Josh
I could feel Evie's life force slipping away as she sank under the fractured ice, it was calling to me, pleading with me to take it, to release it.
And I should have.
But instead, I plunged into the black water after her.
Evie was hanging in the water like a crucifix, millions of tiny bubbles dissipating around her; her life slipping away into nothingness.
As an Angel of Death, I remove the dying person's pain, and wash them clean, before I sever the thread that binds them to this life. I bear that pain, take their life stories from them, to prepare them for their onward journey into the Afterlife.
Not this time.
I flung my arms around her, and as we touched, images of her life flowed through me like a movie. Some were more vivid than others - her first cry as she was born to the world, her father taking her out on her first bike, his warm smile as he read bedtime stories to her, his last breath, the black funeral cars, the dark feelings that possessed her - and all of them cut me to the bone.
I pulled Evie closer to me, battling the leaden fingers of her pain as they wrapped themselves around me. They were trying to drag me down into that dark place in which she lived, they wanted to hold me prisoner until Evie was dead and I would have no other choice than to sever her soul and set it free.
Despite the heaviness invading my heart, I clung onto her and flew upwards, crashing out of the ice and into the blanketed world beyond.
She looked like a porcelain doll as I lay her down on the frozen embankment, her eyes closed, her heart barely beating. With the tip of my thumb I brushed away the matted hair from her face and then I kissed her.
And with that kiss I gave her back her soul.
And offered my life to Death in return.
Delicate threads of sparkling anima travelled through her body with the blood in her veins, winding their way to her almost dead heart. At the same time I returned her memories, her life story back to her, trying to hold onto the sorrow that had hijacked her existence, knowing I would bear it for a thousand lifetimes rather than see her suffer it again. But it was stubborn and cruel, and I couldn't hold onto it, nor stem the tide, and it rushed back into her.
A few ghostly images remained within me (probably from the darkest recesses of Evie's psyche), dancing upon the surface of my mind before they too vanished, almost like they'd never existed at all. They were memories that didn't make sense to me, that didn't seem to fit into her life - small glimpses of parted lips and naked flesh under a moonlit sky - but they were like snow on the ocean and in a matter of seconds they were gone, leaving only confusion and an inexplicable, aching hunger in their wake.
But I had no time to grieve their loss as Death, hissing and spitting, grabbed me by the hair and snatched me away from Evie. She spun me around and flung me to the ground. Agonising pain became master of my body. A silent scream uncoiled from my mouth.
I was to die beside the frozen river, not knowing if I had done enough to save Evie.
But Death did not take me.
Death is cruel and vicious and She wanted me to pay for my disloyalty, so She left me, broken and bruised, on the riverbank to die. Alone. A slow and painful death.
The sound of laughter drifted towards me, filtering through the thick curtain of fog. I had to get away, couldn't let whoever it was find me. I dragged myself into the brush and debris beneath the bridge, my feathers, tearing from my broken wings, left a snaking trail of black; a dark stain on the landscape. I rolled into a ball under the bridge, curling my arms around me to stop the trembling, but fear is a strong mistress and it took hold quickly, travelling through my body like cracks over ice.
I faintly remembered feeling something like it before, a long time ago. I drew no comfort from its familiarity.
There was nothing I could do but close my eyes and let Death take me when She was ready.
I heard my name being gently called through the darkness. There was a small flickering light in the distance - the place from where my name was being whispered - and I swam towards it, knowing that that was where I needed to be.
My eyes snapped open. I was lying naked on the hard ground, my body shaking from the icy cold biting into my skin. The harsh smell of burnt sulphur and charcoal hung on the air, and somewhere beyond the heavy cloud, the day was beginning to break. The bridge arched above me, oozing with emerald green lichen and centuries of dirt, the white-carpeted water, that usually rushed at its feet, lying still and silent beneath it. I saw the trail of black feathers twisting their way across the tow path, my feathers, bent and twisted like broken bones, and I remembered.
Evie.
I tried to stand but my legs were heavy, my body strange; blood throbbed in my veins - I could hear it pounding in my ears - and life pulsed through my body like electricity, animating every nerve and muscle. I stumbled backwards and pain stabbed my foot. I looked down; the jagged edge of a broken bottle protruded from the side of my heel, and my crimson blood was leaching into the mud from the wound.
But as an Angel of Death - an Immortal - I shouldn't have bled.
I leaned back against the arch of the bridge and slowly pulled the shard out of my foot, my own warm blood smearing my fingers.
I wanted to vomit.
I threw the fragment of glass to the ground, watching closely as the deep cut knitted back together and healed in front of me.
My ribcage seemed to constrict around my lungs, pushing my heart into my throat as the truth became clear.
I was no longer an immortal.
But I was not a mortal either.
Because no mortal would heal that quickly.
I was a bizarre mixture of the two - a freak - bleeding and weak, Death holding my life in the palm of her hands.
I didn't know how long I had left before She destroyed me, before I crumbled into oblivion - nothing more than dust on the breeze, destined to be absorbed back into the stars in which God had forged us - but I needed to find Evie before Death claimed me. I needed to see her one last time.
I knew she was alive. I could feel it, could feel her heart gently thrumming with mine.
