Grasping for what's there || Tyriel & Baal

Anger and frustration filled Baal's heart remembering how utterly weak he was when the man invaded the kingdom.  His plot to change the world through domination instead of other peaceful methods.  If only he was even as strong as he was now, then he would have been able to do something and kept the kingdom in-tact.   His body relaxed the moment Tyriel's fingers settled upon his shaking fist.  He stopped for a moment to look at the woman.  

~ Why does this earth woman make me feel like this?  Why is she so kind and gentle with someone like me?  Why does she not fear me after what happened in the town?  What's wrong with this woman?  Why?  Why did she take me to a place like this and why is she asking so many questions about where I came from?  Why did I respond to her?  Why does my heart beat fast whenever I'm with her?  Why did I feel dread when I couldn't see her and pure anger when she was being attacked by that man in the town?  Why?  Why? ~ Baal pondered to himself within that brief moment.  He has had several relationships in the 100 years he has been on Earth, but none of them were like this woman.  She was kind and seemed to genuinely care about what Baal had to think of and what Baal was like.  Why was this one so different?

"Home is where the heart is?" he said inquisitively as he turned to watch the flowers being taken by the wind.  "Is that phrase popular on earth?" he asked as he then noticed the woman sitting up with her hand offered to him.  The wind blew through her hair and the flowers she released earlier blowing behind her.  Baal's mouth was agape for a moment, like he had seen someone from his past doing the exact same thing.  

400 Years Ago wrote:

"Baal!
Baal!
Open your eyes, Baal!"

came muffled words, stirring Baal awake.  Blood had dried from his nose and the corner of his mouth as he laid in a pool of his own coagulated blood.  Baal was sweating profusely as he turned to look up towards the source of the noise.  

"Thank the gods, you're still alive!" entered his ears slightly less distorted than earlier.  He felt a warm embrace upon his small body.  The smell of lavender and honey filled his nose.  The scent was familiar.  Recognition helped Baal return to his senses and he put his arms around the person hugging him.  The child began to cry into the woman's chest.  

"I knew you would come for me, sister!  I told him!  He said so many bad things about you!" he said as he continued to cry into her chest.  The woman wore a purple gown with long sleeves and a long train upon the gown.  She nodded her head towards the several guards she brought with her before patting Baal's head.  

"Don't worry, dear brother.  We're going to find the man and make sure he doesn't hurt any one of us ever again.  We'll also be sure to put an end to his line.  Yes, his bloodline has been tainted so we must cleanse it," she said.  The look of a beast written upon her eyes.  She didn't take too kindly to people abducting her dear brother to be used as a pawn for his own sick desires.  

"Grow strong, Baal and protect this world," she said softly to him.   Baal didn't hear anything that she said due to his loud crying.  She was given a nod by one of her guards, causing her to stand up. A face could be seen upon her chest where Baal was crying into.  She flicked her wrist, freeing her palm and exposing it to Baal.  "Come, Baal.  Let's go back home, okay?"

Baal reached his hand out to take Tyriel's and pulled himself up.

Her smile radiated after he brought himself up upon his own two feet.  He finally learned something about this woman.  She lived in that village until recently.  The thought of having killed someone she possibly knew lingered in the back of his mind.  No, now wasn't the time to think about things like that.  The time was supposed to be a happy one.  He let a smile come across his face.  "You should show me this library sometime," he simply stated before the two walked through the field of colors.  

Flowers fluttered through the air as the two moved across the field under cerulean skies.  Baal liked Earth, but he never really enjoyed this place.  His heart longed to return to Elysium, but the words spoken by Tyriel resonated through his very soul.  The words echoed through his mind as he continued following her through terrifying terrain.  He used his Mystic Hands to stabilize their trek, making sure neither of them hurt themselves over the harsh terrain.  The air grew humid and the smell of water filled his nose.  After Tyriel pulled away the wall of thick brush, Baal took a deep breath in out of amazement.

Baal hadn't ever seen something like this in person.  He had seen paintings and read descriptions of waterfalls, but never actually witnessed one with his own two eyes.  His jaw remained dropped as he watched the water particles form into a thick, coarse mist behind her.  She took a seat upon a boulder that overlooked the pool and began playing with the water with her hands.  A smile came across Baal's face as he watched her obviously smiling with happiness.  

