Someone else was approaching.
She detected a safe field when an older man closed in from behind her, carrying human clothes, he stopped and looked at the president, then carried on when he got a nod from him, his cold wrinkled hand grabbed her arm and supported her upward, he stood in the way between her and her beloved, even though the man was short enough not to form a barrier between pitch-black and midnight connected eyes, she simply hated it.
The man draped the wide shirt that had his energy and surely belonged to him over her shoulders, he tied together her hands then started closing the buttons one after another, avoiding direct contact, when his finger brushed over her breasts once, her eyes looked down at him, he looked up at her apologetically. The vibes he emitted were those of a mother, and she immediately understood that he was a father to someone somewhere.
'Children do change everything'
She brought her eyes back to her pair, already missing him after their very short interruption, he looked overwhelmed with amusement as if he had died and lived to see her looking this pitiful.
"Do you like your new shirt, witch?"
"I wish it had been yours, my beloved."
The president narrowed his big wide eyes and tilted his head to the right.
***Meanwhile, in Paradise, all hell broke loose.
"Anna! Do you realize what you are saying! You just let her go alone without backup knowing that she detected a fault in the nearby environment and agreed to stay put!
Meliae pushed Anna with all her accumulated centuries of blame weight, further into the quicksand.
"Hck... I told you... hck! I was following Amalthea's order, she told me to stay put and... hck.. put you on high alert!"
Anna continued to weep tearlessly.
"YOU! Where do you live you... Do you think this is the military formation of the Odd World?! We talk things through here! It is called democracy! Have they taught you nothing about our ways in the cycle?! Who allowed you to graduate... tell me right this second!"
As Meliae was about to demote Anna sending her back to the first stage in the nymph's cycle, a magnificent light shone in the middle of the followers' circle. Every nymph standing fell to the ground in the approaching presence of their queen. Her life force was too intense for them to handle while standing up.
Before her spirit form manifested, Meliae managed to hold Anna's eyes and mimic a slit throat move with her thumb, knowing how her previous human self will react to the move that does not threaten a nymph.
"Hck!..."
The queen made no appearance in Paradise as she did not bother with her spirit form after her coronation, she existed as pure energy around Paradise, empowering the life-force of all its habitats and creatures. She only accumulated on a weekly basis when she had meetings with the heiress where they coordinated a variety of tasks. This unchanged system was a couple of centuries old, which meant that many of the younger nymphs would lay eyes on their queen for the first time now.
"The queen"
"Our queen"
"Hck!.."
It was the rarest of events indeed.
The queen had the white hair that all nymphs have in their spirit form, but unlike white which was the dominating eye color most nymphs had, hers were pitch-black.
'Just like Amalthea'
Many nymphs who had not seen their queen before in her spirit form thought to themselves, but all thoughts ceased to exist once their queen began speaking.
"... Care to explain to me why I cannot feel my successor's life force within our territory anymore?"
"..."
"..."
"Hck!"
"..."
"Crying nymph, you are a new addition to our circle, you look like you have something to say, commence."
"It was the dawn of the day... hck!.. I was taking over the watch... hck!... The heiress insisted on combing the area herself after getting a strange reading!.. She said to stay on high alert and she has not come back ever since! Huuuuuuu..."
"...Meliae."
"My queen."
"You were an earth nymph, were you not."
"Yes, my queen."
"Investigate with the sand, send a water nymph to investigate with the sea, have her probing it sufficiently, I sense its sorrow. Have we got a nymph who has an accord with the air?"
"I am afraid not, my queen."
"... I do not sense the primary medium if it left the territory to follow the heiress... the event is not to be belittled. Do we have anything urgent to take care of in the absence of Amal?"
"The one urgent item is the arrival of the suitors today."
"Men...have they finally come to their senses?"
"My queen?"
"...Send the suitors back upon the arrival of their boats, if any of them make it all the way here, that is. Our appointment is the next sunset by the shore for the harvest, I expect more information by then."
"Understood."
Unknown to the nymphs in Paradise, their composed queen had a secret or two, and unknown to the queen of the nymphs, some skeletons in her closet were about to be revealed.
