The Thirty-Ninth Chapter
Eku Mazari Zadzisai always knew that the Blood Rose myth is true.
Gone are the nights he kept on wishing under the starry sky. Gone are the days he kept on praying to whatever god, goddess, spirit, or supernatural force that exists in this realm with a match of a Palo Santo incense or sage whatsoever.
Myths do have a basis of reality, or at least inspired from one.
He glanced at his bedridden wife, Visenna, who was pregnant with their child and is due a few months’ time.
Yet, according to the doctors, only one of them will be able to see the sunlight for the next ten years or so.
But Eku loved both of his girls—his wine-haired wife and his soon to be daughter.
“I would never let any of you die. I will find the Blood Rose,” he swore to his wife, to his soon-to-be family.
Visenna opened her eyes and smiled. “Have you already thought of a name for our girl?”
Eku shook his head. “I was thinking of a usual Irish name, like Saoirse or Aoife something…”
But Visenna’s expression shifted. “You’ll continue your journey to the Ambrosia?”
He couldn’t help but give his wife a tight nod. “Yes. I sure will.”
“If that’s the case, why don’t you name our daughter Rose or Rosella?”
“Both are common. I want my daughter to have a name that is unique as her mother.” He then kissed her sweaty forehead.
Being able to witness Visenna’s pain is a torture for him already.
“What about Roslyn?” Visenna asked.
“Is that from one of the novels you’ve been reading again?”
She gave him a breathy laugh. “How did you know, Mazari?”
“Do not call me by my second name,” Eku replied with a dictatorial tone.
“What about Rozelyn?”
“With a Z again?”
“I love everything with Z,” he then winked at his wife. Visenna tried to sit up even though she’s visibly incapable of doing so.
“Then Rozelyn it is, Caoimhe.” Eku stated with a sarcastic voice.
A nurse then entered, making Eku remember that he is in the freaking white walls of a hospital.
A reminder in his mind flashed, making him frown at the fact on why he visited his wife in the first place—to give his goodbye before departing to the lair of the Blood Rose. Miss Maebh Mullin, the local billionaire and businesswoman, and Mister Ludwig Vergara, the local sheriff and a wealthy Irishman, were the primary sponsors of his journey—masking it as a special expedition of a botanist. What a crap of an excuse.
At least, there are still people who believe in his story and the myth of the rose of immortality.
Eku gave Visenna a blowing kiss in the air to which the latter smiled sweetly—melting him like a snowman on the first sunshine after days of winter.
“I shall return.” That was a promise to both of his girls; an unbreakable oath.
He went out of the room and met Hans Ryder, his loyal assistant, who was just waiting a few steps from the door.
“Ready?” The young man asked the soon-to-be father.
“You bet I am!” Eku exclaimed with a soft laugh.
“Then we are all set. Project Blood Rose shall now commence in 5,4,3…” Hans teasingly said.
“Come on, lad! Let’s bring home this fucking bloody rose, shall we?!”
These were the last words Eku Mazari Zadzisai stated before he departed to Tanzania—in the mystical village of Zuleyka, the lair of the Blood Rose.
His hopeful heart and positive mind is sure to be successful in this so-called expedition. He will indeed bring back the Blood Rose, ambrosia to what the Ancient Greeks call it. Eku will wield all the best he could to make the flower set foot on Ireland’s soil and bathe in the Irish morning sun.
Yet, as they say, dreaming is free and no fee needed. But sometimes, dreams are only dreams; just like the fact that there are things that should've been left untouched and undiscovered.
And Eku should’ve known better that some knowledge of mystical things’ existence are better forgotten in the silent winds of this world.
***
Eku found this ancient text in one of the hidden catacombs of Athens. He had an archaeology degree before he took botany so it’s definitely not so difficult for him to locate this flower of immortality—or so he thought.
Too good that he had also studied ancient language as the ancient text was written in Ancient Greek—which is pretty much obvious.
They have been walking now towards the road that is said to lead to the mystical and secret village of Zuleyka. But still, only the tall and towering trees greeted them.
No sign of people or vehicles or any hint of a civilization’s existence. Only the insects, the water, the wind, the trees, and the sky above seemed to repeatedly waving and greeting them in a courteous manner for days.
“Perhaps it’s just a myth, Eku,” one of his botanist companions, Isla Ivane, muttered.
“We’ve been walking for three days now. Only freaking Mother Nature seems to give us accommodation in this silent and virgin forest!” Hans yelled. His voice echoed, scaring the sleeping birds away.
“It’s no longer a virgin, Hans! We’ve already excavated it so it’s no longer ‘untouched’,” said Isla in a teasing tone.
“Well, Mr. Hans Ryder here loves excavating virgins, there’s no question about that…'' Eku said in a sarcastic tone. It seems that Rozelyn Nadeshiko Zadzisai inherited her sarcasm from her dear beloved of a father.
“Who did you fucked last three days, Hans? I bet you’ve rented one of the Tanzanian women in that hotel, hmm?” Isla nudged Hans by the elbow and said in a girly tone; unusual as she’s a lesbian kind of woman to be frank.
“Oh, that half-English Tanzanian woman. She’s a bomb and a wild cat. You bet I’m one of a lucky bastard as her wet virgin cave slid down into my you-know-what,” Hans said with a playboy’s wink.
