Hyacinth, Scarlet - Fire of the Four Seasons (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour ManLove)

by Scarlet Hyacinth

  * * * *

  Twenty five years ago

  “Poor humans,” Visnah said. “They desire a baby so much, and they just haven’t been granted one.”

  “Perhaps we can help,” Ohsyn suggested.

  Zimah nodded. “Together, we can make the snow angel flesh. Should the Goddess will it so, She will send Her power to grant it life and soul.”

  They waited until the couple returned to their home. The four men got out of their hiding place. Humans couldn’t actually see them, but they didn’t want to risk performing magic with them present. Zimah lifted his hands in the air and blew over the snow. The snow angel began to take shape, its form floating from the ground to create an ethereal silhouette in the air. The beautiful face of a young girl shone in Zimah’s vision, not yet a physical form, but there, just within his reach.

  “She needs something more,” Visnah said.

  Lyetah spoke for the first time. “Fire. She needs fire.”

  Zimah hated to agree with his sun-dedicated lover. The two of them always struggled to balance their relationship since Lyetah insisted on the importance of a fiery heart, while Zimah believed a cool head meant the most for a successful individual. Secretly, however, he acknowledged Lyetah might be right. Humans could not live with cold hearts. No one could, not even earth spirits. Zimah himself had been cold and indifferent once, but his lovers balanced him, giving him emotion. This girl needed something similar. She needed a spark of flame to grant her a kind heart.

  So he nodded while Lyetah threw a gaze toward the burning fire inside the Igor and Elga’s home. “We’ll use that,” Lyetah said.

  He murmured a small chant under his breath, and sparks of embers began to float from the fire. They swirled into the air, naughty, playful, and daring. Zimah took Lyetah’s hand and, together with Ohsyn and Visnah, they began to unite the snow angel with the sparks. The figure of the snow angel floated inside. It headed toward the sleeping Elga, the sparks close behind it. At the same time, the two fell upon Elga’s body, granting her fertility.

  That night, when Igor consummated his union with Elga, the magic Zimah and his lovers used took root. Nine months afterwards, they found out Elga bore twins, one created out of flame, the other out of snow.

  * * * *

  The memories flashed through his mind as Zimah ran. They should have been more careful. They’d realized the chill in Eva’s heart spread over Elga and had been helpless to stop it. Alexei’s fire helped Igor, but the four of them had known they needed to intervene before it was too late. And so, when Eva began with her unreasonable requests, they’d found the right moment to approach Alexei. They’d hoped to become Alexei’s support and, eventually, find a way for his sister to reach her true potential. Zimah never expected to fall for the young man in the process.

  Unfortunately, their incipient plan had caused a disaster, setting in motion the events that caused Alexei’s doom. Unfortunately, not even earth spirits could be omnipresent and omniscient. They’d felt Alexei approach, of course, but had not realized the situation could end up like this. In the past, Alexei never experienced any trouble in getting through the forest, but Eva’s presence and clumsiness caused the two to get attacked by wolves. As soon as Zimah and the others sensed Alexei’s distress, they’d come to look for the twins, but they hadn’t reached them in time.

  Alexei’s injury from the wolf bite could have been healed, but the worst of the damage didn’t come from the animals. The spark of magic inside Alexei and Eva had emerged when they’d seen one another in peril. The twin bond made their powers blast through, pushing back the outside opponent. However, mortal bodies were not made to contain such magic. In spite of Alexei and Eva’s resilience to their particular element, the twins were, in the end, humans, and their inner organs could not withstand extreme temperatures. Zimah did his best to chill Alexei down, but he knew at this point, the situation was beyond them.

  And so, they took the two humans deep into the forest, each passing moment sealing the twins’ fate. At last, the standing stones were in sight. A portal to the spirit world and their home lay beyond, the one place where they could prevent Alexei and Eva from slipping away before Zimah and his lovers could find a solution.

  No one else could use the portal but them, and they passed through the magical field, emerging at the other side. Their house held the character of each of them, both cool and warm, a fact for which Zimah felt very grateful now.

