Chapter 12: Gifts
"What?" Kyran asked with his heart palpitating like it would break out of his ribs and leave his mortal body.
"Ky. You have to go back." Flora walked towards him, pink petals falling behind her, decorating the flat cobblestone floor with tear-shaped flowers.
Kyran held his heart in place and pushed his feet deeper into the stone floor, indenting it with his strength. "Hahaha, I don't understand."
His forced laugh only brought Pixie flapping her tiny, fragile wings away from Kyran. Her emotions brought a dark cloud heavy with condensation on top of her head.
"You brat! You weren't even supposed to be here," Ryu said as he strangled Kyran's head with his arms, but Kyran did not feel the warm suffocating muscles of the god. He felt it loose, just barely touching his skin.
"No. I want to stay. Let's fight them!" Kyran said with desperate saliva spewing out of his mouth. "Come on! Old man, let's show them what we got!"
Kyran felt the old man release him. He reached his hand to catch up, but his hand hit stale air.
His mind was muddled; the pungent blood filled his nose, ringing filled his ears, and he could not feel the mighty presence of the gods.
His heart dropped to his stomach. The gods have made themselves invisible to him, imprinting onto him the difference between gods and mortals.
"Take this." Flora's voice filled his ears, bringing him the familiar sensations of morning dew from grass brushing against his feet as he made his way into the garden after an argument with the old man.
He smelled the minty, medicinal paste in his nose. It reminded him of the hellish sensation as Flora massaged the open wound on his body after Ryu best down the sword postures into his muscles.
Kyran suddenly felt a thin cylindrical object in his hands. He brushed his fingertips against it, feeling the rugged exterior similar to dried vines intertwined to a cane.
"Ky, I created this weapon for you. Make use of it, okay?" Flora said as her voice diminished and her presence vanished.
"K-kyran, brat. You know what I'll give you, so use it wisely, okay?" Ryu's embarrassed voice as he mentioned his name for the first time almost brought a smile to Kyran's face.
Kyran could tell that the old man's ears were burning, leaving smoke to the side of his head. He almost flinched, expecting a hard pat on his back that would lead him hunched for the rest of the day.
His smile faded as a hot, fiery burn seared his cooling heart. He grabbed his chest. "Haha…I don't deserve this."
"Pupupu. Same old little Ky." Kyran almost quipped back after hearing Fauna's low and high-pitched laugh.
The god of beasts' typical teasing attitude made Kyran feel a bit better. He smiled, glad that Fauna had not changed even in these times.
"Take care of this for me, will you?" Fauna said as he touched Kyran's heart. A bright yellow inscription lit up on Kyran's chest, with the letters curved to an egg shape.
Kyran opened his mouth and reached out to Fauna, but he only felt something caught up in the middle of his fingers.
"AWW! That's my wings, Kyran!" Pixie shouted, biting Kyran's knuckles.
Kyran smile grew naturally. For a moment, he forgot his forceful expulsion from paradise and thought he was back at Pixie's refurbished mini-mansion that he created with her.
Pixie struggled to get her wings out of Kyran's fingers, but Kyran pulled her closer. He hugged her, putting her to his cheeks.
He smelled her new vanilla scent perfume and the coarse exterior of her sparkly tube dress. He felt her get hotter as she stopped struggling.
"Don't forget me, okay?" Pixie whispered with her voice cracking.
"Never," Kyran replied. "Well, maybe I will. I don't even know what you look like. If your ugly, I'll probably forget you, hahaha."
Pixie bashed her hands on Kyran's cheek. She put all her strength into punching Kyran until she felt her hands become wet.
She looked up and saw a streak of tears flowing from his closed eyes. The contrast between the tears on her hand and the happy expression on his face made her heart ache.
She kissed Kyran's cheek and phased out of Kyran's hands. Kyran reached out for her, but his hands passed right through her body.
"This is my farewell gift to you," Pixie said as she pointed at Kyran's forehead. Rainbow blobs of particles as small as dust gathered in the tip of her finger.
"I hope you'll see the Earth as beautiful as I did." The swirl of colorful energy shot to Kyran's head and formed a vertical almond-shaped white light.
Kyran felt an immediate headache that felt like pins and needles poking his brain. A bright light filled his sight.
"W-what…," Kyran said as he looked down at his hands. It was real, it had color, had depth, and it had calluses. It was not anything he had ever experienced.
"Do you see me now?" Pixie asked.
Kyran looked up and saw a bright yellow light. It was blinding him, but he could not look away. After the streak of light, he saw the figure behind it.
She was small, as small as his finger. Her translucent rosy wings were as big as her, with gold circles overlapping each other imprinted onto it.
She wore a sparkly dress with rainbow rays enveloped all around it. Kyran smiled as the colorful dress perfectly fit her personality.
He looked up and saw her face. He had never seen anyone's face yet, but he knew that she was beautiful. It was symmetrical, with her almond eyes complementing her red lips and small nose.
"You look beautiful," Kyran uttered, with his jaw naturally unhinged. Pixie's gorgeous face would skew Kyran's standards for beauty.
Pixie smiled, with her cheeks pinkish red. She flew backward, joining the three other figures. Kyran would finally see the gods.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone