The Red Haired Woman

The water ripples softly as he looks at his reflection. His grey beard has grown thick now covering almost half his face, his green almond-shaped eyes stare back at him. The fire in their depths is weak just as his spirit has been for the past four years on this planet. His dirty fingers reach over and scoop a handful of water which he gulps hungrily. It's too easy to satisfy his flesh than his spirit in this land. A few morsels of food and fluids and the body is okay. But no amount of fluids or food could ease his unrest for the past four years. He takes three more handfuls of water and seats back and gazes blindly at the other coast of the water body, the ferries are getting ready for boarding. This has been his view since he landed here, watching the people getting in the ferries crossing over to his side and others boarding to cross to the other side, everyone is always in a hurry- some even hurrying to nowhere to do nothing. their spirits just as troubled as his. Their anxious energies flickering around them, affecting his energy more. The loud hoot of the ferry rudely disrupts him from his thoughts, he sighs and gets up slowly putting on his long rugged trench coat. he dips his hand in the left pocket to feel the small book. it's still there, its leaves as new as the day it was produced. He hurries off the waterside and walks along the waterfront his eyes quickly scanning the surroundings as he walks. He takes a detour off the second block of restaurants at the waterfront into an alley that opens up to his favorite spot in the place, the benches that face the Rayas Coffee Shop. Its a rainy season and he is sure she will pass by the shop to get her cup of black coffee no sugar as she goes to work. He doesn't have to wait for too long, she appears. Her face is the sunshine he always craves for; very beautiful and yet stern. She is on her phone, talking rapidly as she gestures with stern moves of her hand. Everything on her is beautiful and stern, the kind of beauty that is enemies he used to slaughter. It warms his heart. But it's a strange color of hair in this world on a dark skin woman. Her dark skin is like the coffee that she likes so much to drink. the color of the coffee powder in his empire Ethipia. She always attracts strange looks from the people who learn that it is her natural hair color. He is ready to approach her today and talk to her because time is running out for them both. He watches as she talks to the waiter, he gets up slowly and crosses the road. He catches his reflection in the mirror of the coffee shop, he looks so rough and unpresentable. He stops, hesitating for a while. A loud bang and screams resound from the shop. Just as the warmth he felt when he laid eyes on her today came it disappears suddenly leaving him feeling sad and cold as this world. He does not remember opening the door of the shop and rushing in but he finds himself standing where he had last seen her stand talking to the waiter. He smells dark magic. The stench too much for him like the smell of ammonia in urea. The counter is blown off and two bodies lie in the damage, bloodless. Some women are still screaming and the patrons are hiding under the tables. He could have chuckled at their cowardice, but he cannot see her. She is gone. His sunshine is gone with the warmth she had cast on his soul. He grabs the nearest human close to him roughly and pulls him up. ' What did you see?!' he whispers roughly. His hand digging into the man's arm. He can feel his fear and confusion, it is a feeling that he can feel wrapping around his fingers. He lets go of the man and looks around the shop for a trace of red hair but he can't sense her nor notice her. He knows that whatever magic has been used here is responsible for her disappearance. the cold she has left makes him shiver a little. He has to find her, he shakes his head trying to clear the energies of the scared people in the shop and concentrates. He needs a clue that can lead him to her. His eyes catch a piece of clothing in the damage left behind. It is a very small piece of velvet. He bends and picks it up, it feels fancy. A piece of a royal robe. It's still producing vibrations from the energy of the magic used. Just as he lifts it to his nose to smell it, it sizzles softly and dissolves to nothing in his hand. He can feel his rage simmering. He kicks the nearest table making it fly across the room hitting the far wall. This earns more screams from the scared people as they scramble out of the shop avoiding him while others hide further into themselves. He can sense the police sirens five minutes away. He pushes open the door and rushes out. The farther he can get now the better. following the alley he used earlier, he stumbles to the waterfront and down to the beach, taking a sharp left to the gardens. He needs a quick plan and he needs to find out who took his red-haired sunshine.His ticket out of this damned world. A world where he keeps turning human every season.