Eternal Sins

•Chapter Eight•

It was pain, much more pain than Eva had ever experienced, when her conciousness finally breathed life through her again.

The air was still, ears ringing from silence that bounced. Just a low thrumming, telling Eva she was home. She wasn't in the lake, as she expected, but in bed.

As hot blood rushed her skin once again, feeling was granted to her fingers tips. She plucked at what was below her, a soft sheet. She must be home, surely, since the magic here was far less aggravating to the ear drums.

She could feel an ache in her back as her spine lit up, a gasp as her body grew hotter, her magic restored. She was seemingly without it in the other world. It was jarring for her to function as if she was a normal, less magical version of herself. In fact it made her anxious, another reason for her to hide away for majority of the adventure.

A pounding headache came in just as her eyes were functioning, moving. A cup of water was brought to her lips, her head posted up in a large hand. The smell that filled her air told her it was Ben. She choked, overwhelmed with desperation. She missed him and if she was being honest, scared to be without him. That Cedris could've easily been far more evil than he turned out to be.

Ben pushes her forward, patting her back to help her cut airway. She sputters, water dribbling down her chin.

"It's alright, I got you," he murmurs into her ear, and the shiver she receives is more than what she could hope for. Cedris hadn't ruined her, she hadn't been twisted from the other world. Ben was everything she could ever want and her body still knew it. She thanked the elders for that.

He attempts another sip to soathe her coughing and as Eva pulls in another breath, she can't help trying to speak. "I missed you," she croaks, tears coming to her but refusing to fall. Ben sat behind her on their bed, legs splayed on either side of her as Eva leaned up, facing the wall. While one arm held her up, the other ran a comforting touch up and down her forearm.

"I was worried I might have lost you, Eva. I missed you too."

His words alert worry in her. They weren't at the lake. Had Ben awoken before her? She does her best to turn back towards him, hoping he would go on without forcing more words from her throat.

He looks at her face with an intensity Eva had not seen since their fight at the war camp. Did he already know?

"What happened to you?" He questions, face scrunching further into worry as Eva was bathed in guilt.

"You're going to have a hard time believing it," Eva could see now past Ben's shoulders that it was night, but she had no idea how long she had been out of it.

"I have some ideas but I'd like an actual recount from you. If your throat isn't ready, I'm fine with holding you until you are." His hand on her lower back resettled itself, getting comfortable, and Eva shook her head.

"I think I'm okay just.. more water." She leans up on her own, slowly, feeling the pain in her back. It felt as if there were large groupings of bruises across her whole backside.

Ben's arm reaches out in front of her chest and she takes the water, glugging loudly to consume all of it quickly. She lets the glass lay empty on the side of the bed, unable to stand and put it anywhere else. She wipes her wet lips with the back of her hand and then sighs. "I was taken to another reality. I was still me, just a me from another place. The Cedris that belonged to it, he wanted my help. He needed me to stop the killing of... other me. So that she could return."

Ben nods, "I gathered this much from what Cedris has told me-"

"He told you?" Eva gasps, heart sinking into her stomach, "he knew the plan?"