The Esoteric Design Page 36

  “Don’t make me laugh,” Dovian scoffed.

  “You’re saying that you’re not jealous?” Aria questioned.

  “No…Aria,” Dovian said her name in a way no one had before. It rolled from his lips with the accent and proper pronunciation of Legacy. It almost gave the name a whole new meaning.

  There was a silent pause as Dovian eyed her. He ran a hand up and down her cheek, a gesture least expected. Aria’s throat made a squeak as she swallowed nervously.

  “I’m not denying my jealousy, you see I’m not a perfect creation either. I, too, have my sins.” He trailed to her collarbone. “I was denying the fact that you think I’ve even looked in your general direction with any sort of sexual interest.”

  He smirked at her, watching her mouth drop open like a dead fish. Still, he remained close to her. His voice was a low whisper now. “You see, Aria, you and my kind are the perfect recipes for disaster. As much as you’ve apparently read and fantasized about me and my kind, you can’t live a fantasy with me. My race and the humans are not meant to be together. It only ends in heartbreak.” He frowned.

  It was true. Dovian’s kind wasn’t supposed to intermingle with the other races of the planet. It was impossible to live a happy life with another whose lifeline seemed to last as long as a day compared to a Sorcēarian’s. Dovian saw this more than a few times, his friends falling for the charming, little human women. They were small; they were fragile, and they had a cute ignorance and blushing shyness about the mysticism of the sorcerers. Small summertime crushes were what Dovian had called it. He warned his friends numerous times about keeping their hands off the fragile ones.

  However, the romances never lasted long, at least not for the Sorcēarians, but to the humans, it could have been a lifetime of them waiting and falling continuously over these beautiful warriors. Some Sorcēarians toyed with the human’s emotions, only luring them in for a quick ride or two of fun. This only ruined the soul of the person, leaving them vulnerable and hurt. There were many tears, suicides, and even murders. Families were sometimes torn apart, and some Sorcēarians were banned from ever going to the outside world. Jealous husbands and boyfriends would attack the Sorcēarians. Women would die during childbirth, unable to carry the offspring of such a magical being. But it wasn’t just the humans who suffered. Many Sorcēarians took their own lives on account of losing their mortal loved one, either through breakup or death. Some couldn’t stand to watch something they genuinely loved age so quickly and pass like the changing of the seasons.

  One of Dovian’s closest friends, Orin, got caught in his own summertime love. Her name was Elizabeth, ordinary and nothing special, but Orin thought it to be the most beautiful name he had ever heard. He quickly was torn by his love. He had told Dovian about how every second he could watch her age. She was getting older and older, new wrinkles and lines emerging on her face every day. It was hurting him beyond emotional recognition to watch this human woman go through her typical life cycle. Orin couldn’t handle it. Finally, unable to watch her age anymore, he told her that he was leaving. Elizabeth was devastated. She begged him not to go. Orin had lied to her, saying that he had to go to battle and that if he lived, he would come back to her, even though he didn’t plan on coming back either way. In the end, Orin couldn’t keep his promise to Elizabeth even if he had wanted. Dovian shook the thought from his head. He didn’t wish to take another ride down memory lane.

  “You cocky, arrogant, asshole,” Aria growled, her voice tearing him from his sudden contemplation. She ran into him, shoving him away from her. “I’m through talking to you!” Her finger pressed against his chest. “You’re just a sad, lonely old man who’s taking his own anger and bitterness out on a ‘weaker’ species. If you think you’re so much better than us, then why don’t you just go back to your ruined civilization?”

  She opened the door to Dovian’s room, paused, and then turned around again, running right into his chest. Did he have to follow so close? She noticed his arms caught her to keep her from falling over. Oops, was the word that probably went through Dovian’s head for showing any amount of falseness to his hard exterior. Aria smirked, catching his gesture.

  “Ya know what? I think you’re just lonely and scared of being abandoned, and that’s why you’re still here with us at all. You like to act like you’re better than us, but you’re nothing more than a weak soul who would give anything to have someone by his side. That’s why you keep arguing with me and changing the subject. You’re so bored, you need the attention.” Her words were sputtering from her mouth at light speed. “I bet you’d just love to have your way with me and Ivory.” She pressed firmly against him. “But I’m not as weak as you!” she hissed through her teeth.

