ZYLITH.

Smouldering, flickering, it flared and leaped. The fire licked the walls around me with a dangerous fervor. It soared and winded around the room like a huge hungry serpent, an inferno blazing out of control, the plumes of grey smoke enveloping us with not a way to escape.

It's almost funny how only a flickering spark could weave such a destructive blazing curse.

When I saw the flaming arrow zipping towards Alexteris through the massive window of the master bedroom, I was a wide-eyed ball of anxiety. I bolted to him unconsciously to pull him out of the arrow's trajectory, but what I didn't realize was that it was just a fraction of the entire plot. They not only wanted the life of Alexteris, but all the lives in the whole Eastern palace.

In no time at all, choking clouds of noxious smoke flared out as glowing embers leaped and twirled in a fiery dance, like gleeful fiends out on a hunting spree.

The flames burned with colours I never thought it would. And as I watched it engulf us in a sea of fire, I regretted not swallowing a bag of popcorn kernels. My cremation would have been an epic event otherwise(sigh). [What can I say? I tend to find hilarity in the most desperate of situations. My specialty if you must know. At least I know my sense of humor is what have kept me sane all this while.]

"You know I had dreams and aspirations of when and how I would kick the bucket." I said in lament as I stood petrified to the ground watching the not-so-entertaining hula-dance of the flames. "I wish your brother were here. When I think of dying, I want my man to die with me. Oh! Don't get me wrong. I don't mean to be rude, but I find the people who are like, 'I want you to move on and be happy' so stupid. Like, how is he qualified to be your man if he isn't willing to die for you? Call me cruel but No Sir! I ain't taking all that 'Move on and be happy without me' shit. If you have the guts to be my man, get in the casket with me... is what I wanna say (Sigh!)." And I sighed yet again. "I know, I know! Your brother and I are not a real thing and he's only my husband in name. But at this moment, I'll take what I get you know."

I knew I was babbling, maybe in fright, or maybe in anxiety, but I just hoped and wished, if someone were listening to me, they would know of my final wishes before death claimed my soul. However, when I turned back to look at the unresponsive Alexteris, all the lamentation flew out of the window.

This guy... he didn't look his usual self. I saw him erratically shaking all over, his eyes opened as wide as an owl's in fear. Tension grew in his face and limbs as I felt his breathing becoming more rapid and shallow. And the next moment, he was crouched down on the ground, tightly wrapping his arms around himself, while quivering like a leaf all the way.

"Prince!" I squatted down beside him and spoke in urgency, "What's happening? Alexteris are you alright?"

I grabbed his shoulders to try and support his convulsing self as I uttered nervously, "What is happening to you?"

The fierce feeling of fright that had not yet properly sunk into me, had suddenly hit me hard. From the way Alexteris was acting, I had a pretty good idea of what was going on with him but I just had not wanted to entertain that thought, for I didn't want to make my situation any more desperate than it already was.

But the fact remained right in front of my eyes. No matter in how much denial I was in, I couldn't possibly prevent myself from accepting the dire circumstances any longer.

I leaned in closer to him and asked in a voice laced with unease, "Do you perhaps suffer from pyropho... I mean, do you have a phobia of fire?"

He didn't immediately reply, nor did he deny, but I was pretty sure I hit the bull's-eye. And as such, our situation became even more urgent.

The blaze continued to devour everything and anything flammable, sparing none, and I feared if I didn't do something fast, the blaze would devour us whole into its belly of fire along with the entire Eastern palace.

To think I had been opting to depend on this brat crouched down feebly on the ground. I bit my lips as my heart was pounding like a drum while I looked hither and tether for an escape route, but all the exits were firmly blocked by the raging flames of fire, rendering me absolutely helpless.

It was an inferno fueled by gallons of accelerant and conspiracies of the enemy. The flame was rolling outwards like the smoke of a mushroom cloud and the heat was oppressive making it hard to breathe. The idea of the firefighters rushing in was ludicrous, but at this moment I wished for nothing more than to see those vibrant black suits rushing right in to save the day.

Just as I was running around like a headless chicken in sheer panic, I heard Alexteris say in a breathless weak tone, "...Secret exit... in wardrobe..."

My ears immediately perked up at the mention of the words 'Secret Exit' and I rushed to him.

"What what! What did you just say?"

Alexteris was struggling to speak but he still somehow managed to say, "Secret exit... open the wardrobe."

I felt like salvation had graced me at last. And without further ado, I made a beeline towards the grand antique-looking wardrobe in a mad dash.

