The first thing Sol felt was pain. Lost in the dark, he floated there, not knowing up from down. He couldn't move. Nor could he breathe. But he was acutely aware of every muscle in his body. They announced themselves in order, from his neck down to his fingers. Icy talons walked along his veins, connecting head to heart, heart to lungs, lungs to legs. He tried to groan, but all was still and silent in the shadows. Iron points from a million arrows embedded themselves in his abdomen. Creating a patchwork of agony over his chest. The constant sound of a beating heart filled his ears. Every pulse bringing new torture. It was so loud! Why was it so loud?! He was trying to sleep.... why....
"Sol?"
He knew that voice.
Asha...
He tried to pick up his head, but a line of nails punctured his vertebrae.
"Sol?"
Here...he was here...Asha...
"Wake up."
The arrows dug deeper as he tried to speak.
"Please!"
He couldn't. It hurt so much. Everything. He was cold...freezing. Frostbite capped every nerve. Frigid but burning...burning forever. Unceasing, intolerable, pain.
Stop...please...stop......no more....
The shadows pulled at him. Sinking, lowering, into that empty place. Slowly drowning in the dark ocean, numbness descended. Wonderful, blessed, numb. Yes, this was better. This bland suspended space. A limbo between places. This was where he wanted to be. Painless, thoughtless, and...
"Come with me."
Oh no, Asha! Not again! He wanted...no.... he needed rest. She had to run. To get as far away from Rosas as possible. What was she still doing here? Why was she wasting her time bothering the dead?
"Come with me."
Did she have to be so stubborn? Didn't she know it was over? His adventure concluded? There was nothing else she could-
A hand reached out. Faint in the blackness, but there. Waifish, it was a silver outline against the gloom. Promising fingers reaching toward him. He could feel their warmth. Radiating over his frozen body, it was like basking in the sun. The ice fractured, popping and hissing underneath the heat. He could hear the heartbeat again, faint but growing louder and louder.
"Come with me!"
Breathing in, he took her hand.
****
Sol's chest filled with air.
Asha fell back, surprised by the motion. Landing on her elbows, she watched rapt as his chest moved again.
Up and down...up and down...up...
The gray came away in patches. Blood passing beneath his skin, his cheeks became flushed. Olive melted over his brow. His hair, darkening to the color of honey, was struck through with sun-bleached strands. Another breath and his eyelids twitched. The girl didn't dare move, afraid to stir the air, afraid to break the spell. But when his eyes opened, she couldn't stop herself.
They were brown. Wonderful, living, chocolate, brown.
She let out a strangled cry before wrapping her arms around him. Though when she did, a horrible swear ripped through the boy. She pulled away, taken aback by such an ugly word.
"Sol?" she asked, now up on her knees. Debating whether to slap him for his wretched language.
The boy blinked. Taking in the night sky above him with some confusion. His hand glided along the ground. He could feel the uneven terrain. The bits of rock and dust that shifted under his touch. The divots in the tile, the coolness of the marble, the-
YOU ARE READING
Of Stardust and Wishes (A Wish Rewrite)
Fanfiction"Salvē!" The golden specter repeated. She was in shock. That had to be it. All that tossing around in the water must have shaken her insides around enough to make her see things. She blinked a few times, but he was still there, looking even more con...
