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He furrows his brows, my tattoo warming.“You don’t want me to come with you?”I soften my expression. I understand his concern, but this is something I need to do alone.
“I don’t know how I’ll be affected going back, and… I want to be alone to process it.” Rune keeps his red gaze on me for a few moments and then nods, letting me go but kissing me quickly before I can turn.
“I’ll be waiting here for you, pup.”
I press my hand to his cheek, looking deep into the eyes I was once so wary of.
“I’ll be fine, I promise.” I give him my best smile but I’m really nervous. The void grows larger with each step I take. I suppress a shudder as I cross the veil and the familiar shroud of the thick mist falls over my shoulders.
It’s quiet.
I close my eyes and keep walking forward. I’ve never done this alone, but when I crossed with Wren we just kept walking straight. I’m taking each step slowly and waiting for the break in the mist when I catch the distinct and strong scent of my beloved ponderosa pines.
My eyes shoot open and a smile breaks over my lips.Home.
I’m home.
I instinctively follow the scent and burst through the edge of Bresian, eyes wide and eager to take in everything that my memories hold of my forest. But what I see stops me—sends shivers up my spine, and every hair on the back of my neck raises. The feathers of my wings bristle with shock.
My forest is… my forest is dead.
Gone.
Burned to nothing but the charred black death that fire leaves in its wake. Not a single tree is left unscathed. I can see the boulder I followed Wren to the night we met, what’s left of Bruno’s house in the distance, and… where’s my parents’ house?
I clench a hand over my broken organ, readying it for the impact of impending doom and sorrow—but it doesn’t come.
Am I truly that hollow now? Seen it all? Felt every godsdamn piece of pain the realms can manage to serve me?
I’m not convinced—not that I’ve seen it all.
I walk through the ashes, the embers still smoldering beneath the blanket of gray death. I take it all in with unease. It reminds me too much of Kastian’s glades… filled with ashes, death, and rot. Creatures that sleep—the long dreary rest where you no longer dream.
Smoke swirls up into the sky, scarring the night with plumes of the ghosts of my forest. They dance on the bare stumps of their lost vessels, somber with the dim light coming from the single moon above.
No magic. No second chances. No hope.
My feet carry me knowingly, as if some ghostly part of me can sense the old paths I once walked. A few snaps sound from behind me but I ignore them. I keep my eyes low, not wanting to look up from the ash-covered ground, because a sick feeling is rising in the back of my throat. A knowing feeling.
I stop at the foot of my burnt shed.
Ash billows up with the cold breeze as my eyes rest heavily on the mound that once was my sanctuary. My shed is gone. I take a deep breath in and exhale slowly as my marrow churns inside my bones.
Three headstones rest at the foot of what was once my beloved shed. Three lonely carved headstones that have my family’s names etched in them like it was done with a stick. I slump slowly down to my knees. The ash is still somewhat warm against the chill in the air, but my soul feels frigid.
Elodie Marrowbone
Stolen by the gods too soon. We’re so sorry. We will love you for eternity. Please forgive us.
— Mom & Dad
A tear slips down my cheek and I let the curled breath inside my chest out. My insides are twisting and my hands are shaking with all of the fucking nothingness I feel.
It’s fucked up, right?
So fucking sad and messed up.Theydidn’t kill me, it wasArulius. And now…
My eyes finally find the will to flick to their headstones. The same message is written on them both. The knot in my throat chokes me as I read it.
