His Future is Fire, pt.6

Note: This is a random excerpt from a story I’m currently working on. Here’s the jist…

 Earth is not the only messed-up place in the universe. Across the portals, there lies a land with an eternally full moon and an ever-changing sun. A land full of nations, struggles, and cultures completely foreign to Earth known as the Realms. Whenever the Earth and the Realms are both dark- with a new moon and new sun- their realities form a bond- creating portals between the two worlds. Though accidents have happened before, portals are mere swirls of energy- energy that’s good at finding anomalies and sending them back where they came from. 

The fate of the Realms changed drastically when not one but two ruling families found their heirs missing- both now at home in Brookwood, Colorado. One a teenager, the other a baby- both make their homes on Earth, unaware of their origins. Years go by, and the former- crown heir to Murdoch- finds himself a hotel manager with an ever-changing roster of kids and a faith unheard of back home, while the latter, is slowly growing into the giant king he was born to be- finding himself spending half his Walmart paycheck on food. 

However, they will not be the only people portal-jumping. The lost heirs and some of their fellow Earth wanderers band together, crossing over to the Realms for good. They stay together in Mondon, the heart of Murdoch, before splitting across the map of the Realms. They each work to make their home in the Realms somehow- becoming powerful, having families, or just trying to survive. Yet, as their ideals begin to clash, the group crumbles, paving a way for the next generation to reform a once strong alliance. All of them sit in the wake of their own destinies- anxious, curious, and excited to see them unfold but, most of all, wanting freedom.

This is kinda what I picture Raquel Matsumi looking like.

I hated how much I didn't hate him. How much he was just as lost and confused as I was. Even after everything- centuries of learning and time, I still couldn't help but give into myself. Sure, it was probably a good idea that he wanted me, that he'd have followed me into the sun just to be with me- that was good, really. I already knew at some point I'd be asking him to do something that was almost as crazy.

My mind had always been stretched between two realities- the one I knew, the one I lived in and through and because of, and the one everyone thought I was crazy for believing in. The one with skyscrapers and pavement and computers, with ideas and notions we'd never dreamed of, with people and places that looked nothing like any of ours. For ages, people just thought I was crazy. Like my vision was broken. Couldn't be trusted, they said. So cursed I wasn't even seeing real people's fates. As if Hija had a sadistic streak and liked to watch the wretched run in circles- chasing streams that ran straight into insane oblivion, leading no where and to nothing.

And that's what I'd been for a long time- wretched. The streaky-furred fox with a bent tail who couldn't think straight. Who never got the right kind of visions. Who befitted seducing wicked men out of war or testing the virtues of a family man- the work of those who never saw visions and had to rely on sheer instinct and flesh. Well, I could do that. I understood instincts and flesh. I got good at turning woman, wrapping the best of robes along my shoulders, moving my mouth in the most suggestive of ways, standing just within reach in tents, inns, and alleyways. Kitsune like that- they turn too human sometimes. Get too wrapped up in the ways of bodies and mortals.

And maybe that's what happened to me, I figured. Spent too much time after that in the spiritual realm, all cooped up with no one interesting after years of desire being my only duty. Warriors keep fit at least, even if they were often far too aggressive for my liking, and for the most vile of men I simply became the most feared monster around- banshee, dragon, beast, what have you- whatever made their lips quiver and their ape-ish brain realize they should've known better. But, sometimes they were sweet. Sometimes the man who was destined to slaughter thousands was the softest by moonlight. And maybe that's what I saw when I looked at him- a scrappy guy that was going to bring everything burning down.

All I saw in his future was fire, sheer fire, but in that fire, I knew there was warmth. And warmth was what I wanted as I imagined his fingers down my back and his lips against my chest. It was what held me there when my mind became a hurricane as I slept beside him, knowing that this was going to burn too- and I couldn't run from the flames this time. He'd consume me, if I let him. He'd follow me, envelop me, overthrow me- but I couldn't let him. I had a purpose, a destiny, a destiny he could never fully understand or follow, even if I wanted him to. And I only knew so much anyways. Anything could go wrong, could follow a different path that I had seen or imagined all those years ago. And in some ways, I wanted it to. Our Realms needed justice, deserved their rightful rulers and its brightest future, but all that seemed eons away when he glanced at me in his garage, that cheeky smile glowing as if he was looking at all he ever wanted.

Damn, I wanted him too. Between the long nights and breathless mornings, I imagine he knew that, but despite them, I wanted so much more. I wasn't looking for a short-lived plaything. This wasn't a ploy or a tactic. This was, in some horrifying way, the closest I'd ever felt to love. I looked into his eyes and saw someone as desperate to escape their fate as I was. Tired of being stuck, of checking boxes, of chasing something that didn't want to be found. In his mind, that was his father's respect, in mine, it was this divine order of the universe that wouldn't shut up. This eternal devotion to life going only one way. That a few visions were all you needed to know about a person. You humans are short-lived and small, but you weren't boxes or dominoes. You were entities. Forces for whatever you chose. And I wanted that, I wanted that so incredibly bad my soul ached for it. And, maybe loving him was the closest I'd ever gotten to that. To choice. To deciding what I wanted and pursuing it. With the added bonus of pushing him towards the alien place I'd one day take him. The place where he'd trade his wrenches for swords and his jeans for trousers.

Late at night, we'd be intertwined, staring out the blinds of his window, and he'd ask me questions. Who I was, what I liked, how I grew up. I never knew exactly what to tell him. I was as foreign here as he'd be there. But I told him I wanted to be free, to be new, to have something of my own. But I couldn't be yet. I had to finish something, I had this thing that ate me up. That I had to do before I could be truly free. He'd always turn me around, running his hand through my hair and tell me he'd do anything he could to free me. He'd be my rescuer from whatever plagued me and he'd be there, no matter what happened. I always blushed, if only you knew, babe, if only you knew.

I knew it was going to be a short affair until we'd cross over- the full moon was coming soon. In the Realms, the sun would finally be high at the same time as the full moon for the first time in decades, opening the portals between the worlds. The twenty years I’d been here were long enough to dream outside of my own reality, but not long enough to forget it. When the time came, we'd have to go back. It was fate and more so, it was my purpose. At least I'd have him there.

Interested in reading more of my fiction (or seeing how it all pieces together)? Sign up for my newsletter for exclusive access to my fiction Google drive!