Rose

The iron cuffs on Fawn’s wrist were feeling more and more like shackles every day now the closer she got to the end. There was something particularly constraining about them as she clung to the cliffside and was bombarded by sheets of rain and seaspray but she had come too far now to give in to their attacks. 

After a moment of hesitation, Fawn mustered all of her strength and was finally able to pull herself over the top of the cliff. Once she was safely on the stable ground she took a moment to steady herself. Time was running short and realistically she knew that she couldn’t waste any more of it but she couldn’t help herself but to look out over the island cliff at the seemingly infinite ocean she had just crossed to get right here and feel a little bit of pride. Then, as had become somewhat of an unconscious tick in the last year, Fawn found her fingers drawn to the cuffs on her arm again to trace the little village map that had been engraved on them. 

She couldn't wait to get those things off. 

The cuffs had been a requirement for initiation at the ceremony. They were meant to show her devotion to the test ahead when she had gone before the gods. She had committed to trapping her wrists in them until she had completed all of the resolutions, or until the year ended. It was required that she make them herself, but that also meant that she had gotten to decide what got engraved on them. The ceremony masters advised her to pick something that would encourage her, remind her why she was doing it in the first place, so she had carved her village. 

After all, she was doing it all for them. 

Dropping away from the metal, her hand tightened into a fist.

She was finally at the end. 

If legend was to be believed, and after the year Fawn had had she had no right to question legend, the demigod Alexandro was said to live on this island and she had approximately an hour to find him and complete her final resolution. Then she would be able to help her people and rest and finally get to take those dreaded cuffs off of her wrists. 

Though the island’s forests looked dense from the outside Fawn was able to find Alexandro’s hut almost immediately, almost like she had been drawn to it, or lured. She couldn’t help but feel a little suspicious about the ease of the task, especially after some of the other things she had been made to do, fighting dragons with eight heads or retrieving guarded treasures from underwater cities. She pulled a yellowing scroll of parchment out of her bag and looked it over one more time. 

It listed the fifty resolutions the gods had tasked her with at the beginning of the year, all of which were now crossed out except for the last: find and retrieve the rose from its keeper. Alexandro was the keeper, again according to legend, and had been for the last millennia. As the son of the great goddess Helena, Alexandro had been given the responsibility because it needed to be guarded by one who could live on earth but powerful enough to keep it out of the wrong hands, Fawn knew this part for sure, it was what the rose was where things became a little sticky. She knew that she was looking for a rose but that was all the information that she could find about it in her research, she just had to hope that Alexandro could fill her in once they had met. This all cycled through her head as she walked up to his door. She paused for just a bit too long outside of his door to gather herself and a man started calling to her through the door. 

“So are you going to knock on the door are we going to stand around here all day? I am a demigod, I can sense you out there.” The voice called shaking Fawn out of her thoughts. Not knowing exactly how to respond to that she hesitantly knocked on the door. 

The door swung open the second her hand had left the door from the first knock to reveal a red-haired man who looked to be in his twenties but had just enough of a literal glow to his skin that Fawn knew that she had found the right secluded island hut. He didn't look particularly thrilled to see her but there was an air of curiosity to his face as he looked Fawn up and down. Before Fawn could fully decide where she was going to start the man grabbed for her wrist and pulled the cuffs toward him so that he could examine them.

“So you’re one of mom’s resolution kids huh?” he said unimpressed. 

This pulled Fawn back into the moment and reminded her what it was she was here for in the first place. Like trains falling back into place on a track the prepared speech that she had rehearsed the whole boat ride here came rolling back into focus. 

“My name is Fawn Maris and I have-”

Alexandro held up a hand for her to stop and rubbed his temple. 

“No no, I know, you went through the resolutions ceremony almost a year ago and have been given fifty tasks to complete to gain your immortality and the last is to get the rose from me right? It’s what, new years eve? Cutting it a little short now aren't you Fawn?” Fawn was struck speechless again not fully sure how to respond to this interaction. She hadn’t expected meeting a demigod to be so...informal. He must have seen this shock in her because he sighed sadly and continued with. “Why don’t you come in, let's have a chat.”

He let her in out of the rain and found her a seat in a rather hard wicker chair by the fireplace, apologizing for the uncomfortable option, he didn't get a lot of company. He also offered her a mug of tea that she was pretty sure he had just created out of thin air. Fawn was silent through all of this, she had learned long ago that it was better to wait and say something better than to burst out with a half-formed thought. 

