The Lady in the Blue Dress: To Dust and Shadows

The Watcher

An ear splitting shriek ricocheted throughout the city, followed by the suffocating scent of smoke and ash. A red cloud of smoke burst from the ground like a volcano, its devastating heat scorching the nearby land and toppling the skyscrapers erected upon it as blistering embers erupted from the site of detonation. A defeaning thunderess explosion reverberated across the cataclysmic city drowning out the desperate pleas and blood curdling screams of civilians. 
I searched helplessly for the girl, hoping by some miracle she had survived. 
I watched as the smoke arose and the ash diminished upon the decaying city as the last of civilization dissolved into the scalded, bare landscape.
Nothing was left.
I began to walk towards where I last saw the girl, when her thick, lustrous coal black hair and flowing, entwisted blue silken dress were whirling in the tumultuous storm that had long since settled, her sapphire eyes sparkling as she wept helplessly among the chaos and pandemonium.
  The scarlet smoke cleared as I walked towards the scene of the explosion, to reveal an enormous, bowl-shaped depression carved into the wasteland. I squinted, approaching cautiously. 
In the depths of the smoke and soot, at the center of the crater, I detected a small, broken figure, collapsed and unconscious. My breath caught and hope returned to me as relief settled in my mind as I continued to make my way towards my ward.
  As I approached the lady in the blue dress' broken body, my heart wretched. Her typically flushed face was now ashen and bloody, her skin pale and swollen. Her usually delicate crimson lips were now blue and cracked. The girl's flowing coal black hair was now brittle and charred and her sparkling sapphire eyes were pale and empty. Her elegant blue dress was scorched and torn to unveil her stiff, limp legs. I desperately wanted to hold her, but I had taken a vow. I craved to call out her name, but my creed forbade it. I searched her eyes for any signs of life, listened closely for any indication of breathing. But there was nothing I could do. My love was gone.
  I reached to cup her face as tears began to form at my own eyes, then hesitated, remembering my oath. But at this point, did it really matter? She was gone. There was nothing I could do to interfere with her life now. Nothing I would impact on this devastated  planet from just holding her in my arms finally.
  The cold touch of her face welcomed the warmth of my hand as I rested her head in the palm of my hand. I let out a cry as I touched her for the first time. For the last time. I fell to my knees and delicatley caressed her face with my other hand. She was even more beautiful up close. So wonderfully enchanting. A teardrop from my eye interrupted the soot on her delicate face. My hand trembled as I gently polished it from her eloquent face. She was so perfect in every way.
  I choked up as I curled an arm under her head and another beneath her legs and lifted her. For a moment, I looked down at her face. A face I had gazed upon with bewilderment countless times before, but scarcely truly appreciated for all of its tantalizing beauty. Staring straight ahead, swallowing my tears, I began to walk into the oblivion. It was time for her to ascend, and I was going to take her there. 
  My pearl white wings unfurled and stretched out gloriously against me. I arched my back and bent my knees as I prepared to take off, however something was pulling me down. I looked down at lady, her blue dress trailing off and waving in the light breeze. I launched myself into the air, allowing the wind to lift my wings as I ascended.
  Just then, a terrible force descended upon me, forcing me back to the ground. I shielded the lady with my wings as I fell, landing on my back. I grunted as I pulled myself and the girl up. This had never happened before. Surely it had nothing to do with me breaking my vows.
  I felt a sharp pain shoot up my spine and through my wings as I attempted to outstretch them once more only to notice a most unexpected thing.
My wings were black.
And just like that, my oath was desecrated and her dress began to turn to ash, crumbling in my hands. I scrambled desperately at the only thing I had ever loved and the only thing I had back, but it was too late.
She had turned to dust and I had been tossed to the shadows.
For I had fallen.