Emi Line art

A line art of Emi in a waiter uniform.

Chapter 12: Rumbles

Chapter 12: Rumbles

Loud rumbles began to sound off as the ground began to shake. Carmen jumped up and floated above the ground. Grey pushed back on the wheel he stood on. It went down and then jumped into the air. Emi yelped as he gripped onto Grey’s arm.

“Please be careful with the nails,” Grey hissed.

“I’ve never been this high without being strapped into a rollercoaster,” Emi apologized. He wobbled as he attempted to lighten his grip on Grey.

Grey sighed as he placed his hands on his hips. He pulled the young boy into him and wrapped his arms around Emi’s waist. “Just stay close to me then.”

“Stop being so forward with Emi!” Carmen hollered. “It’s lewd.” She held her hands out to Emi. “Come here Emi, I’ll protect you.”

Emi wasn’t sure what to do. Stay on the wheel or float with the crazy lady without any ground support.

Grey answered for him. He tugged Emi back into him. “There’s a thing popping out of your precious field.”

Emi nodded as he saw the head of creature. Flames appeared on the top of it. “It’s on fire!” Emi shrieked back nearly knocking Grey back. Grey locked his knees straight as he stayed straight.

A large creature covered in rose vines and dirt came up from the ground. Fire seemed to escape from its mouth.

“Are dragons real too?” Emi whimpered.

“Yes.” Grey whispered.

“A dragon?” Carmen gasped.

“That explains why your garden was dying. That fire creature was drying everything up.” Grey pointed at the dragon.

It was large and appeared to be coughing fire. It had scaly skin and its horn curved downward. Emi was sure Carmen would throw a fit at the creature.

“There you are Min-min!” Carmen called as she flew over to the dragon.

Emi looked at Grey, looking for answers. Grey looked at him and shrugged. They were both at a loss.

Carmen hugged the creature. “I’ve been so worried about you!”

“I’m so confused…” Emi muttered.

“Oh, you guys don’t worry about Min-Min. She’s my pet,” Carmen explained. “I’ve been wondering where she wondered off to.” She patted the dragon’s head. “Go back to being small now.”

The dragon made a sound of a bark before doing a flip. It turned into a small dog. Carmen landed and held out her hands for the dragon.

“That’s my Min-Min!” She giggled as the dog licked her face.

Min-Min looked like a Shi Tzu dog with black, brown, and white fur.

Grey thought for a moment. His objective was to get Emi. He didn’t have to talk with the flower deity. But now he had questions. He could tell Emi had questions too, what with the way he was leaning forward looking at the ground. Grey landed the wheel in the nearly ruined field a few feet away from Carmen.

Emi hopped off of the wheel and up to Carmen. “This is your pet?”

“Yep! Her name is Min-Min. She’s a fire dragon. This is her everyday form. That other form was her fighting form. Which tells me she was in a fight before taking a nap,” Carmen looked sternly at the dog. Min-Min pouted before nuzzling up to her chest with big puppy dog eyes. Carmen smiled as she patted the animal’s head. “Her body releases nothing up heat when she’s in that form.”

“So that’s why I couldn’t find any water. Or enough water for all of your plants.” Emi hit the bottom of his fist into the palm of his other hand. “Though I don’t think I can fix this,” he said as he looked around the field.

Carmen waved a hand. “Don’t worry too much about it, they’ll grow back. I just have to get water here to refresh the ground. So I’ll have to make a trip to a spring.”

Emi nodded.

“When the fields get back to their wonderful self, I’ll come bring you again, okay?” Carmen grabbed his hands in hers.

“That sounds nice,” Emi smiled.

“Yes, yes,” Grey clapped his hands. “That’s very nice. I’ll be taking the water deity home now.”

“Okay, have a safe trip.” Carmen smiled as Min-Min gave a playful bark in her arms. “And Grey, treat Miss Emi nice.”

“I will Carmen.” Grey stated as he pulled Emi back onto his wheel. “Hold on tight.”

Emi nodded at the court order.

They flew a few yards into the sky before Grey waved his hand in the air creating a portal. They traveled through and Emi found himself flying above his job. Grey landed on the roof of the café and Emi stepped off.

Once Emi was safely off of the wheel, Grey began to chuckle.

“What?” Emi looked at the deity with a ‘what’s-wrong-with-you’ look.

“Carmen still thinks you’re a girl,” his laughing became a loud cackle.

Emi placed his hands on the side of his face. He looked similar to the painting, the Scream. “How could I have forgotten to correct her?” He fell to his knees in distressed.

“I doubt you would be able to correct her ever.” Grey waved his hand. “Just try to stay out of trouble for me.” Grey patted Emi’s shoulder before he flew off on his wheel into another portal.

Coloring Page Carmen

An inked Coloring page of Carmen. Our lovely Rose Deity.

Carmen Sketch

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.”