His Wind And His Flowers

He walked along the shores, occasionally picking up

some shells he found that appeal to his tastes.
‘Rikumo, Rikumo, where have you been all this
while? Did the sea claim you as the new
god? Or did you leave me because of what I am?’ He
said as he strolled, not caring about the waves soaking
his clothes. ‘If the sea claimed you, I’m so sorry. I wish
I could protect you, but the sea needs you and I can’t
do anything to stop it.’
The sea failed to reply to him. He sighed, ‘I found
a boy a few centuries back and he was asleep until
a few months ago. He reminds me a lot of you, you
know. Do you know him?’
Again, the sea was silent. He had grown used to
the sea not replying to him for the years he spent
alone. He sat down on the sand and told the sea to
give him a reply soon. After gazing at the sea for a
while more, he returned back to his house, where the
boy he found was resting.
The boy was sitting on the floor, his pale hair
dangling over his shoulders. “Kiyo,” He said softly, not
bothering to turn around. “Where have you been?”
It was only a few months since he had woken up.
To be woken from a slumber only to find out you have
been asleep for a few centuries, you are not human,
and that you are now in the spirit world with nobody
you know, is a lot for someone to bear.
Kiyo was surprised that he had not lost his mind
from horror.
“Kiyo, were you serious when you said I could stay
here until my last?” The boy asked.
“Of course, you have nowhere else to go, do you?
You are keeping me company when you are here,”
Kiyo replied calmly, picking up a piece of cloth from
the floor. “Don’t think you’re a burden, Kei. You’ve
suffered enough already.”
“But…”
Sighing, Kiyo confessed, ‘Enough, let me tell you
something. Remember the human I told you about? The
one called Rikumo? I had a dream about her. When
she disappeared, I thought she drowned in the sea
and I never bothered to find her. Little did I know,
she is still alive, in the sea.’ He paused for a moment
to catch his breath ‘I went to the sea just now but
she wasn’t there’
‘Haha… are you sure it wasn’t just a dream?’ Kei
teased.
Kiyo shook his head vigorously, ‘Impossible. I just
know it’s not a dream.”
 Kei knew the Rikumo he was talking about was a
human girl taken by the sea some time before he
met Kiyo.
Nevertheless, Kei was intrigued by the
mysteriousness from Rikumo so he agreed to follow Kiyo
to find Rikumo, hoping to understand more about her.
‘Very well, then shall we go and find her… later
perhaps? I’d like to show you the spirit world to get
you familiarised.’
That day, Kiyo brought Kei to see the spirit world.
It was similar to the human world, except all sorts of
creatures inhabited it. Kei clung on to Kiyo tightly,
fearing he would get lost. Around the evening, Kiyo led
him to the sea. The wind was soft as it caressed his
face.
 ‘If you are worried about breathing underwater,
don’t worry.’ Kiyo assured him. ‘Just stick close to me
and never let go.’
Throughout the whole dive into the sea, Kei never
dared to speak or resist the cold water that wrapped
around his body. Whenever he glanced at Kiyo, he
seemed to be all calm and relaxed, as if he was all
experienced in this.
He felt his grip slip away from Kiyo’s hand, as his
vision began to blur. ‘Shh… we’re almost there,’ Kiyo
cooed softly, like a mother to a child, tightening his grip
around his hand. Kei leaned himself onto Kiyo for
support while he continued to walk through the marble
pavement at the bottom of the sea.
Somewhere during the walk, Kiyo stopped.
“We’re here now. Just act normally and be polite.
They don’t bite, I promise.”
 Kiyo had led him to a temple-like building that
rested on a steep hill with stone slabs leading up. It
was well decorated, with a colour scheme of arctic blue,
teal and periwinkle blue. The building that rested on
the top of the hill seemed to have gone through a lot,
with small slabs missing from it.
Grabbing Kei’s hand, Kiyo dragged him up the
steps. “This is where Rikumo resides, if I’m not
wrong.”
“Give me some context about her first,” Kei
muttered as he slid up the steps. The designer of
the place had designed the steps to be so slippery
and as time passed, the steps were barely visible
after being buried with sand and all sorts of weeds.
Kiyo increased his walking speed, with Kei clinging
onto his hand desperately..
“I met her a decade before you showed up. She
was just like you, got washed up ashore. She said she
ran away from home and accidentally fell into the sea.
She stayed with me for a year, and disappeared. It
was not until recently that I came to the conclusion
she’s in the sea.”
“Why is she in the sea?”
Kiyo’s blue eyes widened for a second, “Shoot. I
uh… forgot to tell you that… I’m the god of the wind…
and uh…” Before he could finish, Kei had gotten on his
knees. “I- there’s no need to pay respects to me! I…
uh… I’m actually one of the youngest and newest gods
among all and uh… I’m really weak in general! Come on,
we have to go meet Rikumo!”