  In the main room, a tamed fire offered enough warmth for it to be comfortable for all. Zimah’s room was, predictably, the chilliest, but Visnah’s maintained a pleasant temperature, a refreshing spring breeze blowing through windows made out sheer ivy. They placed both Eva and Alexei there, judging the moderate temperature would be best for them. Being close to each other would help them as well, through their bond of twins. But the two couldn’t be kept here for much longer, or their bodies would fade away into nothingness.

  Turning toward his lovers, Zimah asked, “What do we do now?”

  * * * *

  For the first time in memory, Zimah looked lost. It struck Visnah with the intensity of a lightning bolt. Zimah had always been the cool-headed one out of all of them. His outbursts of temper, mostly caused by a conflict between him and Lyetah, were always as terrible as winter storms, but Visnah and Ohsyn managed to calm him down without fail.

  And yet, in spite of all the time they’d spent together, Visnah had never actually seen Zimah afraid, not knowing what to do.

  Visnah didn’t blame him. Alexei effectively swept them all off their feet. They’d watched over him from afar, and to a certain extent, admired him once he grew up into a man. But never once had it occurred to them that they would fall so hard for the human born out of a flame in the hearth. Visnah himself couldn’t believe it. Alexei melted Zimah’s cold demeanor, accepted Lyetah’s unrestrained passion with no qualms, and took in Visnah’s gentle nature and Ohsyn’s generosity without taking advantage of them. Strong, handsome, and with a kind and loving heart, Alexei filled a gap in their life they’d never wanted to acknowledge, strengthening their bond.

  But Alexei and his sister, Eva, were now on the brink of death in Visnah’s own room. Visnah could only think of one solution for their predicament. Earth spirits didn’t typically ask for things from the Goddess. They’d been already gifted with so much—love, power, eternal youth—that they couldn’t in good conscience make other demands. Their prayers mostly held the welfare of others and thanks for what they’d been given.

  But now, for the first time, Visnah would ask something for himself. With a thought, Visnah left the room and manifested into their holy garden. Their world was not like the mortal realm. Here, time had no meaning, and space could be molded according to their desires. One single spot remained unchanging, no matter what—the shrine dedicated to the omnipotent Goddess.

  He sensed his lovers appear behind him, and, together, they knelt in the grass. Threads of gold wove from the simple altar, then down toward the ground, molding with the very fabric of their existence. Visnah closed his eyes and prayed. “Please, Goddess, give us advice. Tell us how to save them.”

  His lovers’ voices joined him in a low murmur, in patterns of worshipping psalms that sounded almost hypnotic. He didn’t know how long they just knelt there. It could have been a moment or an age. Visnah felt the touch inside him, and an image filled his mind. Fire and ice, death for life.

  Visnah’s eyes shot open, and he looked back toward his lovers. Judging by their expressions of horror, they’d seen the same thing. Not even Zimah could mask his dismay, and Lyetah looked very pale. Ohsyn clutched the grass with such strength that it withered under his touch.

  Visnah knew exactly what they felt. For the first time in his entire existence, he doubted the advice of the Goddess. How could this be?

  He struggled to his feet, the shock too powerful for him to contain. To his surprise, a tear streamed down his cheek, falling to the ground and promptly turning into a pal
e snowdrop. He hastily wiped his eyes and took a deep breath. He couldn’t falter now. He needed to be strong for all of them. “Come on,” he told his lovers. “Let’s go back inside.”

  They nodded and, together, faded once more through the ethereal. In Visnah’s room, they knelt next to the bed where Alexei and Eva lay. Predictably, they looked worse. Frost now covered Eva’s side of the bed, while Alexei’s seemed scorched. Alexei’s hair almost looked like it had turned to liquid flame, the red color even more intense than before.

  “There’s nothing we can do, is there?” Ohsyn said. “There really is no other way.”

  Visnah nodded, even as pain coursed through him. “We just have to trust and hope.”

  Visnah pressed his palm to Alexei’s and hissed when their skin made contact. He found himself forced to pull his burnt hand back. No wonder the sheets were in this state. Alexei’s temperature had risen greatly. If he’d been in the mortal realm, his brain would have shut down by now.