Clearing his throat, Baal began to disrobe his armor.  With a little smile, he removed the majority of his armor before stopping for a moment.  "Well, let's enjoy this while we're here," he said, implying that he was going to go in for a swim.  After removing his armor, he was down to his skivvies.  Wrapping up his armor and scythe within his large cloak, the tossed set his scythe upwards to stick out of the ground so his packed up clothing could be seen clearly.  

Baal's long hair fluttered in the wind created by the moving water.  He turned and looked to Tyr for a moment with a big smile before putting a foot upon the boulder that Tyr sat upon.  "See you at the bottom," he said with a laugh before jumping onto the boulder and diving off of the boulder, landing feet-first into the pool of water down below.  The pool was deep and pristine; Tyr was able to see Baal's descent into the water and eventual rise up to the surface.  Moving his long hair out of his face, he looked up towards Tyr and started to tread water.  

"What are you waiting for?" he said as his voice was muffled due to the explosive roar of the waterfall.  

Baal curled his lip a bit as she was in another location in waist deep water.  Baal raised a brow and began to swim over towards Tyr.  His feet were finally able to touch the rocky bottom of the pool of water.  Drips of pristine water moved down his chiseled abs.  His hands ran through his long, flowing hair to move it out-from-over his eyes.  Baal crossed his arms over his chest for a moment as he watched the woman in the waist deep water.  He noticed what she was wearing and instantly his face turned a deep shade of red.  Something about what she's wearing caused his face to grow warm.  

He gave her quite the stern look for a brief moment before holding his hand out to her.  "Well, then now's a good time to learn how to swim right?  Don't worry, I'll make sure you're safe," he said with a big bright smile upon his face.  He wasn't sure the woman trusted him enough yet so Baal wasn't expecting anything to come out of this.  The sun was angled just right for the drops of water upon Baal's body to shine in the sunlight.  A drop of water streaked down his body, looking like a shooting star upon a gray sky.

"It's fun.  Trust me, I've been doing this for years," he said as he looked directly into Tyriel's eyes.  Baal had a large red tattoo upon his left pectoral and the Infinity Hydra emblem on the right side of his throat.  His body was covered in scars.  "I won't let anything bad happen to you, Lady Tyriel," he said with a firm resolve.  His hand still out there for the taking.

Baal laughed at Tyriel's reaction for a moment.  He placed his arms around her, pressing her close to him, allowing their bodies to press against each other firmly.  He adjusted her to where her face was level with his.  He was, after all, still standing in the water.  "Thank you," he said before propelling himself towards the deep water.  As soon as he entered the deep water, he began to tread the water with his feet and with his Mystic Hands.  The two remained above the water, face to face.  

"It's alright, Tyriel, you're fine," he said with a little chuckle.  He felt her shaking uncontrollably.  Whether she reached out to him of her own free will or because Baal asked wasn't something Baal would know, but he was happy none-the-less that she decided to trust him.  He placed his hand upon her lower back and pressed her into him a bit tighter.  "This isn't too bad is it?" he asked a bit, turning his eyes to the side for a moment.  Both of their faces were beet red.

"Thank you for bringing me here.  This is the first time I've seen something like this since I've lived here.  I wouldn't have seen something beautiful like this if it wasn't for you," he said before swallowing hard.   Something had been itching him in the back of his mind for the past few hours now.  He figured, since the two were face to face, now would be the right time.  "You don't regret what happened last night, do you?"

Yes, he realized that he was Tyr's first.  That much he was perfectly aware of.  Relief washed over Baal in the form of a sigh once he heard that she didn't regret what happened.  Baal laughed a bit, as well, when his turn to answer was up.  "The only part I regret was not remembering most of it," he said removing one of his arms from her and used to to scratch the back of his head.  However, even if he released her with one arm, she remained still due to his invisible hands providing plenty of support for her.  

"But I already told you to not worry about that.  I can't get home so I'm effectively dead to them.  I need to start a new life here, ya know?" he stated before clearing his throat.  "Well, I was wondering if you'd help me out with that," he said clearing his throat once more, this time as a nervous tick.  

