The night wind howls... A hooded form struggles against the gale. The form of a woman, huddling close a small bundle to her chest. Memories fill her mind. Memories of a warm embrace, soft parting words, and a lie... He lied...
She remembered hope. They'd have a new life together. Together with their baby.
Hope was shattered as she saw the look on his face, the tell. He wasn't coming back... He'd turned and smiled at her before he crushed the doorway, along with her soul. He'd saved her, but he'd sealed her away from him.
"Live on", were the last words he rasped, before he vanished amidst the falling rubble.
She'd screamed once she realized the truth, but the deed was done. He was gone, forever....
There was nothing she could do.
She was alone... Her and her child.
She found herself now in a desert, circumstance showing her no mercy, to have escaped from death to only face the sureness of it now..
She roamed around the wilderness sick and dying of thirst, desperately trying to keep her baby alive. Tears had run dry and her soul felt hollow. But, she had to remain strong - she wasn't alone. she wanted to die and rejoin her husband, her foolish love. But he had left their child with her, wrapped up in a little blanket. She couldn't be with him yet. She had to fulfill his last wish, if not for herself, then at least for her daughter...
Finally, she collapsed and fell at the foot of a dune, throat parched and ragged. She was going to die, her and her child. The traitorous thoughts slithered their way through her mind like sly serpents, telling her to eat of the forbidden fruit, to taste of death and sleep. But she couldn't, he had told her to live on, her and their daughter, and she'd be damned if she let his foolishness be in vain. If not her at least their daughter must live! She must!
But, she gazed wearily at the dry arid land around her. It was hopeless. She had no way out. She was in the middle of the desert. Her food and water had run out. Her strength had left her. She was on her last legs...
Finally in desperation, she cried out to a hope, a dream. Someone she had heard of in childhood fairytales.
"Help... I'm going to die... My child is going to die... My husband is... gone... Please... if you ever existed, if you ever had any compassion, please let me save our child. Let me give her a future... Kill me, but spare her..."
With that she collapsed, and prepared herself to die. She took one last look at her baby girl, at her Sage. The poor child had fallen asleep, as exausted as her mother.
Her mother couldn't weep, there was no water for tears. Instead she choked on memories and dreams as she ran her fingers down her baby's face. She looked so much like the both of them. She had her nose and hazel eyes that were so like that foolish man's... With that she cuddled her child close and lay herself down. She wearily raised her head toward heaven and put her last hope in a fairytale.
"Please"
She whispered.
With that she fell asleep.