  The door slammed with an ear-shattering splinter as Aria left the room. Dovian’s ears rang; the silence of the room was overwhelming. He stood, watching the door for a moment. Angry with himself for losing control of the verbal battle, he returned to his lumpy mattress and dropped carelessly onto it, his face smashing into the thin pillow. A muffled, irritated groan erupted from the man. Not only had he made himself angry, but he also somehow allowed himself to get sexually frustrated. Next time, he’d have to be sure to just slam the door in the woman’s face.

  Aria stomped down the hall and out into the dining area of the hotel where Troy sat at the bar with a bottle of his favorite booze. She jumped onto the bar stool, spinning around in a half-circle as she barked an order for some whiskey.

  “Someone looks like a pissed off monkey.” Troy watched the fidgeting woman.

  “Shut up!” Aria shouted heatedly at the man.

  “Jeez! And needs to get laid.” Troy took a long, hard suck from his bottle. Aria glared at him as she grabbed the glass from the bartender and took an enormous gulp.

  She thought to herself, ‘Honestly, Troy, you have no idea.’

  The two sat silently next to each other. Every so often, Aria’s attention would fall on the man beside her. He didn’t acknowledge her but watched the vid screen above the bar instead. The man chuckled, his eyes vibrant in the dim light of the bar, as a commercial played, showing a thin female scantily clad in the most expensive form of lingerie. The smaller the underwear, the higher the cost it seemed. Aria darted her eyes from Troy to the screen. Was he really that repulsive?

  A frown set on his face once the commercial was over, his olive gaze dropping to his empty beer. He signaled to the bartender and continued gaping at the screen, still not acknowledging the woman sitting next to him. He gave a confused stare upwards as a team of scientists blabbed about their research during a previously recorded convention.

  “I do believe that the solar flares are the cause of the recent electric bursts that have plagued our satellites as of late. After years of study, I have concluded that the sun’s magnetic reconnection is increasing exponentially. The solar arcades are ever-increasing within the areas of closely contained loops of magnetic lines of force, creating an enormous helix of magnetic field which is unconnected with the others. The quicker the loops, the more the helix grows, sending out multiple coronal mass ejections. But as it grows larger and larger, the loops are growing faster and closer together, but the flares are slowing down. This is causing a massive amount of energy build up. I predict that a truly enormous ejection is about to occur in the upcoming month. At any time, it could explode, leaving us with the largest flare in nearly 20,000 years and potentially annihilating not only our satellites but obstructing all energies on Earth.”

  “What the hell is this shit?” Troy asked; his face twisted with disgust.

  “When do you predict the massive ejection will occur?” another scientist questioned on screen.

  “Judging by the rate and speed…around the end of December,” the previous scientist replied. “Possibly the twenty-fifth if my calculations are correct.”

  “Aw, ruins the holiday season, doesn’t it?” Troy asked mockingly to the television. “Hey! Can we change the channel?”
/>
  The bartender, looking up at the scientists on screen, shrugged and carelessly pressed against the controller on his side of the bar. The channel on the television switched over to a game of football. Despite the world being in complete turmoil, the civilian lifestyle continued, and humanity’s favorite pastime was sports. Because of the small amount of cities in the world, all games were broadcast to every city-state. From home, Troy could watch the games of Cherno and Saray; likewise, they could watch the sports native to Fountains.

  A scoreboard flickered on the screen with flashy effects, revealing the mascots of the two teams. The Fountain Arrowheads were up against the Mile-High Mustangs. The plush, artificial green football field was lined in the center with the players–robots adorned in gold and red on one side, blue and orange on the other.

  “Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!” Troy laughed, drinking his beer. “Wonder if the kicker will lose his leg again this week when he punts?” He finally looked over at Aria.

  Resting her elbow on the bar, chin in her hand, her face was one lacking amusement.

