The warm soothing glow of the crackling fire was ever so slowly fading. And although it was still shining brilliantly, it was only a matter of time before the reaper’s cruel breath would blow upon the flame, reducing it to nothing more than mere embers and ash, empowering the everlasting darkness once again. Grey smoke wispily swirled up into the obsidian skies like ghosts twirling through the ether in search of the afterlife. I sat against Sagacor, nibbling like a little mouse on the remains of a roasted savory plant that looked sort of like burgundy bok choy while laughing and exchanging stories with Valarendrik.

“...But even after that, the damn thing still wouldn’t stop following and screeching at us. Azathoth ended up getting so intensely fed up with it that he vehemently ripped off his boot, marched over there with the fury of Hellfire, growled as he grabbed it by the neck, and violently shoved the whole boot down its throat.” The bones on his head happily twitched as he told his silly story.

“Aw, the poor scaly creature. That wasn’t very kind of Azathoth.” I said with a giggle while gazing up at his fire-illuminated face. He was even more ethereal looking in the light, and it was hard not to notice just how truly handsome he was, regardless of his inhuman features.

He shrugged with a chuckle as he leaned further against Sagacor. “Well, it got him back good. The thing ran off, and Azathoth never saw his boot again.”

The dancing flames softly crackled, and the wind blustered through the soughing trees of the surrounding forestland. We both softly laughed, while Sagacor sneakily munched on some caedis fruit that I’d secretly slipped him. I absentmindedly buried my good foot within the small grey pebbles of the beach, then lifted it up to watch them clink back down to the ground. The action reminded me of nights at the beach back home.

A slight yearning suddenly lurched in my heart. I was apprehensive about the fact that I’d have to traverse the cosmic veil with a demon to return to earth, yet I was achingly homesick. It was funny how being stranded in another world made me so glaringly aware of how unappreciative I’d been of my own. My flower crown rustled as I slowly pulled it from my messy-haired head, and hugged it closely to my chest like a teddy bear.

Valarendrik’s crimson eyes followed my movement. “You miss your world.” He stated with a frown as if he truly wished I didn’t.

“Yes.” The abyssal breeze carried my soft voice up to his ears like delicate lily petals in the wind. “I suppose I never really realized how unfulfilling my life was until I was faced with death. Nor, did I realize how much I took my world for granted until it was taken away from me.” I tilted my head up to look at him with a small smile. “Now I’m afraid that I’ll never get the chance to see it again.”

The pebbles rustled as Valarendrik bent his knees up to his chest, and wrapped his arms around them to hug his legs. He turned his head towards me as he rested it upon his knees with a cute smile. “You will see your world again, Lucilia. I promise.” His messy bound hair flowed down the length of his back and coiled on the ground behind him, with little wisps of shadows dancing out of it. “How will you make your life more fulfilling when you return? I’m curious about what life is like on earth.”

I pulled the bow from my hair and began running my fingers through it in a futile attempt at grooming. “Well, first I’d quit my meaningless job, then I’d try to do something good for the world instead. I’d also put an end to my relationship with my jerk of a boyfriend, Justin.”

“You have a consort?” He immediately lifted his head in curiosity.

A small giggle chimed from my lips... Who even says consort? “No, he’s not a consort, and I wouldn’t want him as one either. He’s just my soon to be ex-boyfriend.”

His brow’s pinched together, but he seemed highly intrigued. “Does he not please you?”

I awkwardly placed my hand on the back of my neck and shook my head. “No, he does not.” That was true, particularly when it came to our sex life. I’d never actually had an orgasm, by myself or with Justin. And he was more like a five-minute fiasco in the bedroom rather than a lover. Although he was the only man I’d ever slept with, I still knew that it was downright shitty sex. “And he’s mean too. Not to mention the fact that I highly doubt he even loves me. I’m more like a trinket for him to dangle from his arm.” I scoffed while disgruntledly throwing a large pebble into the river. It splashed as it hit the water’s glimmering gold and black surface with a plunk.

He perked up at the word ‘love.’ “Ah, so he does not feel the satisfying rush of bloodshed when he’s with you.” He nodded knowingly, as the firelight danced across his muscular enfolded body.

“What!?” I whipped around to glance at him like he had three heads.

He held out a palm and gazed off into the distance. “Is love not like the pleasurable rush you get when you see someone’s blood violently spill from their flesh? Only it’s a constant blissful feeling for someone else that makes you want to protect, cherish, and frequently fornicate with them?”

