Ambere Chronicles Volume One: Kaurine Dawn [UNABRIDGED EDITION]

Chapter Six: Epochal Dawn

[Exoplanetary Medical Facility Agamede's Grace, orbiting planet Azuraea A, 12th of Snowraech, 5010 TE]

[Aerrin]

My shoes slid slightly as I sprinted to the room I had been told Cewa was in; They were unwilling to allow me access until I stated that I was his partner, as policy dictated that only family or partners were allowed in the convalescence chambers with patients. I grabbed the doorframe as I reached it, stopping my momentum, albeit at the cost of a sore arm as my body tried to continue on its trajectory. I walked in slowly, tentatively, somehow afraid to see how he looked. I'd heard that he'd been picked up on the very precipice of Passing due to asphyxiation. Eventually, I rounded the privacy barrier, and was confronted with the sight of my beloved, various tubes and wires snaking out from his body and up to the ceiling above, an oxygen mask over his face, and the room was silent except for the beeping of the vitality monitor on the wall over his head.

At the sight of his body, looking somewhat grey as he lay there, his chest weakly rising and falling even now, two full weeks after he had been recovered, my heart fell. I walked over to the chair sitting beside the hovering bed, and pulled it up under myself as I sat down by his side. I gently took his hand, and noticed immediately that it was cold. Not... Not the cold of one who has Passed, but rather the cold of somebody who has spent too long outside during the depths of Frostreign without gloves on. I felt the tears begin to prick at the edges of my eyes as I looked at the man I had given my heart, knowing that I was powerless to give him any kind of aid.

[A Few Hours Later...]

[Cewa]

Beep... Beep... Beep... The steady sound of a vitality monitor pinged a steady beat above my head somewhere, and my foggy mind pieced together that I was in some kind of hospital. Slowly, my hearing sharped into its normal clarity, and I could make out a hissing sound. Given that I was in a medical facility, they must have placed an oxygen mask over my face in order to help me breathe. Next I picked up the sound of somebody breathing nearby; Deep, regular breaths, as though they were sleeping. I focused on the sound, and felt my eyelids twitch as if to make my eyes widen as I recognised the breaths. My heart leapt at the recognition: It was Aerrin! I slowly became aware of pressure against my back; that would be a bed I was laying on. Next came the awareness of a pressure on my face: The mask. Then, as with my hearing, an awareness of Aerrin; Her warm fingers were wrapped around my hand, as if to try and give me strength as I slumbered.

As my mind fully returned to consciousness, I focused on the hand that was wrapped in Aerrin's warm but gentle grasp, and tried to squeeze it in a sign that I was awake, and could feel her presence. However, I couldn't feel any sort of change in the way her fingers wrapped around my own, and I sighed inwardly. Still too weak...

[Aerrin]

I inhaled a deep breath as something woke me from a sleep I didn't even realise I had fallen into by Cewa's side. I looked up at his face, but it remained unchanged. I frowned, trying to work out what had woken me up, and then I noticed a muscle in his face twitch, then one of his fingers spasmed against my hand.

"Cewa?" I asked, my voice quiet, and shaking slightly; Whether our of fear that it was my imagination or hope that he was trying to communicate. Then I felt it: Two fingers twitched together, and then his eyelids twitched as well, as if he was trying to open his eyes but lacked the strength. Again, a small twitch of his fingers... Then, as if by some kind of miracle from the Duality themselves, his fingers tightened ever so slightly around my own. I let out a small gasp of surprise, and felt a tear hit our entwined hands. Without hesitating, I reached up and pressed the call button for a healer to come to the room.