To Burn For

Chapter 7

The coil in Aidana's stomach tightened as they made landfall. Her and Caedan had made it to the first island that made up Talàmanth.
Surrounding them was Narelle, the little river forest. It made up the western edge of the Thalassa Isles. After collapsing her wings, Aidana and Caedan prepared themselves to appear less like themselves.
"How do I look? Convincingly human?" Aidana asked, the hint of a laugh faded in her voice. Caedan paused his reformation and scanned her from head to toe. Even in her lesser form she was still breathtaking. Her face was sculpted with a unique, raw beauty that could only be explained as god-like. It could never and should never be dimmed.
"Well, do I?" She pestered. Caedan snapped himself back to reality, his eyes lingering for a second on the subtle plumpness to her lips, she had a habit of biting her bottom lip, pinkenning the tender skin formed there.
"Like a wolf in sheep's clothing," despite the attempt at humor, his breath escaped him the longer he looked at her. She took three short steps towards him, flattening out his uniform. Aidana kept her eyes down, her fingers lingering on the curve of his plain, human tunic.
"And me?" He mumbled as he continued to retract the dark death that he had allowed to encompass him. Very rarely now did he ever uncap his full power. Aidana had always wondered why he showed Galenia, Oar, or even his friends so little of who and what he was.
"Will I still terrify the human folk?"
Aidana willed herself to meet his gaze, his dark, unyielding, unflinching, unmatched power.
"If you don't terrify folk a little bit then what's the point?" Aidana smirked at Caedan, her eyes dropping to outline his lips momentarily before pushing herself away and forcing her legs to step away. She busied herself with her clothes.
"Ready?" She nodded towards the direction they were headed.
"Ready as I'll ever be, you can never predict what will happen with us, chaos runs in our blood." Indeed it did. She had no idea what was going to face her and Caedan, but she hoped whoever or whatever it was, was ready for the arrival of the finest Galenia had to offer.
Talàmanth had mainly a population of mortal humans who lived simply. Amongst their population, many individuals were gifted in accordance to where in Talàmanth they were born. Any human born on the Thalassa Isles had the potential to inherit the forces of water but not everyone was granted that honor. So whilst magic was a part of life here, it was no measure for the combined magnitude of her and the Raven Captain's magic.
They both continued to dull themselves, it was like wrapping a tourniquet around a deep wound, they harnessed and reigned it in until they resembled a plain, meek human. It wasn't painful, more of a tension headache rubbing against the skull. After a while, it would subside as their immortal bodies adjusted to what was being asked of them.
Aidana followed Caedan along the edge of the hill top as they headed down river to the nearest village. She paused as she took in the sheer beauty of their surroundings. The pre-midnight sky had so many shades of blue that Aidana had lost count trying to count them all. The moonrays bounced off the ocean's surface and washed the entire environment in a sheen of electric blue which only contrasted with the dark evergreen tree backdrop. Aidana concluded that if all of Talàmanth had views like this, maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all, and from Caedan's similar expression, she knew he felt the same.
Aidana and Caedan rested beneath the pine and warped branches of trees and bushes she had never seen before. With only the clothes on their back and weapons strapped to them, they had nothing else.
Aidana wrapped her arms around her knees conserving as much of her heat as she could - a fire would only alert and encourage unwanted attention. Only when her chattering teeth filled the air did she succumb to Caedan's embrace, his heartbeat thudding her gently into restful slumber.
The dawn chorus woke them both, birds of paradise singing pretty melodies of olden times long ago as the dappled sun speckled through the canopy, drying off the early morning dew. Surprisingly, she felt refreshed after a full night without terrors.
"Mornin' Trailblazer," Caedan's gruff ruined the peacefulness of the morning. Peeling herself off of his chest, she grumbled a half heart "Morning," as she secured her blades and straightened out her ruffled clothes.
She was dressed in her usual attire, black, fitted trousers made with the elastic and unbreakable dragline silk of the Golden-Orb Weaving Spider. No blade could slice through it. The rest of her, her long sleeve, her jacket, were too made of silk but also reinforced with metals that were strong enough to endure her heat but flexible enough to allow her to move freely and without restraint. Aidana's boots had been carefully crafted by a kind cobbler in a distant realm. The fine leather had been molded to move with the muscles in her calves.
"Sleep well?" Aidana's gaze fell dead at his pathetic attempt at small talk. It had been a long time, too long, since she had spent this amount of consistent time with anyone. Aidana watched his brow rise before her lips carved into a half smirk, his head shaking as he returned to checking himself over.
Caedan reached above to the fruit bearing tree and plucked a ripe, orange kaki fruit.