I stared at him in disbelief, trying to make sense of his macabre philosophy about something so wholesome. “...I suppose that’s one way you could describe it. I like to think that it’s similar to a fire. It starts out as a spark, then you kindle it, and eventually it turns into something bright and beautiful, and full of passion.” My hand gestured towards the fire as I spoke.

A thoughtful frown fell across his face. “Well, this Justin man must be very foolish if he has not attempted to kindle the love thing with you. You seem like you would make a worthy consort.” His gaze eerily shifted over to me. “Do you feel love for him?” He further pried with astute inquisitiveness.

I shyly bit my lower lip, unsure what to make of both his flattery and his rather personal question. “No.” I shook my head. “I thought that I did when we first met, but I definitely don’t.” It was funny to me how growing up I’d always dreamed of falling in love with my perfect prince charming, and yet I wound up with some so utterly ugly on the inside. “I made a mistake by being with him, and now I have to fix it.” I cleared my throat, then made a lame attempt to shift the conversation away from my failed love life. “What about you? Have you ever been in love?”

His eyes fell from my face and thoughtfully flickered down towards the pebbles beneath him. “No, and I’m not entirely sure if I can feel love either. Most tenverians can’t feel things such as empathy or sorrow, nor can they care for others in the slightest. And yet, I do.” A tiny hint of bitterness laced his tone as if he secretly resented his ability to feel such emotions. “I’ve wondered if love is another thing that I possess the capability to feel, but I’ve never had the opportunity to find out.”

I tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear, not exactly sure what to say. “Well, I hope that you are able to love someone someday.” I said with a small encouraging smile.

He smiled back, but it was more like a mask to hide the deep yet overflowing well of hopelessness and sorrow which lay hidden beneath. And yet, no mask could ever hide the depths of loneliness which flooded his eyes. My heart painfully lurched at the brief glimpse of his misery, and I realized just how incredibly lonely he must be out here, all alone in the darkness.

He has no one to love...

“Thank you.” He said while absentmindedly swirling a claw over his knee, then it was his turn to diverge the topic. “May I ask you something?”

“Yes, of course.” I nodded while placing my flower crown on the ground beside me.

“What color are your eyes?” He curiously asked while intensely staring into my peepers.

I blinked a few times, then shifted my gaze over towards the crackling fire... Could he possibly be colorblind? My mind quickly reasoned. “Oh, their um, they're blue. Why do you ask? Can you not see color?”

“Blue!?” It was suddenly as if that was the most exciting thing he’d heard all day. He abruptly crawled on top of me with his knees on either side of my thighs. His hands latched onto my shoulders, and his face enthusiastically bent down mere inches from mine. The orange firelight danced behind him, darkening his features, as his sculpted shirtless body imprisoned me against Sagacor’s side.

“What the!?”

“That is blue!? That is the color of earth’s sky!?” He stared deeply into my eyes with an awestruck expression, as if truly enchanted by their watery depths.

“Um, yes.” I softly squeaked.

“And your hair...” He lightly ran his clawed hands through my long wavy hair on either side of my head, softly pulling it forward to cascade down my front. “It is golden like the glowing orb in your sky? Yes?”

“Um, yes. And it’s called the sun.” I meekly held up a finger.

“The sun...” He softly echoed, completely mesmerized by my hair and eyes. “Earth must have the most beautiful sky.” It was as if he was stuck in a trance, lost within the bewitching images flowing through his mind as he stared at me like I was the most beautiful thing in this world. My cheeks flushed rubescent, and I shyly turned my face towards the dark glimmering river. He furrowed his brows, and curiously tilted his head. “Why do your cheeks change color like that?”

His question fed my embarrassment like the sticks fed the fire, and my whole entire face began to burn bright cherry red. “Oh um, I’m just, I don’t know.. It’s called, um, blushing, I suppose.” I shook my head and tried to hide my face while I spoke.

He seemed to notice my discomfort and reluctantly climbed off of me. His back rested against Sagacor once again, with his legs outstretched. “I think it’s a very lovely feature.” He smiled.

I peeked back up at him, hair all frazzled, with my face beet red and lips pinched into a thin line. “Thank you.” I curtly said. My eyes were quickly drawn to the softly twitching bones on his forehead. Since we were on the topic of appearances, I figured that I might as well ask about those too. “What are those bones on your head? And why do they move like that?” I stared at them with innocent curiosity.

