Chapter 11 - The Mystery man

Reya crawled closer to the other side of the cold meteor. Unknowingly she crawled into a small puddle, the mud Squelched under her knees.

'Shit, I should learn to be silent,'

She quickly hid behind the rock before the figure could notice. But all her noise doesn't seem to bother the man as he continued, "I really miss you Sister," he whispered hugging the cold rock.

"Hey don't do that," Reya shouted, running out from her hiding spot. "That stone is very cold. So don't touch it. It might freeze you," she whispered with her eyes wide.

'What am I doing? What if he is dangerous? I should not have exposed myself like that.'

The man did not even turn her way. He just stood frozen with his shiny blond hair waving in the wind. She gulped in nervousness and said, "Um, are you okay?" she whispered stepping closer, but he did not bother replying.

'Shit, I think I disturbed him. So what if he gets frozen, it's none of your concern Reya?' she mentally chided, stepping back further from his unmoving form.

"Oh, Sorry if I am disturbing you," she said and stepped back.

"You are not," she heard a mild whisper. "Oh, I see," she said with an awkward smile on her face. "Do you need anything? Because you look kinda lost."

'Oh my god shut up Reya. Stop it, stop putting your nose into everyone's business'

But she still insistently stood waiting for his answer. "I lost my sister," he whispered, looking at the ground. The side profile that she could see was so daunting, but his voice sounded sweet and angelic.

Listening to his answer, Reya couldn't think for a second. 'If I had lost my sister, would I also have become like him' she thought looking at the downcast man.

Taking a deep breath, she whispered, "Time will heal everything."

"But in my case time can never heal my wounds," he slowly said moving his head towards her.

Reya gasped out loud and stumbled backwards, tripping on rubble. The sight she saw petrified her.

'This... This guy, how is he alive.'

"Are you scared human?" he questioned with a kind smile on his face. But with the way his face looks, it was more like a devil's smirk, than an angel's.

The left half of his face looked like a perfectly carved sculpture, with his chiseled jaw and his upright nose. But his right side.... his right side was just black burning embers. Like a remnant of a fiery flame.

His entire right face looked like a burned coal with small fire embers still glowing inside of them.

'How... How is he still alive?' she thought, gazing at him in horror. He just sighed out loud at her petrified eyes and said, "Everyone reacts this way. First there is admiration when they look at my left side and when they look at my right.... sigh."

"It's okay human; you don't have to be scared. I have already said my final goodbye," he said and started moving further from her.

Reya couldn't think, she couldn't move looking at his burnt face. 'This guy, he.... he is hurt so badly how is he even able to walk,'

"Wai... wait," she shouted.

Reya didn't know what came into her, but she chased that man like a crazy person. She held his shoulders and pulled him to her panting face. She took her bottle out of her pocket and emptied its content on his face. The man looked wide eyed with water dripping down his face, wetting his impeccable white shirt.

"Hisss" smoke rose from the right side of his face when the glowing embers went out.

"Oh my god, how did you burn so badly? Wait," Reya panicked and started shuffling through her backpack for some medicine.

"Ah, here" Reya said, lifting the small tube of burn medicine from her bag. She held the man's face nearby and started applying the cream to his face. With tears streaming down her face she smeared the cream everywhere on his burnt face.

"Oh you poor thing, How did you so hurt?" she cried as she started tying the exposed wounds. "Are we even supposed to bind a burnt wound? But I don't have anything in hand," she mumbled, working faster.

"OH my god, I am so sorry if this hurts," she whisper looking at his wide and started binding it with some bandages.

*****

Helios was astonished and shocked. This has never happened to him before. Every time he exposed his face to Humans, they.... they tend to get scared and always run away. But this one seems to worry about him.

He gently held the fussing humans hands and said, "Human, this wound was caused by the burning fires of Tartarus, it cannot be healed by your medicines."

The human just gave a confused look and sniffled. "The wound still needs to be bound," she whispered and binding his face with a new roll of bandage.

"Don't waste your time. It can't be healed," he said, holding the woman's face close.

"If you are alive, then it can be healed," the little human shouted, pulling her face out of his. With tears still streaming down her face, she bounded his head like the Egyptian would do their dead.

All the while he observed her facial expressions. With her almond shape eyes, cheery lips, and with her ivory skin shining in the evening sunlight, she looked almost ethereal. Her head was bald, he noticed.

"What happened to your hair?" he whispered, touching her prickly head. She swatted his hand and pouted.

"I gave it to my sister,"

"Why though? Girls always look pretty with long shiny hair," he said touching her prickly head again.

"I look pretty even now. Okay, stop touching," she said swatting his hands again.

"You do," the silly man said with a cheerful grin.

She slapped him on his shoulders a little and said, "There all good. Here," then she handed some fresh bandages and small bottle of white pills. "Take this when it hurts too much" she said shaking the little bottle of painkillers. "And you have to change the bandages every day, oh here a soap bar. If you can, wash the old bandages and wear them." The little human kept rambling.

"Thank you human," he whispered smiling through the layered bandages.