Dark Faïz (Book 2) [Completed]

Chapters 2-2

A warm breath caressed my face, which forced me to open my eyes. Amazement overcame me when I discovered that I was sitting in the heart of a dream landscape, enough to erase the anxiety of any human being on Earth. I stood up without difficulty. The grains of sand, trapped in my thick hair, flew away at the first breeze. In front of me rose dunes as far as the eye could see, the sun making them gold and ochre colored. This landscape in altitude gave me, during the first seconds, slight vertigo. The fine sand under my bare feet didn't burn me, despite a zenith sun. I also didn't feel the desert heat on my skin. It was while turning that I saw a little further on a silhouette standing on a dune. Surely a hallucination, I thought immediately. I decided to approach it, secretly wishing deep inside me to find during these few minutes of illusions my mother's arms. The sand cracked under my feet, breaking with the wind, the heavy silence of the moment. The figure still didn't move. It was there, motionless, waiting for me to get closer. My heart quickened, as did my walk. Finally, I ran the last few meters, almost missing it in the hot sand. When the figure turned around, I froze and immediately put a hand to my heart to prevent it from tearing away from my chest.

"Victoria," I whispered with difficulty.

"Are you okay?" She became instantly worried at seeing my expression. "it looks like you just saw a ghost."

Her smile, so radiant during her life, immediately brought tears to my eyes. Only she could manage to make fun of such a solemn situation with so much hindsight.

"Victoria," I stammered once more with a trembling voice. "Vic, I didn't save you."

The end of my sentence broke, as it was so painful.

"No one could have done it, Zoe. No one," whispered Victoria, taking me in her arms.

I wanted to transform this precious moment into an eternity without waking up.

"Your funeral was so sad."

"I admit it wasn't quite what I expected."

"What would you have wanted?"

"A little more...rock 'n' roll ceremony."

I shook my head, not surprised by her remark.

"I want to stay here with you."

Victoria stepped back.

"Don't be silly. You will live for your loved ones, for my memory, for...Faïz."

"He hates me, Vic, and it's understandable," I answered, my throat tightened by the sobs that threatened to spill again.

"You know that's wrong. He hates himself more than anything at the moment. You need each other to..."

Victoria stopped abruptly. The expression on her face then became indescribable. Fear? Worry? No! It was distress that reigned in her eyes.

"What's going on?"

"Oh, no," she whispered, panicking, looking around.

"Vic? Talk to me!"

"He found us."

I stared at her, completely taken aback, not understanding what disaster she was referring to. It was then that the hot desert wind rose and the sky got covered with large dark clouds that announced the beginnings of a chaotic storm.

"Wake up, Zoe! Now!"

"No, wait, we're not done."

"The Maestro is coming! He found a breach. You have to wake up."

"But I can't. Are you in danger?" I insisted.

"No, it's you, it's all of you. The Banshees must be released—"

Victoria's words flew away with violent gusts. The storm was coming from far away. I no longer heard a single word that she was yelling at me.

"The Banshees? What? What do you mean by that?" I cried in my turn.

"The stone, Zoe!"

"Why are you talking to me about the emerald?"

"No, no. Not that one, the other one!"

Victoria looked behind her then turned back to me again. It was then that she pushed me with all her might from the top of the immense dune, now covered with ashes. My body fell at that instant, into an endless nothingness.