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Khepria
I stayedwith him most of the night, my joints aching as I once again tried to find a comfortable position. As luck would have it, I wasn’t scheduled to come into work tomorrow, so I wouldn’t be interfering in any prior obligations. When I shifted my hip on the ground, a shuffling noise arose from beside me. I jerked my head in his direction and found Isolarel convulsing—at least, that was what I initially thought until I realized he was only trembling, his body shifting against the debris beside him. I quickly shifted to my knees with my hands hovered above him, unsure of what action I should take as he was already on his side. He stared blankly into the sky as if searching for something that wasn't there.
“What's wrong?” I whispered. “What has you frightened—what is it that you are so afraid of?”
“Dawn is coming,” his voice broke and my heart constricted. Sure, I listened when he told me about his curse… but I didn’t take it seriously. Though my mind was still trying to logically figure out how everything happened, the fear that emanated from him at this moment pushed me toward the fact that maybe what he said was indeed the truth despite it defying all the laws of nature.
I looked out in the direction he was, staring into the fathomless sky and wondering exactly how he would return to it. Yes, the sun was about to come up. I lifted my wrist to look at my watch.
“Yes, yes it is,” I chuckled, unsure of why he needed to state the obvious. But despite my confusion at his statement, there was a strange tension that now filled the air. What was I missing?
As the sun began to rise over the distant horizon, bringing forth rays of flame across the skies, a thunderous voice crashed through the silence from the direction of the clouds.
"It is time," the voice boomed.
Isolarel's body abruptly stopped trembling. He was stock still as if frozen in time, only his clubbed antennae jerking in sporadic movements hinted at what he might have been feeling within him. He spoke of fear earlier, begging the gods to have mercy on me. Could he have been telling the truth of their power?
How can it be so in a time like now where science and logical reasoning reigned supreme in everyday lives? I couldn’t give any sort of rebuttal. Not when his reaction was this dire.
As the sun continued to inflame the sky with oranges and reds, Isolarel’s eyes snapped to mine and my heart leapt.
"Close your eyes, mortal. Please. I do not wish for you to witness this part," his voice cracked as he turned his face away.
As if something physically gripped my heart, I felt my breath leave me at his desperate plea. I gazed up at the sky again, questioning my sanity as the sound of chains reverberated through the air. What was happening?
In the next few seconds, my eyes fooled me. I couldn’t believe it so I blinked, rubbed my eyes and blinked again. Hooks attached to what looked like chains made from the aether shot from the clouds, descending at great speeds toward us. I leaped back in instinct as it whizzed past me only for me to remember the one I was trying to help. Slapping the wayward strands that loosened from my ponytail out of my face, I scrambled toward Isolarel only to come too late.
I slapped a hand over my mouth as the hooks pierced through his skeleton and flesh, his groan of agony burning into my memory and pricking my tear ducts. I cried behind my hand, sitting there on my knees helplessly as the aether chains yanked his being toward the heavens. His screams pierced the air, growing fainter and fainter as I got to my feet, reaching my hand toward him.
What is wrong with you, Khepria? You should have reached for him when he was still beside you. What could your arms do now when he is already back into the embrace of the gods?
The chains that bound him glowed with an otherworldly energy, as if they were forged from the very essence of the sun itself.
Despite my inner chastisement of my obvious failures, I cried out to him, hoping he would hear me before he disappeared back where he came from. "Isolarel! I will seek help!"
The roaring of the clouds above drowned out my words. I could only hope he could feel my earnestness. I fell back to my knees, my hands clasped against my chest as tears streamed down my face.Please, please hear me. I’m so sorry.
With my eyes closed shut and my hands reaching toward my head in frustration, I could have sworn words whispered in my mind.
Please, mortal, forget about me.
No! I jumped back to my feet and lifted my face boldly to the sun and watched in horror as his tiny silhouette was devoured by the flaming ball in the sky.
He told you he was cursed. He told you!
But why? Why him? What could a being possibly do to deserve such punishment? And to be put through it every day? It was inhumane!
And yet… you still do not know if he was human at all,my mind whispered to me. It didn’t matter. I needed answers. I refused to believe anyone or anything was deserving of such brutalization. Everything was too surreal—a nightmare that couldn’t possibly be reality.
But I knew what I saw and I couldn’t refute the evidence in front of me.
What were once chains of aether transformed into thick ropes of fire, spitting and licking from the sun’s surface as the last remnants of Isolarel vanished. With my hands over my brow, I forced myself to stare into its surface no matter all the warnings we were given as children about it burning our vision. I could feel the heat of the day intensify, the air around me growing thick and suffocating. Sweat dripped down my forehead as I struggled to comprehend the magnitude of what I was witnessing.
“Isolarel…” I whispered one last time, wiping my tears with the back of my hand. I screamed, kicking the debris around me, wanting to punish myself for my lack and my weaknesses for it had cost Isolarel his life. If only I reached out sooner, I could have held him here to the ground. If only?—!
“Khepria! You should of—” I cut myself off, grabbed a large boulder and threw it, crying out in frustration. Guilt. Shame. They were all intertwining into my being on top of a sense of utter loss. What use was helping someone if you were only going to watch them die?
Guilt. Shame. Failure…
