Aries

Chapter 23

This will be the last new chapter updated. Here on, other chapters will be edited and no more new chapters will be added.

To the old readers, I made some changes in chapter 21, because of which I had to split it into two. Don't worry. That scene is not taken but moved to this chapter.

New readers, please to tell me about the continuity of this story. I am editing and tell me if you find something odd or off.

 

The clearing was... clear tonight. Under the thousand stars that lit his face, I could stay there, at that moment forever. With my breath held in just in awe of the male before me.

Just when I was about to pry my eyes off him, my ears caught a sound it had never caught before. It was the loud thud of the heart he had chosen for his life on earth. It was thrashing against the bony cage he had trapped it in.

Though there was about five feet distance between us, I felt it as if it was no longer than five centimetres. The moon shined kindly upon us and the stars played a teasing game of hide-and-seek. Occasionally a night bird would fly over us or a cricket would call out to its friends, but other than that, it was just me, Aries and our thumping hearts.

"This place," I began, wanting to break that unknown silence. "Is not what it seems like, is it?"

He stared at me for a long time before he said, "You're right. Long ago, when the worlds were being built, there were connections between the worlds. With time, the connections faded save for the Dungeons, Chasms, Tunnels and a few more. But some connections remained and this place is one such connection. Since it connects space, it connects time and matter too. What abstract here in this world may not be abstract in other. What three dimensional here need not be so in other worlds. Everything is a string of connections. Perhaps that's why you saw those flashes. Flashes from the past."

"You are saying that they may not be my memories?" I asked.

"After what Mizar told us," Aries said. "I believe that those maybe your memories. That's why I brought you here. If you want, we can try to find who you are."

"If I am not ready?" I asked in a hoarse voice.

"This place is not going to run away, Lyra," he said. "We can come here anytime you want."

I sniffed. "Better get over with now."

He nodded and licked his lips. "You want me to guide you or you can meditate on your own?"

I squatted in the spot I had last time and closed my eyes. "I will do it on my own. Just that, if I get trapped, pull me out."

There was a hum and nothing else.

I shut down all the senses and tried to recall the flashes again.

My eyes could see nothing, but my ears could hear the whimpers of someone. When I forced my eyes, I could see that I was somewhere in the Origins.

"I can't believe that they both are gone!" a female whimpered.

"Is Cosmos that cruel?"

At this point, I could recognise Tucana's voice anywhere.

"Sometimes," a male said. "I miss the Abyss. It was equally cruel there too, but at least we knew it was cruel. This is totally different. I can't bear this."

"Roslyn... I pity her," Tucana said. "She is a star and she is suffering in Abyss."

"The Abyss would have squeezed the innocence out of her," another female said.