Chapter 11: Carmen VS Grey

Chapter 11: Carmen VS Grey

The two jumped as they looked over a mere few yards away and found that a portion of the garden had been turned to dust.

“Who dares attack my garden?!” Carmen yelled at the top of her lungs. Her face dark with rage. She turned towards the sky and growled. “Grey…”

Grey floated in the sky. He sat in a wheelchair made of bones. He merely smiled down at them. He turned the wine glass in his hand and examined the color of the liquid.

“It’s been a while Carmen,” his coy smile said it all.

“How dare you attack my garden?” Carmen pointed an accusing finger at Grey.

“Now, now. Don’t be so upset. After all, you’re the one who kidnapped a deity who doesn’t even know how to use his powers yet.”

“Emi is the doing the best she can to help me. You’re the jerk who came here and blew up my precious babies!” Carmen jumped into the air. She plucked another flower off of her hair band.

It morphed into a large weapon. The handle was long. On one end of the handle was a large hammer. It looked like one of those hammers that you would use to play whack-a-mole with. On the other end was an axe. Roses and thorny vines decorated the weapon.

Carmen swung the axe part at Grey.

Grey moved out of the way, but a wheel on the wheelchair was still hit. It broke into pieces.

He glared at Carmen. “Always a harsh one, aren’t you?”

“Several of my children are dead because of you, you damned jerk.” Carmen hissed.

“It is not my problem Carmen,” Grey rolled his eyes at her as he stood. A wheel emerged from underneath the wheelchair and Grey seemed to float above it. “I’m only here to take the water deity home. You have no right to kidnap him.”

“I did not kidnap her!” Carmen hollered as she lunged at him again.

Grey sighed as he dodged her attacks by simply pressing his foot down on the wheel in either direction to get out of her way.

Emi stared on in shock as this went on. “This is crazy,” he moved his hair out of his face. He looked around frantically. There had to be something that he could use to stop them. If they didn’t stop soon, one of them was bound to lose a limb. Most likely Greg.

“What is up with that guy? An axe is swinging inches from his body, and he’s still smug as ever,” Emi thought as he looked around. His eyes spotted pieces of Grey’s wheelchair.

Emi ran for it. Surely he could use a piece of the wreckage to stop them. He searched for anything he could use.

“Oof!” Emi fell face first into the dirt. He glared up at his feet and spotted a wooden plank. It had fallen off of the wheelchair. He had tripped over it. Emi yanked it up out of the dirt. It was one of the spokes of the wheel that Carmen had smashed.

 Emi took a deep breath as he turned to look at the two still fighting. He wiped the sweat from his hands onto his pants as he tried to get a good grip on the piece of wood. He mimicked the Olympian stances the best he could.

“Stop it you two!” He yelled as he let the spoke fly through the air.

It fell short of hitting them.

Grey, however, showed up in front of him. “What are you trying to do?”

“Stopping you two from fighting,” Emi stated, “How can you be so calm with an axe a few inches from your face!”

Grey laughed.

“Get away from her!” Carmen swiped the axe at Grey’s back. Grey rolled his eyes as he yanked Emi up and did a turn away from the axe. Carmen gasped. “Let Emi go!”

“I’m not here to hurt anyone,” Grey flew a few feet off of the ground. Emi yelped as he squirmed at the rapid ascent.

“That’s not what it looks like to me!” Carmen hollered. “Now put that poor girl down.”

Grey smiled. It was becoming hard for him not to snicker. He opened his mouth, but the ground began to shake.

Chapter 10: Paint the Roses with Water

Chapter 10: Paint the Roses with Water

Emi tried to create water, but he just couldn’t figure out how. He had tried humming, but he wasn’t getting a response from any water anywhere. In fact, it just felt unbearably hot to him. Emi couldn’t feel any water anywhere in the field. Every time Emi had used his powers water had been around in spades. Emi sat on the dirt path, cradling his head in his hands.

He glared touching his head. He was burning up, but he wasn’t sweating.

“If I was sweating, maybe I could use that to water these fields.” Emi thought to himself. “It wouldn’t do much though.” He looked around at the miles of wilted roses bushes.

A woman stood at the balcony again. She frowned as she stared into a clear pond. She turned at a rustling sound.

“He’s been taken to the dying rose fields,” She stated as she looked at the figure behind her. She turned back to lean over the railing. “If he can not revive those fields, I’m afraid the rose deity will turn violent.”

“She does jump first into action,” the male figure crossed his arms. “What do you suggest, my lady?”

“Send the deity of death,” She ordered. “The boy already knows Grey. He will not have too many questions of him.”

“As you wish my lady.”

Grey smirked as he leaned back in his chair. “So the new guy has been kidnapped by the rose deity?” He tapped his fingers on the arms of his chair rhythmically. “This will be fun to watch.” He leaned forward to stare at large screen showing Emi and Carmen on it.