***
On a ship that burnt without sinking and kept sailing in the opposite direction of Paradise, the president of the Men's Island stood with his wide eyes narrow, his proud head tilted, and his eyes fixed on his wicked enemy, he wondered how something so weak and evil dared mock him so casually while he was the one with the upper hand in the situation.
He had studied the books about nymphs from cover to end, he knew all about their tricks and mechanisms. Once they saw his ship on fire, they would suspect that they were being attacked and send a scout to check the overall situation, he only needed one of them, one was enough to lure the rest of them into his base.
He would end this absurdness right where it had started once and for all.
And against all the criticism that his plan received from the nearest people to him, and against all their doubts, he stood victorious today.
He always knew that the nymphs could not have been as strong as they were described, strong things were brutal like he was, and while the nymphs abducted the women through manipulation and deception, not a drop of blood was shed by them on Men's Island.
'The top of the food chain is for carnivores.'
This is what he had always believed, he did not bat an eye today before throwing three of his most loyal men into the sea, he followed them because he had always led by example, it was true that there was a risk of mortality but survival had always been for the fittest, if any of the men had drowned in the sea, it would have been due to their weakness.
And if he had died?
Well, that meant that he was not fit to lead those men or the revolution he had planned for since he was just a kid, it was pure fate that with his set of mind, he happened to be the president's nephew.
He vowed to show that witch her place and make an example out of her for both the nymphs and mankind. He poured all the acid he had inside of him for her kind as a response to her blunt mockery.
She had called him her beloved only a moment ago.
"...My what now?"
The president challenged this lowly scout to mock him again, her female facade would never work on him, he could see her beauty that was worthy of worshiping day and night, he had to admit that when she pressed herself to him as they fell down, he was physically influenced by her body, he was not a blind man nor an impotent, but he was no fool either.
He had educated himself well about the nymphs' nature and knew far too well how they use sex as a weapon.
"I said I wish this new shirt of mine were yours, my beloved."
The audacity of the lowly rebel knew no boundaries! He decided to give her a taste of the hell he had prepared for her once they reached Men's Island. He walked over to her glaring at the cook who had covered her up to make way for him, once there was only one breath of air left between them, he found that he did not have to lower his head much to look down on her, she was taller than most of the men on his ship.
This was not good for the men's ego, but he knew better, women were just like men, they came in different shapes and sizes.
'She is not a woman you idiot!'
He shut his eyes squeezing the thought away and then he opened them again, showing her all the hate he had inside of him for her and her kind. He held the back of her neck ignoring the satin feeling the lush of the coal-colored hair gave his nerve endings, he bumped his forehead with hers just like he would do to intimidate his newly assigned soldiers.
'This will teach her not to fuc* with me.'
The beautiful camouflaged face was cool against his boiling skin, his entire head was shaking with anger, and to his pure pleasure, the fake porcelain doll closed her bewitching eyes, the slightest of frowns forming right above the bridge of her straight nose.
'FEAR ME!'
Those were the words he screamed in his head for her to hear, but what happened next was the last thing he could have ever imagined, even if he was to live a thousand more years.
"Haaaaah"
A cry of pain escaped from the witch's mouth, both his ego and his manhood approved, that was until she opened her eyes which were two black holes, sucking everything close to them in, and placed her hand over his beard with her fingertips touching the tips of his cheek.
Static electricity went through him, from the beginning of her fingertips to the tip of his groin. He retracted his hand from her neck and recoiled away from her strong magic.
'Even the lowly scout has this amount of sex appeal...'
He needed to protect his men from falling into her spider webs.
'I will have to make sure she becomes ugly as fuc*.'
