Immortals ✓

14 | art

HER eyes are imprinted in my mind. It is not the kind of memory I want to keep but it keeps on pestering me, it keeps on glaring at me, and for the first time, I am scared of my own mind. I try to breathe but every breath seems like a colossal task. It is problematic to breathe without seeing her, and I am petrified of that realization.

My hands are still covered in her blood if that's what it really was. And the memory of her whispering my name before she fell is so persistent that my hands tremble.

I have never faced loss, but this, I am sure, is as dreadful as it gets. I can physically feel the pain of the attack, what it had caused her to feel and my chest deflates every second with agony, yet, I cannot bring myself to move from my seat and enter the room where now she rests. I am frightened of this ache and what it will turn into when I see her.

Seconds before this memory, I had turned to see her and every time I stray into another direction, I try to anchor myself to that singular moment. I try to remember, until she stands in my vision again, so picture-perfect. Her hair is a mess in the wind, and her eyes are sparkling as they lock with mine. Behind her, the hues of the forest form the perfect scenery. She's radiant amongst the shades of greens, and I am compelled to capture that moment forever.

And then, seamlessly, the memory transitions to the first time I sensed Kia and I am enraged. A glaring red is splashed across what would have been my newest core memory and she stands on the other end as my mind tries to forget her. When I saw her for the first time, I knew we should have left. But never in my wildest dreams did I anticipate what would happen soon. What would happen to Aethera. Her smile, her glistening eyes disappear from my memory and it's replaced by her trembling hand on her stomach.

It wasn't until she began to close her eyes that the rage found me again. My breath steadied but I shivered from the kind of anger I had never experienced before. Nothing could have prepared me for what happened after that. All I could remember now was remnants of my anger and the cold knife against my skin. It was then that I let it take over me. My senses rushed back to me, my eyes were now tunneled to see only Kia and no one else.

I wanted nothing more but to wipe the smirk off her face and in that moment, I didn't anticipate my actions when I pulled and held the dagger. The blade was in my hands for barely a second and in the next, it was jammed into her leg and I heard her scream. The smirk was off but her eyes were glaring at me as she tried to crawl away from me.

"Art, don't do it!" I could hear Jace calling me from the other end, while he held Aethera in his arms but I, unconsciously, walked away from him and her. My feet were automated and my eyes were focused. I could sense nothing but what lay ahead. I crossed the distance between Kia and myself in minutes and it was then that I tasted satisfaction for the first time. There were more of Jace's men following me but I didn't turn. I was fixated on the woman and my blade that had pierced her leg through and through.

I kneeled in front of her as she gave up on crawling away from me. Her eyes didn't meet mine but I took satisfaction in the fact that they were filled with terror and tension. She knew she was going to die, whoever was with her had left her behind after attacking Aethera. She didn't attack, but in my mind, in that anger, I wanted to make her pay for it. Gone were the rational thoughts of saving her to get answers, my rage didn't allow me to let her exist. The humans would not be a match to me at that moment, they could tell Jace anything for all I cared as I grabbed the dagger and pulled it out of her. Her scream echoed in the forest again, but before I could pierce her heart, Jace called me again.

"Art, we will never know who did this if you kill her," he whispered, standing in front of me, his shirt soaked in Aethera's dark blood. "I'll bring her, go to Aethera, she needs you," he had tried to keep a steady voice, but he was terrified of what he saw. Aethera's name was enough to bring me back to reality and I stumbled while walking away from Kia, my breath steadying by the minute.