Artami and Alicia

In Italy, they became enemies. They used to be in love. How did it come down to this? This tragedy goes back many years. It all started out with young love.

Alicia was only fourteen when this story started. It would be the first time that she would venture out on her own in the world. Her mother warned her to be careful.

“Don’t stray too far, dear,” she said.

“I won’t!” Alicia said. The young girl skipped off into the woods. She loved to be surrounded by nature. Flowers couldn’t compare to her beauty. Speaking of which, Alicia picked up a jasmine and smelled it. Memories of her childhood filled her head. She put the flower in her hair and smiled. The sun through the trees felt so good on her pale skin. Alicia let herself be lost in the delight of spring.

She paused when she heard a low whistle. Alicia turned her head towards the thicker trees. A face peeked out from the thick brush. The young girl about fell backwards with a yelp. The face rose to its feet revealing a young man probably a bit older than her. He looked rather handsome with his deep brown eyes and short raven hair. Alicia tilted her head as she noticed something else off about this young man.

“You’re not from here, are you?” she asked. The young man gave her a strange look.

“How did you know?” he asked.

“The way you look,” Alicia said.

“How do I look?”

She tilted her head. “Are you from the East?”

“The East?”

“Like Japan and all of those places.” She noticed that he still didn’t understand what she was talking about. Alicia shook her head.

“Never mind. What are you doing out here?”

The boy rubbed the back of his head. “I don’t really know.”

“Heh?”

“I just woke up in the woods and followed your scent to here.”

Alicia tried to make sense of what she was hearing. This boy had no clue where he came from or who he was. But yet, he was drawn to her scent. The gravity took its sweet time sinking into her head. “My scent?”

“Yes.” The boy glided forward it was then Alicia noticed that he was naked. She quickly covered her eyes. He froze inches from her.

 “May I ask what is the matter?” the boy asked.

“You are naked!” she yelped.

“Naked?” He looked down at himself. The boy didn’t seem to understand what she was getting at. Nevertheless, he grabbed her by the hands and pulled her closer to him.

“I want you by my side,” he said. Alicia looked at him with big eyes.

“But why?” she asked.

“I can’t really say for myself.”

“But I don’t even know you.”

“I don’t know you either.” Still, Alicia didn’t understand her own reasoning, but she ended up meeting up with him in the woods day after day. Young Alicia taught her new beloved friend the ways of the world through books and showing him around nature. In due time, she gave him a name.

“Artami!” Alicia called him in the early hours of the morning. The young man dressed in his lover’s father’s clothes turned around as he stood in the thick moss.

“Artami?” he repeated. Alicia raced up to him with a smile on her face.

“Yes,” she said. “That will be your name from now on.” The boy tilted his head.

“A-rta-mi?”

“Yes.”

Artami’s lips curved into a little smile. “I like it.”

Alicia giggled. “I love it myself.” She stood on her toes and kissed him on the lips. For reasons that he couldn’t understand, Artami felt his cheeks growing hot. As if on instinct, he reached up to hold the girl. That one little kiss started to draw him into a world he had only been hinted at.

However, the summer turned everything bitter when Alicia’s father returned from the sea. He couldn’t understand why his daughter kept going out into the woods every day. The father didn’t enjoy the dreamy look in her eyes and decided to follow her out on one morning. He reeled with disgust as he saw his only daughter kissing Artami as she greeted him. The problem was that he knew of the young boy’s true nature. He didn’t want him to end up killing his only daughter. Alicia’s father had to move fast in order to break them up. He only knew of one way to do this.

The next morning, he made it out to the woods just before his daughter could make the trip. He found Artami standing in the moss, staring at the sky. The young man turned when he saw the breaded sea captain in a light grey coat walking towards him.

“Who are you?” Artami asked. The old captain gritted his teeth.

“Someone who knows you shouldn’t exist here!” he barked.

“What do you…?” the young man began to ask. Alicia’s father splashed a bottle of deep indigo dye Artami. The young man reeled back in pain as he tried to rub it out of his eyes. Alicia happened to have made into the meeting field in time to witness the aftermath.

“Papa?” she asked. “Artami!” The young man turned to her with hate in his eyes. He turned his fingers into crawls and attacked his now-former lover. She was quick to jump out the way.

“Papa, what did you do?!” she cried. The captain threw down the empty bottle to the ground.

“I opened him to his true nature,” he replied.

“His true nature?” she asked. Artami let out a wild scream as he sailed towards her with his claws out.

“You have to fight back!” Alicia’s father yelled at her.

“I can’t!” she cried.

“You must or he will kill you!”

The young girl tried to dodge her former lover’s attacks. “But why?”

“His people and our people are bitter enemies! You must kill him or he will kill you!”

“But I love him!” Her words came too late as Artami ended up impaling her in the stomach. She coughed up blood as she slowly died on his claws. Her father drew out his hatchet and beheaded Artami before he could come to his senses.

At home, the captain’s wife sensed her daughter’s life slipping away and collapsed into a coma. Her husband had to take care of her since she never woke up again and became a recluse until they both died. Let this be a lesson to all to take to heart on what not to do with love and breaking up young love.