The witch fell to the ground abruptly.The president had to restrain his arm that almost went on its own to steady her, she looked up at him from beneath long coal-colored lashes, the contrast between her fair skin and her dark eyes and hair was a heavy load for a man to carry, but this was not the biggest contrast this fake woman showed him.Her eyes wore the manliest of all looks, it was fixed deep within them, making way for her fearless soul to gaze upon him. For three seconds or maybe four, he imagined he was looking at himself in his mirror. The thought was..."Extremely disturbing...""...Marry me."She said, desperately."... Fuc*ing hell?"..."Did you hear what she just said to our president?""You are just hallucinating you fuc*ing idiot.""I did not even tell you what I heard you as*hole!""Are we all under the influence of the nymphs' spells now?""We are doomed! Doomed I tell you""SHUT THE FUC* UP MEN!"The president shouted over the panicking statements that were hum
Far away from the drowning men and the nymph that was about to save them, deep inside a ship that had set sails to Men's Island, Amalthea sat down on the floor.From the looks of the tiles that spread over the entire area, the men had transformed a corner in the kitchen to form a small prison, the cook left as soon as he locked her behind the iron bars while two men wearing black suits stood by the door on guard duty, they never once looked her way, would she have noticed them if they did?The heiress's mind was filled with her pair, leaving very little room for anything else. Her normally sharp senses were dull, she did not want to waste even one percent of her energy in the wrong place right now.'I doubt they will let me harvest the sunset today'Beyond Amalthea's control, a little of her life-force slipped out of her fingers after what her pair had done to her, when he pressed his forehead to hers emitting nothing but hostility, her energy exploded willing her to change into her s
Generation after generation, from desperate fathers to lonely sons, there was one conclusion the men as a community had reached about the darkest time of their history, the so-called women's revolution.The current president, Hylas, was not only in agreement with this conclusion but also its biggest supporter and advocator.The manipulative nymphs had used tabooed witchcraft to brainwash their obedient mothers into following the witches out of their island, Men's Island, the women's revolution was a myth, and a lie cannot cover the ultimate truth just as a man's finger cannot cover the sun.The truth that was passed in the Men's Island was that the Women's Island, or Paradise as the deceiving nymphs called it, was just an open-air jail.The wicked nymphs had taken their women hostage, they were held there only to be human shields, they remain obedient to the wicked witches because of the tabooed sorcery that took control over their brains, being the tender weak creatures they were, th
The president gave up on getting an answer out of the rebel, so he unpinned her hand from the bars and then half dragged her back to where she was lying down in the corner of the cell. Her consciousness warned her that she was about to slip away into hibernation so she tried reasoning with him some more."If you do not take me up, I will have to sleep the night away."He turned his attention to the nearby barrel and opened the lid."What a twisted way to say that your strange as* electricity would disconnect otherwise, so what is so bad about that for me?"Right there from where Amalthea limped, her hand reached out to clutch his foot in panic."Now that I have found you, I am just not ready to leave you alone, my beloved."After measuring her pair, she knew he was not weak, far from that actually, he was perhaps the strongest human being she had ever met, he took great care of his body that looked and felt like a man's armor, the quality of his magnetic field was also healthy, she kn
Every living thing had its own life force.Nymphs recognized the different qualities of each energy and took care of the world this way. When the destined day came by, a life force would change its shape to take on the next type that suited it.Whether the creatures were ready for the change or not had little to do with the destined time for that change to happen.Supreme life forces like those that belonged to humans had a difficult time accepting the change once it happened, regardless of when it does, as if no human's life force had ever changed shape before, they lived their lives oblivious to the upcoming event or simply ignoring it altogether.Many humans immediately went into denial whenever that promised moment caught up with them.It was true that Hector and Jason were determined to reach Paradise no matter what, but not once have they seriously considered that a ticket to Paradise would cost them their lives.And so, the two men began going into heavy denial as they started
Far from Paradise, on the president's victorious ship, a barefoot Hylas was running to his room seeking privacy.He hoped that no unlucky man would be off the deck after he ordered them to feast until the next day, that man would surely face all the wrath that he had built up inside of him right now.Hylas had made a grave mistake that led him to this run of shame, he had trusted the witch's deceptiveness when she announced that she was to be out for the entire night.This caused him to lower his guard and prevented him from anticipating how a body of a woman, even a fake one, was so bewitching, that he had gone through an episode of temporary madness.'Madness is what that was and nothing short of it'He was sure that her electricity was no more when he first started pouring the dark thick tar over her, but when madness took over, he failed to recognize when she got plugged in again, he let her seduce him into kissing her not so long after."Thank fu*c I did not go further"He would
