I would have normally thought that, with my mind subjected to the
raging tempest of an infernal magic, I would not have even noticed what
transpired next, but I was wrong. With my bruised eyes giving me such a
hazy and blurred vision, I would never have thought that I would see that
vision in my head, but I was wrong. By all logic, I couldn't have noticed
what happened, but logic could never describe that moment. I guess moment
is too short to describe it, it was pretty long, and definitely memorable.
Of course, I can barely remember what happened before that moment, just that I was bound and gagged, my body cuffed to a stone table that had been stood up so I could face the strange, evil man wearing a brown robe that made him look like some kind of priest or monk.
"And the dead came forth from the hells and the sea!" He shouted. This may have come from the Bible or some other book, but it didn't sound like anything I'd ever heard of, not that I cared about this holy shit anyway.
"What the fuck are you doing!" I distinctly remember shouting, although it took everything in my power to do.
"A good question, boy. You are about to see the power of a god!" He shouted. I think he started moving in some kind of ritualistic dance or motions, but I couldn't make out any explicit details.
"Hold it right there, asswipe!" Came Mai's loud voice, piercing through the lethargic haze of my mind like a clarion call.
"Mai?" I tried to croak out. My mouth tasted of blood, and felt like boiled rubber, so it was hard for me to make out words now. I could speak fine a minute ago, so he must have done something to my mouth.
"And when a woman touched by darkness enters." The priest-man responded. This was the start of what I could remember, and as if some divine force or other wanted this to be seen, my vision cleared and I made out that Mai, that beautiful Mai who was wearing a tan trench coat like a spy from old 40s movies, had positioned herself between that psycho priest- fuck and me.
"Don't! You'll get hurt!" I cried out, although it sounded to me like random babblings from a fool.
"Joey." She said quietly, but not looking at me. "Thank you for all you've done for me. Even though I knew it already, you taught me that life could only be lived to the fullest when you live it with someone else. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart." She sounded so sincere, yet sad. Was she planning something. I tried to talk again, but the pain in my mouth gave way, and I spouted out a string of words that I couldn't remember.
Mai ignored them.
"And as for you, I think you've gone on far enough. Your god or other will not be brought forth."
"So, the dark woman would contend against the father of God to save a helpless child?"
"This dark woman, or whatever my name is, will save the world by destroying your psychotic dreams right now!" Mai said, taking one step towards the man.
Then I saw a red haze form around the man's hand. Fire! Did some electrical equipment catch.
"By fire, be purged!" The man shouted, and I saw the red haze move towards us. Was this guy making fire? Well, with all the shit he talked about gods and stuff, I would expect fire if any of his babblings were true.
That truth was my worst fear. Mai had nothing to shield herself with, magical fire or no. I saw her move her hand out in front of her.
"Not much of a merciful god if you have to burn what opposes you." Mai cracked. Mai would crack jokes were she in the jaws of Hell itself, where we may well have been. I wanted to say something, a word of warning, encouragement, anything, but my mouth wouldn't form the words.
But the red, fiery haze subsided. What just happened?
"We may fight." Mai said, her voice sounding desperate and overworked, like an exhausted hero fighting a battle with his eternal foe, and he was gathering enough strength to deliver the final blow.
"The dark woman may clash against the father of God. The sun may become afraid to peak it's golden rays from the grip of the horizon, the moon's silver light may drown itself in the darkness of this battle. When dark clashes against dark, the world of light will tremble." The man said, still speaking in that poetic shit that he'd e talking about since I started hearing him.
"There is no may if you won't stop. I'll fight you. The seas may turn incarnadine with blood, and the snow itself may ignite and combust." Mai started, reading poetically like he did, but when she read the message, I felt a strange sense of peace, but I couldn't understand why.
"Our battle will destroy the world!" The man shouted, but it almost sounded desperate, as if he would lose against Mai and was trying to bluff her.
"This battle might rage until Time herself smites us for blasphemy." Man, this poetry holy shit was giving me a headache, even now, with Mai reading the lines. "I will fight, fight back if you will, but I will not let you do as you please!"
"You know." The man made an offer. "If the boy is sacrificed to our god, then the world will be released from pain and all suffering."
"I made a promise once. Yes, it seems petty and fleeting compared to what you have just said, but I keep my honor." Now she was talking in ways I could understand. "I promised that I would look out for him, just as he did for me. So, I will damn the world's salvation to save him. Come then, father of God, the time for talk has ended."
After that, I don't remember what happened. There was a brief flash of bright light, then an extended period of darkness with howling wind that whipped around me like lost souls were playing with whatever part of my body they touched.
Before the haze cleared, the feeling returned to my mouth. I could finally muster the strength to speak again. I knew what I had to say. Fuck all the poetry crap Mai and the priest said, all I needed to say was one thing, but I still wasn't sure how to say it.
"Mai!" I shouted first. That was the easy part, but what I wanted to say next was tricky. How could I word it, and word it correctly.
"Please...don't...get...hurt." I said with weakening strength in my voice. I could barely hear myself talk, which probably meant that she could not.
After what felt like an eternity, the winds died down, and the darkness cleared to reveal that I was in the same place I'd always been. The priest was nowhere to be seen.
And Mai? She stood where she had been standing before, but she had turned to face me. Her hair was unkempt but she otherwise looked just as she did before my vision failed. I wanted to say something, but there was nothing that I could say, and my gummy mouth was acting up again. So instead, she walked over towards me. In my mind, I was thinking that she had sacrificed the world for me, sacrificed whatever the priest asshole was talking about release from pain and suffering so that I would live.
