filled her nostrils, bracing her, and the warm sun rays lay peacefully over her body. A deep hoarse chuckle rang in her ears, and her full lips responded with a small smile as she drifted up her sunglasses. The sun was shining brightly in her eyes. She could only see glimpses of the person who chuckled.

When she caught a glimpse of the tall muscled dark-haired man and golden retriever dog playing in the clear water of the Aegean Sea, her heart raced. She closed her eyes again and replaced the sunglasses. Walking slowly over the soft sand toward her lying body. She smiled again, sensing his approach. Her heart was full of joy, and her stomach was full of butterflies.

She could feel his body next to her. Her skin tinged with electricity. His hand cupped her happy face. She didn't open her eyes, but when she felt his warm breath above her face and his hair dripping over her chest, she hummed. His lips brushed against hers softly before he moved away. She held onto his arm, pushing him slightly closer to her, craving his touch and his soul.

Water splattered harshly on Theia's head. She gasped for air and jerked her eyes open, feeling as if her soul snatched from her body. She noticed Eleni crossing her arms as she looked over her shoulder. A small plastic bucket was next to her. "Are you ever going to wake me up like a normal person?" Theia said, removing her ashy blonde hair from her face.

"Are you ever going to wake up like a normal person?" Eleni throws a towel at her and sits on a chair behind her without looking at Theia. "The only two effective methods are to slap you or to pour water over your head."

Theia threw the towel back at Eleni and jumped out of bed, heading to the bathroom. Eleni's gaze followed her until she shut the door and asked, "What's wrong with you? What exactly is the problem here?"

"What?"

"How did you ruin it? What have I done to you? You keep putting me in this shit, and now I'm facing it alone!"

"What are you talking about?" Theia returned to her room. Eleni locked her gaze on her. "Oh, that! I don't know. It didn't feel right."

"It didn't feel right!" Eleni rolled her eyes. "That man is a goal! You have no idea how many of our friends wished to go on a date with him! That was the seventh guy I set you up with!"

"What exactly do you want me to say? You set me up with a total playboy!" Theia sat on the bed, facing her. "I couldn't help it; he's not the one."

Eleni sighed, clearly annoyed. "I set you up with as many men as possible, including the player type, marriage type, one-night stand type, and even the bi-curious type! and you're still looking for the one; you've got to get over that fantasy nonsense."

"You know it's not a fantasy! you heard it as well, and you drew the tattoo yourself. My love is looking for me somewhere, and I will find him."

"No, really, you need to get over it," Eleni sneered. "You can't live your life based on the words of a fortune teller. It doesn't work in real life, and the tattoo is meaningless. It's only a drawing." Theia examined her right wrist, where a deep black tattoo lay beneath her skin. Her thoughts whirled around the memory.

Theia and Eleni were born into two families that had been best friends for generations. It began with their grandmothers on their mother's side, then moved on to their mothers, and finally to them. They were born a few months apart; they shared everything and felt more like two sisters than childhood friends.

Their families planned a two-week trip to Egypt for their sixteenth birthdays, which changed Theia's life forever. Eleni's grandmother Helena was a spiritual person who believed in the power of fortune-telling and how it could change one's life, in contrast to Theia's grandmother Eirene, who thought she was insane for believing such things. Helena had chosen Egypt for the girls' birthday.

Her reason was its lovely culture. Or so she told the girls.

Eirene knew the real reason; when they were in their early twenties, they went to Egypt and had the most important trip of their lives, as Helena describes it. In a small neighborhood of Aswan, they met an elderly palmist. She foretold her future and counseled her on issues in her life about which she was unaware.

Everything the palmist predicted happened exactly one year later. Helena had planned an entire day to look for the famous palmist, just as Eirene had predicted. She went along with it because she, too, believed her. The grandmothers insisted on taking only the girls with them to find the palmist, leaving the rest of their families to explore the city.

They found the neighborhood, and with the assistance of the locals, they were able to locate the palmist herself. The palmist welcomed them with a beautiful smile and warm hugs, just as Helena and Eirene remembered her. Everyone in the vibrantly colored city could see the Nubian people's common characteristics: beautiful ageless faces, glowing skin, charming smiles, and the friendliest personalities ever.

Helena tried to remind the palmist of her, but to her surprise, she recognized her. Her age, the palmist joked, is just a number because her soul and mind are immortal. She read everyone's palms and told them what seemed right and on point. When it was Theia's turn, the palmist's face puzzled, a strange expression that was clearly foreign to her relaxed, angelic face. She called for her oldest daughter, who shared her mother's beauty. She instructed her to examine Theia's palm. The daughter had the same puzzled expression as her mother.

She said something to her, then left for a few seconds before returning with a tray containing four small cups of coffee. The daughter handed each of them a cup of coffee and told them she would read their fortunes as well. They drank their coffee without arguing. With a big smile on her face, the oldest daughter read their fortune.

The palmist examined Theia's palm once more, then her cup. She told her that there was one mystery in her future that only she and her friend could solve. She instructed Eleni to examine Theia's cup and describe what she found inside. Eleni noticed random lines and a distinct shape on the handle area. The palmist instructed her to draw it and handed her some paper and a red ink pen. The palmist advised her to draw with her heart rather than her eyes and to trust her intuition.

Eleni looked at the cup for a moment before beginning to draw. Her hands were as light as a feather on the blank paper. Eleni drew a slim, soft hand with space between each finger that was filled with another hand, but she only drew one. It was delicate and silky, with a thin thread rolled over the index finger and a loose end.

Eleni blinked as she set the pen down and looked around, almost feeling her consciousness swoon out of her for a moment. The palmist smiled at her and told them that this drawing represented Theia's destiny and soulmate. She took Theia's hand in hers and told her to keep the paper and look for her soulmate.