Bloodlines of Archaea I. Afira
A New Hope, An Invisible Wall, And A Shield of Fire

“As the heroes of ancient songs, we will break this curse,” I said, nudging Malia. She looked up at me, nodding with a new hope.

Malia looked at the sky. “It’s almost night. You should run get your supplies, and run,” she said, pointing to the volcano.

I nodded, bowing. “Thank you,” I said, “I will return, and when I do, the curse will be broken. And you will be free to see the world, should you choose to do so.” The ground began to rumble, I ran as quickly as I could to Akuma.

“We must go, now,” I whispered in his ear, he handed me a melon and a few bananas, to hold. I grabbed his arm and galloped away from the village. “This is the home of the girl in Grandma Lilly’s story,” I yelled as he ran beside me, still holding my hand, carefully along with the fruit he had gotten, racing across the beach. The shaking ground battled to keep us in our place, but we ran as quickly as possible, gracefully gliding across the sand. Our boat awaited us on the dock. We ran to it. Hitting a wall, just as the mountain exploded, sending lava spewing out of its top.

We watched as the orange lava crept slowly down the hill towards us. I turned around, banging at the wall which kept us trapped on the island. Akuma took my hand, shaking his head calmly with fear in his eyes. I watched from behind him as the flaming orange lava crept slowly closer. I dove in front of Akuma, as the flames drove towards us. I felt fear sneak its chilly hands into my bones, I had never been more afraid, although I did not fear for my own life, but instead for the life of Akuma.

“Noooooo!” I yelled as the flaming rock exploded from in front of us. I squeezed my eyes shut. A strange feeling enveloped my body, I opened my eyes and looked up. A shield of flame blazed in front of us, crackling and dancing. I looked over at Akuma, who had his eyes shut tight, as if afraid to watch his undeniable death. “Akuma,” I said quietly, nudging his stomach. “Akuma, look.” He opened his eyes slowly, he gasped, gazing upon the flaming shield, watching as the lava climbed it from outside. We stood there, protected by a shield of fire, protected from inside, waiting for the night to end. “I guess you can try to sleep,” I said, sitting down.

He laughed. “I guess nothing can get in, anyways. So why don’t you get some sleep?” He asked, looking warily at the flaming shield.

“Because I don’t know exactly what the rules are for shields made of fire that kind’a just came out of your hands is, but I’m pretty sure you can’t just sleep while it’s up,” I said, giggling at the insanity of our new lives.

“Good point,” he said, chuckling to himself. “Then I’ll keep you company,” He smiled, “you’re stuck with me.”

“Just don’t talk about your sword, and I would be happy to have you,” I said, watching as he sat down beside me.

He looked down longingly at his father’s blade. “Maktu taught me how to use it for like a year, training me to be able to wield it as my father did. And yet, the most I’ve done with it is take it out and put it away.”

I laughed, “I’ve noticed,” I said, “the Gods really don’t think you should be using it. Maybe they think you’ll cut yourself,” I joked, my mind flashing to the years of training he had put into that blade.

He chuckled. “I know!” he yelled.

After a while of sitting and talking, the ground began to rumble once more, white mist filled the air, covering the lava. It disappeared, taking the flaming rock along with it. Akuma fell back as the invisible wall disappeared. I laughed, standing and holding up his hand. It was morning now, and the time had gone back to when we first arrived. We picked up our fruit and boarded our boat, taking one last look at the island which was frozen in time.

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