Descent

Premontitions

Kalina

I set up the tents as Elian glares at me.
"You broke things off with me," he growls. "We're done. Which means you can't be jealous." 

I stare him down.
"I don't give a damn about you. I just don't want Piama to have to be with an asshole like you for the rest of her life." 

"Better than being with you," he retorts.

"You're acting like a little kid!" I snap.

He opens his mouth to say something, but then he sees Axl and Piama coming back to the clearing.
We look away from each other, and I go back to putting up the tents, and Elian begins cleaning his sword. 

"How was the sunrise?" I ask them.

"It was nice," Piama says, and Axl nods in agreement.

"We should start heading to Kahla. The Sky Witch could already be there," she says.

I look her straight in the eyes.
"You need sleep."

She glares.
"I'm fine."

I shake my head.
"You were just buried alive. You're not fine, and you need sleep," I say. She grumbled something but doesn't argue further.

"We should leave at sunset," Elian calls. "That should give us sufficient time to get rest." 

"I agree," I say curtly.

We each climb into our separate tents. I fall asleep quickly, which doesn't happen very often. Then come the dreams. I rarely dream, and when I do, they're premonitions. I can see the future, at least paths, through my dreams. And what I see tonight is terrifying.

I'm standing on a street in Kahla, yet it's destroyed and broken. Somewhere there is laughter ringing, unchanged, crazed laughter. I look around me. There are the bodies. All laid high on top of one another, adults and children alike. The smell is unbearable. Rotting flesh, some of it burned and some of it torn apart. I can hear soldiers in the distance. Commanders yelling orders. More bodies being piled. And then a scream. A scream of a small child, which is quickly cut short. I want to wake up, but I can't. Some of these futures are preventable, and some are inevitable. I can't see the bodies of Piama, Axl and Elian. But I can feel that they're dead. I just know. I just....know.

Piama

​​​​​​That night, I have a nightmare.

I see Axl in a room. It's a dungeon, dark and dank, and she's being hit repeatedly by soldiers. Her face is bloodied, her mouth dripping red. She doesn't give in, however. She keeps her head up. The guard leaves the room, laughing. She waits until they're gone, and twirls something in her hand. A key. She gets up and unlocks the door. 

"Yes!" She whispers.

She steps quietly into the darkened hallway. I cat tell where she is. She begins to make her way through the rooms, ducking and hiding whenever a guard comes by. Finally, she makes it to a small door, and she opens it. Inside, is me. My hair is longer and messier, and my clothes are different, but it's me. I'm unconscious. She picks me up.

"Hey, Princess! You gotta wake up," she says quietly. I can see tears forming in her eyes.

"Please wake up. Please. I need you." 
And my eyes flutter open. I look at myself looking at her, and somehow it feels so real.

"Axl?" I say.

She smiles.
"Yeah. It's me." 

She hands the other me a pendant.

"This will get you out of here." 

"All hands! Prisoner escape!" A voice cried in the distance. The other me turns her head toward the sound.

"Axl...?" She whispers.

"Put it on," Axl replies. 

"Not until you promise me you'll come too!" 

Axl smiles. 
"Of course." 

The guards burst into the room. 

"Stop!" The captain yells.

"Go!" Axl screams. The other me puts on the pendant, just as a sword goes through Axl's chest. The other me disappears, and Axl's body was motionless on the ground. Her eyes are blank, and a small trickle of blood comes from the left side of her mouth. She's dead. And she sacrificed herself for me. 

I wake up sweating. She saved me. She saved me.

Axl

I hear my tent flap open, and Piama comes in, her eyes wet. She sobs into my chest.

"You saved me," she sobs.

"What?" I say, still half asleep.

"You saved me and you die - and - and-" 

"Hey. I'm right here, ok? I'm not dead." 

She looks up at me, her eyes still wet.
"I had a dream..." She begins.

I stroke her hair. It's soft. 
"It was just a dream. I don't plan on dying anytime soon, ok?" 

She nods.
"Ok."

I stroke her hair a bit more, and she buried her in my chest. Her tears are almost all gone.
She looks up at me.

"You saved me," she repeats.

I laugh.
"I guess if you say it like that." 

She laughs a bit, and her eyes are no longer red. She hiccups.

I get up.

"Please don't leave," she whispers. 

"I'm not leaving without you," I give her my hand, and she smiles and takes it in hers. 

It's late afternoon, and the sun is already setting. I lead her through the plains to the peak of a mountain. I push her against a tree.
"What are you-" 

And then I kiss her. It's long and slow, and I drag it out for as long as possible. We're both breathless by the time I'm done.

"I love you," she gasps, and I kiss her again. We stand there behind the tree kissing until the sun has set. I kiss her neck and she gasps, and I grin.

"I'm known for being a good lover." 

She takes my face in her hands and pushes her lips against mine. 
"Show me just how good you are," she gasps.

And I do just that.