While a part of him felt bad about taking her first time away under the influence of alcohol, the other part of him realized that he can't do anything to change that.  The two of them floated towards the rushing pillar of water, feeling the aerated bubbles of water passing over his back.  "Well, would you be willing to try again, sober sometime?"

Baal started to get nervous, not having done this too many times and still isn't used to Earth's customs of courting.  "What I'm trying to say is," he said with a slight pause.  "I want you to be my girlfriend."  Yes, he read this from a book and he's trying to emulate it.  Unfortunately the characters within said book were 14-15 year olds, which might seem a bit awkward for someone with the physical age of 28 doing it.  But some people might find it cute, while others might find it pathetic.  

A soft hand was placed upon his cheek before her soft lips pressed against his. This was her answer to his request.  His heart began to throb feverishly and ferociously.  If she was touching his chest, she'd be able to feel the beating of his heart in a rapid pace.  The kiss was a sneak-attack!  Baal wasn't ready for it.  This was probably the first time in many years that he kissed a woman and the first time since he arrived on Earth that a woman made him feel lighter than air.  She said 'Yes'.

Baal wrapped his arms around Tyriel and returned the kiss to her.  As the two kissed again, they started to float towards the waterfall eventually having the water beat down upon Baal's back slightly.  The water was cool and exhilarating, forcing Baal to curl his back a bit, breaking away from the kiss.  This causes Baal to laugh a bit, trying to keep Tyr away from the falling water, though the spray had enough of an angle to get her plenty.  

Baal tried with his might to move away from the waterfall (or at least the outer edge of it since the main body of the waterfall might crush him due to the weight) and cleared his throat.  "Want to eat?  I'm a little hungry," he said as if, on queue, his stomach growled.  

Tyriel agreed to the mentioning of food.  The sun had about an hour left before it dipped below the horizon.  Quickly wading his way towards the shore, he propelled himself and Tyriel towards the shore with his many near-invisible hands.  Once they were in waist-deep water, he let his grip on Tyriel go, allowing her freedom of movement.  Shaking his body a bit to shake off some of the water, he turned his eyes towards her as she removed her bra directly in front of him.  Since when did she get so bold?  Was it the declaration of his feelings for her?  Possibly.

Clearing his throat, one of his several nervous ticks, Baal held up a finger and looked to her when she had some clothing on.  While he enjoyed the way she looked with or without clothing, he didn't want to look like a pervert and just stare.  "Give me a minute to go retrieve my stuff," he said before slowly moving his way back towards the water.  This time, however, he hovered above the surface of the water.  Stopping by the waterfall, he looked around for a brief moment and started to 'climb' his way up.  His Mystic Hands finding hand-holds and slowly propelling himself upwards.  To Tyriel, it looks like he's simply levitating upwards with assistance of pure data.  

Finding his way up onto the boulder from earlier, he removed his skivvies and got dressed into his armor, making sure everything fit just fine.  He dropped his wet underwear into his leather satchel and took a firm grasp of his scythe.  He took a step up on the boulder and looked down.  "How did I just jump off of this without losing my mind?  I guess this thing called love really does make people do stupid things," he said before turning to look towards the slope downwards.  He groaned lightly as he just found the path that Tyriel took, using it to descend downward to dry land.  

"Lunch boxes, hm?  Well, better late than never right?" he said as he cleared his throat for a moment.  Baal looked around and held up yet another finger to indicate that he needed a moment.  He looked for some good trees to take down.  Hopefully something nice and dead.  After a few moments, Baal returned with a hand full of sticks and logs, placing it down and setting it up for a fire.  

It's probably gonna get cold, so he might as well start a fire.  Several attempts later, a fire was built... tada!  Like magic!  After the fire was built and burning, he cracked open his lunch box and dug in.  "I want to thank you for bringing me here, Tyr.  You've shown me how beautiful this planet can be.  And you're right, home is where I place my heart," he said with a smile as he continued to put food into his stomach.  The food was delicious.  He cleared his throat as a thought entered his mind.

"How are we going to tell the others in the guild?"  he asked.  He cleared his throat and put his food down, unclasping the leather bag on his hip and placed it on the ground.  "Oh, right.  Go ahead and put your wet underwear in there," he stated.  Yeah, this was probably a bad idea, but due to his lack of experience about humanity, this seemed relatively normal and more efficient in his mind.

