Break the Ice

"I am Archie, and this is Sid." With no one else around, Aurelia furrowed her brows at Archie's hand, gesturing to his sides. A gust of wind blew, and the wisp whispered, "Hi!"

"Are you serious? You were bonded with the wind deity." His connections clearly astounded Aurelia.

"Yes, well, I don't know about being bound, but I met him when I arrived here the first day. So, he is the only friend that I have now." replied Archie, his eyes darting anywhere but the young lady.

"Arrived? You were not from Elysium?" Aurelia's brows arched.

"No. I was born and raised on Earth." Archie explained.

"So, how did you arrive?"

"I am not sure; one moment I was boarding the train, and the next thing I knew, I was transported here."

Not knowing what a train was, Aurelia assumed it must be a form of transportation. "So, how did you know this place was Elysium?"

"Sid told me. But it was hard communicating with him since he whispers words using wind instead of providing a proper conversation with an explanation."

"So, you do not know why you are here?"

"No. I was kind of forced to be here, and now I am hunting for food because I am starving."

With astonishment, Aurelia gazed at Archie. His stature and physique belied his slight fragility, which, with the right kind of training, could be overcome. 'Is he really the one?' she pondered.

"Speaking of food, what would you like for breakfast? Chickens? More harpies?"

"We ate harpies last night; besides, I don't think you can find anymore of them now that you blew up their nest last night."

"You knew?"

"Of course I knew; I was injured by the harpy you killed."

"So, I saved you? Twice?"

"Technically, yes! You did."

There was silence after knowing Archie had saved the phoenix twice. The two of them locked eyes for a moment and quickly averted their gaze. Archie's eyes darted onto his oversized jacket, which she now wore as a dress. The hem of the black jacket reached right above her knees, hiding her beautiful curves that he managed to get a glimpse of earlier.

"Stop it!" Aurelia gave him a stern look, her cheeks flushed with both embarrassment and anger, knowing what this human was thinking.

"Stop what?" Archie, feigning ignorance.

"Fantasizing." Aurelia said, knowingly, that any man who stared at her long wanted her for themselves.

"I was just thinking that the jacket suits you; it never looks that good on me." Archie bashfully looked down at the ground. It was the truth, but obviously not the whole truth.

"Maybe we can have fish for breakfast and some fruit, if we can get them. If only there was a nearby creek or river." Archie quickly diverted the subject to avoid further reprimands.

"There is a creek with a beautiful waterfall nearby, but it will take us some time to walk there; it is right in the heart of the forests."

"Let's go then!"

Without wasting time, he quickly rose up from the nest and packed the essentials in his backpack. 

Aurelia stared at him in silence, as if lost in contemplation.

"What's wrong?"

She looked away from Archie, and his eyes widened. "Your injuries. I was supposed to check when I woke up, silly me. I forgot."

Archie approached Aurelia and knelt down on one knee. As he was about to zip down the jacket, Aurelia clutched the fabric tighter against her chest, reluctant to be treated.

"If it makes you feel any better, you can transform back into your phoenix form, and I will continue to tend to you."

"I can't."

Archie looked at her with concern. "Did you lose your powers?"

"I exhausted myself last night; you saw the glow in my eyes vanish when I was in the pit; that was the last of my healing powers; I could not fly, walk, or transform."

"Let me tend to your wounds first; it is alright; I am a pre-med in my final year." Aurelia did not know what that meant.

'I'm supposed to be taking my final exams and preparing for posting', Archie thought.

"Trust me and let me help you." He was ready to examine her again.

Without waiting for Aurelia's consent, he took out a pin from his first-aid kit and forced the zipper on the jacket to come undone, carefully revealing the injury to her abdomen.

He looked at the injury, which was somewhat the same as the night before; it did not dry up, and she was still bleeding, which was bad.

"It doesn't look like you have healing powers,' he muttered, while cleaning her wound once more and changing her dressing.

"I am not sure; I think the bun I ate that was left in the pit was poisonous, so I used up all my powers to heal myself from the poison."

Archie's jaw dropped; he forgot that he left the poisonous buns in his traps to capture his prey. "Yeah, those buns were poisonous."

"How did you know?" Aurelia gave a look of surprise.