He stiffened for a mere millisecond, and I saw the tiniest glimpse of a scathing, deeply rooted pain within his crimson eyes. But then it disappeared as quickly as it came, and he casually shrugged as if I’d asked about the weather or something. “You’re right, they are bones. They’re attached to my skull, and they move with my emotions... or sometimes just to be annoying.” He looked up as if he were pseudo scowling at them.

“Oh, they’re quite fascinating.” I surmised that all tenverian’s must naturally be born with such bones protruding from their skulls... Although, the corpse from the stream didn’t have them?

A small almost shy smile graced his lips. “Thank you. But you do not need to be so kind. I am aware of how repulsive they are.” He softly replied. His crimson irises glimmered in the ambery glow, while a few loose strands of ebony hair fluttered around his pale face.

I inwardly frowned. It was true that my first thought of them had been one of disgust, but I had also been frightened by all of his otherworldly features at the time. After spending a few days with him, I’d realized that I misjudged him terribly. He was more kindly than most humans I’d known, and it upset me to learn that someone so genuinely good-hearted would consider something about themselves as being repulsive.

“May I touch them?” I found myself quietly asking, unsure of what possessed me to do so.

His expression swiftly contorted to one of pure befuddlement. “You want to touch them? The bones on my head?” He pointed at them in disbelief.

An eerie screech resounded in the far distance, causing me to instinctively scooch closer to his side. “Yes.” I said while slowly lifting my hand towards them. To my confusion, he seemed to almost flinch away, so I pulled my hand back with uncertainty. “Is that not something that’s appropriate in your culture?” I asked, now worried that I may have unwittingly affronted him or something.

“Well, in my culture, it’s punishable by death.” He softly laughed. “But you may.” His eyes shifted between mine as he gently spoke.

“Thank you.” I laughed too, assuming him to be only joking, and lifted my hand once again.

He leaned down slightly towards me to grant my hand better access, with an almost nervous-looking glimmer in his gaze. My lightly sun-kissed fingers met with the smooth dark grey bones, as I gently ran my fingertips, with chipping pink nail polish, up along them. Each bone twitched with soft clicks like they were enjoying my touch. It was strange how they truly resembled fingerbones, tipped with black claws and everything. I slid my pointer finger along the underside of one, and it bent as if it were trying to hold onto me.

“Is this alright?” I decided that it would be a good idea to check in, considering the almost unreadable look of both solacement and agony on his face.

His gaze shifted down as if he were trying to silently figure out his own swirling pool of conflicting emotions. “Yes, that’s alright. It’s just a bit strange feeling. No one’s ever dared to touch them before... Are you not disgusted?” He hesitantly inquired.

“No, they’re unique and rather alien to me, but not disgusting.” I giggled while playfully wiggling my fingers between his head and the bones, watching how they playfully wiggled back with soft skeletal clicks. After brushing my pointer finger across the tips in one final caress, I carefully pulled my hand away. They seemed to try to grasp at me as if upset by my hand’s departure... Weird.

I knelt before him, and gently placed my hand on his cheek. His crimson gaze lifted to meet mine, with a shadow of sorrow cast upon his features, yet a look of gratefulness gleamed in his eyes. “Valarendrik, I want you to know that you are quite possibly the most kind-hearted being I’ve ever come across, and there is nothing about you that is repulsive.” I firmly stated, because I truly meant it.

He stared at me for a second, unsure of what to say. Then he abruptly pulled my body against his in a somewhat intimate hug. I let out a soft squeak, as he cradled me against his chest with a clawed hand entangled in my golden locks. His chin rested on top of my head, with his eyes squeezed tightly shut. I wove my arms around his torso, feeling the smoothness of his bare skin and the muscles which rippled underneath.

“Thank you.” He softly murmured while gently caressing my back.

“You’re welcome.” I quietly replied.

We stayed like that for a while. Then I eventually yawned and shimmied to get a little bit more comfortable, watching with heavy lids as the flames slowly faded further into darkness. The rustling of leaves lulled my senses closer towards my impending slumber, while a shroud of shadows crept up to wrap snuggly around me. My eyes finally closed, as I fell sound asleep safely within Valarendrik’s tender-hearted embrace.