08-19-2016, 02:25 PM
AKHIL
How long had it been?
Years -- fifty years, maybe. His bones should have creaked, should have ached with every step but instead they were quiet, fluid. It wasn’t his first disappearance from Beqanna -- the first after his mother died, and the most recent after his dear friends’ reign of the Deserts ended. You’d think, at his age, that he would have grown accustomed to change, but his immortality only made him yearn for stability. Perhaps that was why he was so attached to Maye -- she, too, was immortal, but more than that, she was reliable. They drifted apart, of course; they both had strayed before, but always they came back to each other. Their life together was easy, complete.
And yet.
Akhil’s large, black wings were a constant reminder of her. He had known Epithet for years, there was a different kind of love between them, and still she remained largely unattainable. Even when she was with him, with their child, she was elsewhere. Perhaps his draw to her was that she was otherworldly, while Akhil was painfully of this world. Of Beqanna.
And so he came back, as he always did. The grass of the meadow crunched beneath his feet -- a familiar sound. He missed the smooth warmth of the Deserts’ sand, the still heat that he was bred to withstand. He wasn’t yet ready to visit his home -- as often as the kingdoms changed with their new rulers, the meadow always remained the same. Here, he was comfortable.
Years -- fifty years, maybe. His bones should have creaked, should have ached with every step but instead they were quiet, fluid. It wasn’t his first disappearance from Beqanna -- the first after his mother died, and the most recent after his dear friends’ reign of the Deserts ended. You’d think, at his age, that he would have grown accustomed to change, but his immortality only made him yearn for stability. Perhaps that was why he was so attached to Maye -- she, too, was immortal, but more than that, she was reliable. They drifted apart, of course; they both had strayed before, but always they came back to each other. Their life together was easy, complete.
And yet.
Akhil’s large, black wings were a constant reminder of her. He had known Epithet for years, there was a different kind of love between them, and still she remained largely unattainable. Even when she was with him, with their child, she was elsewhere. Perhaps his draw to her was that she was otherworldly, while Akhil was painfully of this world. Of Beqanna.
And so he came back, as he always did. The grass of the meadow crunched beneath his feet -- a familiar sound. He missed the smooth warmth of the Deserts’ sand, the still heat that he was bred to withstand. He wasn’t yet ready to visit his home -- as often as the kingdoms changed with their new rulers, the meadow always remained the same. Here, he was comfortable.
image @ vee swan wallhd4.com