"I left it there to trap creatures with it."

Aurelia gave him an apprehensive look. "You were planning to catch a phoenix to eat?"

"I did not expect to catch a phoenix; I expected rabbits, pheasants, fowl, chickens, and guinea pigs. I thought phoenixes lived on high terrain, which is difficult for humans and dark creatures to assess."

At least according to those mythical creatures books that he read for leisure in the library.

When it became clear that Aurelia had ingested poison from a trap like a lowlife animal, she kept quiet to hide her shame and naivety.

It was her first and foremost mission to leave her abode in pursuit of the chosen one; unfortunately, she wound up injured, caught in a trap, and met this strange man while on her quest.

"You should be careful of food that was simply laying around on the ground; it was meant to trap animals."

Archie went too far by emphasizing the word 'animal'. Aurelia slapped Archie's hand as he finished dressing up her wound. She swiftly pivoted around, attempting to fix the hole in her jacket, but realized she didn't know how.

Then Archie said, "I was going to help you with that." She caught him off guard with her abrupt and agitated response. 

She slowly turned around and let him help as he pulled the zip apart and quickly pulled the slider down, fixed the retainer box, and pulled the slider back up. All while averting his gaze away from her to avoid seeing her exposed body.

Archie turned to see Aurelia's eyes watering as she was holding in her tears to prevent them from flowing; she looked bewildered, upset, and embarrassed at her pitiful circumstances.

"Look, I want you to know that I do not have the intention to harm you in any way. I am new to this place. So, creatures like harpies and phoenixes are not something I find back home. If the things I say and do may seem offensive to you, please know that I meant you no disrespect."

In an effort to prevent any additional misunderstanding, Archie sought to soothe the young maiden and provide further explanations. Besides, he required her assistance in determining his next course of action.

"Shall we head to the creek to catch some fish? I need to wash up after all the fighting and killing last night. I can carry you all the way there if you do not mind."

Archie turned his back, facing Aurelia, as she tilted her head in perplexity. "What do you want me to do?"

"Climb on! I will give you a piggyback the rest of the way." She hesitated, as she had never been so close to a man before.

"Oh, here, you need to carry my back pack first." Aurelia slung the backpack across her shoulders and adjusted herself while she climbed on Archie's back.

"Ready?" he asked, and she nodded, only to realize Archie could not see her from behind. 

Aurelia blushed at her circumstances and softly answered, "Ready."

"Ok, one, two, three!" Archie stood up. and started to hike his way deep into the forest.

"Lead the way, dear. Let's find some breakfast." Aurelia's cheeks had never been so red. She was thankful that she didn't have to face Archie while her face was blushing since he opened the jacket.

"I would have to hold your thighs all the way through the hike!" Archie acclaimed. Aurelia stayed silent, but she did not protest. Her hands wrapped around Archie's neck, and her shoulders clung on to him like her life depended on it.

Navigating through the dense forest terrain proved to be a formidable challenge, and on top of that, he was carrying an injured human being behind him. Archie was quite proud of his stamina and fitness as a parkour and gymnastic professional, but he started to doubt himself as he wandered further into the forest.

The atmosphere was tense since Aurelia was quiet throughout the journey. The underbrush of the forest was filled with a tangled mess of thorns and vines, making every step a calculated effort to avoid being snagged or tripped.

Above them, the canopy formed a lush, verdant roof so thick that it filtered out much of the sunlight from penetrating through. Only stray beams of sunlight managed to pierce through the foliage at random sections of the mossy ground, creating spots of golden hue.

"Am I on the right path?" Archie asked the third time, as Aurelia lacked proactive directions every time he wandered deeper into the forest. The silence is killing him.

"So, why were you injured?" Archie asked, trying to break the silence and distract him from getting exhausted from carrying her into the forest.

"You know, you don't have to ask me so many questions; stay focused on climbing and reserve your energy." Aurelia retorted, trying to minimize her interaction with Archie.

"I am just trying to break the ice here; besides, I am getting tired of travelling like this. I was hoping a little conversation would distract me from the exhaustion.

Archie's explanation made her feel ashamed of herself, which she had been feeling nonstop all morning. Finally, she decided to break the boundaries.

"Like I said, the harpies you killed attacked me."