My consciousness grappledat the memory in a panic. Ineededthis memory. Enya reached for me as I slipped away. But I wasn’t slipping back into consciousness… I was slipping further from it…
My heart easedas I swam in eternal darkness, following the glimmering ribbons of light. I was back in that strange in-between, back with the threads binding me to the universe. But beinginthis place, glidingthroughit, instead of looking up into it as I did at the Waters of Ascendiel, was vast bliss.
The web was a complex, intricate thing of beauty. Threads danced, one tugging lovingly as I passed. I tugged back and poured my love into the thread bonding me with Tiberius, not knowing exactly how I knew it was him, and not caring.
I continued swimming, oblivious and indifferent to where my human body was, forgetting what Enya had been trying to tell me.
A flash of silver, and that daring, braided thread materialized in the distance, pulsing, beckoning, as if it were nearby. I stared at it, curiosity getting the better of me, and extended my not-hand toward it. The silver light of it, like the light of a star, shone brighter. Was I smiling? Could I smile in this place? I thought I might be. Somewhere, the heart inside my human body picked up a steady beat in response. I wanted to swim inside this thread, explore it in every way, never leave it.
But my eye caught on those lovely Bellator ribbons that swayed in the water-like darkness. I leaned into the current that pulled me toward them and ran my fingers through the six. Had I been in my human body, I would have shuddered against their touch. And there it was.
That one bright one, similar to the rest, but not the same. Bayne. My fingertips grazed that connection, a wave of sunlight shuddering in response, confirming what I’d tried to tell him. It gave a sad, gentle pulse.
Somewhere far away, a resigned sigh escaped my physical lips. I knew all along this was here, hidden. Ignored. Even if Bayne thought it impossible. I reached out, and the thread brightened, as if coming fully awake for the first time.
And then it snapped.
A terrible rip cracked in my head as I was torn from that blissful state of connection and hurtled back into my physical body.
