The Fallen Memory

Chapter Two ~ Cerulean Angel

The air was ice.

Ryder could feel the heat drain from his body. For the first time in centuries, he knew what it was to feel cold, to know that all warmth had vanished. Shivers constantly ran through him. His hair stood on end. As he looked down, he noticed his chest was bare, the tan granite stained scarlet. Dried blood was covering his abdomen. He trailed his calloused fingers over the crimson. Tiny flakes fell, littering the ground at his feet. His eyes followed the stained snowflakes, watched as they rested on the white blanket, mingling with bright scarlet droplets that tracked across the snow covered earth.

Drops of blood led away from him, towards the darkness that seemed to divide where he was and where the droplets ended. His feet, like his chest, was bare. The icy snow punctured his exposed skin like needles, leaving his bloodied footprint with every step.

Tentatively, he followed the trail, leaving his own imprint on the earth. As he reached the dark divide, his heart - which was usually silent - thrummed to life, pounding against his ribs with all the force of mortality.

Fear ebbed its way into his body, mingling with the pain and terror that he had already acquired.

The black veil rippled when he laid a quivering finger on its obsidian wall. For the first time, Ryder noticed how silent the landscape was.

No wind howled.

No crickets chirped.

There was nothing but silence.

It was as if the Earth had died, all life vanished, leaving only him to walk alone forever.

He stared through the darkness - and saw something move on the other side. His breath hitched in his chest. His heart hammering against the cage that contained it. His gaze followed the figure, whose features were obscured by shadows. He strained his eyes, trying to catch a glimpse. Without thought, he placed his palms upon the obsidian wall, his body pressed against the cool black veil.

"Hello?" His mouth formed the words, but no sound escaped. The figure had stopped a couple feet from the other side. He felt it look at him, though he couldn't distinguish anything from it.

Slowly, the figure lifted its right hand, bringing it across its chest in an 'x' motion, before finally placing it where his right hand rested on the dark divider. He felt the heat through the thin wall. He watched as the black turned to a midnight blue, shifting to a dark purple before resting at a cerulean blue. Ryder held his breath as the veil gradually dispersed, revealing the figure hiding behind it.

Their hands melded together as a girl with silver hair the same shade as Ander's emerged. A small smile formed on her plump lips as their skin touched. He could feel the heat from her drain into his cold body, warming the place where his soul had once been. Ryder stood transfixed, his palm resting against hers. Her eyes shone like two orbs of cerulean moonlight. Veins of silver, gray, purple, and black were interwoven inside her irises.

She looked like an angel...

He opened his mouth to speak, but she silenced him with a simple flicker of her eyes to the sky.

He tore his gaze away from her, the beauty in the desolate landscape, to rest on the heavens.

Stars glistened and twinkled in the midnight sky. A crescent moon hung lazily between the glittering diamonds. There wasn't a trace of clouds in the clear night. A smile fitted itself to his lips as he looked back at the girl.

Her eyes were pained. Tears slid down her cheeks, freezing before they fell to the ground, then shattered upon impact. She removed her hand from his, taking with her all the warmth he had felt earlier. She rested it upon her heart, where a spot of scarlet had begun to grow, staining her cotton dress crimson.

His heart stopped. His lungs quit taking in oxygen. His body when cold.

She rippled like the wall, her image becoming distorted before she started to fade. The last thing to vanish was her eyes. The cerulean moons seemed to plead to him, whispering one lonesome word for only his heart to hear...

"Remember..."