Weight of the World

Chapter Fifty-Eight

—Tregaar—

She remembered screaming. Pain. So much pain, it overwhelmed her. And then, darkness. The darkness was warm. There was no pain there. It floated her gently away from the horror she had seen, taking her to her childhood home, where she found herself as a small child curled in her mother's lap.

Rhenna closed her eyes, inhaling her mother's familiar scent as she hummed to her. That lullaby she had always hummed when they were sick or couldn't sleep. It washed over her. It had been so long since she had heard it. A warm wind brushed by, and suddenly, she was no longer in her mother's arms. Instead, she found herself standing with Ori on the hill at the edge of their property. It was the day Ori left. She looked just as Rhenna remembered, her cloak hanging around her shoulders, the broach their father had pinned resting in the center. She had already said her goodbyes, but watching her elder sister leave had been more than Rhenna could bear. She had run out to the hill, trying to think of something, anything to convince her sister to stay, regardless of the danger.

"You know this won't end any differently this time," Ori laughed as she brushed back the few loose strands of dark hair that framed Rhenna's face. "How many times have you had this same dream? In the end, I always disappear."

"I love you," Rhenna cried softly. "I never...I never even got to know you."

Ori reached for her hand, and Rhenna realized she was no longer a little girl. She was grown, standing with Ori in a way she would never get to.

"So many other people got to...You helped them, so many people. You made so many worlds better for having known you, but I...I lost you so early, one of my only memories of you is saying goodbye. I wish I...I could've known the people you loved."

"All you need to know about me, Rhenna, is that I love you, with my whole heart."

"But you don't know me. I've heard stories of you, but you knew nothing about me."

"I didn't need to," Ori tipped her chin up so that they could look each other in the eye. Her sister's smile was so warm. "I knew you were my sister, and that was enough for me. I carried this memory with me everywhere, Rhenna. You ran out here, begged me to stay, and when I told you I couldn't, do you remember what you said to me?"

"I..." Rhenna sniffled. "I said, I would come with you."

Ori nodded. "And I took you with me. You stayed right here, every step of the way," she patted over her heart and Rhenna felt tears spilling over her eyes. "But you can't follow me anymore, Rhenna. You're catching up to me too quickly."

Rhenna frowned, not understanding until Ori motioned downward. She was bleeding from her stomach. Rhenna pressed a hand to the wound, a sharp pain spiking through her. The wind picked up around them, carrying with it voices from somewhere far away.

'Fucking do something!' She knew that voice. It was—wait, who was that?

'Sir, we're losing them both,' another voice that brought with the sound of two frantically beeping machines.

Rhenna frowned. "What's going on?"

The grassy hill and the red sky of home began to stutter. Medyulana began to fade away for a bright ceiling and faces hunched over her. The pain returned, a thousandfold, and Rhenna heard herself scream.