Paramours

The den provided a warmth and comfort Aaron had not known for a long time. A smoke stack with fire merrily cracked in the corner, giving off the smell of charred wood and pine. Instead of chairs, cushions lined the walls, and a round circular table sat above the floor with a decorative lantern hanging above.

Aaron took a seat on a rose-colored cushion, and slowly felt some blood sink back into his face. As The Teacher sat down across from him, he let calmness fill the room until it was settled enough to begin.

"Aaron," The Teacher said.

Aaron's nerves spiked. He had never introduced himself, and now it was clear the teacher knew who he was.

"Let's talk about Aura." The Teacher folded his hands. "Aura is without form. She is, and only is, what you want her to be. She is, in a sense, your imagination."

Aaron locked in a calm tone of voice, but was screaming on the inside, "She doesn't… exist?"

"Well… not as a girl." The Teacher looked over to the fire. "If you had not found her, or rather, if she had not found you, then Aura would still be a spirit… some say… the spirit… eternal."

How could this be happening right now?

An angry heat rushed through Aaron's neck and up the side of his face.

The Teacher reached out and touched Aaron's shoulder. "Take a moment, Aaron. Just think about your time with the Einai… Aura. Were there times when she reflected your own thoughts, or where she simply produced something you required?"

A flow reversed directions in Aaron's mind, and he was pulled into a space he would never leave.

It was just as he said…

The fire continued cracking in the corner, providing Aaron with minimum comfort as he reckoned with his thoughts. The Teacher gently stood up, made his way to the door, and left Aaron to find his own resolve.

"Aaron!" Aura called from the library.

Aaron did not answer. How could he possibly respond? He could hear Aura's footsteps approaching the door, and took a deep breath as if he were about to dive underwater.

"Let's get out of here," said Aura.

She stood in the doorway waiting for his response, but Aaron didn't want to look. He didn't want what The Teacher said to be true, but apparently the only way forward was head first into his fears.

Aaron stood up, and looked Aura in the eyes. Her beauty was staggering, but now with great concern, Aaron considered why.

Internally wishing he never listened to The Teacher, Aaron swiftly broke contact and advanced to leave the room. He brushed past Aura without a second glance, and cut his way across the library.

Nearly at a sprint, he passed the circular room and ascended the stairs, outpacing the speed of his own shadows. Desperately trying to escape, Aaron sought the grace of the woods, if only to quiet his own affliction.

Aaron burst through the thick wooden doors and slowed only when his lungs drew in the crisp cold air. Walking over to Peridot, the breeze felt good on his face, and he began to untie her from the tree. It wasn't until he mounted, when he realized he had no place to go.

"We can go anywhere," said Aura, stepping out of the entrance. "If you let me."

Avoiding eye contact, Aaron trotted over to the entrance and swept Aura onto the horse without saying a word. He gave Peridot a kick, and they galloped down the hill away from the bluff. The ground was barely visible as he raced through the moonlight.

It's too much…

Aaron pulled back on the reins, and they came to a halt. He could feel Aura release her grip around him, and dismounted the back of the horse. Aaron sat in silence for a moment, and then dismounted in the darkness beside her.

"The Teacher thinks you are an entity… an energy, that you're just a manifestation of my thoughts."

Aura didn't make a sound.

"He thinks that you don't exist, that you're just a spirit, and… and that…" he let out a sigh, "you don't have long hair or turquoise eyes… you only have them because, it's what I wish to see."

"You wish to see a girl like me?"

Aaron was not ready for this… "Are you a girl like you?"

The two stood in silence, waiting on edge for an answer that would never come. Whatever Aaron was hoping for… it was only him.

"The Elgia… the stars on the deck… was that real?" Aaron heard the desperation in his own voice.

A sinking feeling began to take hold, as he continued to survey Aura in the dark. Even in his anger, her elegance overthrew his capacity for indignation.

I can't… she's not real.

Aaron turned away and stared into the woods. It was almost pitch black when her voice finally came forth with an answer.

"I can show you."

An infallible touch rested on his back, providing dubiety while soothing his emotions.

"I just want to understand…"

"I'll show you. Imagine something."

