Regret Blooms

The purple hyacinths of regret, forgiveness, and sorrow.

“Not all humans are evil like you think they are! They can change, and learn from their mistakes! That’s what we as gods of virtues have to accomplish. We have to help humans make the world better for themselves.”

It was another normal day in the gods’ cathedral, where the six gods were gently picking the flowers of virtues to create new lives for the month of July. After, they gathered around the fire of life, and threw all the flowers into the flames. Then, they held each other’s hands and started their spell. 

“Blessings of life shall reach the earth, shine the earth with glory. Blessings of light shall guide life, light shall brighten the day,” chanted the six gods as the fire grew bigger and brighter.

Instantly, a thick smoke covered the cathedral. The flame lost its light. The smoke began to fade away as Ikari, the god of anger, walked to the middle of the conference room with contempt for the other gods. Ikari shot an ungodly smile as she raised her scythe. 

“Gods of virtues, I’m going to destroy the wheel of life,” said Ikari as the six gods felt the power of the scythe grow stronger.

”Watch your mouth, Ikari. Running the circulation of life is dangerous. It comes with a brutal consequence,” said Aiko as she glared at Ikari, but she seemed to not care. 

She continued,“Blessings of life, vigorous growth, intelligence of experience, and peaceful death shall be eliminated by the devil of humanity.”

Ikari didn’t bother to listen to Aiko. She attacked the six gods. Ikari’s power was invincible. Without any resistance Satsuki, Noriko, and Kaiya were captured by the gods' stones. She struck Aiko on her abdomen. She collapsed to the floor grasping her wound, unable to move. She frowned, and groaned in agony. She felt her powers disappear. Yuuki dashed to her and supported her onto her feet. Immediately, Ikari charged on Yuuki, who crashed to the wall, creating a huge crack in the middle. He lost consciousness. Aiko desperately called his name, but there was no response. Once again, Ikari raised her scythe. The power felt even stronger than before. Aiko closed her eyes, and covered her face with her arms. Strangely, she couldn’t feel any pain. She slowly opened her eyes. She saw Hitomi creating a barrier around the three gods. Hitomi kneeled down, face to face with Akio who was looking nervous as if she knew what Hitomi was going to say. 

“Go, Aiko,” said Hitomi as she held Aiko’s hands. The warmth of Hitomi’s hands comforted Aiko when her hands were finely shaking. 

“Never! I’m not leaving without you. Come with me.You are my best friend. I am not leaving you in danger,” said Aiko as her tears rolled down her cheek and dropped to her hands, but Hitomi shook her head. 

“If I leave, the world will be in danger. I need to stay here and stop Ikari. Take Yuuki with you to Los Angeles. You will be safe there, and will be able to find a solution to this problem,” responded Hitomi as she gently wiped Aiko’s tears. Through her beautiful and bright olive green eyes were the clear and pure tears welling up. They hugged each other as tight as they could. The coziness of their hug surrounded them. They smiled at each other as if they were saying everything will be alright. Unexpectedly, the friends heard a loud crack. The barrier was about to break. Hitomi aggressively pushed Aiko away from her, towards Yuuki as said, 

“Go, Aiko. Go!” Aiko reached for her best friend, but she was too far away like a delightful dandelion seed flying away for an exciting but risky adventure. 

Unfortunately, Hitomi wasn’t strong enough to defeat Ikari, or to protect the cathedral. Ikari’s power changed the human world completely. Injured people filled the streets, aggressive cries and depressed sobs filled the night, and puddles of blood disturbed their feet. Strangely, the lower class were beating the upper class. Many people lost their children, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, and their parents. Aiko and Yuuki have been living in a motel room for three years since Ikari evaded the human world. The motel room has a bedroom with two single beds and drawers full of clothes, a bathroom and living room, and a small kitchen.

When they first arrived at the human world they had nowhere to go. Beggars came up to them, villagers chased them with weapons, and stray cats hissed at their footsteps. Then Yuuki pulled Aiko towards the alley, hiding them from people’s sight. The alley was dark, they had no space to move, crows covered the sky, and mice nibbled on their piece of bread. Aiko curled herself, her eyes were tightly shut, and her hands were covering her ears. Yuuki stared at Aiko. He gently pulled her to his side making her lean into him. The warmth of his arms felt like peaceful sunlight as the wind tickled past her hair.

