Abyssal Reverie

Chapter 28: Gods

"And do you like the way it feels?  Like fire from the heavens. Tearing me asunder beside you."

I couldn't really see through the tears. They came in quick, succinct waves. Tears, Naseoua, tears. It kept on like that as III attempted desperately to calm me down. I felt his hand rubbing small circles on my back. The desperation for air choked my lungs even harder as I panicked against each of my heavy breaths. My hands toyed with the small coin purse, opening and closing it. Not dipping my hand into see what was inside.

"Selah, give that to me..." III was so quiet. His eyes filled with worry. I could see the mask on his forehead crinkle with concern. "Here." He held his hand out to me, his long fingers curved just slightly. The black paint had all but faded. The sofy ivory of his skin was unmarred- not even a freckle. "C'mon, Selah. You can do it." Waves knocked into us as I collapsed onto the wingback chair by the fireplace. I couldn't hold onto it much longer. My heart was racing, my thoughts were flooded with the look on Vessel's face as III ushered me away. Simon was dead. That much I was sure of. The racing of my blood caused my ears to ring. I could feel the room spinning with each inhale, fighting to steady me. I could feel III's hands on me. I knew he was there, the familiar blue swirl of his breathing floating to me as I closed my eyes.

Inhale. Simons Dead. Exhale. It's all my fault. This is all my fault. Inhale. God's what was I thinking? I can't do this... Exhale.

"Selah, focus on my voice. I'm right here." III Felt so far away, but the cool elocution of his accent rang in my ears. "Here. Right here." I could hear him snapping his fingers to keep my focus, but I was lost in my mind; I couldn't breathe. I can't breath... Gods.

The world around me faded to black.

~

"It's so early, sweetheart, your brother is still asleep." My mother cooed from her side of the room. She was still in bed, the agitation from the night before long gone amidst the evening's dreams. She was always most like herself this early in the morning. Tufts of her honey blonde hair were wild, her eyes still heavy with sleep.

"Pleaseee..." I whined. "Just one more time." I know she didn't want to tell me this story again. But I needed it. I needed to hear my mother be herself again, if only for a little while.

She sat up, the whites of her eyes streaked with red. I met them with a silent plea. "The last war was one Calcutta never expected to recover from..." My heart soared as she began the story the same way she always did. "Entire bloodlines wiped from the surface of the land with malice and hatred at the center of their hearts. As each person fell, so did the magic that kept the humans safe. One by one, we lost them all. Wayfarers no longer awaken to guide their charges into their magic. Apparitionists falling from the sacred lands onto the earth with a painful Crack. You could feel the source of all that was good in this world retreating, leaving death and destruction in its wake. This continued on so long that the humans believed all magic fell from the land. That not even a sprig was left anywhere... Apparitionists fell from the world's view. They became legend and then myth... until they were hardly ever mentioned at all.

"The very act of speaking the name would cause the oceans to storm and the ground to shake. All hope was lost, so much so that People didn't even realize it had ever been there... In an attempt to keep the Gods from retaliating against each other again, there was talk of splitting the realms. The Sky above is one plane, the earth below another. A set of sisters desperate to tear the world apart. Sleep and Insomnus. Life and death. Grace and grief..." Her eyes grew distant, almost as though she was trying to remember a time she hadn't been alive for.