Spicy and salty

A tall man was standing next to the big shining statue of an ancient Warrior Queen right in the heart of a city. He had long and spiky red hair, which he couldn’t stop touching. He was wearing a long robe, covered in different beautiful embroidery. Under the robe there was a light blue jacket and deeper there was a bright white shirt. The robe was covered with a thick leather belt with a scabbard for a long single edged sword. All the people were looking at him, passing by. Some saw him as a weirdo, wearing ancient traditional clothes, some took pictures and mockingly showed him greetings. The man was feeling more and more anxious. With each passing second he was gritting his teeth, looking angrily at any passerby. It seemed as if at any moment he could draw his sword and start slashing everything around.

“I cannot believe I actually got caught up in such trickery! This is unbelievable! She definitely won’t show up!” - he was thinking with a raging fury growing inside him, but he still wouldn’t move an inch from his place. One more minute, just one more minute he could wait to be proven wrong.

In a blink, his pride and anger suddenly vanished. A beautiful young woman was confidently approaching him. She had just gotten out of the car, wearing a marvelous silver dress. Her left shoulder was covered with a long sleeve, while the right one was open showing a massive tattoo across her whole upper arm. Her hair was bright silver and cut short, covering a large section of her face. From the first second the woman took a step out of the car, her smile lit up the whole street. People were looking at her with admiration and love, as if she was famous - so different from the looks he received.

“Greetings, Razer.” A deep, confident voice shook Mr. Spiky-hair, who was as enamored by the young woman as everyone else around them. He bowed with respect and stretched his hand. The woman gladly took the invitation and both slowly walked to the restaurant “Sky’zure”.

A 3-story restaurant occupied the whole historical building. It was a unique combination of past architecture and new technologies. Half of the third floor of the building had been unchanged from the day it was built, only restored to look fresh. Soft burgundy walls were decorated with beautiful Baroque elements, while windows and entrances were guarded with godly statues. But then midway through the 3rd floor as it’s been ripped off in pieces, (which technically happened a century ago, but that is a totally different story :) the new age technologies are coming in: the magnetic fields hold the leftover pieces of the building hall together, creating a crazy illusion as if some parts of the building are floating in the air. The best part of this restaurant is that the third floor had exactly 7 tables available, 4 of them on the remaining floor of the hall but 3 were floating in the air under an all-star night sky,creating an incredibly beautiful and crazy place. No wonder it’s one of the best restaurants in the country.

Razer was well aware of this place, for he was the one who destroyed the third floor in the first place but he could not have imagined that it had been turned into such an insane piece of art. He was so stressed while waiting for his partner to arrive that he completely missed the opportunity to take a closer look at the place they were going. And now getting closer to the restaurant he could not hide his surprise.

‘Oh, Razer, wait till we get to our table’ - the young woman said with utmost pleasure. She was enjoying every second from the moment she saw an almighty and formidable God of Wrath in his glorious victory attire, looking nervous and acting all awkward to his genuine expression of surprise.

The couple entered the restaurant and attracted everyone’s attention. The silver-haired beauty was accustomed to affectionate gazes, so she confidently led the couple to their reserved table, accompanied by an employee. They got to the third floor by ordinary elevator, but to get to their flying table they switched to a levitating platform. Once seated, the waiter gave the couple some rose water and presented the first appetizer out of a 6-course meal: beautifully arranged petit scallops topped with silver caviar and sprinkles of gold.

“Would you like a glass of Merlot, lady Acacea?” - the waiter asked with a friendly smile.

“Yes, please. And one for my partner here,” the woman replied, smiling in return. Razer glanced at the waiter with his signature deadly look and the poor lad bounced back, almost hitting the edge. Lady Acacea was discovering once more today a new side of Razer with so much amusement. She gently touched his hand and Razer changed in an instant. He looked at her, relieving so many emotions at once, that his brown eyes turned scarlet red.

“Your eyes reminded me of something,” - Acacia suddenly broke their short silence. Razer awkwardly looked away for a second just to return his human-like brown eyes.“They reminded me of that day I first saw you in your full power. I was a little girl in the hands of my mother. She was terrified and ready to run. You were not much older than me but defeated an entire squadron of monsters at the arena. Most Gods were scared of how much power you possessed. Hell, my father himself had to restrain you…”

“Let’s not talk about that time,” Razer suddenly interrupted Acacea. This was the first time she heard his voice this evening, and her heart just trembled. His voice was deep and sharp, but somehow gentle.

