Naryssa's Choice (The Fate and Destiny Chronicles Vol. 3)

The Very End

I remember the battle had been brutal...

Blood and screams of pain everywhere around us and so much chaos we wound up separated before either of us could even notice, and I lost myself into the blood lust that came bursting through me so strongly I almost lost all sense of the brutality around me.

We won the battle with ease, the rebel forces crumbling against us as we mercilessly cut our way through them all. After the battle ended, I realized somewhere along the way I had gotten separated from Darren and I immediately sought him out as everyone cleared out, heading to immediately establish our strong hold that we would prepare for the siege at. When I found him, he was just standing there, as if he were in some state of shock, watching the sun rise. The early morning light would have been beautiful had it not been illuminating the sea of death that lie on the ground around us. Bodies of fallen soldiers laying on the ground everywhere, the black and white armors covered in blood and shining in the light, so many lost in the battle. So much senseless death, the scene before me all too familiar. One I had seen before in a vision mistaken for memory so long ago now. I called out to him, "Darren?" I called confusedly at him as worry filled me and very slowly, he turned to face me and I immediately saw the tears of blood that ran down his face as he smiled at me, completely oblivious to the crimson red tears that ran down his face.

"Darren!" I screamed in pure devastated terror as I sprinted over to him, arriving at his side in time to catch him as he started to go down. He smiled as he looked at me, he should have looked pained or sad or even scared but he just looked ridiculously happy and calm as I lowered him to the ground. He was laying in my lap in the middle of a field, surrounded by a sea of death as the sun began to rise slowly into the sky, the horizon bleeding it's brighter than usual pastel blends into the night to chase away the dark. "You're so beautiful, Nyss..." He said as blood began to run from his nostrils just before the first cough seized him but he still didn't even seem fazed as he weakly reached up and cupped my cheek in his hand. I held his hand with mine as I began to sob over him and ran my other hand through his messy hair that was matted with sweat from the battle. "No, this can't be it" I whimpered as I held him, "This isn't how it's meant to end" I pleaded through the sobs as he shushed me softly and I stared into his vibrant forest green eyes.

"Shh, it's okay my love..." He said between sputters and coughs as he began to slowly choke on his own blood before finishing with, "We've made it, Nyss... We made it...to the very end... together..." He told me his words were coming slower and sounding more strained. "No! This isn't the end! It can't be! I need you; I love you so much, please stay with me...!" I pleaded tearfully as fast as I could before I broke down to the point where I couldn't speak but he spoke once more. "Don't worry, I'll be waiting on the other side..." He said slowly as he struggled to speak, struggled to breathe. "Look at the sky, Nyss.. It's almost as beautiful as you are" He whispered to me as he looked up at it and I found myself lifting my gaze to see the sky as he'd asked me to, its beauty felt so out of place in this horrible and tragic moment. I couldn't breathe as I wept and when I looked back down at him, I knew that he was gone. Those kind evergreen forest eyes were no longer haunted by memories of the past. Thos eyes once so full of life were now empty and lifeless. I also realized his hand was heavy and was only held up by my own hand that clung to his. I let his hand down and closed his eyes as I gasped for air, unable to process what had just happened, this wasn't how this was meant to be. He was supposed to lose me. He was supposed to survive this somehow.

I always feared this happening but somehow, I didn't think it would actually happen this way, that he would be gone before me. I let out a scream at the top of my lungs as I leaned down over him, my forehead pressing against his, a scream full of agony, devastation, and suffering so strong I could feel my soul shattering as I released it. The sound carrying in the hollow winds that began to pick up around me as I grieved my love, my soul mate, and the loss of what little of me I still had left. I may have survived losing him and survived all that I had been through since my sixteenth birthday but I know that I died inside that day, all that remained of myself left with him. His time had come, his destiny to stand by me and get me this far had been completed, the reason the goddess froze him in time for had come. As the sun set over the horizon, I could hear both of them, the deity and my sister, in unison speaking to me. Two simple words. Have faith.