Dawn Carver (3)

19

Freya

Screams tear from my chest as I grab his clothes, pulling him towards me.

"Cas!" I scream. "Cas, no, no, no. Wake up wake up wake up."

Long, thin cuts mark his jaw. His hair sticks to his forehead, dried with old blood. Hands grasp my shoulders, but I can barely see Alaric when he forces me around.

"We have to go," he urges.I can't speak; I can barely breathe. He tries to pull me from Casimir, but I scream in protest. "Freya, please--"

A dark shape hits him from the side, sending him flying through the fog and landing with a thump several feet away. I scramble backwards, breath ragged as I stare into the thick fog. My heart hammers in my ears as the fog makes way.

A figure materialises before me, stark against the fog-drenched landscape. At my feet, Casimir lies vacant, bloodied and cold. My stomach churns as the figure moves closer, twisting the fog around him to reveal his identity.

Bile rises in my throat.

Killian stalks towards me, his dark eyes alight with something I've never seen before. Hunger.

"K-Killian?" I rasp. His head tilts sideways. Fresh blood stains the area around his mouth. "Killian, it's me."

He stalks closer, sharp teeth poking through his sinister smile. His hand reaches out, fingers shifting into claws. Terror grips me. I try to push to my feet but trip over gnarled roots.

Killian looms over me, features contorted.

"Freya."

My vision fragments as Killian closes in.

"Freya."

The forest shatters around me, pieces falling away like tiny shards of glass. I grasp at the fragments of Casimir, even of Killian as they fall away, leaving a blank canvas of darkness in their place.

Gone is the forest, the fog, the bodies. Everything is still.

"Frey."

Twisting my head, a small figure materialises in the emptiness. My heart picks up. "Samu?" I whisper, afraid to shatter the peace. He moves closer. My muscles loosen at the sight of him. It's been so long since I've seen the warmth of his eyes, the innocence in his smile. I reach towards him.

"Are you real?" I ask, my eyes blurring.

"You have to wake up," he whispers.

"I..." I look around, trying to make sense of the empty space. "I don't know where I am."

"You have to wake up. You have to find me."

"I-I don't know where you are."

"You have to find me," he urges. "You can't do it alone. You can't."

"Samu--"

"Wake up, Freya."

I shove to my feet, reaching for him. But as my hand comes into contact with him, he falls away, twisting into nothing before my eyes. I pant, spinning around in the empty space.

Wake up, I urge. Wake up.

Pressure presses into my shoulders, pressing me backwards. I squeeze my eyes shut.

It's not real. It's not real. It's not real.

The scene falls away around, sounds return. The distant trickle of water, the vibrant warmth of the earth beneath me. Breaths, ragged breaths all around me. I force my eyes open, the scene around me blurring into vision.