“What are you darlings doing here?” Someone said, with a very worried voice. They sounded like they were in their 40’s. 

“We were chased by beggars. We need a place to hide,” Yuuki said, as he glanced at Aiko who was sleeping in his arms as she took shallow breaths. He realized that her body temperature was getting hotter. He guessed that it might be the stress of a sudden change in an environment. Sweat was running down her cheeks, and her breath was weak. 

“I don't think she is alright. Follow me, I’ll take you darlings to my motel,” the woman explained, as she took off her beige and red flower pattern cardigan and wrapped it around Aiko’s body. Yuuki was concerned if they should follow her because she also might be one of the beggars who swindles people out of money. But of course he couldn’t leave his god friend to “die”. He carried her on his back, and as quietly as a snow leopard trying to stalk its prey followed the woman to her motel. When they arrived Yuuki gently laid Aiko onto one of the beds in the bedroom. The woman brought him a bucket of cold water and a towel. Yuuki sat next to her, Aiko looked more relaxed and calm than before which was a good sign. Aiko’s long wavy rouge pink hair gleamed under the light in the bedroom. Yuuki smoothly brushed her soft hair. As he glanced at her, he felt shame.

Why couldn’t he do anything to help Aiko save the gods to defeat Ikari? Why couldn’t he do anything to relieve Aiko’s stress from the sudden environmental change? Yuuki aggressively scratched his head as all the negative emotions whirled in his mind. He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs, but of course he couldn’t. He didn’t want to wake up Aiko from her peaceful nap even though Yuuki could clearly hear the violent shout and sorrowful cries of innocent people outside. Hours passed, and still there was no sign of Aiko’s awakening.

The woman gave Yuuki a supper of beef stew, and fresh fruits for dessert. The woman introduced herself as Layla, she had lost her son dew to the attack of people who had fallen under Ikari’s power. She decided to help other villagers hide themselves, or  take a rest after hours, days, or even months being chased by the subjects of Ikari. She walked up to Aiko, checked her temperature and pulse, slightly opened her mouth and poured a teaspoon of medicine down her throat, and waved Yuuki  good-bye as she walked out of the room.

Yuuki walked to the window, and put his hand against the cold glass. The stars dazzled in the night. Splatters of blood decorated stores and apartments, raccoons ran around with handfuls of leftover lunch that people threw away. Ravens flew above stretching their giant wings, blocking the village from the gleaming moonlight, releasing their dark feathers beneath them. The feathers covered the streets as if they were imagining that humanity would soon collapse into the misery of one’s death.

Right then, Yuuki heard a shuffling of bedding: it was Aiko waking up from her long sleep. Yuuki stood in front of her, glancing at her worriedly. Aiko stared back at him, her skin pale, her lovely rose pink eyes lost, her hands mildly shaking. Without saying a word, Yuuki walked up to her, and sat next to her, wiping the clear tears that were arising and shimmering by the shallow light of the room.

”Do you think we can pull this off?” Aiko said. Her voice had lost its strength. It was weak, and was falling down a deep dark hole of emptiness, where nothing existed.

“Of course we will. We always have. You just need to believe in yourself.” Yuuki said. He reached his hand, and pulled Aiko out of the hole, determined, brave, and strong.  

”I’m scared. None of this has happened before. We’ve always protected the cathedral, but it’s destroyed now and I don’t know what to do.”

”I’ll help you. I’ll always be with you no matter what happens. We will do this together. I promise.” 

Back in the present, it was another morning in Layla’s motel. The light blazed through the thick curtain, and into Aiko’s eyes who had curled up in her bed spreading pillow dust all over her cute pink pajamas with a face of bunnies drawn everywhere. She let out a big yawn, rubbed her half closed eyes, put on a pair of slippers that she threw next to her bed,somehow right side up. She vigorously shook Yuuki’s shoulders to wake him up. She then tried to smack him with her pillow, and she almost attempted to splash a bottle of water on him, but she thought that would have been too mean for the god of humanity. On the fifth smack she heard a light groan and saw a slight frown on Yuuki’s face. 

