Hand in the Fire, Heart in ShadowMature

I've heard tales of star crossed lovers and those lured to love only to be burned alive with its fiery passions...but I didn't believe it myself when I met him. Twilight had set upon Athens like a storm of orange and red fire crackling upon the horizon, its wavering hues turning the white soft clouds into the set pieces of smoke before my eyes.

I gazed down upon the city and all its amazing districts; Omonoia, Metaxourgeia, Psiri and Gazi, Syntagma, and many more with Greco-Roman and Neo-classical art styles that began to blend into the modern buildings going up every day. It was the melting pot, the true birth place of western civilization and democracy. I took a breath of the air; the smells of the city below were quite delicious, fresh air; baking bread, fish and other meats. 

The whole positivity of the situation made me hum and purr, blinking my golden eyes and turning back to where I was standing. In the native tongue it was called, 'Athenes Acrople Caryatides' but I tended to call them the faceless sisters.

Eight women balanced the tall stone building on their head, their stone dresses complementing their stone bodies beautifully as they hung like ghostly grey and cracked from their supple shoulders which, I am sure, during their time made them look like goddesses. Their hair was curled and lovely, I could almost imagine the colors for each one, red, blonde, black, silver... each one like a new sight to gaze upon. A soft smile curled my lips and I nodded. Though time had worn away their faces I still regarded their beauty as something sacred. 

The tourists here just saw them as another sight to gaze at these ladies...they were mine and I there’s. "Good night, dear ladies who watch the sun fall and the moon rise...” I whispered to them as I turned tucking my hands into my black jean pockets, the hood of my zip-up hoodie clinging to my lithe and skinny frame. As I passed through their shadows I noticed the hint of eyes and turned to them seeing a figure watching me with entertained glee, their sharp crystal grey-blues hues trained on me, taking in every movement and breath. 

"You watch over these ladies on this mountain?" a cool baritone voice as smooth as liquid mercury. His face covered by shadows and the growing night but I knew him to be no older than I at 23. I nodded slowly, turning to face him and dropping the hood from my face. I had soft ashen white skin that never seemed to want to tan, a trait from my mother...God rest her soul. My eyes were gold and as sharp as topaz with facets that glimmered and almost seemed to give them a bright glow. The hair that fell around my face was a short and cropped black that I never really took time to mess with giving it a tousled look.  

The man chuckled softly sounding a like the low drool of a bell upon the wind, I found my curiosity peeked and my interest drawn like a moth to the flame. This mysterious man gestured me to come closer but my feet stayed planted where they were in stone, it was if I could hear voices either in my head or upon the warm easterly winds warning me of this man.

Hesitantly, I looked over my shoulder hearing birds cry out to the stars and suddenly take flight in a flurry. When I looked back, the man had taken a few steps from the shadows, his eyes were burning brightly and half his face was in the caressing light of the now rising moon. His gentle brown hair short and chocolate -like laying atop his head and falling no farther than his lightly pink lips.

"I've heard of a man who stands with the great ladies...goddesses of the past and speaks with them faithfully and truthfully. Never straying from the path of golden light they lay at your feet, silently and only for you." He murmured, taking a light breath and sighing, a gust of wind tingling against my skin.

I shivered lightly as my eyes flicked around me nervously...what was this man getting at? I felt a knot twist in my gut and my heart began to thunder like mighty claps of thunder. "What...does that have to do with anything?" I whispered hoarsely, my mouth having gone strangely dry. The man's smile widened and a blush burned across my face. How did this man know so much about me when I knew nothing about which he was, this sharp eyed man. 

"I've heard your parents died in a terrible accident...that you...greatly talented boy were left to the streets until an orphanage found you...but you didn’t stay long... oh no." the man's grin seemed to send shivers up my spine. I was frozen and unmoving it took all my thinking power just to remember to take a breath...the stars twinkling above.

"No... You ran to the ancient structures of Greece. The Parthenon...The great hall of the Sisters...Athena's temple. And everywhere you went the gods of our ancestors past cared for you, giving you food...shelter...knowledge. But the gods cannot watch over you forever...you are alone... you have aches within you that you fear my never be healed and fulfilled. He took a step closer, the sharp clap of his leather boots echoing on the cold marble, his toned and skinny features now in full view of the light. 

"I... don't know what you mean.." I said hastily as that old familiar ache mixed with the knots in my stomach. I turned to run but his hands hooked onto my shoulders and held me firmly in place. I didn't dare to look at him but I squirmed a bit, making him laugh in my ear. 

"Don't worry boy...I'm not a vampire...those tales are for girls with wet dreams of sadism." I might have laughed at such a joke had I not been so fearful of the situation I was in... I wanted to run..to hide...but something else rebelled against all my better instincts and kept me there instead of fighting for my life.

Perhaps if I had run...or fought things would have been different, but I have always stuck with never regretting my decisions and so I don't. The mans hands eased up on my shoulders and slipped around my waist, hugging me to his warm body. I was shocked at the heat he radiated like snuggling next to the warm fire in a hearth with a blanket tucked comfortingly around you. 

"Come with me, I know what it is you desire and I have all the answers...I am a messenger from the gods themselves...they sent me to you.. as a reward.." he said a bit slyly and rested his head on my shoulder, his eyes meeting mine. I was almost hypnotized by the way the stars and the moon didn't glimmer in those deep pools. how they seemed like one sharp solid color that I could get lost in. I nodded slowly and emotions of great pleasure spread over his features.

"Kvo," he said my name in a way I had never heard...not understanding the emotion and tone behind it, before starting to speak in the that silver tonged tone again, "My name is Encanis... the pleasure is all mine,"He hugged me against his body once more and then stepped back, taking me and guiding me away down the stones steps and into the awaiting shadows...past the point of no return.