A Wild World- A Witcher FanFic

Chapter 21

A.N.~ I am so sorry this took as long as it did but it is here now.  

It's unedited, but that's honestly an afterthought right now.  I have vacation in a week, so hopefully more writing then!

Cheers~

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Bright.  Painful and bright.

Stars danced across her vision.  Everything was still swirling, slowing to a manageable whir.

Rubbing her temple, the pain subsided and she blinked into the light.

They sat in a white plane.  It was as bright and expansive as the eye could see, extending beyond the horizon.  Lights pulsed in electric jolts through the floor beneath their feet, like burst of lightning. With each flash the whole place hummed, and the crystalline floor shone with a thousand rainbows.

This place was wrong.  It felt wrong, but she just couldn't place a finger on it.  She couldn't recall why.

Stretching out one leg sent a spasm of pain through her back.  Recoiling she tested again and again.  With each movement the sharpness also faded away.  As if with each pulse of this in between everything was fading away.  Who was she... what, what was she doing here?

Another wave of tension sent her hand back to her temples.  Memories and thoughts were there.  Jumbled.  Faded, but coming back.  What she had been doing.

She was going home, but this wasn't home.  There was magic.  Portal.  An accident, and ...

Eskel.  She could not forget.

What mattered now was where they were, and how to get back. Pulling at her hair, Cass whipped every which way.  There wasn't even any smidgen of Avellac'h's lab.  Nothing was familiar.

Blinking back tears from the light Cass scanned the area, it took a moment before her eyes adjusted.  Then she saw the desolation. 

Volyon lay a few feet away moaning quietly.  A dark red stain streaked across the pulsing ground beneath him.  A bloody silver witchers sword lay another step beyond that.  To hell with him, Cass seethed.

 Eskel lay splayed across the floor.

Seeing Eskel sent a nauseous wave through her stomach. He was not moaning. Nothing. 

Rushing over to Eskel's limp form, she placed a tentative hand against his wrist.  Nothing.  Shaking her hands tried to feel for any sign of life, but there was no movement. Face down into the ground, he lay still.  Cursing Cass rolled Eskel onto his back.  It took several heaving tries as his armor weighed him down significantly, even when torn and bloody.

"Eskel. Eskel, are you in there." Cass' trembling hands cupped his pale cheeks. "Eskel, please, oh please wake up. You've been through worse, right..."

 His face was obscured by his hair plastered to his face. Dark red blood clung to it in clumps.    

"Come on Eskel."  She stammered.  

Shaking him slightly, she let one hand trail to his neck.  No pulse reached her sensitive fingers.

Pushing back his hair from his eyes she searched his face one more time for anything.  Rocking slightly she cupped his face.  

"This wasn't how it was supposed to end.  I  I was to to go home, my home, and then... and you would be ok.  We'd both be ok.  We would both be happy. "  Her breathing became ragged. Jerky and uneven breaths soon were followed by shaking.