“Do you intend to just watch?” the man who was just with the elegantly dressed woman at the balcony stood with his back against the wall.

“Am I not allowed to?” Grey fringed innocence. The man growled in response. Grey laughed as he dusted off his shirt. He stood and dusted off his pants. “Relax I’m going.” He walked to the man and leaned in with a smile. “Don’t be upset if things don’t go the way you want. After all, you’re the ones hiding.” The last word came out as long and song like. With that, Grey spun out of the door.

Emi was sweating. He growled though, all the sweat he was feeling and there wasn’t enough to put on the plants. Though we was trying.

“I need to start drinking more water,” Emi thought to himself.

“So how’s it going?” Carmen asked as she ran up to him. Her eyes were super hopeful.

Emi stared at her wearily. A part of him wondering how she wasn’t dying in this heat.

Carmen the Rose Deity was a short woman. Her red hair went down her back and stopped short at her waist. She wore sandals with a rose design on them. A simple tank top and shorts.

“Uhm…” Emi felt his tongue weigh down in his throat.

KA-BOOM!

The two jumped as they looked over a mere few yards away and found that a portion of the garden had been turned to dust.

Chapter 9: A Kidnapping

Chapter 9: A Kidnapping

“She’s the deity!” The customer jumped up excitedly. Her hands clapped together.

Emi stared at her confused. “Uhh…”

She walked up to Emi with the happiest look in her eyes. She grabbed a hold of his hand. “I’ve been looking for you! I’m so glad you’re such a kind young lady.”

“Eh,” Emi tried to step back. “Listen, I think you’re confused,”

“No I’m not. You’re the new water deity!” She threw her arms around him. Her hug was so tight that Emi felt his bones begin to crack. “I’m so glad I found you! Come on, the fields are in desperate need of you.” She began pulling Emi by his hand.

“Fields?” Emi gasped, “What are you talking about?”

She simply giggled. “My fields. I need you to heal them. My deity powers aren’t enough to heal them.” She placed a 20 dollar bill on the table. She turned and grabbed a hold of Emi’s hands, “But with you, I can heal them all up. My fields will be lively and beautiful again!”

“Listen, I don’t think,” Emi began but was cut off by her dragging him to the door. Once they stood outside, she grabbed the rose hairpin from her hair. She snapped the hairpin opened and it became a portal. “What’s that!?” Emi gasped.

“It’s a portal to my fields,” she stated, “Now come on. My fields don’t have long.”

Emi was pushed into the portal.

Emi landed into a field. He cried out as thorns stuck his arms. He sat up and stared around him. For miles and miles on end, there was nothing but roses. There was a dirt path were the branches and vines of roses didn’t overlap for people to walk on. It would have been beautiful, except for the fact that all of the foliage here was brown and withered.

“Where is this place?” Emi shouted.

“These are my flowers fields,” the woman stated as she came through the portal. “I’m Carmen, a rose deity.” She waved her hands over the fields as she brought Emi to the dirt path. “I’ve tried my best to keep my roses alive, but something is keeping them from thriving. I think they’re not getting enough water. I’ve brought all the water I can, but it’s not enough. But you can create plenty of water for my roses.”

Carmen grabbed hold of Emi’s hands, a hopeful look in her eyes.

Emi bit his lip. He was sure the roses used to be beautiful. He was a water deity; Carmen had gotten that right. But Emi had never created water. He was still having trouble not freezing water. He had no clue if he could ‘create’ water for these dying fields. But he didn’t want to disappoint the deity.

“It’s a deity’s job to help those in need when it falls into their area,” Symphia stated during one of their training sessions.

Emi smiled as he placed a hand over hers. “I’ll try my best. But I can’t guarantee anything. I’m still very new to this deity thing.”

“Just so long as my roses are brought back to life,” Carmen stated, “I’ll be happy.”

Chapter 8: The Cafe

Chapter 8: The Café

Carmen found herself standing on a small bridge in the koi pond. She leaned down to look at the fish swimming away.

“Hey, do you guys know of a water deity?” She asked the fish. Several of the koi jumped up and pointed with their heads in a direction. Another group wrote out café with their bodies. She nodded, “Thanks for your help.”

Carmen skipped down the road.

The koi fish began talking amongst themselves.

A rose deity! A rose deity!

Such a weird sight indeed.

Wonder what she wants?

Wish I could watch.

Shush...

Maybe they’ll come by here.

The café was filled to the brim with people. Carmen walked into the busy café and paused at the sign that said, “Please wait to be seated.”

“Just one,” a young girl asked. Her raven hair was curly and pinned up into two round balls at the sides of her head. Two long ponytails looped underneath her hair. Her dress was long and ruffled out at the ends. The top of the dress was just below her collarbone and was adorn with golden circles. Her sleeves reminded Carmen of seashells. She also wore a pear bracelet on her left wrist.