He pulled Kei up by the back of his collar. With
an embarrassed expression, Kei followed the god.
 The building seemed to be under repair. There
was some minimal construction work going on around
the walls as creatures guarded it.
The sight of creatures in the spirit world made
Kei gulp. They look nothing like humans, with most of
them having distorted features and soulless eyes.
Occasionally he would see some humans, but they
always seemed to disappear before he could take a
closer look.
The guards around the building seemed to be
wary of Kei, with their eyes all slanted, but their
expression quickly transformed into admiration when
they saw Kiyo.
“Good evening,” Kiyo’s tone was cold, a huge
contrast to what he was to Kei. “May I know if Rikumo
is here?”
 The guard was a human with lots of fish-like
features. Nodding his head, he led the two of them
into the building.
The interior of the building is well decorated, with
huge pillars decorated with sea-creatures carving. The
walls had huge paintings of people, the most common
person painted was a lady. Her hair and clothes were
all long and flowy, like the waves of the sea. At her
side of her head, she had fish fins that stuck out like
hairpieces. Her rosy lips, paired with her golden eyes,
gave the impression of a porcelain doll. Her image was
enchanting.
When he turned his gaze away from the lady,
he then caught sight of someone else in the room
other than Kiyo. It was a girl, hunched over something
at the table nearby, her light blue locks all over the
wooden surface.
 “Rikumo,” Kiyo took a step towards her. “Rikumo,
Rikumo…”
Rikumo lifted her head up. “Kiyo,” She muttered.
“You’re back. I have so much to tell you… Cynco said I’m
the reincarnation of someone called Riara…” She
slumped on the seat.
Kei clicked his tongue in annoyance, but he was
stopped by Kiyo. He placed a finger on his lips,
“Someone’s coming.”
The sound of cloth being dragged across the
floor echoed through the hallway. Rikumo’s jade green
eyes widened in fear.
There, at the door, was a young lad. He leaned
against the doorpost, looking at them with an
uninterested look. “Kiyo, hm? Such a pity, you could
have almost gotten Rikumo out of here if it wasn’t
because of the amount of noise you made.” He turned
his gaze towards Kei.
Kiyo kept his face solemn,” Ah good evening, Cynco.
I see that you have not gotten over Riara’s demise.”
Cynco’s face turned pale. “Don’t you dare mention
her name, you-“
“I don’t think you have the right to talk to a god
like that,” an unfamiliar female voice popped out from
the entrance of the room. It was a lady, with a tall
frame. Her cold teal gaze swept over the room, till it
rested on Kei and Rikumo. At the sight of the two
people, her mouth curled into a slight smile.
Kiyo grabbed onto Kei’s arm and led him a step
back.
The lady strode closer towards them, the beads on
her green dress clattering across the floor.
 “Rikumo, you will be the next Riara. Serve us
well,” She muttered, kneeling down to meet Rikumo at
eye-level. Rikumo backed away in terror.
Just as things were about to get tense, Kiara
picked herself up from the floor. With Kiara standing,
even Cynco retreated a step out of worry.
“I will be leaving now. Cynco, teach Rikumo
whatever is needed to be a good goddess,” Kiara pulled
down her coat before turning to Kei, earning a
surprised look from him. “You. Meet me at my place
tomorrow at noon. Kiyo, you know where my place is,
don’t you?”
Kiyo gave a blunt reply of “yes”, refusing to look
Kiara in the eye.
Sensing that her presence was unwelcome, Kiara
gave a slight nod and left the building, her long grey
velvet coat hanging loosely on her elbows.
 Kei shot a glance at Kiyo, “You haven’t finished
telling me the story about Rikumo.” Cynco narrowed his
eyes in confusion.
Ruffling his hair, Kiyo replied, “It’s nothing much,
really, basically I found her at the beach one day and
she was forced to become the god of the sea,” He
gave a displeased look to Cynco. “And since she is now
a god, she won’t age significantly anytime soon.”
Sensing the tense mood between Cynco and Kiyo,
Rikumo tried to lighten it by offering to brew some
tea. When she returned with a tray of piping hot
tea, the three people were seated with two of them
glaring at each other.
Kei had known Kiyo for a day already, and his
personality was hard to interpret. His voice was
soothing and his actions to him were gentle, giving him
the motherly and charismatic impression. Yet, to Cynco
and the guards, his tone was cold and bitter, with no
hint of the same warmth he directed towards him.
However, his kindness seemed to only be directed at
him. This was implied with the neutral tone he used
when talking to Rikumo, making their relationship seem
like a mutual respect relationship despite them
knowing each other longer than he knew Kiyo.
“It’s alright, Kiyo. I’m fine with being a god, it’s not
as bad-”