The Lovers of Life

CHAPTER XI - THE LOVERS OF LIFE (pt 2)

A fresh breeze danced around me. I turned around in my sleep, ignoring the pleasant sensation of the wind on my face. I knew someone was near me, but it was nothing to worry about. After all, we were six sleeping at twilight. Plus, there was something oddly familiar about that presence. It was reassuring.

I was awake now. I could feel the earth and the roots under me and spared a thpight to wonder why I hadn't bothered to bring a mat. I shivered as my hands felt around, searching blindly for my blanket, which I must have pushed away in my sleep. I turned to look at Elsie, convinced that she had taken it – again. But there was no one in sight. A shiver ran through my spine. I turned around. Julien isn't there either. Could they have gone inside without me? But then, if they aren't with me, who is?

He was behind me. Immediately, I sat up, leaning slightly forward, ready to spring and run, but frozen into place. I didn't dare turn around to face him. Or maybe I wanted to sulk. I didn't know and wouldn't find out. The sight before my eyes was so unique, it took my breath away and made me forget about everything else. I couldn't think, I couldn't even want. But I could see, and that was more than enough.

Before me lied a river, its waters flowing steadily under a moonless sky. The canopy above was an iridescent black and blue. There was an aurora borealis, like a rainbow-coloured river in the sky, splitting the glittering curtain of the stars. The dark river reflected the aurora over it, and the shores glittered in the colours reflected from the sky. I was sitting on a road that seemed abandoned, covered with weeds and roots. Maybe it wasn't a road after all. Gladioluses grew on the riverbank. An old man, crooked by time, was rowing a boat away from me. As if he had just brought me here. And left me here.

That was when reality snapped back into my confused mind. Where are they? Are they all right? I couldn't think straight. It didn't even cross my mind to wonder where I was or where this path lead.

Julien... Elsie!

They are sleeping, murmured a glacial soothing voice in my mind.

I sighed with relief as my gaze fell once again on the river. The ferryman was gone. The wake of his rowboat had disappeared. The aurora borealis flooded the night with its mysterious beauty.

Anastasia.

I turned around. He looked down on me as I had dreamed of for so long. His skin glowed in the darkness as if, like a moon, he reflected the light of the sun. But he could not survive facing the sun. Tonight however, I was not dreaming: he was here. The aurora illuminated the night with unfathomable wonders, but his eyes were fixed on me as if there was nothing else worth looking at around us.

He was wearing a loose white linen shirt on which I could see, glimmering, a medallion. His eyes were as I remembered them: purple and gleaming with mischief. His smile was mysterious, but an aura of deep pleasure emanated from him, as if he was roaring with laughter inside. His curled dark hair fell around his face. He offered me his hand on which shone precious jewels. I took it, ignoring its unnatural frost and he helped me to my feet.

The lights played in the sky, casting soft shadows on the old path. The shadows of trees and boulders married at our feet as though they had been forever betrothed and waiting for this moment to unite. We were like them, weren't we? But he cast no shadow. No. We were not like them.

He took my other hand in his. I did not see his gesture, but my two hands were in his now. I could hear my heart beating and I as close enough to feel his heartbeat. Or I would have been, if he had one.

I bent my head slightly, to see him better. Twenty years it had been, but I remembered everything down to his long eyelashes. I watched mesmerized as he blinked. There as a quality no words can describe in all his movements. I couldn't take my gaze away from his anymore. I could see, I could feel. But I couldn't think.