Bets on love

*from “My travels back and forth and beyond” by Illinir Goldstar*

In my time of travels across (insert name of the land this takes place in) I have encountered many possibilities for love but never have I taken a bet of trying to find it until the instance I will tell you about now.

Dear reader, when I tell you that my illustrious friend Cebo has a tendency for fashionable torture in a way of testing me, I would understate it, for his cruelty can not be measured by words. So when we met in a warm and soggy environment of some gods forgotten tavern on the outskirts of (insert city name), I knew that he had something on his mind, the moment I saw him. A mischievous grin, a tilt of the eyebrow - everything pointed towards inevitable adventure.

“How ‘bout a bet?” he said, pushing a tall mug of ale across the table, towards me.

“Depends on what kind.”

“The kind you’ll enjoy.”

I have to say, I was intrigued, for Cebo has never let me down and so in the span of next twenty minutes he seduced me into an idea of finding love in a place where no love exists. And as a man who has never known defeat in love and who was always able to convince himself in anything, I took the bet.

I packed light, only taking the most essential equipment for my travels, considering where it is I was going and always coming back to (insert city name) to restock and to rest.

My first destination was (insert tundra place’s name) with its wildlife and below zero temperatures where no one but frost resistant owls would keep me company. A place like that - completely unsuitable for love should have been a perfect place to prove my friend wrong. But perhaps my mercurial complexion or was it the complete absence of sunlight that have slowly led me to believe that this place is not only unsuited for love but is also unsuited for life. So in a desperate attempt to remain intact, I escaped with only red cheeks, stretched above a frozen, falsely optimistic smile and a mild cold that kept me in bed for the next couple of days.

In that time I was able to rethink my strategy. Most drastic solutions are not always the most fruitful, so with that in mind I was starting to think about ways to outsmart my handsome friend instead of actually winning the bet.

My thoughts eventually led me to (insert name) - a desperate sight of two antagonizing forces clashing into a violent symphony. I thought that in a place like that no love can actually spring. Can a flower bloom through a volcanic rock? Or can a fish breathe in the depths of the (ocean name) with no sunlight from above? Perhaps.

But we are no flowers and no fish. Turned out that people are more willing to love in the times of great scrutiny. In the darkest hours of the greatest need, they come together and instead of fighting, share love and help each other through these times.

So in a desperate attempt I took a look (in the direction of the desert) towards the desert of (insert name), my final attempt to find love where no love exists.

Roiling sands and harsh winds, grazed against my skin as I pushed further into the desert. Cross the dunes and against the blinding sun, I had almost abandoned hope to find anyone, a single person that existed in these unbearable conditions, until I saw her.

Skin as dark as midnight mahogany, she strolled towards me as I laid on the sand, feeling as if I'm turning into a roast elf. She gave me her hand and took me deeper into the sands.

I have never seen such splendor, dear reader. I’ve been in the marble palace of (insert name) but I’ve never felt stone as smooth as the one I touched there. I’ve delved fully into beds of silk, once on my travels in (insert name), but it wasn’t as all-embracing as the bed they put me in.

They brought me back to life. Dried cracked lips that scarred my looks for the nearest days, healed and regained their lusciousness. The redness of the eyes faded, bringing back their original blue and with those eyes I saw her. Day after day, as she visited me.

I do not know what it was about her but there was a certain charm, a pull that made me want to abandon the entire world for her. I felt like a babe, learning to walk again, ready to explore the world for the first time.

But I didn’t know of the twisted paths her mind went through. The evil machination machine that I was about to become a cog in.

For our first date, or what I imagined to be one, she took us to the most unconventional place I could imagine. A temple.

We could not speak each other’s language but our bodies knew exactly what we wanted to say. Under the waters flowing from the oculus in the ceiling above us, surrounded by polished stones and the echoes of our breaths, our bodies united in a passionate dance of love, stripping away the soreness and the ache of the last week.

But then, dear reader, everything changed. As we were climbing to the highest peaks of pleasure I suddenly saw a glimpse of metal, shining in her hands. A blade, the size of my hand, curved and marked with fins, like a viper sharp, raised above me, ready to be plunged into my heart.

And so I ran, dear reader. I know, you believe me to be the bravest, most loyal and most handsome heart-eater in all (lane name) but I ran. When you are faced with a naked woman with a knife and you have nothing on you but your wits, the only sensible thing to do is escape. I gathered my things and left.

Finding my way back through the desert was easier this time around and as I looked one last time at the city I was leaving, I saw nothing. Only winds howling in the distance and field of sand, moving like waves across the ocean, erasing my brief memories of that place.

Needless to say, I did not win my bet. Or perhaps I did. I do not know, but next time Cebo and I met, we had a lot of stories to tell and a lot of adventure to have after.