"Good luck," he uttered, offering up half of the rich fruit that he had ripped open with his fingers. Aidana scowled, her arms folding across her chest.
"The elders believe that kaki brings good luck," he barely explained before devouring his share like some sort of untamed beast, feral and wild. She watched how the juice slipped from his mouth and coated his skin.
"Before you drool anymore, take your half," his darkened chuckle brought her attention back to the present moment.
Aidana scoffed in disgust, "why do you eat like such a pig? I thought the Captain of the Galenia would have a few more manners than that," she snatched her half and turned her back to him.
"And you're so well mannered?" He retorted, striding towards her back, ridding himself of the fruit.
"You're no pristine lady, Trailblazer," his voice shuddered down her spine. "You're vulgar," his rasped rattled her bones, "you're violent," his lips hovered around the helix of her ear, "and you're the most self-centered person I've ever met," her spine went rigid. His words stung every part of her. Someone may as well have pierced her heart with a bow for that would have hurt less. Caedan felt her shift, he danced on the edge of his words. A carefully curated narrative to poke the bear in the right places.
She spun to look at him, but rage did not dwell in her eyes, his face softened concern flashing through his face, an outcome he hadn't anticipated. Her eyes emptied as his words rooted themselves deep within her. She was selfish and it had already cost her everything but to actually hear the words from someone's lips, the blow was unexpectedly harsh.
"It's not always a bad thing," he added, he tried to guide her chin up but Aidana battered him away.
"Maybe you're right and I am selfish , but as I said to Oar, and I will say it again, I don't care if I'm the most powerful thing to ever exist, I don't care that I'm apparently the only person who can fix this and I don't care that I'm selfish for thinking that I deserve the right to choose my life, choose what I'm used for... to choose my existence. I never asked for any of this and I swear to the devil himself, I am done, I am DONE, being everyone else's puppet, I'm done," her teeth gritted her stared darkening, glimpses of the monster inside flashing in her irises. "So go ahead and call me vulgar, violent or self-centered, but I would love to see you experience life with my wings and not turn out the same," she took a bite of the damn Kaki before launching the rest. It collided with Caedan, knocking him back a step as her force exploded into his chest.
"Now get your shit together, we're leaving to fix this fucking realm." She marched away from him before she burned him to ash.
As the forest grew less and less dense, they made it to the mouth of the forest and the view took Aidana's breath. Sweeping valleys carved out the land and collapsed into the ocean. The whole landscape was dotted with houses with elaborately curved and sculptured roofs. Boat ramps littered the river bank and seafront and fishing boats of all colors were tied along the side. People with skin more tanned than Caedan, moored boats and busied outside the small storefronts along the jetties. Throughout the village, pink cherry blossoms stood tall, a pop of color for an already vibrant town. To the left, there was a sky-high waterfall gushing from the steep rolling mountains above. Their peaks were hidden by the low clouds.
Aidana's lungs filled with the salt air as the gulls screeched below in the harbor. Her eyes picked out a young couple as they walked arm in arm over the red, iron bridge, not a care in the world.
"Sweet," Caedan grinned, Aidana knew he was beyond excited for the opportunity to fish. She joined him on an old tree stump, one last breather before it all began. He wrapped an arm around her, "I'm sorry for what I said earlier," he kissed her temple and she leaned into his touch.
They always fought like cats and dogs but in all the time she had known Caedan she had bitterly learnt that he was right, most of the time.
"I am all of them things so don't apologize."
"You're not only them things, I'm just pissed off as your general that you're quitting so easily," he sighed. In the hours that he had stayed awake the previous night warding her mind from itself so that she could rest, he had repeated her words she had spat at Oar, words filled with so much hatred and venom it had almost brought him to his knees- "I'm done". She had screamed the words, desperately and with agony. Caedan had known she disliked her Assignments, her past and others at Galenia, he had witnessed her turmoil night after night, he knew she suffered, but he had no idea just how deep that pain went. He had no idea she was at breaking point. But he had orders from Oar to not only get her to fix this realm but to persuade her to continue fixing infinitely.
"You don't get a say on what I do with my existence." She spoke flatly, tired of the narrative.
"I know, it's your existence." He sighed, tightening his grip on her. All the words he wanted to say were left unspoken, for now.
"Let's go, I've got a realm to fix," she sighed standing to her feet. Caedan reached for her, clasping her hand and turning her back towards him, "together." He tilted her chin, his almost black irises consuming her. "You're not doing this alone, together, we will fix it."
"Fine." Her eyes rolled. "Now let's get this over with," she yanked her hand out of his and set off down the mountain pass towards the village, Caedan at her heel.