Eku just shook his head with a quiet thought, ‘Young people. Always love to journey to different caves—both virgins and visited ones…’
A sudden movement was heard nearby. The three immediately whipped their heads to the origin of that noise.
Eku scowled. Han’s heartbeat increased. Isla is on the verge of an anxiety attack.
“What is that?” Isla’s shaky tone and nervous breath worried Eku.
“Stay here, the two of you,” he pointed to Hans and Isla. “I will go check on what that noise is…”
“Be careful,” Eku swore that it was fear that was dominant on his two companions, especially Hans’ words of encouragement only flooded his ears when the lad was on the brink of sprinting far, far away.
“I will.”
Eku trekked the nearby bush of what seemed to be a berry-bearing bush.
“Poisonous berries…” He uttered as he examined the round, magenta, squishy but small berry that he once saw in one of the trees at the Amazon Forest.
“Did you find something?” Isla was already ducked on the floor, knees trembling. Her breath was uneven.
“Nothi—”
Eku immediately sprints towards where the rustling of leaves came from. He slowly approached it, only greens and sunshine was visible.
So, the botanist inched closer; already 20 yards away from his fellowmen.
He halted before it.
It was a doe. The healthiest and most beautiful looking doe he had ever seen. Something that hunters or zoologists would pray to see at least glance at this magnificent creature.
“So you are the one who’s making a noise, little fellow?” Eku said with a playful tone, eyes fixed on the hazel eyes of the creature.
“What is that? Who are you talking to?” Hans’ voice reverberated in the midst of this silent, peaceful forest.
Eku was about to reply when he saw the doe moved towards four giant pillars of stone. Each bearing a weird mark that he only sees in movies and ancient books.
“Holy hell…” was all he managed to say.
It is indeed a mysterious ancient stone, probably an entrance gate before the mystical village of Zuleyka.
The one on the right has a swirling mark inside a circle. The one next to it seems to have a diamond and square entwined to each other. The other one simply had a triangle with a vertical line drawn in the center of it, with a four-pointed star at the far end of the line. And the last one on the left had nothing on it. It was simply blank aside from the rough surface it possesses.
“What the fuck is that?” Hans’ questioned no one, more like asking himself.
‘It’s some sort of a riddle.” It was Isla who stated.
The two men whipped their heads to the blonde female.
“What?” She asked Eku.
“Can you solve it?”
“I don’t know. I mean perhaps if you gave me an hour…”
Isla watched Eku sit near that poisonous berry’s bush, then followed by Hans.
“So you really want me to solve this bloody riddle?!” She said as she put her two hands on her hips.
“Help yourself,” Eku said with a wave of a hand; his eyes sparkling.
Isla rolled her eyes and crossed her arms as she stared at the four huge pillars blocking the path—or guarding the path, no one knows.
“Fine, give me an hour and a half.”
Eku was about to open his mouth in order to protest but instead just shut it and opened a can of sardines.
“As long as you like, Lady Isla,” Hans shouted at Isla in a teasing manner. The blonde woman just waved a hand, looking wholly focused on cracking the answer to the rocky surface.
“She has a nice ass, you know,” the playboy Mr. Hans Ryder said to his pal as he took a bite from his wheat bread.
“There are only two things you always see in a woman’s body, Hans: her breasts and her ass.”
Hans shrugged. “Well, where else should I feast my eyes upon?” He asked as he pointed a finger at Isla who was bending on the ground, showing the two men a magnificent sight to behold.
A saccharine smile beamed at Eku Mazari Zadzisai’s face.
At last, he could finally bring home the fabled rose of immortality after so many years, not knowing that a more precious a thing is, a greater price is demanded.
***
He finally managed to bring the Blood Rose in Shamrock, Ireland…with a cost of unimaginable price.
Eku was standing outside of Visenna’s room, wholly anxious. He didn’t even know if that would work—rendering two individuals immortal using a single miracle flower.
Well, there’s always a first time anyway.
He just lied to Ms. Maebh and Mr. Ludwig that they never managed to bring the flower home upon finding out their true colors. That the two wealthy people’s primary motive to the legendary flower is to use it for their own benefit so that they may prevail their maleficent and hideous deeds.
“Since when did you come back?” Romaine Eastwood, Visenna’s colleague whom she treats as her bestfriend, queried him in a serious manner. She was walking towards him, probably coming from the restroom.
“Two days ago.” His answer was bland and straightforward; no how-are-you or good-morning of sorts.
“I see,” Romaine said as she inched closer, leaning towards Eku as if to give him a kiss.
In a reflex action, Eku jerked his head away slowly.
“You have a visitor,” she whispered, then gave Visenna’s husband a snake smile.
“Dr. Eku Mazari Zadzisai, meet Lady Nyra Ravenwood, a Norwegian countess.”
The woman whom Romaine called ‘Nyra Ravenwood’ appeared from behind Eku. She smiled at him before extending her well-manicured hand at the botanist.
“I am pleased to meet you, Doctor.”
He smiled, as if meeting Visenna for the first time. Yet, Eku didn’t know that the women in front and at the back of him were the evidence that the mighty Blood Rose does grant immortality—as long as one consumes the life of other beings, either for hunger or for anger.