When I opened the all too familiar wardrobe, it looked nothing out of the ordinary. Just a mundane old closet. But I knew the exit had to be hidden in plane sight. So, I was groping around everywhere, looking for some magical switch or trigger that would open our pathway out of this fiery hell.

I don't remember for how long I fumbled around, but just when I was losing hope and was about to haul Alexteris to find the said switch, I heard an almost inaudible click at the left upper corner of the closet, and Voilà! The hard wood of the back side of the wardrobe slowly slide to the side giving way to a secret dark pathway.

"YES! Thank God, we are saved." I cried in relief as I rushed back to Alexteris, "Alexteris look, I thought we would be shish kebab in this pit of flames today, but to my pleasant surprise, we can escape this hellhole now. Oh thank God, Buddha, Allah, Jesus Christ! God knows I'm too young to die."

"... You, shut up! And carry me." Was Alexteris's retort. And I couldn't blame him for that. I mean, I was jabbering like an excited fool, so...

I grabbed the agitated guy by his shoulder and half dragged half lugged him towards the secret exit. I closed the sliding door of the closet after we had crossed the threshold between the sea of flames and our sweet escape and continued to drag the guy through the dark gloomy tunnel. However, we had not walked for even ten minutes, we found our way blocked by a huge boulder with no space to squeeze around it. Now we were literally somewhere in between a rock and a sea of fire. Imagine my not so pleasant surprise!

I couldn't see Alexteris's face in the pitch-black darkness, but I was sure he wore a morose expression similar to mine. I put Alexteris down and hunkered down beside him on the cold hard ground.

For a while, everything in this world seemed to have been muted. We could no longer hear the sound of the flames engulfing everything in its way, nor could we hear the screams and frantic footsteps of the people in the Southern palace. All was still, as if we were transported to a whole new world, only darkness as our companion.

It was a rare silence after a chaotic tempest, and I didn't feel inclined to disrupt this rare silence. But I was still worried about Alexteris's condition, even if you have finally gotten away from the object of your fears, it doesn't mean that you will magically feel alright again. A phobia is a mental fear so daunting that it had the power to even take people's lives. How could I just dismiss it as if it were a mere walk in the park?

"Prince Alexteris, are you feeling alright?" I asked in apprehension.

He was as quite as a fiddle for a long while, and just when I thought that he wouldn't reply, his small voice echoed in the space of the hollow tunnel, "...I'm alright." And then he quietened down once more.

Silence prevailed like an invisible veil, and I don't know how long we stayed in that dimming quietness. But eventually, I couldn't take it anymore.

"You know... My fantasy is having two men at once. One for cooking and the other for cleaning."

"..."

"But my mum said that it'll be next to impossible for me to acquire such precious talents. She feared that in my pursuit for my unrealistic fantasies I'd be left alone and sad my entire life. I mean I didn't have a boyfriend... I mean lover back then while all my girlfriends were happily loved by their men. So my mom got a little distressed for me and to console me she used to say, 'Do not worry too much dear, before I met your dad, I used to fantasize about my prince charming on a green turtle, still on his way to me, while running my fingers through my own hair and grabbing my own ass. And that was so much better than being with douches and jerks.' Haha... funny right? She even swore in front of her daughter."

"..."

I don't know why I suddenly talked about mom, but the calming darkness and the soothing quite was like a gabbing spell making me say things I don't normally say.

"She was a great mom who taught me well, if... I look at it from another point of view. I mean... now that I think about it, she taught me Wisdom when she said 'When you get to my age you'll understand' and Logic when she would say 'Because I said so, that's why.' Also Religion when she said, 'You better pray THAT comes out of the carpet' and Justice when she would repeat the words 'One day when you'll have kids, I hope they turn out just like you' (Sigh!) I miss her a lot you know."

"... My mother was more of the wayward kind. Climbing through walls to sneak out of the palace, teaching us tricks and pranks to get back at those who we don't like, climbing trees and watching baby birds hatch while the whole palace is in an uproar due to her disappearance... (Chuckle)... She was like an overgrown kid that my brother and my father had to supervise at all times." And abruptly without a prior hint, Alexteris started talking about his mom.

Maybe it was the tranquil atmosphere, maybe it was the dark that cloaked our eyes; but being stuck in a desperate situation not knowing if we would even stay alive to see the next sunrise had presented us an unique opportunity to open up about things we generally didn't feel comfortable talking about, especially not to each other.

"(Giggle) My! Really?"

"Mhmm! There was this one time when she..."