The Tree of Eternity

"I miss you. I hope the sun would set earlier than we expected," Ali let his hair be blown by the breeze, hoping that his worries would be blown away too.

Without further thoughts he walked and went near the giant tree. The comfort and nostalgic feeling it had given him now and then were still the same; but the only difference was the person who usually accompanied him hadn't come there yet.

This giant tree was their discussed meeting place after their trials had already finished; and that ended today.

This tree had watched them confess their feelings to each other. It had watched them grow, take the trials, and pledge an oath together. It was also there from the times both of them were fighting.

In short, the moment they had been finally together through thick and thin; it had guided and protected them — the tree of eternity.

300 years. They only had to wait 300 years apart from each other — and yet it feels forever.

As Viron was already in front of it, he attempted to climb on it. But he felt his legs had become weighty again just like how it felt like earlier. Even so, it wasn't heavy enough for him to give up climbing it.

And when he was already in the middle of the tree, he couldn't move his legs anymore as though the density had increased tenfold. It was then he called his vines because he couldn't bear the power that was weighing him down. "I feel like I'm cheating," he said while twining the vines onto one of the tree's branches. When he finally ensured the stability of his vine, he used it as a ladder to pull himself up; the density was still there but it wasn't as hard to move as it was.

Even with the help of his vines, the path of climbing was longer than he expected. He looked up at the nearest branch on where he twined the branch and he was still far from where it was. "Has this tree always been this big?" he asked, irritated.

"At least let me reach the branch where we usually reside. It'd be embarrassing if Viron sees me in this position. What could he possibly say to me? The flower who was so skilled to climb the giant tree is now having a hard time? How pitiful would I look!" he exclaimed with that fact as he knew he would literally do that.

When the heavens finally heard his complaint after half an hour, he finally reached the branch of where they usually are. "Now this… this will be the place where I'll be sitting, waiting for him,"

But before he sat, he stared at the dirtiness of the branch first. "Ah, if only you were here. Maybe you'll start cleaning it before I get to sit on it," he said as he called the wind for the dirt to be blown away.

***

900 years ago, in front of a giant tree with profuse, pea-like, bright red leaves that stood alone in a large field, the flowers that's on the floor were like nothing but an extra for it as it shines brighter than all of them.

Two men climbing onto the tree without any difficulty can be seen in the background, one with the black fancy clothes and the other one wearing red. It's obvious that both of them are familiar with the tree as they have a clear route on where they were supposed to go. Their movements sync with each other, making it look like they're dancing and not climbing.

They landed on one of the branches with ease. As the man in red, Alis was about to sit, Viron quickly grabbed him away from it, "Can't you see how dirty it is?" his face turned sour when he saw him about to sit in the dusty branch, there's even leaves that fell from the tree.

"What? It's just dust, we won't die," he other onet justified, looking completely clueless as to what's the problem with it.

"Goodness gracious, you said it yourself, it's DUST and dust is visibly dirty," he simply explained, having a shocked face because of what his lover said.

"It's part of nature… and dirt can't affect me, Viron. I'm a flower," he replied.

Viron could feel his nerves almost snapping one by one, but he remained calm, "Exactly, you are a flower and having the flower sitting on such a dirty place isn't so proper, don't you think so too? Even if those can't affect you, it's still not good to do that," he nagged calmly.

"Says who?" he asked, still acting clueless, where in fact, he's having fun seeing his lover acting like that.

"Me, I'm the one who said it, you can do whatever you want just please maintain your hygiene," he was still mad but calmer now, all he wants to do is to enjoy every second with him, but his lover is testing his patience.

"Eh? Say, when you're in your snake form, aren't you slithering around the floor? And the floor is dirty, are you taking all the dirt off before you continue to slither?" he tried to remain serious by asking him a question, but inside him, he's already bursting out a laugh.

"Enough, Ali," he said, looking so done with the conversation they're having. "You clearly know that I hate dirty places and I certainly don't like you to go to dirty places," he called the wind out of his hand and used it to blow the leaves and dust away from them. When he was done, he already guided him to sit. "There," Only he can be at peace when everything around them is clean— especially Ali.

"Yes, Master," he answered politely, still not done teasing his lover. But Viron didn't mind what he said at all and just let him do what he wanted.

He hummed. "Hmm~ looks like someone looks mad," and finally sat properly like what his 'Master' ordered.

"No , I'm not," he simply answered while looking for a good spot to sit.

"Yes, you are," he replied while bringing his face close to him who hasn't even found a proper place to sit.

"You want me to?" It's just a simple answer but Ali can't seem to answer.

He whistled and eyed the place, trying to find something to change the topic he started, "Did I say that," and pouted. He knows how hard it is to talk to him when he gets mad, so he chose not to talk about it.

Viron just ruffled his hair as soon as he found the exact and comfortable place for him to stay, "Silly," and chuckled.

Never did he know that the flower he accidentally stumbled onto would be so important to him and makes him fall in love every second passed.

He has already sunk and drowned deeply.

And if someone will ever ask him if he would try to desperately search for air and ask someone to save him from drowning— he would choose to drown into his abyss more.

As he can breathe properly and swim freely in the abyss— it was and is his haven.