Fire VI

continued from part V.

Fire sat on the carpet with her back slumped against the bed’s wooden frame with emptiness in her eyes; there was no hope left on that beautiful face. My heart sank deep at the look; I would trade my life to see her smile, to hear her laugh, to watch her button nose scrunch when she would laugh. But I let her down.

Not so soon.

I looked at the clock then at the window outside, the sky was light. It was almost dawn. If this was going to be the end of us then I will make sure to make it the most beautiful end of our story. I will be strong for the both of us, I will hold on to that last ray of hope, I will fight for the both of us, I will make this story a fairy tale.

With unwavering faith, I picked up the katana and fastened it behind my back. It was time for the last show. Better make it worth.

I crossed the room’s length in two steps, bent down and picked up Fire in my arms. She smiled a bit, but it didn’t reach her eyes. I could see the effort and pain behind that smile, my girl was trying to be brave for me, how can I not die for this. I kissed her forehead and moved out of the room. She didn’t ask me where I was taking her, she didn’t need to. She knew I would never let anything touch her.

When we reached the roof of the building, it was dawn. I kissed her lips softly, promising her everything I had, trying to ingrain the feel of her lips against mine in my brain forever.

After kissing her one last time, I put her down and held her eyes with mine, “Fire, let’s try this one last time. If it doesn’t work, I want you to know that I will wait for you. You are the only one in whom I can lose myself and still find my soul. Never lose hope, believe me, we will be together one day.”

There were still a million things which I wanted to say to her, which I wanted her to know but I couldn’t say anything else, my throat didn’t allow me to. Tears streamed down her face and her eyes held boundless love for me.

The sun was about to come up, soon it will all end. The moment which we were dreading was almost here, without prolonging the moment further, I took the katana and we touched the hand-prints. We knew the outcome already, as we had repeated this for the better part of the night for numerous times.

The eyes of the dragon glowed red, intensity increasing with every second. Soon the entire katana was emitting red light like before. We waited for it to get hot. But the moment it was about to drop from our hands, the yin and yang symbol on the handle’s base started glowing white having a cooling effect and revolving until the white and the black part merged into one.

Now, it got clear to me, I started looking for the note with riddle but realised that I had forgotten it in the room. There was no time to get it back as ‘dawn’ was the key to break this and it was passing with every second. The riddle said when the light and dark became one, it seemed crystal clear now but I had missed it until now. All I needed was the third line so that I can interpret it but I couldn’t remember its exact words.

“Fire, please tell me you remember the entire riddle. What was the third line?”

Thank God, she wasn’t dumb like me and remembered it all. She recited the entire thing like a pro.

“Touch the imprints of the holy hand.

When the light and dark becomes one,

Tie the knot, without a strand,

Only then you shall have your freedom.”

I knew now what needed to be done and I was more than happy to do so. Hopefully, she says yes.  I took out the ring from my pant’s pocket, thank god that it was still there and asked the question which will change my entire life, literally in every sense.

“Fire, will you do the honour of marrying me?” I wanted to write a beautiful speech, get down on one knee and then ask her but there was no time, I was racing the sun.

She was looking at me with sheer confusion and bewilderment in her eyes. “Reo, this isn’t the time for this. We are holding a glowing red katana in our hands, for god’s sake. Focus on the curse right now, we can do it later.”

She was clearly irritated with the timing and I could help but fall in love with her even more. I kissed her lips, quickly and said, “I know what I am doing, just answer my question and please, take less time to think.”

“Yes, of course, I will but we other prob…”

As soon as I heard that yes that I had been waiting to hear for my entire life, I slipped the ring into her finger and crashed my lips against hers in an instant not letting her complete her sentence.

It wasn’t a sweet kiss but a kiss laden with need, hunger and raw passion. As her lips grazed against mine, I forgot that I was holding a glowing katana. All I could remember was her taste against my tongue, her softness against my lips, her intoxicating smell around me. I was consumed.

The sun rose.

As the first sun ray fell on the katana, it caught fire. We removed our hands but it still remained suspended in the air, burning up entirely within a few seconds and vanishing with the soft wind.

It was over now.

“How did you know that this was needed to be done? I thought you were doing some romantic gesture for us to remember it by.”

“I told you, I’ll fix it.”

“Did we just get married?”

“I believe so, but we can do the entire ceremony again however you like. Or we can skip the shenanigans and get to the best part…”

“Which is…”

“The honeymoon, of course, choose whatever you like, my wife.” Then she laughed, so beautifully, the sound which I was waiting to hear. It was worth it. I knew that I would do it all over again, just to hear her laugh and watch her smile.

The End

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Hi lovely people, this is the last part- the conclusion of my on going story Fire. It got a bit long but I hope you will like it. I really hope you are not disappointed with the ending, if you are I would love to hear your views. Please, tell me what you thought of the whole story.

Cheers. Stay home, stay safe!