I thought she was stupid. Logically, why should I matter if the world can be saved. But when I looked into her eyes, those violet eyes, I immediately found myself drawn to thinking something else. She wanted me to live, wanted me to experience hardship and pleasure both. And as she freed me from my captivity; I was drawn to something else she said. The lesson she said she taught me.
Would she share her life with me?
Of course, I can barely remember what happened before that moment, just that I was bound and gagged, my body cuffed to a stone table that had been stood up so I could face the strange, evil man wearing a brown robe that made him look like some kind of priest or monk.
"And the dead came forth from the hells and the sea!" He shouted. This may have come from the Bible or some other book, but it didn't sound like anything I'd ever heard of, not that I cared about this holy shit anyway.
"What the fuck are you doing!" I distinctly remember shouting, although it took everything in my power to do.
"A good question, boy. You are about to see the power of a god!" He shouted. I think he started moving in some kind of ritualistic dance or motions, but I couldn't make out any explicit details.
"Hold it right there, asswipe!" Came Mai's loud voice, piercing through the lethargic haze of my mind like a clarion call.
"Mai?" I tried to croak out. My mouth tasted of blood, and felt like boiled rubber, so it was hard for me to make out words now. I could speak fine a minute ago, so he must have done something to my mouth.
"And when a woman touched by darkness enters." The priest-man responded. This was the start of what I could remember, and as if some divine force or other wanted this to be seen, my vision cleared and I made out that Mai, that beautiful Mai who was wearing a tan trench coat like a spy from old 40s movies, had positioned herself between that psycho priest- fuck and me.
"Don't! You'll get hurt!" I cried out, although it sounded to me like random babblings from a fool.
"Joey." She said quietly, but not looking at me. "Thank you for all you've done for me. Even though I knew it already, you taught me that life could only be lived to the fullest when you live it with someone else. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart." She sounded so sincere, yet sad. Was she planning something. I tried to talk again, but the pain in my mouth gave way, and I spouted out a string of words that I couldn't remember.
Mai ignored them.
"And as for you, I think you've gone on far enough. Your god or other will not be brought forth."
"So, the dark woman would contend against the father of God to save a helpless child?"
"This dark woman, or whatever my name is, will save the world by destroying your psychotic dreams right now!" Mai said, taking one step towards the man.
Then I saw a red haze form around the man's hand. Fire! Did some electrical equipment catch.
"By fire, be purged!" The man shouted, and I saw the red haze move towards us. Was this guy making fire? Well, with all the shit he talked about gods and stuff, I would expect fire if any of his babblings were true.
That truth was my worst fear. Mai had nothing to shield herself with, magical fire or no. I saw her move her hand out in front of her.
"Not much of a merciful god if you have to burn what opposes you." Mai cracked. Mai would crack jokes were she in the jaws of Hell itself, where we may well have been. I wanted to say something, a word of warning, encouragement, anything, but my mouth wouldn't form the words.
But the red, fiery haze subsided. What just happened?
"We may fight." Mai said, her voice sounding desperate and overworked, like an exhausted hero fighting a battle with his eternal foe, and he was gathering enough strength to deliver the final blow.
"The dark woman may clash against the father of God. The sun may become afraid to peak it's golden rays from the grip of the horizon, the moon's silver light may drown itself in the darkness of this battle. When dark clashes against dark, the world of light will tremble." The man said, still speaking in that poetic shit that he'd e talking about since I started hearing him.
"There is no may if you won't stop. I'll fight you. The seas may turn incarnadine with blood, and the snow itself may ignite and combust." Mai started, reading poetically like he did, but when she read the message, I felt a strange sense of peace, but I couldn't understand why.
"Our battle will destroy the world!" The man shouted, but it almost sounded desperate, as if he would lose against Mai and was trying to bluff her.
"This battle might rage until Time herself smites us for blasphemy." Man, this poetry holy shit was giving me a headache, even now, with Mai reading the lines. "I will fight, fight back if you will, but I will not let you do as you please!"
"You know." The man made an offer. "If the boy is sacrificed to our god, then the world will be released from pain and all suffering."
"I made a promise once. Yes, it seems petty and fleeting compared to what you have just said, but I keep my honor." Now she was talking in ways I could understand. "I promised that I would look out for him, just as he did for me. So, I will damn the world's salvation to save him. Come then, father of God, the time for talk has ended."
After that, I don't remember what happened. There was a brief flash of bright light, then an extended period of darkness with howling wind that whipped around me like lost souls were playing with whatever part of my body they touched.
Before the haze cleared, the feeling returned to my mouth. I could finally muster the strength to speak again. I knew what I had to say. Fuck all the poetry crap Mai and the priest said, all I needed to say was one thing, but I still wasn't sure how to say it.
"Mai!" I shouted first. That was the easy part, but what I wanted to say next was tricky. How could I word it, and word it correctly.
"Please...don't...get...hurt." I said with weakening strength in my voice. I could barely hear myself talk, which probably meant that she could not.
After what felt like an eternity, the winds died down, and the darkness cleared to reveal that I was in the same place I'd always been. The priest was nowhere to be seen.
And Mai? She stood where she had been standing before, but she had turned to face me. Her hair was unkempt but she otherwise looked just as she did before my vision failed. I wanted to say something, but there was nothing that I could say, and my gummy mouth was acting up again. So instead, she walked over towards me. In my mind, I was thinking that she had sacrificed the world for me, sacrificed whatever the priest asshole was talking about release from pain and suffering so that I would live.
I thought she was stupid. Logically, why should I matter if the world can be saved. But when I looked into her eyes, those violet eyes, I immediately found myself drawn to thinking something else. She wanted me to live, wanted me to experience hardship and pleasure both. And as she freed me from my captivity; I was drawn to something else she said. The lesson she said she taught me.
Would she share her life with me?