The Fortress in the Clouds

THE TOUCH WAS thrilling. It seemed to have the power to make the hair on her skin curl, a bolt of electricity fizzing down the length of her spine as she gasped. Quickly, Naomi withdrew her hands back to her sides, forcing her memories down with the action.

“Argus, I would say that it is a pleasure but then I would be lying. Next time, make sure that your pet does not attack innocent people that are simply crossing the path of the forest.” She made sure to speak her words with an extra touch of venom, sneering at the handsome man as he merely shrugged with a smug smile.

“I will try my best to take note of that,” he mused. “What are you doing out here in the middle of the night? Do you not know that there are monsters that dwell in the woods once the moon rises?”

“I have met enough monsters in my life to recognize them even from a distance away, thank you very much.” Naomi folded her arms across her chest, tilting her chin high. “What I do is my business. I do not need someone watching over me every second of my life.”

“And is that why you ran away?” He idly asked, pulling the charcoal colored sword from its hold before swinging it twice to test its weight. Satisfied, he gripped the handle tight with his dominant hand before reaching his free hand out for her to take. “Come on. You need somewhere to rest and that I can provide you.”

“Like I said, I can recognize monsters even from a large distance. And that includes attractive strangers with a wolf and a sword.” Naomi pursed her lips to prevent herself from snorting, instead content with glaring the strange person down.

“So you find me attractive?” Argus’s eyes glinted mischievously in the dark, sparkling like a diamond under the brightest of sunlight.

Naomi cursed lightly under her breath, mentally kicking herself for letting her innermost thoughts slip by her lips. Out of all the things that he could hear, he had only zoned in on the one thing Naomi did not want him to catch.

However, as much as Naomi did not want Argus to know what she thought of him, it was undeniable that the man was a specimen. There was an unmistakable aura of kindness and compassion that surrounded him almost overwhelmingly. Yet, even with how serene he looked, his eyes that were colored a bright green still danced with the dangers of hell. They sang wild stories into Naomi’s ears, depicting tales of grandeur and adventure that Naomi craved in her bones.

If anything, Argus reminded Naomi of the flames. So beautiful, so daring, and yet if one were to get too close, so dangerous, so deadly.

She kept her silence, too engrossed in her thoughts. Naomi had not even realized that she had been biting down on her bottom lip hard until Argus inched a little closer to her, tilting his head down so that he could see her face better due to their height difference.

“Excuse me? Lowlander?” He asked, snapping his fingers in front of her eyes to gain her attention.

It immediately accomplished her task, pulling Naomi out of her train of thoughts as she looked back up at Argus with a grim smile.

“Are you sure you can bring me away from here?” She asked, her voice almost timid.

There were too many times that Naomi had to suppress her fear. She always had to be strong where she came from. Dealing with the monsters in her life required strength and concentration and now that she had escaped them, she was finally allowed a breath of fresh air.

The frightened girl watched as Argus’s lips slowly curved into a vibrant smile, dimples appearing in his cheeks as he nodded his head once. Then, without any other warning, he grasped her hand tightly in his like she had done what felt like centuries ago. Their fingers intertwined into a lock before he whistled once for Rayner —the wolf —before he tugged at Naomi’s hand.

They began to walk in silence, Argus’s eyes trained on the dirt path ahead of them and Naomi’s own ones focused on the man from her past. It seemed like forever before he spoke again, this time, his voice soft and kind, as if talking to a fawn that had just lost its mother.

“Do not worry, lowlander. The fortress accepts all that seeks shelter,” he confidently declared.

That thought alone made Naomi smile. It was time for her to revisit a dream that she had long declared as nothing more than imagination. The inner child in her screamed in delight, rejoicing the fact that in a stroke of luck, she was finally free from the tight locks that reality placed on her and she could finally escape to a realm that was her own.