Cross the Line

I snickered dropping the woolen sack on the sturdy red wood table. Erios, suddenly awakened from the light clang of metal against wood, unburied himself from his fortress of papers and textbooks and approached me with admiration staining his orange, glowing pupils.

"C-Cleopatra's ancient Emerald Eye?" He stuttered, pushing his thick-lens glasses up towards the bridge of his nose.

"Yep. What's the big surprise?" I smirked, plopping down on an adjacent chair, kicking my feet on top of the table next to the treasure.

"N-Nothing. It's just, I thought it would take surely a longer amount of time to steal such a m-magnificently guarded specimen." Erios replied, gently holding the piece of glittering gold between his shaking fingers. To this, I laughed, a sultry sound dripping with over-confidence.

"Surely you think me more adept than that, Erios." I claimed, dropping the legs of the chair to the floor with a swift thud. Lines of sweat ran down Erios's face as he nervously adjusted the collar of his long jacket. I could never understand what drove him to wear such long-sleeved abominations. Here in Ira the climate was always a frozen world of summer verging on autumn. The temperature unbearably hot, yet the plants were radiant arrays of red, orange, and yellow, though their leaves never fell. I prided myself in wearing nothing on my upper torso but the Ignisi family crest around my neck. Erios muttered a quick note of denial before carrying the newly appointed "apple of his eye" towards the back, probably planning on pulling an all-nighter just to adjust the new piece to the rest of the statuette.

I sighed a light smile forming on my mouth as I lifted myself from my chair and exited Erios's hidden "hut of science". I followed the thin, shrouded path underneath the great Red Woods towards Center Square. My bare feet padded over the warm dirt, feeling the sand sift between my toes. This was my least favorite path to walk. The path was eerily silent with an impending sense of complete boredom. It was just a straight path towards Center Square, no twists and turns, no wild creatures passed through here, it was safe and I hated it with a burning passion. I needed danger and excitement to live; it was what I thrived on.

Approaching the Center Square, I recognized a solemn figure leaning against the fire-encased fountain. My smile widened as I sauntered up to her, leaning in from behind and whispering in her ear.

"Surely what's dancing among the flames isn't as attractive as me." I whispered, causing her red tinted lips to curve slightly, seductively.

"No, but I have dated fire lords much more appeasing than you." She spun around, her dark red hair an enigma against the flames behind her. The gold chain banded around her forehead shone, the engraved spark glinting in the light. My eyes grazed her figure; Her petite tan feet with her ankle wrapped in a sparkling gold circlet. Her legs smooth and voluptuous, almost completely exposed through her one shouldered, slitted crimson dress. Her delicate yet mature facial features, highlighting her bright yellow eyes.

"Now is that anyway to speak to your fiancé?" I mocked, pushing her against the fountain, our faces only inches apart. To this she laughed, fierce and strong, just like her father.

"And is that anyway to speak to the Princess of Ira?" She smirked, pushing me back with firm hands. She twisted a strand of my dark brown hair between her fingers playfully, running her other hand along my jaw line tentatively. Her lips rose to mine, millimeters apart. Abruptly, she pulled back exploding into laughter. "Keep your pants on, Mr. Blackhole."

I grinned, watching her stride away, an aura of passion burning around her.

"No promises."

Scia waved a hand imperiously towards me as if to say Just try and my dad'll burst you into flames. My eyes flickered with desire as the surrounding woods swallowed up her figure.

"Des? Des!" Lear's voice broke through my concentration as the dagger I’d thrown sliced through the sandbag, showering grains of sand everywhere. Anger rose through me as my last straw broke.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT LEAR? CAN'T A GUY TRAIN IN PEACE ANYMORE?!" Lear shrunk away, her unnaturally green eyes verging on tears. Instead of telling me what I wanted to know, she wiped one hand across her eyes and with the other she pointed towards a bend in the trees. There stood Tsun a look of disappointment written across his face. A sigh escaped his lips as he ran a stray hand through his dishelved hair.

"Give me a break," I whispered to myself, my eyes barely grazing Lear. "Just go home," I said to her before sprinting towards Tsun as quickly as possible and giving him a shove. "Oh, lighten up,” I said to him, smiling, as his disapproving glare stayed and his eyes squinted in the shade.

"You don't have a heart do you Des?" Tsun stated, an ashamed gleam tinting his maroon eyes. I felt my smile drop, my anger bubbling.

"Do you have a face? No, don't answer that stupid comeback. Instead just get out of here." Tsun shook his head in denial.

"You are so-"

"Leave." I demanded, shoving my face into Tsun's who in return sighed, dropped his hands and walked away. Before entering the brush of trees he stopped, not bothering to look back.

"Just want to let you know, you're the biggest ass wad I've ever known much less been friends with. Oh, and Anama has a mission for you." With that his figure flickered before it disappeared, leaving a rustle of leaves in his wake. I glowered, picked up my stray dagger, and shoved it into my leather-hide bag strapped to my waist and attached to my back.

"Lear, you can come out now." The small girl peaked from behind a towering Red Wood tree before hurrying towards me.

"I-I'm sorry Dessy. I didn't mean to get you in trouble with Tsun." She whimpered, her long brown hair shading her face. I sighed; I couldn't be mad at her for long. She was my little sister, no matter how different she looked compared to the other members of the tribe. A smile caught at my lips as I ruffled her hair.

"No biggy, Le. You know I love you. Now go home and help mom with dinner." The little girl's face immediately lightened as she flashed a brilliant smile. She quickly pecked my cheek, whispered an "I love you" back, and dashed away towards the hut. I grinned as I watched her run away, her sunny yellow dress flowing behind her. As soon as she was safely out of sight, I straightened up and felt my face become serious under the weight of whatever task Anama had set for me.

Anama was the Ira clan's wisest oracle. She was the one who predicted and anticipated the most important events to ever take place in the tribe history. She had been the one to see the day the Iedas' clan would attack, and without her vision the Great Battle would've ended right then and there, ice victorious. In anyhow, her job wasn't to assign tasks but to see them. Thus the fact that she had called upon me was strange and left me with a feeling of anxiety deep in my gut.

Releasing a slow breath, I steadied my feet in the grass before taking off in an agile sprint feeling the humid air stick to me as I made my way to Anama's dark hut.