Aaron's eyes widened; it was time to sink or swim. "You're going to show me… you mean, you're going to create what I imagine?"

"That is exactly what I'm going to do."

Aaron felt uncomfortable. What he really wanted was for her to say, 'You're crazy' and 'How could you believe that guy… of course that's not possible!'

But she hadn't.

Standing in the dark, Aaron knew there was only one way to find out. He took a step forward and said, "Make us a light."

The ground and flora illuminated all around them. A new silhouette flickered against the trees, and a shadow of Peridot flickered beside it. Aaron slowly rotated to see a fire sparkling merrily between two branches, its flame suspended in the air.

His doubts were vanquished with the darkness. As sure as the fire existed before him, The Teacher had been right.

He stepped closer to the fire and felt its warm radiance with his hand. It was as if he had been fighting a current his entire life, and someone showed him the way was downstream.

"You are Einai?"

"Einai is what some people call me… you call me Aura."

Aaron straightened up. "You said that you would show me."

"Go ahead," encouraging him.

"I'm imagining a jewelry box… Inside is a stone cut with a thousand facets… the color of this stone is unlike this world, and something no one has ever seen."

Aura's eyes widened as she looked at him with admiration. Reaching out her arm, she rotated her wrist to reveal a small jewelry box.

Aaron didn't even see it happen. It was just there in a blink—a box about the length of her hand.

Aaron reached for it, knowing things would never be the same. He held the box against the light of the fire and examined its design. Placing his thumbs along its wooden seam, he flipped the lid.

An impossibly brilliant gem sparkled with colors no words could lament. Holding the stone between his thumb and forefinger, the resplendent spectacle of rays danced within the thousand-faceted gem.

"I thought I was asking for something impossible." He admitted, looking at Aura, who stood illuminated amongst the light of the fire.

"Is there something impossible?"

Aaron thought there was going to be an answer, but she just looked at him in silence. If this was his chance to test her... what more could he possibly imagine?

He thought of Tara, the Elgia, Eros, and the Academy; when what he desired most came to the forefront of his mind.

"I want you to create us a home." Aaron said in resolute. "Make it here… strong enough to protect the richest man, and large enough for a family. Make it constructed around a fresh spring, where available water is plenty, and a center fire can provide warmth and cooking."

Aura stood in balance, unmoving and pensive. With a serene expression she rotated her wrists towards the sky. A cool wind blew across Aaron's face, when a familiar rumbling grabbed his attention.

An unusual radiance began to glow around Aura's arms, while the ground shook beneath their feet. In a blink, Aura's body became a source of light, and a pulse of energy shot from her palms.

One after another, successive pulses ascended into the air and hovered above the trees. At once, the pulses descended upon the land imagined, and Aaron realized there were no limits.

More pulses ascended from Aura's hands in every imaginable color. Streams of light flung past Aaron's head, when he realized he had seen this before. The flashes of light, the roaring colors… This was the rain of lights… it was Aura.

The now incredibly radiant object illuminating the surrounding woods, was Aura. The light that streamed from her palms was blinding, and traveled through the air in great waves before descending to the ground.

Aaron noticed the beginnings of physical walls, as magnesium and azure flames soared into the sky. A wild wind kicked up everything not rooted in the ground, and Aaron's heart pounded as a cottage took shape right before his eyes. With a last flash of rhodonite, the night returned to darkness, save the lone fire suspended in an atmosphere of dust.

Aaron heard Aura fall to the ground, and tried to find her amongst the dust. When the particles had settled, a haze of dark blue and silver evaporated, and Aaron found Aura lying on the ground.

"Aura, are you alright?"

Just then, a babbling brook trickled its way past Aaron's feet.

Aaron turned to see a two-story cottage composed of petrified wood and amethyst standing before him. A stream flowed through the middle of the cottage, and down the front of the trail.

It exceeded what Aaron could have imagined.

"Is that enough?" Aura said softly.

Aaron began to tear. It was overwhelming, crazy and perfect. He wiped his eyes, trying to hide his face from Aura.

"You might not be human… or even what you appear… but you are more, much more… than my own imagination."

A smile broke across Aura's face, and Aaron felt relief. Aura's smile always made him feel better; it was a whole other miracle of its own.