Oblivion, A Timeless Void

Chapter 21: Dreams Woven with Silver Threads

The splattering blood was immediately beaten down by the heavy rain. It hammered onto the ground relentlessly, yet Nikos could not hear it over the static that rang in his ears. The blade that had penetrated his heart twisted.

With his senses overridden, he could only let out a sharp gasp.

It burned – accompanying that overwhelming pain of being stabbed through the heart was a distinct sensation of being scalded by raging flames. Where did it come from? Who had even stabbed him?

His vision was hazy, and his head felt as heavy as lead. With the sheer dizziness overtaking his senses, Nikos stumbled forward a step, raising a cupped hand to receive the mouthful of blood he hacked up in that moment. The smell of burning flesh wafted into his nostrils. Amid the haze of his thoughts, he didn't realise that it had been his own flesh that was burning under the ruthless blade of that sabre.

The blade was then retracted from his chest. Nikos could no longer hold himself up. He felt his legs give out from under him as he began toppling towards the earth. Blood quickly seeped into the fabric of his robes, thoroughly soaking them. The world spun around him. His breathing was heavily laboured.

Izara's tears hadn't even fully dried before her eyes glazed over once more. Seeing him fall, she once again discarded her dagger in favour of rushing towards her brother. One more time. She ran towards him one more time.

This time, however, as he stumbled into her arms, the home she'd come to grasp was mercilessly pulled out of her hands. This time, as she embraced her brother once again, Izara was thrown back into the burning chapel and drowned in the screams of her bygone people.

Unknowingly, tears streamed down Izara's cheeks. The fire raged around her with no flames, and the screams echoed soundlessly in her mind. This time, she felt the merciless sun beat down on her in place of its tender rays. This time, her mother's lullaby seemed to distort into the screeching of wraiths. The water in the river was awash with spilt blood, and the petrichor after the rain was replaced with the metallic scent of rust.

Normally, she would've been able to hoist someone of Nikos's build rather effortlessly, given her current physique. But the terror that gnawed at her heart made it virtually impossible to hold both of their weights.

Softly, Izara sank to the grass with him. His forehead was touched to her shoulder deliriously, and he did not move nor let out a healthy breath. A choked noise escaped his throat, seeming like false pretences of spoken words. Her arms were tightly wrapped around his shoulders as the tears began to fall once again. As they dropped onto his shoulder, Izara could no longer tell them apart from the blood that had soaked through his clothing. And as she held him close, her own clothes came to be stained with that crimson colour.

"Iz... ara..." she heard him whisper weakly. Her arms tightened around him even more, her heart constricted with the anguish. "Yes?" she hurriedly answered, burying her face in his hair. The ends of his long hair, which had long been freed of its ties and cascaded down his back in a silver waterfall, had already been stained with his blood.

"I'm... sorry..."

Her eyes grew wide hearing his statement. "Don't... Why are you apologising to me? Come now, Nik. This still isn't over. You're tenacious, right? You've survived for so long." A tremble could be heard as she spoke.

Her words fell on deaf ears.

Izara clutched him even tighter to her chest, attempting to keep a leash on her sobs. "Nikos? Hey, Nik? Sing me Mama's lullaby, okay? Please?" No one answered her. Only the falling rain sounded in the vicinity.

Her shoulders shook as her head fell from his hair to the crook of his neck. The heartbeat that should've been there was naught.

"You promised... You promised we'd be together... Why did you break your promise? Back then and even now... Even when we'd been given a second chance..." Izara's voice broke, then trailed off.