“Why would you smack me so hard?”

“Oh, so you were awake. Hurry up, we have so much to do today.”

Aiko pulled Yuuki’s arm, forcing him out of his bed and pushing him to the bathroom so he could brush his teeth. Hishair stood on its end as if he dreamed of Ikari taking over the Earth. After they ate french toast with fresh fruits as toppings cooked by Layla, they went to the LA Community Library, the largest library in LA. The scent of old and new books filled the building. Children ran around with carts full of comics. High schoolers were studying with thick textbooks and their computers on the table while listening to music with their headphones. Aiko and Yuuki went to the myths section to find more clues about the history of gods of virtues and vices. Aiko and Yuuki piled thick books in their hands. They trembled to one of the desks in the corners since their conversations are unlike others. They stacked books after books, and soon the table was overflowing with books and the legs of the table looked as if it was going to break. Aiko grabbed one of the books with dusty and ripped covers that was titled The Truth Behind The Darkness. 

“The god of anger hidden from life by a puppet. The puppet is given their powers and memories, guards the gods’ stones as long as their life shall reach. The puppet is gifted with their secrets, one that will destroy the god, but bring back the glory the world had lost. The secret is held by a charm that shines with darkness, blood, suffering, and depression. The charm shall lead to where the secret lies, The Library Of Past.”

As Aiko read the paragraph her eyes gleamed with hope, but her mind shuffled with questions. Who is the puppet, and where are they? Where is the library, is Ikari the only god that can see it? Aiko sighed as she watched the clouds slowly pass the library window. Then she felt someone tugging her shirt. It was a little girl with short brown hair, wearing a pink shirt with a unicorn drawing and short blue jeans. The girl’s eyes were swollen and red, she was biting her lips, and she made fist with her shaking hands. Then she spoke. 

“Please save my sister!”

A big question mark was drawn above Aiko’s head.

“My name is Itsumi! I’m eight years old! My sister’s name is Ikumi, she is eighteen years old! She works at a cafe, and her desserts are delicious!”

Itsumi started to talk about her older sister. Her eyes were filled with determination and bravery. Deep down in her heart she was shivering in fear, scared that she might not be able to see her sister ever again. Aiko gave her a gentle hug and pat on the back as she whispered everything will be alright. Aiko and Yuuki followed Itsumi through the alleyway. It was dark, dead, and dried leaves shuffled beneath their feet, cries of stray cats tickled their ears, the cold wind stroked their cheeks.

 Soon Itsumi stopped. There was a staircase, stretching down to the underground. There were thick vines with leaves covering the walls, droplets of water were falling from the ceiling, the stairs were covered in mud with pebbles stuck here and there, and feathers of pigeon as a topping. Aiko peaked at the staircase. It was long and dark, nobody knew what’s down there. It was too dangerous for a little girl to explore. 

As the god of courage, Yuuki stepped down, his hands grabbing on the vines, his eyes rolling in all directions trying not to trip. His footsteps echoed through the whole staircase. His shadows began to fade from Aiko’s view, and soon he disappeared into the unknown. Few moments passed and Aiko heard Yuuki call from the underground floor, a sign that it’s safe for them to come down. Itsumi squeezed Aiko’s hand, and slowly stepped down each staircase. When they reached the floor Aiko let out a sigh of relief, and Itsumi started to run around the underground calling her sister's name.

 Her desperate call echoed through the underground, but there was no answer. The underground was silent. Only the sound of her foot splashing small puddles of water ringed her ears. Her voice started to lose hope. She stopped in the middle of the darkness, emptiness. She brought her hands up to her face. She began sobbing. The bitter sorrow strangled her chest. She gasped for breath. Her warm and loving heart felt cold and hard. Her tears wouldn’t stop. The pure tears running down her cheek were her losing happiness from memories, excitement from tomorrow, and hope from her sister’s existence. 