Carmen thought she was absolutely adorable. She responded with a warm and excited yes.

The girl carefully lifted her skirt to walk without tripping. Her white heels had a crescent moon on them. She politely pulled out a chair for Carmen. She placed the menu in front of her. “Is there anything I can get you to drink while you decide what you’d like?” Her voice was a soft tenor. Her eyes were an icey blue that would send shivers down people’s spine. But she just appeared too warm and to Carmen, her eyes reminded her of pools water.

“Just water for now, please.” Carmen stated as she opened the menu. She looked up from the menu around the café. The water deity was here somewhere. All Carmen had to do was find him. She glanced at the menu before scanning over the café. She couldn’t see anything that looked like water powers.

An hour later and she still hadn’t seen anything that looked like the water deity. She had drunk at least 3 glasses of water as she tried to figure out where the deity would be. A few trips to the bathroom later and she still had nothing.

“Emi can you clean that table off?” A girl dressed in a Japanese school girl uniform pointed at a table that had recently been sitting a family of six. It was a total mess, but Emi simply nodded.

“I’ve got it!” Emi replied as he placed another glass in front of Carmen.

“Such a kind young lady,” Carmen thought as she took a sip of her fourth glass.

Emi picked up a half full glass of soda and Carmen’s eyes widened. The soda inside froze on contact. The crackling sound of the sudden freeze drew Emi’s attention to it. His eyes widen as he grimaces. He began moving quickly, hopefully no noticed.

“She’s the deity!” Carmen cheered aloud as she stood up abruptly.

Emi turned to stare at her confused.

Chapter 7: Volume 2

Emi The Deity

Book 2: The Dry Rose Garden

By Krissie Gault

Chapter 7: Volume 2

His dress flowed to the ground. It was white with ruffles. The sleeves resembled sea shells and rested on his shoulders. The top lining of the dress had golden circles that rested below his collar bone. Emideus Cheshire Saint, Emi for short, was dressed as an anime princess of the moon. It matched the cosplay theme of the café perfectly. The café’s theme? Planets.

There were several moon princesses and even characters that represented other planets. Everyone chuckled when one of the servers came dressed as Captain Planet, a late 80s/early 90s super hero.

Emi twirled around in his dress on the stage. He lip-sang a Sailor Moon song that was requested by several of the patrons. They even filled the tip jar a quarter full trying to bring the musical performances quicker.

Emi was elated.

Today was a great day! He could feel it. He hadn’t had any power hiccups all day. Which instantly made Emi’s day great. Emi skipped down the steps of the stage and beamed with a wide grin as he walked over to a table. Two high school aged boys and three high school aged girls sat there.

“Did you enjoy the song?” Emi did his best impression of the character.

“You were wonderful!” the girl with pigtails gushed. The girl with a braid nodded in agreement. “Don’t you guys think so?” She leaned on the table as she addressed the boys accompanying them.

Two of the boys shrugged, “I guess.” They didn’t look like twins, but Emi found it amazing that they were so in sync. One had strawberry blond hair with freckles. He wore an Assassin Creed shirt. The other had curly black hair styled into an afro. He wore a Metroid shirt.

The third boy was the oldest there. He looked Emi up and down curiously before smirking. He wore a shirt with several video game controls on it. He wore several rubber bracelets on his right arm. “It’s been a while,” he waved lazily. “I can’t believe you work here? And in character too.”

Emi gave a smile though on the inside he was nervous. The man before him was Chad. Chad was a few grades behind him. Now Chad was either a junior or senior. Emi couldn’t completely recall. But he remembered Chad. Chad was rambunctious and always full of energy. Chad had tried out for every single sport he could just to get rid of all that extra energy he had.

“I almost didn’t recognize you,” Emi admitted, staying in character. “I hope you found an activity to help disperse all your energy.”

Chad grinned ear to ear. “I did! Tap dance actually. Not what pops was hoping for, but when you shine, you shine. These are freshmen from our school. Glenda and Bria were raving about this place and brought us along. I’m glad I came. Now I get to brag about what a star you were when you were in high school.”

Emi blushed. “I wasn’t really a star…”

“She went to our high school!?” The girl with the braid squealed as she clasped her hands together.

Chad simply nodded. “Yep. Princess Serenity here went to the same high school as us. I was lucky to be in the same school with this talent for two years. I remember causing you all kinds of trouble.” He smiled at Emi apologetically but with a warm joke attached. “If I recall you were on the cheers quad and in drama club for a while, weren’t you? I don’t remember if you took chorus or not.”

“Chorus and the cheer squad had too many overlapping dates. So, I wasn’t in chorus.” Emi replied. “But good memory.” He added a wink.

“I’m flattered,” Chad bowed.

“I can’t believe it! I went to the same school as Princess Serenity.” The braided hair girl continued to gush with the girl with pigtails.