When Fawn was sitting comfortably with her mug and close enough to the fire to begin drying off Alexandro finally sat down across from her and spent a minute just examining her once again. 

“Okay, are you comfortable? Everything good?”

She nodded.

“Good, because I have some bad news. I can’t give you the rose.”

Fawn’s heart jumped into her throat. Her mind started to churn with thoughts of all that she would lose if she couldn't complete this last resolution. Instead of succumbing to these thoughts she shifted her focus, she didn't have the whole story yet, so she was going to get it. 

“Why?” she asked soberly.

Alexandro folded his hands and raised an eyebrow.

“It would really be easier to show you.” He said, leaning forward and holding out one of his hands palm up. He jerked his fingers dramatically and there was a small whooshing sound as small golden rays of what seemed to be pure light came out of his hand. The rays knit themselves together to show the form of a single shimmering golden rose in the palm of his hand. Fawn gawked at the flower, she had never seen anything so beautiful, like pure energy, or maybe even life. Alexandro gestured to it with his other hand. “That, little Fawn, is the rose that you have been sent to capture, but unfortunately it is something that is very important to me, it is the physical embodiment of the godly side of me.” 

As he finished his sentence he closed his hand and the golden flower went up in a flurry of tiny sparkles. 

“The godly side of you…” Fawn mumbled under her breath. Her eyes widened as she realized what he meant. “I’m supposed to kill you and take this...” She meant for it to be a question but by the time the words met her lips she knew that it was true. 

Alexandro nodded solemnly.

Fawn deflated into her wicker chair, she had been prepared to do a lot of things to get immortally but the murder of a demigod? A rather polite one at that, it just seemed wrong. 

“What’s worse is that it's all a lie anyway, even if you were able to kill me, without something physical to tie itself to the energy would evaporate and be lost.” There was a deep bitterness in his words.  “The game you’re playing Fawn? It’s rigged. I hate to be the one to tell you but the gods don’t want you to finish all the resolutions, it's all just a big show to them. You were never supposed to get this far and the few who have were never going to be able to get the rose, it's impossible.”

At those words, something occurred to Fawn, something that caused her body to tense. She raised her eyes to meet Alexandros and tried to hide her growing fear.  

“What happened to the others that got this far?” she asked. 

He answered flatly.

“I had to kill them.”

Fawn reflexively went for the knife she had holstered to her waist but before she could draw it Alexandro stood up and frantically waved for her to stop. 

“Woah Woah! But only because they insisted on fighting.” He said in a tone far too loud to actually calm Fawn down but she did stop pulling out the knife. “I promise. I can't help you... but I’m not going to kill you either. We have the same enemy right?”

Fawn moved her hand back away from her knife in a sign of truce. At which point Alexandro settled back into his seat across from her. 

“Okay…” He muttered settling back in. After a beat, he let out an unspirited chuckle and then followed almost absentmindedly with: “You’re actually the first one who hasn't tried to kill me yet…”

Fawn was too lost in thought to hear him. This was wrong, everything about this was wrong. Fawn had found the treasures, she had crossed the seas, slain the monsters, she had done the resolutions and now what? It was over? It had all been a huge waste of time and there was nothing she could do about it?

Well, she could kill him.

Fawn quickly pushed that thought to the back of her head, she wasn't going to do it that way, no matter what the prize was. 

She wasn't going to do it that way… so she wasn't going to be able to do it. 

It fully sunk in, she was going to fail. 

Alexandro tried to break her out of her thoughts.

“Hey don’t take it too hard kid, the gods screw us all over eventually.” He paused but Fawn didn't respond. “If it makes you feel any better, you’re the first one to reach me in, I don’t know a thousand years? That’s pretty impressive in of itself.”

Fawn didn't really find any solace in that. 

After another long silence, Alexandro tried again.

“So, why do you want to be immortal anyway?” He said quickly, immediately hiding his face behind a sip of tea. He almost sounded… nervous? Was that what it was? Fawn ignored this thought, instead choosing to look down at the cuffs on her wrists and trace the town once again, letting her mind wander back to home. 