Yes, the two of them need to tell the Guildmaster about their relationship.  It was the right choice as something like a relationship, especially between a normal member and higher ranking member, within guild-members may create a stir and even shifted morale.  This also ensures that Baal can no longer be in the same chain-of-command as Tyriel, if she ever so happens to become a leader, due to possible favoritism.   There are a lot of good reasons to tell Ardere about their relationship, but something in the pit of his gut fears that he would out-right deny what they have so far.  Could simply be his misunderstanding of humans and it could also just be that he doesn't really know Ardere very well.

"Yes, I suppose you're right," Baal said as his eyes closed and his mouth widened a bit.  It continued to do so in a cartoony/comedic fashion.  If someone could be straight-faced and if the artist just continued drawing the straight line to express the mouth for much further than the confines of his own head, that'd be the expression Baal had at the moment.

The sun began to dip down below the horizon.  Just in time, as well.  Baal set down his boxed food upon the blanket that Tyriel had thoughtfully bought for this excursion.  He placed his hand flat upon the blanket, feeling the soft material upon his palms.  The moon didn't show it's face tonight, making the night extremely dark, other than the speckle of stars in the sky.  Baal turned his eyes up to the sky for a moment with a pleasant look upon his face.  

"I've been on this planet for about a hundred years now.  I've seen you humans born and I've seen those same humans live out their entire lives to die of old age.  Elysians live very long lives compared to you humans.  Compared to us, your lifespans are less than our childhoods.  So it hurts me to see your kind fighting one another when your kind are such a short-lived species," he said as he continued to stare up at the serene night sky.    That is something he regrets by getting into relationships with humans.  He will watch them grow old, wither, and die while he will remain the same way.  

From the ground, gentle green orbs of light began to rise up.  They appeared to look like orbs, disobeying gravity.  Little stars upon the earth that long to be stars in the heavens. Along with their campfire, the fireflies begin to illuminate the night sky before them. Baal looked at them, for a moment, in pure awe and amazement. Tugging a bit at his lips, he turned his eyes to look towards Tyriel, seeing some of the fireflies gather near her.  

Baal stares intently towards Tyriel as he saw the fireflies gather around her.  This woman is the personification of beauty and even nature knows it.  This caused the Elysian to take pause.  A single firefly found it's way upon her soft hand and she closed it, gently ensnaring the firefly.  Her voice brought him back to reality.  A shake of the head was one of the responses he gave to Tyriel.  "We are mages.  We don't have the luxury of leading a comfortable life.  That's just," he said before turning his eyes a bit, thinking of Elysium for a moment.  "what fate dealt to us."  

The words she spoke of stung.  The fact that what fireflies produce in their short lives were beautiful.  Was what humans produced in their short lives, beautiful as well?  Was what Elysians produce in their long lives not worth mentioning?  All because of the simple scaling of time.  Just that very parable made Baal question the meaning of his own life until this point.  All he did while arriving to Earth was try to survive.  He didn't take much time to assimilate with their culture nor did he really take the time to learn from them.  He had a single goal in mind; to return home.  But this woman single-handedly made him reconsider the last 100 years.  It took someone who had been alive for only 22 years to make him ponder like this.

His palm was opened up and a firefly was placed within.  This caused his heart to race even faster than before.  Was this some form of strange Earth ritual?  How should he react.  Oh!  He knows!  Baal simply smiled towards Tyriel for a moment, keeping enough space between his palms to keep the firefly alive.

"But if they do have short lives, wouldn't it be best to," he said as he opened his hand, letting the firefly free.  "let them live as they are?"  

Baal let out a small laugh.  "Remember I said I was a member of the Royal Family on Elysium?" he asked, recalling what he mentioned earlier.  "I was actually the King of Elysium.  I had a beautiful wife and the majority of the realm loved us.  We were both kind and caring to our subjects.  But someone didn't like the way our traditions were and sought to change it.  These people kidnapped me when I was a child in order to gain leverage and..." he said as he began to explain what happened and how he got here to earth.  

After he explained to her the events that lead him to come to this planet, he smiled a bit.  "I don't regret any of it.  I got to meet someone as amazing as you.  Something I would never have been able to do if I was still in Elysium.  For that, I thank you."