The Oblivion

the bond

WE SHUFFLED TO bed after a lukewarm dinner. It was not necessarily a 'bed,' but it was out of habit. The phasing incident a couple of hours ago was still alive in our memories, but we were both trying our best to let it go. Ariana had gotten two battered apples out of her bag, and we feasted on them like a pack of wolves. It gave us a small boost to think more clearly, but soon enough we collapsed into deep sleep.

I opened my eyes, feeling woozy. But Ariana was still sleeping peacefully beside me and Arch was curled around me feet. Something felt wrong, but I closed my eyes instead. The tug of agitation emerged in me again and I opened my eyes again. The warmth of Arch's presence against my ankles disappeared, and Ariana, was no longer beside me.

I sat up immediately, back erect with alert. How could they have gone in within three-seconds? And for what purpose?

Before I could call out in distress someone walked from out of the shadows. I swallowed, not quite believing what I saw before my eyes.

My mother, dressed in finery and her ring twinkling in the night despite the darkness. She was a good ten years younger than she was the last time I saw her. Her face ignited with youth, but it seemed like a mask. My mothers steely brown eyes rested on mine, and for what seemed like eternity, we stared for all we were worth.

Her arms were dangling at her sides.

"Mother...?"

She seemed so relaxed, but the muscles in her arms looking tense.

She said something inaudible. I didn't hear it.

"What?" I retaliated.

"I said, why do you think your wretched wolf was intact after the destruction?" Mother said, finally loud enough to my ears.

It never occurred to me, but I didn't know the answer either. How would she know anyway?

"I...I don't know..."

"Why?" she repeated, her voice raised by a little.

"I said, I don't know?" I said, agony rising. I felt scared of this strange time traveler mother; my mother.

"Why!" she roared, her eyes turning to blades. Her voice traveled down the pathways and clearing, thundering through the leaves and climbing up Corpsejay.

I nearly fell down from the force and firmness of her voice. I stepped backwards, swallowing in what just happened.

I had to take a stand for once. She was my Mother, and at times we both argued with each other, so why couldn't I now?

I took a step forwards instead, until I reached five centimeters away from my Mother. "I said, I don't know!" I cried out loudly. Not as loudly as I wanted, but it was good enough.

Mother didn't change her position not once. Stiff neck, relaxed expression, and cold eyes. She cast me a soulful look with her gaze.

It turned to fear.

The veins in her eyes crackled, then the pinkish blood color spread around her eyeball, but her pupil was immune. I nearly screamed with horror, gawped at her sudden changed, red eyes. Like magic. Dark magic.

"Then know." Her voice echoed all around me, so sincere and confident. But furtive. As if this was God's punishment against her if she blasphemed.

This time I backed away rapidly, but then bumped into something. I spun around to see Ariana, her arms crossed, as if she was waiting. She had the same expression as Mother plastered across her face, patient, waiting.

"Ariana?" I gasped.

"Why do you think Arch is so different?" she hissed, her utterance husky. Why was she so against him in this...this strange simulation?

"I don't know!" I snapped again, willing her to reply with the obstinate anger she always retorted with. But my sister stood still, looking at me in a way I never saw her look at me, like my Mother.

"Then know." She said.

I looked around desperately, ready to run. I darted past her. My sister made no attempt to stop me. I was ready to work my legs into a sprint until I crashed into another figure abruptly.

Father.

I wanted to weep, wrap my arms around him and never let go, but this was not the real father I knew. Blank face. Chilled posture. Angry eyes.

"Why does Arch wear a collar cursed upon a carved stone?" he solicited.

Cursed?

At least I knew the answer to this.

"Because I made it for him."

"Why?" Father asked right after I pronounced the last letter, without any hesitation, as if he knew I was about to say this.

"I don't know," I said again, clueless.

"Then know."

I didn't know wether to laugh or screech. I was in hysterics, not giving a second thought over the childish replies. Then know. That was a little kids answer, a nag, an act of criticism.

I tried to walk away nonchalantly as if I was bored of the situation, but someone stopped me. The young face of Blair that haunted me, the person I killed for my survival.

For the city's survival.

"Blair, I'm so sorry..." I began.

"Why do you think there is a wall, Cimber?" she says in a fresh voice, blood still dripping from her scary wound, as if it was injured for days but never stopped.

"I don't know!" I shrieked, putting my hands over my head. I knew what she was going to say. Then know.

Somebody was watching me in a corner. Extraordinary blue eyes, cohere hair, watching me intently. Her expression changes once she see's me looking at her, but her muscles seemed frozen. I expected her to ask another question, and I would say that I didn't know, and then she would say then know and I would run somewhere else and see God Knows Who. But instead, this girl says something different.

"Find out." Her gravel voice deafens me, echoing unusually around the place. I looked up to her to question her, but she was no longer there. Mother, Ariana and Father were walking towards me in a tight circle, trapping me inside. Their voices and questions blotted me, blinded me, until I started screaming and couldn't stop.

"Why was your wolf intact after the destruction?"

"Why do you think Arch is so different?"

"Why does Arch wear a collar cursed upon a carved stone?"

They kept repeating until I was completely helpless inside the circle.

The voices got louder and louder, defining me, making my head swim. I tried to block out the noise with my hands, covering my ears, but the voices were still as clear as a day.

"Then know!" they yelped simultaneously, and then the world disappeared in a second.

My eyes flew open, and I was sleeping on the ground beside Ariana and Arch. I make frantic gasps of dramatic relief.

Just a dream, Just a dream, Just a nightmare.

I closed my eyes, but just to let everything take over me. I glanced over at my sister who slept peacefully, her hair fallen across her face. She looked extremely young again, my dear sister who taught how to live life.

I will walk anywhere she wants to go, anywhere around the world. Because I trust her.