“Now is there anything I can get for you guys?” Emi did his best to stifle his giggle. They had no clue that under this dress he was a man.

“How about our checks? I think it’s about time to be heading home before Bria here decides to become your ultimate fan girl,” Chad jabbed a thumb at the girl with the braid.

Emi nodded. “I’ll be right back with those.”

Quick work at the register and Emi returned to their table with the checks. He was also greatly relieved that Chad didn’t out him as a man in drag. Emi wouldn’t have minded, but it seemed to cause an uproar when patrons found out. It was like the concept of cross dressing was foreign to them. But then again, he was in the Bible Belt.

“Guess they’re just not ready for crossing dressers yet.” Emi thought as he handed out the checks to the group.

“You can pay at the cash register over there,” Emi pointed towards the register. He began to clean up once the group left. He dropped the dirty dishes off in the sink and returned with a cloth to wipe it off. Someone swept while he returned the cloth which made Emi happy because it was one less thing for him to do. He checked on the other tables.

The fields were covered in roses. There was a maze-like path for people to walk through. The roses were normally beautiful and blooming constantly. But something was wrong. The roses were turning brown and the leaves were shriveling. It was like the rose fields were dying. This greatly disturbed the deity of roses, Carmen. She had been trying every means she could in her power to bring the roses back to life. But none of her powers were enough. She had been bringing all the water she could carry to her fields, but even that wasn’t enough.

What she needed was a water deity who could bring water to the withering field.

There was just a small snag with that. She didn’t know where to find any water deities. In fact, it seemed that they were becoming a bit scarce. No one heard any tale of them dying, but it was just that no one had seen them. Like they all were just hiding.

“What a time to be playing hide and seek,” Carmen grumbled. She perked up as she saw a fairy flying overhead. “Why didn’t I think of it before? I could just get a water fairy or nymph!” She thought as she called the fairy over.

The fairy had her blond hair pulled back into a low pony tail. Her dress was made of dandelion petals. Her wings were a pale pink with sparkly swirl designs.

“Hey, do you know where I can find a water fairy? Nymph? Anything really? My roses are dying here without it.” She waved her hand around the field.

The fairy nodded. “So sad too that there’s not enough water for them. Why don’t you go ask a water god? They’d be able to fix this in a tick.”

“No one has seen a water god or deity in ages.” Carmen replied.

“Really? I’ve been hearing that there was a water deity in a city south of here. Maybe you can ask them?” the fairy suggested.

“What’s the name of that city?”

The fairy thought for a moment before answering. It was a simple city. But it was also a decent size. Carmen packed a bag and raced down to that state.

Chapter 6: The Jewelry Store

Chapter 6: The Jewelry Store

The jewelry store was a simple store. Emi was surprised. He hadn’t expected to be taken to a jewelry store for mythical creatures.

“Well we can’t take a centaur to a human jewelry store,” Symphia stated matter-of-factly when Emi had asked.

Now they were looking at pieces of elaborate jewelry. Harris looked overwhelmed.

“Harris, what here do you think Ethel would like? Or look really pretty in?” Emi asked helpfully.

“Well, Ethel loves the yellow wild flowers.” Harris answered with a shrugged. “She looks lovely with in crowns made from them.” He smiled as he thought of her.

“Well maybe something to match those flowers then?” Emi suggested.

“That would be wise,” Symphia smiled. “You should pick something here that you think she’ll love. So don’t be shy Harris.”

Harris nodded as he carefully walked around. He was trying to be careful not to walk on any of the little creatures. The store was run by gnomes and dwarfs. Fairies were flying around here and there.

It was a beautiful sight to Emi, but it made walking difficult for Harris. He had to constantly check that a little creature wasn’t under his foot.

“This looks lovely.” Harris pointed to a simple necklace. It had dangling glass flowers hanging off of it. They were all different colors connected together by a brass chain. The flowers were a pale orange and yellow. In the center was a large yellow flower with an orange flower in the center.

Symphia smiled in approval. “That will be perfect.”

Emi nodded in agreement.

After buying the necklace, they walked with Harris to Ethel’s house. Symphia and Emi waited by the mail box outside a large stable like house. It was a nice deep red house. Harris walked up slowly to the front door and knocked on the door. He held the box in his hand carefully.

The door opened as a large female centaur. She had a plump face and brown curly hair that was loosely tied in a pony tail that rolled over her shoulder. She smiled brightly at Harris.

Harris held the box out to her.

She looked at the box curiously as she took it from him and opened it. A smile spread across her face. She wrapped her arms around Harris’s shoulders.

Symphia nodded as she turned to Emi. “Our work here is done. Now let’s go back home.”

Emi nodded. Then a thought occurred to him. “I have to rebuy my groceries,” he muttered.

Symphia chuckled.

Page 4