Belford's Heart

Chapter 34: Purpose

Evelyn held her belly with pleasure. The food prepared for the feast was the most delicious she ever had. It was long-roasted beef and pork wrapped in charred palm leaves. Peppers and onions and rice laid as a bed within the leaf, and every bite was as though she had never truly eaten before. The wine was sweet, and matched the violet dress that complemented the still-pulsating glow of her beating heart. Her eyes shined along with Kressida's as they held their place at the front. The moons continued their way across the sky above them, now further toward the East and hovering above the barrier between the gates. They were as beautiful in the sky as she felt before the crowd worshiping her and Kressida. She held her eyes on them, shifting between the two as more and more spots emerged within their disks.

The air shifted around her. Where warmth had just enveloped her entire being, cold stabbed at her every pore. She tried to turn, but her head was being held in place. Sound was stolen next, and her vision was held onto the bright reflections of the full moons until they grew and grew. The light became a pristine white, and they overcame all that stood around her. As her world became an endless expanse of total-white, her body was returned to her. She could not speak, nor could she cry out. She could only shoot her eyes in all directions that appeared no different than the other. Her body was all that existed, but she could still feel the soft silk that wrapped her body. The biting cold left her, and a somehow greater white shone before her until a familiar face emerged from within.

Her mind was dismantling as the face became attached to its body. The brown hair flowing over her body in contrast to her white gown lined with green at the part. She could name the face full of sorrow staring back at her, but the words could not be spoken from her mouth. She wanted to scream, cry out at her mind and her body being taken from her, but all she could do was return the stare.

"My Evelyn." Maligwa's voice was unmistakable. Tears flowed from Evelyn's face and fell into the endless white nothing around her. "My beautiful girl."

"Maligwa," Evelyn's voice returned to her, and she could feel the cool streaks upon her face where the tears continued to flow. "I have failed you. I have failed Belford. I...I will fail them all."

Maligwa stepped forward, shaking her head in discontent at Evelyn's words. She was quickly wrapped in Maligwa's arms, and for the first time in the void she felt warmth upon her. They breathed together for a moment, Maligwa resting her head atop Evelyn's as she gave her warmth. "You have faced darkness few in all of mankind's history will ever see."

"What has happened?" Evelyn cried out, an aching pit forming in her chest as her heartbeat was no longer pounding within it, nor was its glow pulsing into the air. "I let him die. I let him die and I left him to waste away."

Maligwa tightened her embrace. "You carried each other so far, Evelyn. You did not let him die."

Evelyn's eyes widened. "Belford? Is he alive?"

"I watched that boy grow for many years," Maligwa said. "I watched him find purpose in his forest at Hindren's peak. He found purpose in his horses, and in his griffon, and in these he showed me exactly what I needed to send you back to the world." She paused to pull away, a smile brightening the face that only held sorrow when she appeared. "He held these purposes so closely to his heart, and he would always serve all before himself. I am sorry that it happened this way, Evelyn, but you will know his presence again."

"What happened to me?" Evelyn asked, her mind being returned to her more and more as the moments passed within the total-white void. "Where am I?"

"You hold the heart of another," Maligwa said. "And as soon as I release you, you will be under her influence again."