  ‘Yup, a complete, chauvinistic idiot.’ Aria sighed heavily.

  Troy’s enthusiastic expression faded. He turned his attention back to the screen. “So where’s Ivory?” he asked.

  “In her room. She said she didn’t feel well.” Aria played with a chunk of ice in her glass.

  “Don’t blame her. That thing tried to make a shish kabob outta her,” Troy said. “Dovian did a good job patching her up.”

  “Yup,” Aria murmured, drinking.

  ‘What’s her problem?’ Troy’s brow furrowed. Aria was always pessimistic, but lately she was just downright pissy about everything, and Troy couldn’t help but feel that the brunt of her hostility was directed toward him.

  They sat quietly next to each other, except for times when there was a touchdown or a bad call, and then Troy became very vocal.

  A blur of red caught Aria’s attention. Looking to the side, she noticed Dovian had come out of hiding and dropped himself into a chair in the corner of the dining area of the small bar. His smoldering gaze was aimed at her. Casually, he gestured to the seat beside him. Lifting her glass, Aria slid from her seat, the chair spinning in a circle, and made her way over to join the Sorcēarian. Troy continued his rage, yelling with the bartender at the referees.

  “Stupid machines!” Troy scoffed. He was totally unaware of his partner leaving his side.

  “Having a good time?” Dovian asked smoothly, his hands resting in front of his face, elbows sitting on the tabletop.

  Aria rolled her eyes like usual. “Hardly. Troy isn’t much of the conversationist.” She dropped into the seat beside the tall man.

  Dovian chuckled, his hardened exterior temporarily lifting. After a moment of silence, he took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Aria. I haven’t been myself tonight.”

  Aria quickly turned toward the Sorcēarian, her face appearing shocked. “It’s okay. I didn’t help much by arguing back with you.”

  “Things are much different than they used to be.” He stared at his hands.

  “I can’t imagine all the things you’ve been through, Dovian. Besides, after being alone for so long, I bet it’s a little overwhelming to suddenly be in a world surrounded by war and ignorant humans.” She breathed a small laugh, letting him know that there were no hard feelings.

  “I still find it hard to believe that your race has advanced this far and hasn’t destroyed itself yet. Since I’ve been alive, your kind has risen from the ashes, moving from simple farmers to high-tech soldiers and annihilating yourselves three separate times. It’s why I stopped caring in the first place and locked myself away on my island. Being around humans again is, indeed, very overwhelming but not necessarily unpleasant.” He looked at her, giving her a wry smile. Aria’s breath hitched as she was drawn in by his glowing eyes once again. “Do I make you nervous?”

  “What? No. No, why would you think that?” she asked.

  “You just look a bit tense, that’s all.” He smirked.

  “If you couldn’t tell, I’m always a little tense,” she joked.

  “I’ve noticed,” he said with a laugh.

  More yelling commenced from the bar, interrupting the couple’s conversation. Troy high-fived the bartender as the two hooted and hollered. Aria and Dovian watched the celebration momentarily. She frowned as she watched Troy’s jumping form.

  “Is there something wrong?” Dovian asked.

  “No, I’m fine.” She quickly tore her eyes away from Troy.

  “Can I make an observation?”

  “Sure,” she said cautiously.

  “It seems to me that you’ve been a bit edgy toward your friend as of late.”

  “Am I that transparent?” Aria asked. She watched Troy again, her expression blank. “I don’t mean to be. I think it’s just stress. We’ve both been stressed. And I know he hasn’t been acting like himself either. Not since Gavin….” She stared at her glass, twisting it slowly between her fingertips.

  Dovian noticed the woman’s forlorn look. “You all three were very close, weren’t you?”

  “Yeah,” she said quietly. “Troy and he were best friends. They were nearly inseparable whenever they had time off from their work. They’d known each other for over thirty years. I know it hurt him a lot, losing Gavin.”

  Dovian leaned down, catching her blank stare. “And what about you?”

  “Me and Gavin?” she laughed, her eyes instantly tearing up, glimmering in the pale light. Dovian’s face fell at her sudden distressed expression. “Um,” she started, looking away from the man, “we were, uh, good friends, too. I’ve known him for about as long as Troy has.”

