Deaths Fate

Chapter Ten

There was darkness. There was no intense agony or any feeling of pain. I was just floating gently and gracefully through the nothingness. I wasn't sure what you would call this middle place between life and death. I had been here three times before in my life, each after I had died. Though I knew it wouldn't last for long before I either came back to the moment my heart would start beating again or would move on to whatever happened next.

Even as much as I wanted to go back to Hyun and the life that he was in, there was a bigger part of me that wanted to go onto the next step. I knew there was something more behind the dark veil but I wasn't sure what yet. There was a part of me that hoped there would be a never ending garden filled with beautiful flowers that never died, and that my touch didn't make them wilt. It was a bit of wishful thinking on my part, I doubted that I would get to have that. But I could still dream.

I twirled around a few times in the empty expanse, my body curving gracefully. It wasn't exactly a body, I wasn't sure what you would call it, the small glowing form that had neither arms nor legs. Just a small little capsule that encased my very being, would it be considered my soul? Maybe, I wasn't sure. I had never got that far in these situations.

Then gently I felt a tug pulling me back down.

"You have to go back." A soft voice echoed through the darkness, I had heard this voice the three other times as well. I used to know this voice inside and out when I was younger. It was my seven year old self talking to me. It was the part of me that had died the first time, but over the sound I could hear my twelve year old and my seventeen year old self saying the words as well. All three parts of my life blending together, talking one over the other.

"I'll be back soon," I whispered to my younger selves, as I felt the tug pulling me further and further down to Earth.

Then pain. Burning, searing pain. Everything hurt, everything was on fire in my body. I felt like my body was being obliterated at the seams. I wanted to scream and yell but I couldn't open my mouth, I felt liquid pooling from my head, dripping into my eyes and over my mouth. I could taste the metallic iron flowing between the cracks in my lips: Blood. It was filling my lungs, constricting my airflow. I tried to gasp and more blood filled my throat, choking its way down. There was a loud ringing in my ear, and I could hear my heart skipping in my chest an uneven thump that stabbed against my rib cage.

I was in agony, my body felt like it was being tortured and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I just wanted the pain to stop.

"Izabol," A voice called to me, it sounded far away. The sound being carried away like a gentle whisper. "Izabol, stay with me." The voice sounded closer. Through the fire, I could feel the arms around me, cradling me against a hard but soft body. The pain started to slowly ebb away, and I was able to breathe again and I gasped trying to catch my breath. "You're okay, you're going to be okay," The more the voice spoke I was able to finally to connect whose it was. Hyun. He sounded frantic and worried, I could feel his hand on my forehead, wiping the blood from my face.

I forced my eyes open. Hyun was above me, his face blurring in and out of focus. There was blood on his skin, streaking down from his hair but he didn't acknowledge it as he focused on me. There was a cut on his lip and some blood smeared from it. He was holding me on his lap, pulling me close to him.

There was something about being in his arms that made everything else seem nonexistent. The burning was starting to become a numbness and I was able to hold on for a little bit longer.

"Hyun," I choked out, blood trickled back up my throat and spilled out of my mouth. I wanted to gag but couldn't.

"Shh, it's okay. Don't talk, you need to keep your strength." Hyun's voice shook with each word he spoke.