  Zimah glanced at Visnah’s palm and took it in his own. Few things could hurt an earth spirit, but apparently, spiritual fire had that ability. Visnah allowed his energy to mold with Zimah’s and felt his burn heal. As they finished, he saw Lyetah and Ohsyn had grabbed the twins, paying extra care not to touch their skin.

  They rushed out of Visnah’s room and headed out. Lyetah hesitated upon reaching the exit, and the barrier between worlds. “Perhaps it would be best if you and Ohsyn stayed here with them, while Zimah and I go make the preparations into the mortal world. We don’t know how long they are going to last there.”

  Visnah nodded and took Alexei from Lyetah. It hurt to know that he couldn’t touch Alexei without being burnt, but it hurt even more to acknowledge what they were going to do. As Zimah and Lyetah left through the portal, Visnah held Alexei as close as he could and prayed once more.

  * * * *

  Lyetah exited the portal between the realms, closely followed by Zimah. He knew they didn’t have much time before Alexei and Eva’s bodies yielded the battle. The thought gave him focus when all he wanted to do was scream at the injustice. In moments such as these, he understood the doubts humans always went through regarding the existence of divinity.

  He acknowledged his own blasphemy, but he couldn’t help it. It just seemed too cruel. But Lyetah needed to cling to his faith and hope for the best. The Goddess always took care of them. She would not abandon them now.

  Unfortunately, due to the nature of their task, he ended up the one assigned to deal with Alexei’s part of the vision. He waited while Zimah dissipated the snow, then proceeded to gather sticks of wood from the forest. They worked in silence, and Lyetah forced himself not to think of the purpose of what he meant to construct.

  At last, he acquired enough materials and started to build. When he finished, a strong pyre rose in the middle of the grove with plenty of wood to fuel the fire. Lyetah threw a glance Zimah’s way and saw his wintry lover had finished as well. Zimah’s glum task had been to prepare a coffin made out of sheer ice.

  “Start the fire,” Zimah said, his voice level. “I’ll go and get the others.”

  As Zimah disappeared beyond the standing stones, Lyetah summoned the heat intrinsic to his element and directed it toward the wood. Fire soon engulfed the base of the pyre, and not a moment too soon. His three lovers emerged once more, the twins in their grasp.

  They stared at each other, then at the coffin and the pyre. Visnah’s green eyes turned almost blue with sorrow. Lyetah made his way to Visnah’s side and reached for Alexei. “Let me.” He could not allow his gentle lover to do this. It would break Visnah’s heart even more.

  Visnah opened his mouth to say something, but before he could speak, a moan from Eva drew their attention. Perhaps the heat from the pyre caused her to stir. Oh, Goddess. How were they going to do this with them awake? “Alexei,” she murmured, eyes dazed. “What is happening to me?”

  Zimah took hold of the young girl. “Shh, malen’kaya printsessa. Don’t be afraid. Everything will be all right.”

  He stood by the icy coffin and gave Lyetah a telling look. They had to this at the same time for it to work. And as much as they hated freezing a young girl alive, burning Alexei would be even more difficult.

  Thankfully, by some divine intervention, Alexei did not regain consciousness. Lyetah snatched the youth from Visnah’s arms. By now, the heat from the pyre had increased greatly, and it would have been uncomfortable for anyone else anyway. He couldn’t help but touch Alexei one last time. Alexei’s feverish skin even burnt him, but he held on. “Farewell, solnyshko moyo,” he whispered.

  With his heart full of sorrow, he pushed Alexei’s body into the pyre. Behind him, he heard a light cry, then nothing. He turned and realized Zimah had done his part. Eva now lay beneath the heavy ice, locked inside, still beautiful, and forever cold.

  The flame from the fire seemed to burn brighter and brighter. When Lyetah looked toward it once again, he caught sight of the evil flame tearing into flesh, destroying Alexei’s beauty. What had he done? What had he expected? Perhaps he’d hoped an angel would emerge and stop him from committing this sin.

  He could not bear it. He couldn’t just stand there and watch this happen. He lunged forward, fully intending to jump into the fire after Alexei, but strong arms pulled him back, stopping him from doing so.

