(...)

SIX MONTHS AGO

Aria was still confused, as she was holding her blankets around her body, and she saw behind herself the cloudy, foggy landscape. Her stomach was growling, as she had not eaten for a long time. Hours? Days? She didn't know.

–So, you woke up, huh? – Said a young male voice.

–Not less than a minute. You sure are quick boss. – Said the punk girl.

The "boss", who sounded like someone of the same age as the punk girl, did a gesture with his hand.

–Could you let me talk in private with her, Danila? – He said.

–Sure boss. –

And the girl, Danila, left the room. Aria was shaking, as the boss came towards her.

–How long have I...? –

–Thirteen hours. You've been sleeping all day. –

The young man, whose face was covered by the shadows, came towards her to reveal an apple. Aria looked strange at it.

–Eat. – He said.

Aria got the apple from his hand, and she noticed that his clothes were somewhat metallic as she took several bites from the apple.

–I notice by your tattoos and abilities that you are an airbender. – He said. –And that makes ask you two questions above many. First, how can you be able to fly? And second, where are you going? – He asked.

Aria was unsure towards talking to a stranger, and she said.

–I...– She remembered a poem. –Let go my earthly attachment? – She replied. –And, I don't know, I wanted, to get away from everything. I've, lost my purpose, with, an organisation I was. –

–The Red Lotus. – Said the young man.

Aria was shocked, how did he know?

The young man approximated his bearded face, with his silver eyes and auburn hair, and the look of a warrior, or a killer, from Aria's eyes.

–You think we don't know who you are? Files of the members of the Red Lotus have been blazing on the network in the last 24 hours. It's trending topic number 1 in the world. It said one of its most dangerous members was you, Aria Jiyuma Sato. – He looked at her.

Aria, for some reason, was feeling more threatened than ever before, and his presence was one of the most intimidating she had ever seen, after her own father.

–But you really don't seem as deadly as her. Instead you just look like a helpless young airbender. – Said the young man. –As a member of the Red Lotus, the terrorists who murdered my mother, I should have killed you. But I've learnt many things after my encounter with my cousin; I'm not going to kill you just because you escaped. I look at you, and I see someone who's lost, desperate, scared of the future. –

Aria, who felt she was naked under the blankets, looked up and looked at him directly in the face.

–You don't know me at all. – She said. –I left the Red Lotus; I don't want anything to do anymore. If you want to take my life just because of that, go ahead, I won't resist. – Aria looked at her apple as she held the blanket above her cleavage.

–No. I won't kill you, because we're identical in that way. – He kneeled towards her. –My purpose was to kill every single member of the White and Red Lotuses. But it seems both of them have been taken care already, and that left us without a purpose to follow. Besides, how can I trust that you have truly left the Lotus, and you're not trying to revive it as a splinter faction, the same way the Red Lotus came from the White? – The young man got up.

Aria looked at him fierce in the eye.

–Dead Flower. – She said.

The young man got startled a bit, and then regained composure.

–Tell me what is that. – The young man opened somekind of flip-phone.

–You still use that? It's old fashion already. –

–WHAT is Dead Flower? – He reiterated.

Aria caught his game immediately.

–The folder with all the members of the Red Lotus listed. I know it because I uploaded it. –

The man looked at the screen.

–No, it's not the name. – He said, serious.

Aria was startled.

–Yes, yes it is, I WROTE IT IN THE FOLDER NAME! – She said.

–No it's not. – He repeated.

–Look, you can deny it all you want, but we're going to waste the afternoon like this. Or you're going to give me a reason to ki...–

The young man shoved the cell-phone to her face, showing the Dead Flower folder.

–The name is Denryoku, by the way. – Said the youngman.

(...)

COMING OCTOBER 2018