“Everybody was looking at you like you are one of those monsters you defeated!” Acacea persisted. “But not me.”

Razer looked into her eyes, golden, shining with warmth in them.

“I was never afraid of you, but more enamored. Despite anything thrown at you, you got up, you continued fighting, and you got your victory. Every fiber of my being wanted to be you and to defeat you. In fair fight, of course.”

“Of course,” Razer repeated, smiling. Acacea’s heart skipped a beat once more. She sipped her glass of Merlot and tried a bit of the appetizer. The atmosphere became soft and romantic. Razer finally let loose a little and gave the glass of wine a try as well. It wasn’t what he expected, but he quite enjoyed it. Both of them were anticipating this evening very much and both were very afraid. What if it won’t work, what if everything goes wrong, or worse, it goes terribly wrong? What will become of them? The God of Wrath is a recent title of Razer, originally he was a ‘hideous’ demon of the Underworld, constantly in conflict with the Godly Kingdom. For centuries his favorite rival was the Goddess of Victory - Acacea herself. So much history these two share together. Razer, awkward and tense now, in a fight he is bright, active, eyes burning with flames, and laughter cracks the skies as thunder. He enjoys competition more than anything. Acacea, confident and passionate now, she is calculative and strategic on the battlefield and could do almost anything for the win. The battles for immortals are out of understanding for regular human beings, so it would be pretty hard to explain how these two ended up on a date and make sense out of it. One day Acacea just realized that after so much time, so many losses and wars they had experienced, being on opposite sides or on the same side, they no longer were enemies, but not exactly just friends either. So out of the blue, she visited the now God of Wrath’s domain and casually invited him on a date. Just like mortals do.

“What a joke! As if I would ever show up!” Razer mumbled in reply, watching the goddess leaving. But the closer the upcoming first date was, the more anxious he was. At the very end he was counting the hours to the meeting and spent the night without a wink of sleep. And of course he did show up. Deep inside, he was delighted when Acacea invited him but was a little irritated that she beat him and did it first. The feeling of happiness was pretty deep inside, so he was putting enormous efforts into processing his feelings and more importantly, how to properly express them.

For some time the couple was silently eating the incoming food. Acacea was glancing at Razer and mysteriously smiling. Razer then would spit out food quietly in the napkin, having second thoughts that she might have poisoned the food. The second he felt somehow insecure, Razer would unconsciously hold the sword handle and Acacea, would keep her other hand on the dagger under her dress. Old habits are not easy to change.

“You know I cannot not notice that you are wearing your victory uniform, Razer.” Acacea smirked. “When was the last time you went on a date in the contemporary world?”

“The classic victory uniform is never out of date,” Razer answered coldly, while his ears turned bright red.

“But seriously, how long ago? You know, I could simply not imagine you on a date before, but now seeing you so… official… you look incredibly cute.” Acacea looked away in an instant, once she realized she said it out loud. She was surprised to become so flustered about something so insignificant. Razer looked as if he was going to turn into a tomato any second. She said he was cute… No one in this world or any other could call him cute!

“Last time I had such an occasion to visit the human realm was a century ago. It did not end well,” Razer answered to Acacea’s surprise.

“Hm... a century ago… wasn’t it when you broke into my shrine, drunk as a pig, to challenge me for a duel? Oh, don’t tell me it was all due to a failed date!” Acacea started to laugh out loud, making Razer feel like he wanted to fall off this floating table.

“I sent my apologies later with a gift for the incident. And to be fair, when did you go on a date last time? I haven’t seen you with a man by your side since…” Razer stopped abruptly, remembering something unpleasant for both of them.

“You can say it...since you slayed the god of trickery. He showed up later, by the way. It appeared he indeed is a god of trickery and tricked both of us. So, answering your question, I was on a date last week,” She smiled mischievously.

Razer looked genuinely surprised and concerned. Did that mean it was no big deal for Acacea? Did she invite him just to mock? Or maybe make a fool out of him? Everyone knew they had an undying rivalry. Maybe she was tired of open attacks and lured him in some hidden trap? Razer grabbed the handle of the sword, but stopped himself from drawing it. If Acacea started to play dirty, that would not be Acacea. He was sure of that.

“Em.. so how often do you go on such dates, just curious?” Razer tried extremely hard to sound uninterested, as if he were just keeping the conversation alive.