The president's bare feet had finally managed to carry him back to the kitchen.'Too fu*king late'He had stopped at the entrance to the kitchen feeling like an ice bucket got emptied right above his hot head when he realized that his prisoner was no longer alone.Instead of assessing the strength of the intruder aboard his victorious ship, the first thing his eyes searched for then saw was her, he could not deny that he was abnormally drawn to her.'Like a tiny piece of metal in front of a gigantic as* magnet'She was back to being the porcelain doll with lush pitch-black satin hair that was completely wet for once, the water was dripping from the locks provocatively, like small beads of sweat, and it gave her hair a shade darker as if that was even possible.Her attention and her dark dark eyes were not all over the president for once, pissing him off to no amends.The alligator tears she shed not too long ago were long gone. It was true that he had just met her, and there was no wa
On the victorious human ship that had managed to re-write history as mankind knew it; there was a commotion in the kitchen. The three species who stood there were oblivious to the fact that this particular event would turn their lives upside down.They could never have predicted how this fateful dusk would be remembered as a time for unmeasurable regrets."…He is my pair."The powerful nymph that had been dominating the battle moments before was nowhere to be found, her confession was a mere whisper, like a secret that was not even hers to tell.'How could I have not seen this coming'The imposter stared incredulously at his betrothed as the nymph squeezed her so-called pair right over her sacred heart, he had only seen her taking a human form twice in all the centuries he had known and loved her, her beautiful human form was not comparable to her spirit form, and he had always wondered how she would look like in the third form she had no idea existed in her cocktail altogether.He wa
“You ask for the impossible. I cannot be separated from you,” Nereus’s voice was grave. And he was lying bluntly. Amalthea felt him through and through within her core, she knew that he understood. It was just too difficult to let go of the dreams he had for their eternity. “It is what it is, Nereus. I did not choose the shape I was born into.” She was being hard on him because that was what he needed to hear from her right now. He wanted to feel differently about things, but he was filled with an immeasurable amount of acceptance of the fact that she has chosen not to stay in Atlantis with him. He looked at her for a long moment, “ Is this your doing?” She smiled knowingly at him. “Oh? What are you talking about?” Nereus sighed for long. Amalthea had become more than immortal, her physical shape testifies to that as well, and the fact that she was keeping it on her meant that she wanted everyone to respect the upgraded level that she had reached. How could he possibly stand aga
The underground which used to be a place of darkness and inward illumination made a complete transformation. It was not only about the sun that shone in the mornings and then mimicked the soft glow of the moon at night. It was the overflowing energy that came from the mansion of the fire essence where two immortal children were manifesting more extraordinary power with each passing mortal hour, nor their powerful mother that never left their side, it was the change that the fire king exhibited.His energy that was linked with every fire dependent creature within the fire realm was changing qualities, what used to be harsh and dry was now mellow, almost having a liquid quality to its flow.Every fire dependent creature within the fire realm knew that the king’s essence found the peace that he longed for since the beginning of time. And that peace was not only related to the female that his close and loyal subjects knew he had always cared for and loved. But also because of the newly fo
Phosphorus and Hesperus had been sleeping for four days.It was not natural for immortal children to sleep that extra mortal day.Amalthea and Arethusa stood anxiously by the crib of the immortal children. Both babies looked the size of a one-year-old human baby. Apart from the striking opposite hair color the babies had, their features were almost the same.“Beautiful,” Amalthea said as she brushed Phosphorus’s white hair away from his forehead. Then she brushed the back of her hand over Hesperus’s black hair.“Of course they are, they look exactly like you, darling,” Arethusa whispered.“But mother, why do they insist on sleeping for so long?” Amalthea asked her mother, starting to get more anxious by the mortal second now.“Worry not, my dear. Listen to your inner nymph, Amalthea. Do you not feel their overwhelming energy? How magnificently strong they both are? Can you not feel their potential and the amazing possibilities that pave their immortal way?” Arethusa could not get enou
