Dream Beyond Life's Edge

Resolve

"Sorry... I was too late..."

Carefully, Talia approached Alexia who seemed as if she could collapse at a single touch. Talia patted Alexia's shoulder, hoping it could comfort her even just a little bit. "Alexia, it's okay. Noah's getting treated right now."

"If they can't even heal your arm, how are they supposed to heal him?!" Without looking at Talia, Alexia grabbed her stunted right arm. "They won't be able to do anything! Not a single thing! They're useless! Completely useless!"

Talia felt her stomach churn at the sight of Alexia's outburst.

"Why did I even delay this search?! Why?! Why?! Why?! Why?!" With every "why", Alexia repeatedly hit her head, continually blaming herself for all the problems.

Talia took Alexia's hand to stop her from beating herself and hugged her as tightly as she could. "Calm down! Calm down. It's over. You don't need to worry anymore. Noah's safe now." Alexia's ragged breathing, her trembling hands, her muddy clothes, her rapid heartbeat, Talia felt it all.

Her hand turning limp, Alexia returned Talia's embrace and silently cried. The tears of white turned brown and red as it rolled down Alexia's muddied wear before it touched Talia's clothes, forming dots of brown.

Without a sign of warning, Alexia released herself from Talia's grasp. "Ahhh... I don't know what to do anymore, so I'll just say this bluntly." Alexia's words came out as whispers, like she was trying to convince herself and bring her confidence back up.  With her hands, Alexia wiped the tears off of her eyes before looking at Talia with a firm conviction. "Talia, inside the hospital, I found Joseph. Although, I don't know for sure, but... Joseph might be the monster."

"What?" Talia cocked her head; her mind racing to make sense of Alexia's words. A moment passed before Talia understood. "Don't tell me you're serious!"

"Joseph emanated it's mana. It wasn't like Noah who was only coated in a lot of it. He was making it." Alexia's firmness wavered more and more as she spoke; she began to regret telling Talia, but too far in to stop.

Talia pondered her options for a while. She could just blindly trust Alexia or ignore her completely, going on like the words she'd spoken were never said.

"Do you want to see him?" Without Talia ever finishing her thoughts, Alexia offered her a quick solution.

"Yes. I need to see him."

"Okay. I need to show you a couple things too, so this works out well," Alexia replied.

#####

Through the branches and leaves and trees, light pierced through to illuminate the woods' flooring of bushes and leaves. The chirping of birds resonated all around as they flew and perched. However, the faint scent of greenery was overshadowed by the strong stench of a corpse.

"Is this me?" Crouching down, Talia set her gaze on the corpse; her own corpse.

"Probably. I found this last night." Beside Talia, Alexia stood with her hands hanging on the side.

"How? And my hands and feet?" Talia asked.

"I don't know. I even though you were dead." Alexia chuckled uncomfortably.

"Yeah, that makes sense." Talia stared closely at the body. "This is kind of disgusting."

"Are you okay?" Alexia asked.

Talia contemplated the answer for a moment. The sight of her own corpse made her stomach churn, and the horrid stench of her corpse's rotting limbs made her want to throw up, but if she expressed her discomfort would Alexia stop showing Talia her findings? Yes, absolutely. "I'm fine. If you find something else, always show it to me... Did you show this to Stadtmen?"