She collapsed to the ground still crying, her innocence as a bright and intelligent child escaping her grasp. Suddenly Aiko and Yuuki felt Ikari’s power a few steps away. They nodded at each other and went to a small room where the door was locked. Yuuki slammed the door. Inside was another girl, about the same height as Aiko. She had long brown hair. The tip was dyed wine red. She wore black shirt and short ripped jeans. She had scars and bruises all over her arms and legs. She had dark circles under her eyes, her skin was pale, and her lips lost their color, dry. Behind her were four god’s stones shining with wisdom, transcendence, justice, and moderation. Aiko’s eyes widened, and Ikumi was the puppet. Aiko closed the door, so that Itsumi wouldn't come in by accident. Aiko held up her staff. The bright light shined Ikumi’s eyes. Ikumi covered her eyes and frowned. Yuuki hurried over to the god’s stones and grabbed them. 

“I got them! Let’s go!” Yuuki shouted. He was about to open the door but Aiko stopped him. 

“Wait, we haven’t got the charm yet,” Aiko said, as she walked up to Ikumi, who was still struggling to open her eyes. Aiko opened her arms. Light rose beneath her feet. Her eyes glowed.

“I, the god of humanity, desire to hear your hardships. Speak the sorrow you’ve gone through, show what the devil of humanity has done to you.” Aiko said, as the light surrounded Ikumi. Ikumi stared down at her feet, and fidgeted her hands. She bit her lips. She was afraid to speak. Tears dropped down to the floor. She tried to hold her sobs, but the sorrow tore her heart.

“I lost my sister five years ago. It was summer, we were going home after school. Everything was so peaceful, Istumi running around with her friends, Ikari talking about her favorite book series, and I just sipping on my favorite drink. But…”

Ikumi stopped. Tears started welling up in her eyes. She vigorously shook her head as she groaned in frustration. As if she were refusing the truth, the darkness of truth was pulling her to the underground. She could not yell for help. All she could do was watch herself drown to the emptiness. She took a deep breath. 

“My sister, Ikari. It was a hit and run. She could’ve lived. She could’ve! But no one helped! No one had the courage to reach out to us! I had to let her go, not being able to do anything to save her! Do you know how painful that is as the oldest child?!”

Ikumi collapsed to the floor. Her tears were unstoppable. Her sorrow filled the underground. Aiko stared at the poor and innocent soul. She felt helpless. She doesn’t have any siblings, she is just a god trying to qualify humans’ lives. She thought as the god of humanity, she would be  able to empathize with all the human’s emotions, but turns out she couldn’t. She couldn’t guide this unfortunate soul to happiness and love. All she could do was to give Ikumi a gentle hug. The light grew bigger and brighter, and soon a charm appeared above Ikumi’s head and dropped to the floor. 

“I know I can’t understand what you’ve gone through, but the fact that you are trying hard to let Itsumi see the joy and light in humanity is above and beyond. We all fall down at some point of life, but we stand up again. Be proud of what you’ve accomplished already, believe in your choices and move on. You are great no matter what others say. They don’t realize the determination of your journey, the love for your family, and the pride you have as a human living in this beautiful world. Be yourself, no one has the right to control you.”

  Ikumi looked up, facing Aiko. She stood up, and held Aiko’s hands. Her eyes were gleaming with hope. She is an unusual child that is stepping out of the endless dark hole, and now pointing her finger to the light with a compass and a map in her hands.  

Aiko and Yuuki hurried to the cathedral, which was horribly destroyed. Plenty of walls fell to the ground. Parts were rolling on the ground creating a fair amount of dust, which made Aiko and Yuuki cough. The ceiling was completely blown away, so wind was brushing against their hair. But thankfully the conference room was somewhat standing, and the fire of life was barely flaming. Aiko and Yuuki gently placed the gods’ stones around the flame. Then, they started the spell.

“Awakened gods shall guide humanity. Shall bring the virtue the world has lost.” As they chanted, the light of each virtue rose to the ceiling. Then the light grew brighter and soon the light turned into the gods of virtue. Hitomi, the god of wisdom; Satsuki, the god of transcendence; Noriko, the god of justice; and last but not least Kayia, the god of moderation. Their feet touched the ground after three years of being captured by the gods’ stones. 

