The Fire God

Chapter Sixteen

     I have often thought I died that night and that all of this has been the strange afterlife that comes in the sleep. But I have actually died and know what that feels like. No, I fell asleep and I awoke in a warm bath. An elderly Asian woman was cleaning my wounds. It was the first time I saw Madame Mu.

    She wasn't all that different then from what she is now. Her skin was crinkled and she showed great old age. She had prospered in Arcadia a thousand years. She had grays, but her hair was primarily black and wrapped on the back of her head.

    "My wife," I mumbled as she washed my wounds. I was covered in scars, but I was whole, no scabs, no blood.

    "She has already roused and has been taken to the home that's been selected for you."

    Mu had a poor hip. She had busted it trying to get to Arcadia and it had never properly healed, though she applied salves to it daily. She hobbled around the place, showed Asperia and I the land.

    There were many gateways to Arcadia, not just the one my family discovered in the khanate. If Asperia and I had remained in Rome, gone north, there was an entrance there. Several mountain ranges in lands I'd only imagined had gates, what is South America now, Canada, the U.S. has a gate, Africa has several. There are several in Australia, but people don't reside in the interior of the country, so only animals slip in from there.

    In Rome we had men the shade of ebony, but they were brought back as slaves to be gladiators, to fight in our wars for us. These dark men in Arcadia were the wise men of Africa who had sought out the fantastical land, just as Asperia and I had done. And there were white creatures, translucent men and women. They were from the north. I had spent the beginning of my life in Asia, so the people of the eyes didn't surprise me. And people from this land completely divorced from the rest of the world, languages so foreign to me I couldn't comprehend it. The master languages of Arcadia were Latin and Asian tongues. We learned several languages so we could communicate with our neighbors, virgin tongues of small tribes, various versions of Asians tongues that were slightly different. I alone spoke the mother tongue, but my friends learned it to please me. 

    Asperia and I continued the charade that we were married. We told our friends and neighbors that she was barren, that we were shamed in our village because of it, so we sought out this place.

    All was abundant in Arcadia. Trees bore so much fruit, we could never starve. We were happy to work the land, to care for the animals, to share our vegetables with our neighbors. The animals were not slaughtered or sacrificed. We did not pray to gods, for clearly the gods had chosen us.

    I saw the dragons, which were not unlike the depictions I'd seen from the Hans. And horses with conical horns, unicorns. The dragons had scaly skin and roared. They were fierce creatures and scared me, but I became used to them. They were only fearsome if provoked.

    Asperia and I healed the lesions in our relationship. I was the doting husband. I encouraged her to learn. Others loved music as much as she and she became a belle again, entertaining at concerts and parties. Literature was abundant. She read everything she could put her hands on. I did too. We were expected to do our fair share. I elected to perform my share and Asperia's, so she would have time for her pleasures. Which was perfectly acceptable. Asperia and I made love in our divine little home. We went to meetings where we learned martial arts. We learned the cultures of all those peopling the land. We learned of the world and philosophy. I think it must have been something like sitting with Socrates or Plato. 

    We came to know Fumi. He had been a great wise man in his village. A poison invaded his people. They came to him for help. He sought out herbs to heal them, but they kept dying. He spoke to the gods, sacrificed animals. When that didn't please the gods, he sacrificed criminals. Then women. Finally infants. When even the infants couldn't slake the Goddess, he took his oldest son, handsome, bright, destined to follow him. He killed his own son. The deaths continued. So he went into the mountains.