  Dovian watched her carefully as if analyzing her. Aria noticed and sighed and finally shook her head.

  “Guess I can tell you. Doesn’t really matter anymore…now that he’s gone.” She sniffled, trying to hold back from crying. So badly, she wanted to appear strong and not like a weak child whenever Gavin was brought up. Her fingers unconsciously trailed to her kitten necklace. “Gavin and I actually used to be more than friends. God, we tried so hard to hide it. I knew Troy would kill him if he found out, but honestly, I don’t see how Troy wouldn’t have known. Gavin told him everything. They were worse than a couple of little girls when it came to keeping secrets,” she laughed.

  Resting on her hand, she continued. “We, uh, first met when I was twenty-five. It was at Chester’s. Troy had always talked about him so I already knew a little about him. If anything, I expected him to be a ladies’ man like Troy, and he was. But he was still different than Troy. There was something about him that was more charming.” Her eyes faltered once again on the soldier at the bar. “Of course, I was young and inexperienced when I first met Gavin, and I kind of fell for his constant flirtations. As much as I tried to remain professional, that damn boy kept pushing my buttons until I finally gave in and went on a date with him. After that, we kept meeting, but we always kept it a secret from Troy and the others. I think Gavin wanted to shout it from the rooftops. I, however, wanted to keep it low-key. I had just been promoted to high-status. I had an image to uphold, you know? Besides, I was very busy, too busy for commitment. Also, who knew when I would die in the heat of battle? As much as I gave orders to troops, I also saw my own fair share of fighting.”

  “You feared getting too close in case one of you was to die,” Dovian murmured.

  The woman nodded, letting out a breathy scoff. “Yeah. Stupid, right? I mean, look what I have to show for it!” Her lower lip trembled. “This damn cat necklace?”

  “You have the memories. That’s important,” Dovian offered, suddenly feeling like a heel for bringing up the subject.

  “Yeah, but how many more memories could I have had? If only I had just admitted to myself that I was in love with him and wanted to be with him.” She shook her head and took a sip of her drink. Setting the glass down, she let out a small breath. “There, I said it. We were in love.
I guess you can call it that. I mean, don’t couples meet in the middle of the night? All I’d have to do is send him a message, and in a heartbeat, he’d be at my doorstep. He even had the code in his DNAIS to get into my apartment. At the time, Troy hadn’t even had a code to my place, and we were partners! But…God I miss those nights. We were so simple, so content. He’d come over sometimes and watch television with me on the couch. We didn’t need to talk. We’d just sit there. Sometimes he’d hold me. Other times, we’d just drink coffee and look out the window of my kitchen, watching the lights of the cars speed by. Then, we’d go to bed. He’d hold me all night. No matter how much I would protest, he’d insist on holding me. He was so good at sneaking out, too.”

  Aria faded out momentarily, remembering the nights when Gavin would visit. He was so loyal to her in the past. She closed her eyes, thinking. It seemed like yesterday when she was hiding under her covers crying quietly to herself. A small chime had sounded on her DNAIS. It was Gavin, wondering how she was doing. They hadn’t spoken in a couple weeks. She had told him, quite shortly, that she was fine, but he didn’t fall for it. He was the only man in the world who could read her like a book. In minutes, he was walking into her room, surprising her. Seeing her distressed, he jumped under the covers, quickly gathering her into his arms. It took much prying to get the woman to finally answer and tell him that it was her birthday and no one remembered. To make her feel better, he gathered her up and took her to the kitchen for some coffee. As Aria sat by her window, he began digging through her fridge and cupboards. He made her, to the best of his knowledge, a birthday cake. It was horrible, tasted like salt, and was even lopsided. But still, it was the greatest thing Aria had ever been given. Gavin, having never known her birthday until that night, never forgot the date and had proceeded to give her something small every year.

  Aria continued fiddling with the cat charm around her neck. “But, there was one morning…he slipped out, and Troy caught him. I’m not really sure what happened, but after that, things changed.”