Bloodlines of Archaea I. Afira
A Descent into Darkness

“Afi, wake up,” Akuma whispered, shaking my shoulder. I groaned and sat up. It was light outside. Birds chirped in the distance.

“Why is it- When did you- What did you do?” I asked angrily.

“Um… I fell asleep. I thought that was obvious,” he said, jokily rolling his eyes.

“How could you do that? Do you know how dangerous that is?” I asked, gathering the leaves and burying them to make it look like we were never here.

“Well, we’re not dead, so that’s good,” he said, helping me by moving the stumps back to where they were originally.

“I know we’re not dead! But we totally could be,” I said harshly, pleased with our work. I rose to my feet, wondering how tired he must have been to have fallen asleep.

“But then what would the songs be about?” he asked deceivingly.

I groaned. “You’re missing the point,” I yelled playfully punching him on the shoulder.

“Ow,” he said, continuing to walk along the path towards the volcano which was about half a day’s walk away from us. I followed, flouncing past.

We walked for quite a while, my legs began to ache, and my feet began to cramp. We still walked for what felt like forever, until finally, we reached the base of the volcano. “There it is,” I said, looking up towards the top, which was engulfed in clouds and mist, making the volcanic mountain seem all the more imperious.

“How do we get in?” Akuma asked, quietly. “Maybe there’s like...a secret entrance? Or do we just jump right in and hope for the best?”

I thought about this for a moment, then said, “If I were building a secret lair to hide from my family in because they were going to stop me from murdering some gods, I would make a secret entrance, but that’s just me,” I said, trying to forget what we were here for.

He laughed, “yeah. But I would make it at the top, so you had to jump in, so you could keep it open and no one would really want to come in unless they had to,” he said, pointing to the top.

“Alright, top it is,” I said, beginning the climb up the steep mountain, expertly pulling my hands onto sturdy rocks and lifting my feet doing so, quickly pausing once in a while at the edges of the volcano. Akuma followed closely behind me, carefully placing each of his limbs into the small spacings, using them to push him higher up the side of the volcano.

“You know, when I suggested this, I forgot how hard it was to climb,” he called from behind, his foot slipping from its placing, causing him to hang precariously for a moment before he was able to reground himself firmly at the side of the volcano.

I laughed, “yeah. If we had done what I had suggested, we would be safely on the ground, looking for a door or secret lever, or something,” I teased breathlessly lifting my foot and placing it onto another ledge.

“But here we are, climbing a giant volcano because I said, ‘why not?’” He said quietly.

“Well, I listened to you. Now I know. Never again,” I said, he chuckled quietly behind me. Conversation ceased, as it became too hard to speak breathlessly as we climbed.

When the sun was low in the sky and our hands were cut and bleeding, we finally reached the top of the volcano, our muscles shaking wildly. I heaved myself up onto the top one last time, laughing hysterically as sweat dripped down my neck. I hugged the solid ground, thanking the gods for making me climb no more.

Akuma pulled himself up behind me, panting hard and leaning on his legs for strength. “I’m alive!” he roared through breathless wheezes. His face was a bright red which gleamed with sweat. I slowly sat up, leaving the comfort of the cool ground, my abdomen burning painfully throughout every movement of my body.

I looked around, realizing with fright that we were standing on solid ground, no entrance in sight. Akuma seemed to notice the same thing, jumping up and down, trying to find a weakness.

“It’s probably some sort of puzzle,” I said carefully inspecting the ground, searching for clues. I realized that there were five pedestals which lined the circumference of the mountain, each with writing of an ancient dialect written in gold. I beckoned for Akuma to take a look at the pedital.