Ember's Cupid

Chapter 8

I arose from my position of lying on the soft bed and spoke my first words after yet another death. "Where is Mason?" I asked my question so quickly that the words basically poured out of my mouth. "Embrena, the time will come when you meet with the ones that you have lost. But that time is not now." So Mason was truly here? Had he been here all of this time? "Come, we have prepared a celebration for your arrival Embrena." His words not only confused me, but they shook me to my core. "Waiting for my arrival? Am I special or something?" Alex only scoffed at my questions. Was this humorous to him?

"I am told that you can either make or break our society. That is how special you are..." I was confused once more, was I truly the one that was expected? Covering his mouth after the words have already been said, Alex looked nervous. My thoughts frayed to Mason and I felt guilt. "If I was so powerful then why could I save Mason?" My words seemed to shock Alex, had he not expected this? "You shouldn't have said that." A familiar voice grows louder and the footsteps followed. "Mason?" Was this Mason? My Mason...? "Hey Ember..." He laughed as his arms hung on the door frame. I was in awe, for so long I had been waiting to see him, just one more time, and now that the day has come... it isn't as perfect as I thought it'd be.

"Aren't you happy to see me?" He questioned my emotions only to step closer to my still body. "Yes..." I stated emotionless. "Embrena...?" For the first time Mason spoke my full name. "Is this real life?" I asked my one question. Was it real life...? "Yes it is... Embrena, you died." I died; I found the afterlife that I have been looking for. "What about Evan? What about Chase? What about all of my friends?" I calmly asked only to hate his response. "You can still see them, you can still talk to them, you can still be near them... But they will never know that you are there." Alex spoke with such sadness and Mason only stared at the ground with disappointment.

"Did you ever visit me?" Mason then flinched as my words grew louder. "Come now, no more sadness. You've just become a member of our elite society, you should rejoice." I guess I knew Mason's answer, concededly he only thought of how it could hurt him. "You know... I would have been happier with a lie." This was not the truth; if he had lied to me I would have held it against him, in all honesty I was only hurt. "Let's just go." I raised my eyes only to notice a party before me. "What is this?" I shout as the party begins, laughing Alex then stands next to me. "I told you, you are special to us." Special...? When have I ever been special?

Food covered the tables and lights were hammered to the wall, many people were before me. Whispering voices, others avoiding me, everyone began to become cold; it all felt different. "What am I now Alex?" I turned only to notice that he had disappeared. Mason had kept his distance until now. "Mason, come here." My command was followed, but why? "What do you need Embrena?" Again he had spoken my full name, was this truly Mason?

"How did you find out my real name?" My name was not spoken for two years, how did he know? "When I was at Command Central, they told me who you were and every critical detail that was needed to be known." What was Command Central? "Can you take me home?" Home... What was my home now? What am I? I am so confused and none of my questions have been answered. "We have a home for you, it is next to mine." What was wrong with Mason? He obviously knew what I had meant yet he avoided taking me home.

"I want to see Chase, take me there now." Yet another command was spewed out of my mouth. "A-Alright, as you wish." Mason then bowed to me as his course was changed. Soon we had reached a large gold door with white trim. "What am I looking at?" I questioned this beautiful door. "The gateway to the human world, when you pass through you will be able to see Cupids, humans, and Arrows." Something felt off while Mason spoke. What had he meant by Arrows?

"You must be confused... There are four different kinds of people. Humans, they are normal people who have not experienced their change yet. Cupids, people who have only died once and can create love for more offspring. Arrows, we are the people after the Cupid has disappeared; we almost have freewill on the world. The last species is a very rare kind, they are called bows. You are a bow; we mostly persuade your kind so that they do not break our society. It is very rare for them not to agree with us, but I do not know what happens when they don't." Almost instantly I understood what he had meant, deep down I hadn't wanted to yet I did.

"Why...?" Soon Mason had stopped walking; he spoke one word and nothing more. "Why...? What do you mean?" I whispered as I inched closer to him. "Why do you want to see him so badly?" I could only scoff at his response, why had I wanted to see him? It was obvious that I had missed him, it was obvious that I wanted to see if he was alright, all of this was obvious but that was not the answer that Mason had wanted to hear. "I want to see him because I... I fell in love with him." Love, I hadn't believed in love for so long. I hadn't understood the feeling of just wanting to be near him, just wanting to hear him breathe, just wanting to hear the sound of his heartbeat.

"You love him? Embrena, you can't love him." He shouted as he stepped closer to my still body. I was enraged, even if I couldn't love him... I had not control. "Who says that I can't?" I scream back at him only to watch his expression change. He hadn't expected this, he probably expected me to holler at him saying something along the lines of loving him. "I was there, I thought you loved me!"

"You weren't there, no matter if you say you were or not! I was alone, you left me alone! You promised me that you would stay by my side then you just up and left me! How could you never have visited me?" Every emotion poured into my once dull words and fury began to build in my body. "I love you Embrena! I loved you more than anything in this world, once I died... it crushed me. I couldn't see your face because I knew that you were hurting! It was my fault; you can't just tell me that you love someone else! I won't accept that, I know that you saw me as a brother and that hurt but I truly loved you. If anything you left me!" I was not going to stand there and let him talk to me like this yet I was frozen. His words impacted me, had I truly left him? Did I give up on the idea of him being here? As I was about to shout at him Alex came jogging towards our silent figures. "Mason... We've got another bow."

"Crap, we will have to finish this later Embrena. It is my duty to greet the bows." Before the boys left an elderly man walked towards my astonished body. As their figures froze he approached me. "Embrena, it is nice to meet you. I am Ethan, the commander of La mort d'une flèche. Are you leaving so soon?" Standing in my way to leave through the gold doors, Ethan then pushed me backwards. "Stop..." Automatically his actions were canceled. "Oh no..." Ethan then whispered as he stumbled backwards. "Take me to the new bow." I commanded; when I told someone to do something, they had actually done it.

Was this why they wanted the species of the bows on their side? "Yes mam..." Alex whispers as he walks forward towards the white room that I had come out of just an hour ago. "Evan..." I whispered as I saw his face. "Em...!" Evan screeched as he ran into my arms. "Why did you follow me?" I screamed as I pushed him away. "Embrena..." His whisper sent a chill down my spine. "They won't see you now! Morgana, mom, Chase... they won't see you now that you stupidly followed me!" As my words bounced from wall to wall I became louder.

I only shook my head and left the cold, white room. The clouds in the blue sky were following my running body. I ran and ran; I felt the wind in my hair and the leaves brushing against my feet. I felt the soul of my foot pressing against the hard ground only to be lifted back into the air. I reach the white doors only to find a wall, a thin brick wall covering the other side. "It has been blocked off ever since you appeared." Mason screeched as he came from nowhere. "Then I will just have to find a way to open it back up."

Everything terrified me; I was so confused. Everything made me want to give up, everything made me want to keep fighting. "Come on Mason, follow me. I want to try to open the door." He was only still, his silence terrified me. "You are not going to help me..." my whisper was barley hearable; I thought that I had known Mason. Shaking his head, Mason then sighs. "Fine... No matter if it takes days, or weeks, or months... I will break down this wall."

Licking his lips, Mason then laughed. "I know you will... because that is the Ember that I know. Whether it is with me or not, you will do it. But just know this, if you actually succeed... You will lose me forever." I knew that Mason had meant and it gave me mixed emotions. "I understand..." I whispered; even if it wasn't true, this is what he wanted to hear.