5 Minute Reads | Anthology

Iroha by purple_porpoise

  Wattpad Username:  purple_porpoise    

Story Title:  Iroha


"Thyssen."

The name rolled off Iroha's tongue, the sound as comforting to her as the hum of violin strings and the crashing of waves upon these pink coral shores.

But soon, she would lose everything that was dear to her — her instrument, this quaint coastal town, her uncle's fish paste stew, the grumpy old tabby that came around every morning demanding to be fed. The gods would take every thought and memory from her mind, every emotion she had ever felt, one by one until she was but a hollow shell. She had offered her life instead but the ancients were not so merciful. No, they wanted her alive and well, only she wouldn't be living for herself anymore. That was the deal and she had to take it. She had to.

But she would not let them take Thyssen.

Not Thyssen, Iroha thought as she walked barefoot along the deserted moonlit beach, her sandals dangling from her fingers. Even if I have to utter his name a thousand times a day.

"Thyssen."

The moon was now dipping past the horizon, the egg-shaped mass of rock and its reflection creating a luminescent hourglass shape as their tips touched. Aunt Rin would surely have her head on a platter for coming home so late. "Where in tarnation have you been, child?" her aunt would demand in that shrill voice of hers as she stood like a sentinel by the doorway of their hilltop cabin, the way she did on countless nights. And Iroha, for once, would tell her the truth: she was making a deal with the gods.

She could almost hear her aunt's horrified gasp and the tongue-lashing that would follow. Such gall. Such insolence! It wasn't enough, what Thyssen did for her — she had to go demanding an audience with the other gods, too! Making a deal, as if she were one of them. Oh, the profanity of it all!

The nature of the deal would be of no importance to Aunt Rin, of course. Iroha was a blasphemer, and that was that.

Iroha stopped by the water's edge to gaze at the celestial spectacle; it would be a crime not to. What a thing of beauty, she mused, faithful to its orbit like that. One could trust the Egg to rise and set at exactly the same time every day. Curious how such a small, odd-looking thing was impervious to the cacophony of forces in this three-star system.

"There is an order to the universe," Thyssen had told her as they walked this same path a lifetime ago. "A simple but fragile balance. Stray by a hair's breadth and the heavens could come crashing down."

It wasn't so much a warning as a prediction.

"Thyssen, Thyssen."

She pried her eyes from the night sky and resumed the journey home but the ethereal image lingered in her mind, much like the way Thyssen's star-filled eyes had stayed with her long after their first meeting.

Upon reaching the paved road, she bent down to lace up her sandals. She could usually navigate the steep and winding road that led to her uncle's cabin with ease but tonight, the force of gravity seemed to have tripled and every step was laborious.

A strong sea breeze swept past her, ruffling her short black hair. The ancients had told her that as soon as the deal was sealed, Thyssen would regain his godly powers. He would have known instantly what she had done and he'd be furious. She chuckled at the thought of a furious god. Thyssen, ever the anomaly, was the only god capable of possessing memories and emotions.

It took Iroha a moment to realize she was laughing and crying at the same time. Thyssen had fallen in love with this world he had created — and with Iroha. That was his mistake, his downfall. He had chosen to be stripped of his divinity to live a simple, peaceful life on the planet he had created, with the woman he, for some reason, loved more than all the wonders of the universe. Only it wasn't going to be peaceful, not with the balance of nature so horribly upset. It was going to be cataclysmic.

"Thyssen."

She wrapped her arms around herself in a lonely hug, stopping along the cliff that overlooked the ocean. Her breath was now coming out in gasps and her lips struggled to form the sound of his name.

So instead, she conjured up his image in her mind's eye. Thyssen of the starry eyes and the crooked grin. Thyssen of the thousand and one words, who came and went as he pleased, whose divine wisdom was at constant war with his reckless heart. Thyssen the Anomaly. Thyssen the Dreamer.

She angrily wiped away the water that blurred her vision. Her ambition, her laughter, her music, everything, they could take them, it was all theirs. But not Thyssen, never Thyssen.

Shaking, Iroha dropped to her knees and cursed loudly into the night — at the twin suns that threatened to collide with each other, at this godforsaken planet for falling off orbit.

Only Thyssen could make it right again. The world needed Thyssen the god, not Thyssen the dreamer. She did what she had to do.

She wanted the ocean and the skies to rage with her and swallow up the land, to reflect just a part of the crushing despair she felt in her soul at having to surrender her love.

"THYSSEN!"

She screamed his name into the wind, hoping the sea breeze might whisper it to her again when she needed to remember it most.

She found herself standing at the doorway of the cabin and frowned. She looked behind her, the vast expanse of the sea stretching out below, calm as crystal. What had she been muttering all this time? She thought she heard the echo of a word... a name... but whose? She shrugged and closed the door behind her.