“So… how long were we sleeping?” Satsuki said, as he looked around the destroyed cathedral awkwardly fidgeting his hands.   

“Three years I think? Did y’all have fun being lazy gods?” Aiko said, as she played with her hair. Noriko smacked Aiko on the head with her staff. 

“Shut up human lover,” Noriko said. Suddenly a bright red light was shining from the charm, and it escaped Aiko’s grasp. The charm flew downstairs, leaving red sparkles all around the floor. The gods hurried to catch up. The charm went straight through the wall. The gods looked at each other confused. 

“Are we supposed to break the wall?” Yuuki said, as he cracked his knuckles. 

“Uh, if you want the whole cathedral to collapse, sure,” Noriko said, staring dumbly at Yuuki. Aiko observed the wall. Her hands softly brushed the wall. Click! The wall slid open. 

“Damn, I never knew that we had such a thing,” said Satsuki as he poked his head through the dark staircase. Hitomi brightened the way with her magic spell book. Others followed behind her, looking around curiously. When they reached the bottom, the charm was waiting for them in front of an old door. Aiko took the charm, and put it in the keyhole. With a bright red light the door opened. It was a library. Spiderwebs and dust were sleeping on the bookshelves, and the covers of the books were half destroyed.  

“What… is all this? There’s nothing in these,” Hitomi said. She was already flipping through books, and stacking them on top of each other. As the gods looked at the blank pages, the charm started to light again and was traveling through the aisles of bookshelves. Then it stopped suddenly—in front of the probably thickest and oldest book in the whole world.  

Aiko pulled the book out, and it dropped to the ground with a loud thud. Dust was all around the gods. They were coughing and sneezing non-stop. Hitomi kneeled down and patted the dust off the book. The title was The Past of the Devil. When Hitomi opened the cover of the book, a thick smoke covered the library. They were blinded, so they were helplessly bumping into each other. They were tripping on little pebbles that were rolling on the floor. Soon they were floating through the sky, and their bodies were somewhat transparent. 

“Where are we..? Yuuki asked. He swiftly moved his head to look around, waving his arms vigorously. There were buildings lined up like cafes, book stores, and ice cream shops. There were also cars crossing the road, and birds resting on the trees. 

“Uh… Are we supposed to look for something?” Satsuki questioned. The gods shrugged their shoulders. All they did was stare into the sky. The sun was shining brightly, and the clouds were moving leisurely. Soon the school bell rang. Hundreds of students were easing out towards the gate. They were pushing and shoving against each other. Others were on their phone, or walking with their friends while their backpack was on their front.

“Hey! No phones while walking!” Noriko screamed as the god of justice. Of course the students couldn’t hear her. The gods started laughing at her. Noriko awkwardly scratched her cheek. Aiko was falling in love with the students already. She described how the students that carry around textbooks in their hands were so productive. She also said the little children running around with popsicles in their hands were adorable. Satsuki was excited about video games that the students were playing on their phones. He recognized that some of them were limited edition. There was a game shop nearby, so as the god of transcendence he had to get some. Obviously he couldn’t. There were no video games in the cathedral, so all he could do was stare at the screens of children with cool characters defeating slime monsters. Hitomi was examining all the different books the students were holding. She was listing out key features of the stories, and explained why. She also listed her favorite book characters, and explained their characteristics in detail. Yuuki was lying down, bored. 

“Ugh, what are we even supposed to do here?”

Just as Yuuki said that someone that looked suspiciously the same as Ikari walked out of the gate. There were few friends surrounding her, and her sisters Ikumi and Itsumi were walking beside her. They were all laughing, and dancing to the music that was being projected on the Bluetooth speaker. Ikari was also lip singing to the song dramatically. 

“Wait… Those three are siblings?!” Yuuki said, as his eyes widened. The gods all focused on the sisters, but nothing special was happening. 