“Well, I love the human realm, so I try to get here whenever I have time and... You know how it goes, I am a goddess, people are drawn to me… and...um...I got invited to different events. What about your friend, what’s his name again? Kajiro?” Acacea tried to change the subject as she felt that all she was saying sounded very wrong.

“Kajiro is doing great, I think. We have not talked much since I moved to my new home. You know, communication between Godly Kingdom and Underworld isn’t all that great, while I was told that my shrine would have an excellent connection. Those hell scammers!”

The conversation stopped while new dishes arrived. For some time the couple just focused on food. The atmosphere continued to be slightly awkward. But it didn't take much to make it super awkward.

“Razer Tiaroon, is that you, sweety?” A woman’s voice broke the silence. A pink-haired lady from the table right below our couple was waving very intensely. Razer felt like he wanted to fall off the table for a second time that evening. The lady didn’t stop waving and in a minute asked the waiter to move and connect her floating table to an embarrassed Razer.

“So, you said you were seeing someone last time hundred years ago, isn't that right Razer?!” Acacea asked quietly right before the pink-haired lady uninvitedly joined their table. Razer just shook his head in response and whispered, that he said he ‘went on a date hundred years ago’.

“OMG, Acacea the Goddess of Winning! I am Kyleen. Big fan here.”

“Nice to meet you, Kyleen,” Acacea replied, but Kyleen kept talking without hearing the reply.

“I am hella thrilled to see you two at dinner! You know all the new gen ships you so hard. All these crazy fights you had.”

“Crazy fights, you mean war battles?!” Acacea asked perplexedly.

“Then you killed her lover,”

“Technically, I didn’t kill him,” Razer responded, but Kyleen would not stop.

“She saved you from execution, then you both united to stop the end of the world, you got your promotion and became god. Oh so much passion between you two. OMG, I totally wanna take a picture with you.”

“Please, don’t post this anywhere,” Acacea said it and realized that it was already too late. Kyleen had made like 50 pictures and videos and posted all over Celstigram.

“OMG, I cannot believe, you guys, I am rooting for you. Razer, sugar, but you still going to fix my door? Acacea won’t be jealous, right?”

“Right, Razer, sugar, I am sure you are good at fixing doors,” Acacea felt boiling rage in her veins, she only knew Razer, who could easily destroy things but not vice versa.

“Kyleen is my neighbor, so she asked me to help her move in. I am not that great at fixing, but she insisted.’ Razer recognized Acacea’s mood just by looking in her raging eyes and tried to smooth over the weird encounter.

“Oh, so Kyleen is your neighbour. What is your rank, Kyleen?” Acacea didn’t move her eyes from Razer.

“I recently got promoted and decided to find some nice place with a great view on the human realm. Since you know, my obligations are tightly connected to their world. Oh, my baby boy just texted me he is here, so I will leave you for now. Couple more pictures before I leave,” Kyleen took a hundred more pictures. And right before leaving, she bent right to their table and said: ‘I am Maiden of Love Goddess - Euphoria”. And before Acacea or Razer could react, Kyleen sprinkled magic dust and instantly left.

The next several hours went completely blank in memories of the couple, but not forgotten, since all the crazy stuff they did was recorded on the phones. What would the Goddess of Victory and God of Wrath do for fun, I wonder?!

The date clearly went not as any of them could expect. When they regained their usual consciousness, they were looking at the sunrise on the top of the mountain, while holding hands. Despite the fact they didn’t remember much of the night, the after feeling was warm and comforting. So none of them openly declared that the euphoria ended. But the reality was hitting hard.

Razer slowly realized that all the time that they spent he easily held Acacea’s hand. Their fingers intertwined as they were close. He felt that this was the moment, now or never. He bent his head and closed his eyes. Here it is, either she will respond or not. Razer finally realized how much he wanted this. His whole body was trembling with excitement and fear, as if he was waiting on his first battle to start. And it didn’t pass a minute when he felt a soft and electrifying kiss. Razer had a deep desire to just fly in the sky and scream so all the world could hear him: “She kissed me back!”

When Razer bent to her, Acacea naturally, without much thinking, did what she felt and she felt like kissing this amazing man in front of her. Both felt as if fireworks went off above their heads. What happens next? What awaits them? So many obstacles in this Universe they will stumble on, so many people will be against them, so many troubles this will bring. But all this does not matter now. What matters is that one gut feeling: the moment they get together - nothing ever can split them apart.