Cursed with immortality, Mars goes on a journey with his lifelong more-than-friends partner Astral, a painfully average future-seeing mage, to find the root of magic, in an effort to ease the side effects of Astral's visions - and to finish their th...
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We had been studying all day and I was exhausted.
"Let's go out into the gardens and have a drink then," Astral suggested with a bright smile after I had been complaining. Anything to get out of studying. And I was agreeing with that for once.
We sat down on a bench in the garden with a bottle of wine to share.
"We're friends, right?" Astral asked, watching me intently with those bright brown eyes of his. Every inch of his being was magic. From the golden pale hue of his skin to the green hair on his head.
"Not even a little bit," I replied and took a swig of the drink. We had this conversation often and there was nothing more fun than teasing my best friend.
"You always know how to sweet-talk me." He smiled brightly in such a fake way. "At least I'm good company."
The best.
"Not really."
"I'm charming."
He was extremely charming.
"As charming as a rabid ferret."
"I'm a good listener."
"You're deaf in your left ear." I handed him the bottle and he raised an eyebrow at me.
"What?"
He had broken through, and I couldn't help but smile. He triumphantly took a swig from the bottle and passed it back to me.
"You're my only friend," he said.
I knew this. As magical as he was, he was also insufferable. I was the only one who could stand to be around him for longer periods of time. I didn't know how I managed. He made me so angry so many times a day, but then he made me smile and I let his former transgressions slide. I reckoned we were both lonely and used the other to ease the loneliness.
I wished he'd stop being so arrogant and pretend it didn't hurt when the others at the college made fun of him. I wished he'd just let me in, but he wouldn't. Being the kind of mage he was, required separation between himself and others. He was supposed to have a single room too, but that obviously didn't happen as I had been his roommate since we were kids. But we weren't kids anymore. Not small kids anyways. We were almost done at the college, and we'd soon need to do our final project to graduate. I only knew I'd go where Astral went. He hadn't even asked, he already talked about where we'd go, as if it was safe to assume, I'd follow. But I always did, and he knew that.
I'd always follow him.
"You're not my only friend," I said and snatched the bottle back.
"What?!" he gasped. "Who else is there?"
"Oh, you wouldn't know them." I shrugged carelessly.
"That's because they don't exist," he laughed and leaned in, grabbing the collar of my shirt and kissed me.