Then the gods heard a loud crash. The students were screaming, and the cars on the road were honking. It was a car crash. A car hit Ikari, and it left a huge crack on the wall, which slowly filled with Ikari’s blood. The students panicked. They called for help, but nobody was listening. They glanced at the students, but they didn’t reach out for help. They just passed by. 

Ikumi hugged Ikari, and started sobbing. Ikari was cold, and her skin was turning pale. She was shivering, and panting weakly to breathe. Ikumi’s hands began to shake, her eyes began to water. Her tears were beautiful clear crystals that brighten the dark, silent cave. 

Suddenly Ikari stopped breathing, her body turned stiff. Her eyes were half closed to completely closed. Her hands lost warmth. Ikumi burst into tears that seeped through the cracks of the sidewalk. The students patted her back. Itsumi’s knees thud to the ground, her hands covering her face, already painted in tears. The liquid orbs were sparkling in the sunlight like little happy stars dancing in the music of the night. 

Soon the gods returned to the present. They remained silent, their eyes towards the floor—except for Aiko who was crying lightly. Then the cathedral shook vigorously as if there was an earthquake. The sky was turning dark, and the sun was hidden by the shadows. 

They heard an evil laughter towards the conference room. They glanced at each other, and nodded. They all got their weapons ready. Aiko and Noriko their staffs, Hitomi her magic spell book, Yuuki his bow and arrow, Satsuki his sword, and Kaiya his magic flute. Their weapons shone in the dark sky. They ran up the stairs as the smoke began to thicken.

The fire of life was blown out. The garden of life was destroyed. All the flowers died, there was no sight of color. Virtues did not exist in the world at all now. All humanity was attacking each other. Blood filled the sky, roars of aggression rumbled through buildings, and tears of depression drowned the streets. 

“So, how was your adventure to my memory?” said Ikari as she balanced her scythe on her shoulder. 

“What have you done! Putting out the fire of life is forbidden as a god and you know that!” Aiko said. 

“Nothing matters to me anymore! Humanity doesn’t deserve to exist! You know what my sisters went through! I am not letting humanity live in peace!” 

“No! Not all humans are evil like you think they are! They can change, and learn from their mistakes! That’s what we as gods of virtues have to accomplish. We have to help humans make the world better for themselves.”

“Shut up! You don’t understand! You are born the best, as the god who controls the earth! While I had to suffer with disgusting humans that just ruined everything! You say everything is going to be alright and it is absolutely a lie! Humanity should vanish!”

Ikari held up her scythe, dark vapor seeped through. 

“Darkness shall cover the light. Drown  man in sorrow. Shadows shall smite all. The devil shall forsake humanity.” 

The universe ceased to exist. 

Emptied, the world was silent. Only the day and night repeated. The waves of pacific, and whispers of winds flew into the ether. Alone, Ikari’s footsteps echoed—she walked hills after hills until she reached the field. The flowers glowed like a prism, and they danced elegantly in the wind, the sunlight as the spotlight. The chill breeze brushed against Ikari’s cheeks. 

In the middle of the field, a giant willow tree was blooming in pretty lavender flowers. The willow tree was shadowing above two graves. Above two graves, one for Ikumi and one for Itsumi who died with all the other humans. Their graves weren’t fancy, but they were decorated with a palette of rainbows. Their graves were unique puzzle pieces that create beautiful and glorious pictures. Ikari took a deep breath. She felt tightness in the chest. She always feels this way when she visits her sisters’ graves. Something is always roaring inside of her, scolding for the choice she made. A choice that she made without hesitating. It too suddenly made that when she thought it was wrong everything was ended already, unable to undo.  

Ikari kneeled down, the cold and soft grass made her shiver. She had purple hyacinths in her hands. She laid them down gently on the ground next to the graves, and closed her eyes. The wheezing of shallow wind rang her ears. Her hair was calmly swimming in the wind relaxing the afternoon sun. She slowly opened her eyes again and stood up. She grinned, the smile was bittersweet. She forced herself not to cry. She pushed back in her tears even though she could feel her eyes start to warm up. As she walked away from the cool shadow, her eyes were focused on the graves. The purple hyacinths bloomed beautifully like butterflies along the mellow melody of the breeze.