  “Don’t,” Ohsyn said in his ear. “There’s nothing we can do about it now, just hope and pray.”

  All strength went out of Lyetah. He felt as if the sun always inside him no longer shone. How could he push Alexei into the fire? Why hadn’t he found another way?

  He sank to his knees, his only comfort Ohsyn’s embrace. “Hush,” Ohsyn murmured. “It’s going to be fine. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  Lyetah wanted to believe that, but the smell of the burning fire filled his nostrils, and he couldn’t get the image of Alexei turning into a charred corpse out of his mind. He didn’t think he ever would.

  * * * *

  Ohsyn held Lyetah close, his mind reeling with the events of the past hour. He couldn’t even fathom how Lyetah felt at watching Alexei burn on the pyre. Ohsyn’s own heart was breaking, and he hadn’t pushed Alexei in. But Lyetah had done what none of them would’ve been able to do, and as crazy as it seemed, Ohsyn still kept hope.

  He forced Lyetah to face away from the pyre, knowing the sight of it would just make things worse. He hugged Lyetah’s trembling body and whispered into his lover’s ear, “Do you remember how we met?”

  Lyetah nodded and let out a low, sad chuckle. “How could I forget?”

  They’d all been so young and so new at being earth spirits. Each of them had been born out of their particular element, molded into a new life form by the creator. At that time, neither of them understood how their new tasked worked. But then the Goddess united them in one team to protect these distant lands. At first, they’d barely gotten along, but soon, they’d found a balance in and through each other.

  “The Goddess knew what She was doing when She gathered us together. You have to stand by your faith. She knows what She is doing now.”

  Ohsyn did his best to sound confident when he felt anything but. Truly, he couldn’t help but doubt. He wanted to believe with a desperate intensity, but when faced with the burning fire that consumed Alexei’s mortal form, it wasn’t so easy.

  He comforted himself with the thought that Alexei’s soul remained immortal, like all souls. If they’d indeed lost Alexei, Ohsyn trusted that one day, they’d find him again in a different land and a different time. They would be given a second chance. Ohsyn couldn’t even accept the alternative.

  Lyetah placed his head on Ohsyn’s shoulder, and Ohsyn threaded his hand through his lover’s locks, gently caressing him. He knew Visnah and Zimah needed him as well, so he felt thankful when the two joined him and Lyetah, and they knelt together in the grass. They just sat there for the longest time in the middle of the ageless grove at the border between the spirit world an
d the mortal realm.

  At last, the fire of the pyre began to dwindle, and Lyetah stirred, looking back toward the burnt wood. There was no sign of Alexei, Ohsyn realized. He didn’t know if he should be happy or sad about that, but perhaps it would be for the best. He didn’t think he could have withstood the sight of Alexei’s dead body, and he kept his hopeful façade.

  “He’s gone,” Lyetah murmured, his voice strangled and full of pain. “I killed him.”

  “You didn’t kill him, Lyetah,” Ohsyn insisted. “This happened because of the fire inside Alexei. It burnt him out in the end. There was nothing we could do.”

  “Stop saying that!” Lyetah shouted. He glowered at Ohsyn, his fury so intense it struck Ohsyn almost physically. “Stop trying to make me feel better. Show some sort of emotion!”

  Ohsyn felt his own anger flare and tried to control it. They were all dual, just like the seasons whose energy they bore. In winter, beautiful snowflakes fell in a peaceful dance, but their perfection could be torn apart by the fury of the storms. Spring meant renewed life and hope, yet could bring deadly floods. In the summer, the sun shone brightly, regaling the humans with rich crops and pleasant weather. But the same rays could be destructive and cause drought and famine. And at last, autumn gifted the world with generous produce, only to take it all away when furious hail and rain fell. Similarly, Ohsyn and his lovers could protect and do harm at the same time. In this particular moment, Ohsyn’s dark side was emerging.

  Visnah got up and set himself between Ohsyn and Lyetah. “Calm down. Arguing won’t help us.”

  “At least it’s something,” Lyetah shot back. “I can’t bear listening to you, all resigned and accepting.”