The immortal females sat in Amalthea’s chambers for the longest time that day.“Maybe we have thought about it too much that no ideas will come anymore,” Arethusa complained.It was an impossible criterion to abide by. Two adjectives that were the opposite of each other, yet they completed one another and they were both good!‘Honestly, she is asking for a bit too much if not asking for the impossible altogether!’ Arethusa thought to herself when she saw the stubborn look on her daughter’s face.‘She was always extremely persistent,’ Arethusa admired her daughter on the inside.Amalthea was always like this, in fact, it was the first characteristic that she exhibited during her month of maturity, when she wanted to do something, she followed through with it. Unlike the immortal children that knew by instinct that when you get to live an eternity, what did not happen now was bound to happen at a later date. “You were always unique, my darling,” Arethusa caressed her daughter’s long bl
“Mother,”“Amalthea, my precious!”Arethusa ran with sacred tears coming down from her eyes at the sight and the voice of her daughter. She held her as tight as she could.“I am so sorry for coming so late I wanted to go down immediately, and I kept waiting for a fire medium to come but they never did,” she threw a subtle accusation at the fire king.‘Some things never change’ Amalthea thought to herself as she looked at her mother’s anxious face. She knew that her mother loved her dearly, she most likely cherished her over everything else in the entire universe, but had her mother thought for a couple of seconds, or even paused to consider how Amalthea’s voice made a come back. She would have known that it was all due to the fire essence curing her.Her mother’s face finally registered her daughter's quiet complaints.“How… was he… did he manage to cure you?” She asked.When Arethusa heard her daughter’s voice that she lost the day before after immortal childbirth, she had high hopes
A Thousand years later.A pair later…A path partner later…Amalthea and Hephaestus were finally going to be together. She was already shivering, she wasn’t in his room yet and the long since suppressed tension between them was making a manifestation.She remembered clearly what had been discussed between them, she knew very well what he was about to do to her, and she knew very well why.This was about giving her her voice back, but would they succeed?Amalthea followed the fire king into his chambers. It wasn’t her first time in the room but she saw it with brand new eyes. The light that illuminated everything from within was dim, the bed that they were about to share was wide, and him…He was glowing blue. She stood there, mesmerized by his beauty all over again.“…” she was desperate to tell him that he was so beautiful.Amalthea knew that it was not the correct way to compliment a male but she simply could not help it, the honest words that never left her tongue were lost with he
Deep down in the underground, the fire essence ruled a realm that was considered the core of the earth. The immortal being was one of the first creations, which made him impossibly resourceful.The fire carried healing qualities as is, it disinfected, closed wounds, and it replaced abnormalities with scars of its own.Could the fire essence really heal Amalthea? And with the balance that the universe cherished and operated according to. What would be the exchange for that?To answer that question, the fire king needed to figure out what brought about the absence of her voice.“It is time for us to go back down, Amalthea,”“I will be going down with you, just until she settles down,” Arethusa gave the fire king a meaningful look. The fire essence looked at his queen. He was going to follow her lead on that one. If she did not want the presence of her mother with her underground, then he was not going to allow it.Amalthea simply nodded with her approval.Everyone was starting to notice
At first, no one understood what was happening.The immortal babies were so adorable with their round faces, red pouty lips, and their skin that was fair and soft to the touch. Everyone was absolutely enchanted by them. They took turns holding them and marveling at their beauty and innocence, they felt the warmth of their pure white energy and consequently vowed to protect them for all eternities. It was much deeper than anything the crowd had felt before. The type of loyalty that was demanded by these babies without them asking for it. It was surreal.Everyone who touched them felt exactly how precious they were. A blessing, a gift.Yesterday enemies stood unaware of each other, totally focused on the new arrivals. The immortals viewed them as nature’s miracle and the mortals viewed them as fate’s most glorious smiles.These children had brought a new era to the immortal and the mortal world alike.Hylas was a bit confused.He kept wondering about two things. How come he didn’t rec
Amalthea emerged from the sea in a fire sphere. Her father and her path partner were carried by waves on either of her sides. The second the fire sphere touched the air, Amalthea’s wind surrounded her from all sides.Amalthea smiled, “I missed you too,” she said.“What a peculiar fellow,” the fire essence said.Amalthea knew what the fire king was talking about. She just did not agree with how immortals viewed her relationship with her air medium. It was true that she had never laid eyes on him, but that was just one of his charms. He had been loyal to her since the day she was born into this world, and she would not have it any other way.Once the wind from around them calmed down. Amalthea focused on the view that was in front of her. The Island was in one word, unrecognizable.The place that smelled of death and gave ominous vibes was thriving with the light that covered it from all around. But the source of the light was from within the island. There was a sense of undeniable harm