“My village has been a drought for the last few years. We’re on the verge of starvation.” Her voice came out soft. “We prayed to the gods but they never did anything. I just thought that if I could…” she felt the tears gathering at the edge of her eyes. It was all for nothing now, everything she had done, leaving her family, putting in all that effort, and even after all of that, she couldn’t even help her people. 

Alexandro laughed guiltily. 

Guilt, that's what it was.

“Wow,” he mumbled. “That’s not usually what I hear.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well usually people who are seeking godhood, they want it because they just want power or control or...but Fawn that’s...that’s pretty noble. “ He answered, seriously. 

Fawn shrugged, maybe it was but it didn't matter now. 

Alexandro set down his drink and leaned forward. His hand now tapping nervously on the side of his chair. 

“Okay...so how badly do you really want to be a god?” 

Fawn answered without hesitation.

“More than anything I have ever wanted in my life.” 

He sighed frustratedly. 

“That's what I was afraid you would say.” He leaned his head forward and mumbled angrily to himself. “Okay, I might have a way that you can still do this.” He took a deep breath. 

“What are-” Fawn tried to ask but before she could Alexandro was creating the rose again. Only this time something was different, the rose didn't form easily, it looked as if it was having to force its way into being. Alexandro seemed to be using a lot of effort to create it too and once it was finally fully formed he fell back into his seat exhausted. He wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. 

Odd, Fawn thought, she didn't think gods sweat. 

Alexandro held the glowing flower out to Fawn. It floated delicately on his palm, as fragile and beautiful as before, yet somehow brighter. 

Fawn felt that creeping fear again but it wasn't for herself this time.

“What did you do?” she asked stiffly. 

“I detached myself from my power,” He said with this proud smile before breaking into a cough “Bring that to the gods, they’ll give you your immortality.”

Fawn couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The golden rose suddenly seemed all the more sinister. 

“I can’t take this, literally, you said-” she retorted trying to push the flower back to him. 

He wouldn’t let her. 

“Yes, you can, I’ve physically separated it from my soul, you should be able to take it but it won't last long so you’ve got to do this now Fawn.” Fawn continued to look at him, feeling that he was holding something back. “Okay, I’m not sure it will work, that's why I didn't bring it up before but then you told me about your village and...those people upstairs, they need more peers like you Fawn so I’m going to try to get you up there.” 

“But how can you know they will even accept this? Didn't you say that I was never supposed to finish the tasks? What if they still won’t give me the godhood?”

“Oh they’ll give it to you,” He laughed bitterly. “they’ve wanted me gone for centuries. If you bring them the part of me that makes me their responsibility they will give you anything you want.” 

“But, what will happen to you?”

“I’m centuries old, without the god part of me I won't make it.” He said sadly but then quickly added. “But that doesn't matter, what have I been doing with my life lately anyway other than being angry at the gods? My mom’s family doesn't deserve the power that they have and I can't change that but I can do this, so let me do this.”

Fawn was paralyzed. He was offering to die so that she could get this, this was not what she wanted but then it seemed to be what he did. 

 He made a quick glance at the clock on the wall. “You better go Fawn there isn’t a lot of time left.”

Fawn wanted to stay and fight him on this but he was right, she only had about fifteen minutes to call upon the gods before the year was over. She swallowed the raging fight between what was right and wrong in her mind and took the flower. It had worked, she was able to hold it. Knowing that time was running out she turned to make it to the door but was stopped when she heard Alexandro call to her. When she looked back his body had already started to whither without the energy from the rose. 

“Just do one thing for me okay?” He said through another cough. “Don't be like the rest of them, do something good with your power.”

The words cut deeply in a way that Fawn knew she wouldn't forget for a long time. 

“I will.” 

With that Fawn ran out of the hut leaving Alexandro clinging weakly to the edges of his chair but smiling. 

*

Alexandro had been right.

The second that Fawn had offered up his power the gods had promised her the immortality she had been seeking. So now here she was, living in the heavens looking down on the very world that she had crossed to gain what she had now. Her hand went compulsory to her wrist to trace the grooves of her cuffs only to remember that they were gone. The engraving that had once been on them was now tattooed into her skin marking her the goddess of the simple life. 

She looked down at the people she was now in charge of looking after and remembered Alexandro. She had made a promise to him and if it meant going down to Earth herself to make it a better place, she would. For her people, for those like them, and for that one disillusioned demigod who had barely known her and had still given his life for her to make a difference, she would try to do good.