Valerian | Magi

I

Coming back to life was not the kind of experience one would expect when they had been unavoidably dying for the past year. There hadn't been any sudden gasp of air and there hadn't been any bright light at the end of a tunnel that she had been pulled away from. All that she had been given when she returned was the feeling of immense panic because she could still feel the way she had died humming through her skin.

She could remember every moment before the darkness had claimed her. She could see in her mind's eye the expression on her brothers face when she had took what she had thought was her last breath. She could remember his look of acceptance as she spoke through coughs of how she didn't want to be buried, she just wanted to be free.

They, her brother and his friends, had sent her off into the ocean as per her last request. She didn't want to look down below her because she could hear the sound of waves crashing below her, and she could feel the wood uncomfortably pressing into her back. But she could help but calm down at the thought of how lucky she was. Because they had followed her wishes and sent her out onto the sea, they hadn't buried her. She didn't want to think of what would have happened if she came back to life in a grave.

She shook her head. She really didn't want to know the answer to that.

Mariam had yet to comprehend what was happening around her. She knew she was on a piece of wood drifting in the ocean, but she was only eleven years old and she had yet to understand the implications of what being out on sea without any food meant for her.

All she knew was that she was in the middle of the ocean, and, as she sat up, she couldn't see even a hint of land around her.

It was on the piece of wood that she sat for the next five days, slowly starving and unable to drink large quantities of the water below her because of the amount of salt it contained.

But she seemed to have more luck than she realised, and on the morning of that fifth day when the sun was rising, she saw something that made her think she was hallucinating. Or rather, someone.

When her eyes opened that morning, she was gifted with the sight of a man floating directly above her on a long staff. He had a bright smile on his face, but she could see the underlying guardedness behind it. She had spent her whole life looking into false smiles and hidden agendas and she could see it even in her starved state. This man obviously was unaware of this. Nevertheless, as soon as she had finished examining him, she came to the conclusion that he was very much real and very much floating above her.

She did what any eleven year old girl drifting in the middle of the ocean would do– she screamed.

Instantly the man backed up in shock. She watched him carefully as he gazed at her, or, strangely, around her.

"You're different." The man decided, peering down at her for another second before sitting on his staff properly and bringing himself closer to her, "what's your name?"

Mariam blinked in shock. What did he mean what was her name, did he not understand how weird it was that he was floating and she had been on the ocean so long?

Obviously not, because he just continued to stare at her waiting for an answer. Fine, then.

"Mari... it's Mariam." She coughed out, her throat completely parched.

The man let out a hum of acknowledgement and, without even a hint of warning, leaned forwards. He grabbed her be her legs and swung her over his shoulder. Her head slammed into his long blond hair and she coughed as a few hairs got caught in her mouth. She spat them out and began to try and kick at him to get away, but her struggling was futile. He just held onto his legs properly.