But, despite my pleading and my aching need to see her, I didn't even make it off the tow path.
A grey cloud began to fall over my vision. I struggled to stay on my feet, clinging on to the trunk of a willow until my fingers bled, until my muscles roared with pain. I fought hard against Death's attack, and held onto life with everything I had, my mind oscillating between this world and the next, as I battled Her attempts to drag me back to the Other Side.
But finally, I lost the battle and Death's veil descended upon me.
I lost my grip on life.
I could feel Evie's life force slipping away as she sank under the fractured ice, it was calling to me, pleading with me to take it, to release it.
And I should have.
But instead, I plunged into the black water after her.
Evie was hanging in the water like a crucifix, millions of tiny bubbles dissipating around her; her life slipping away into nothingness.
As an Angel of Death, I remove the dying person's pain, and wash them clean, before I sever the thread that binds them to this life. I bear that pain, take their life stories from them, to prepare them for their onward journey into the Afterlife.
Not this time.
I flung my arms around her, and as we touched, images of her life flowed through me like a movie. Some were more vivid than others - her first cry as she was born to the world, her father taking her out on her first bike, his warm smile as he read bedtime stories to her, his last breath, the black funeral cars, the dark feelings that possessed her - and all of them cut me to the bone.
I pulled Evie closer to me, battling the leaden fingers of her pain as they wrapped themselves around me. They were trying to drag me down into that dark place in which she lived, they wanted to hold me prisoner until Evie was dead and I would have no other choice than to sever her soul and set it free.
Despite the heaviness invading my heart, I clung onto her and flew upwards, crashing out of the ice and into the blanketed world beyond.
She looked like a porcelain doll as I lay her down on the frozen embankment, her eyes closed, her heart barely beating. With the tip of my thumb I brushed away the matted hair from her face and then I kissed her.
And with that kiss I gave her back her soul.
And offered my life to Death in return.
Delicate threads of sparkling anima travelled through her body with the blood in her veins, winding their way to her almost dead heart. At the same time I returned her memories, her life story back to her, trying to hold onto the sorrow that had hijacked her existence, knowing I would bear it for a thousand lifetimes rather than see her suffer it again. But it was stubborn and cruel, and I couldn't hold onto it, nor stem the tide, and it rushed back into her.
A few ghostly images remained within me (probably from the darkest recesses of Evie's psyche), dancing upon the surface of my mind before they too vanished, almost like they'd never existed at all. They were memories that didn't make sense to me, that didn't seem to fit into her life - small glimpses of parted lips and naked flesh under a moonlit sky - but they were like snow on the ocean and in a matter of seconds they were gone, leaving only confusion and an inexplicable, aching hunger in their wake.
But I had no time to grieve their loss as Death, hissing and spitting, grabbed me by the hair and snatched me away from Evie. She spun me around and flung me to the ground. Agonising pain became master of my body. A silent scream uncoiled from my mouth.
I was to die beside the frozen river, not knowing if I had done enough to save Evie.
But Death did not take me.
Death is cruel and vicious and She wanted me to pay for my disloyalty, so She left me, broken and bruised, on the riverbank to die. Alone. A slow and painful death.
The sound of laughter drifted towards me, filtering through the thick curtain of fog. I had to get away, couldn't let whoever it was find me. I dragged myself into the brush and debris beneath the bridge, my feathers, tearing from my broken wings, left a snaking trail of black; a dark stain on the landscape. I rolled into a ball under the bridge, curling my arms around me to stop the trembling, but fear is a strong mistress and it took hold quickly, travelling through my body like cracks over ice.
I faintly remembered feeling something like it before, a long time ago. I drew no comfort from its familiarity.
There was nothing I could do but close my eyes and let Death take me when She was ready.
I heard my name being gently called through the darkness. There was a small flickering light in the distance - the place from where my name was being whispered - and I swam towards it, knowing that that was where I needed to be.
My eyes snapped open. I was lying naked on the hard ground, my body shaking from the icy cold biting into my skin. The harsh smell of burnt sulphur and charcoal hung on the air, and somewhere beyond the heavy cloud, the day was beginning to break. The bridge arched above me, oozing with emerald green lichen and centuries of dirt, the white-carpeted water, that usually rushed at its feet, lying still and silent beneath it. I saw the trail of black feathers twisting their way across the tow path, my feathers, bent and twisted like broken bones, and I remembered.
Evie.
I tried to stand but my legs were heavy, my body strange; blood throbbed in my veins - I could hear it pounding in my ears - and life pulsed through my body like electricity, animating every nerve and muscle. I stumbled backwards and pain stabbed my foot. I looked down; the jagged edge of a broken bottle protruded from the side of my heel, and my crimson blood was leaching into the mud from the wound.
But as an Angel of Death - an Immortal - I shouldn't have bled.
I leaned back against the arch of the bridge and slowly pulled the shard out of my foot, my own warm blood smearing my fingers.
I wanted to vomit.
I threw the fragment of glass to the ground, watching closely as the deep cut knitted back together and healed in front of me.
My ribcage seemed to constrict around my lungs, pushing my heart into my throat as the truth became clear.
I was no longer an immortal.
But I was not a mortal either.
Because no mortal would heal that quickly.
I was a bizarre mixture of the two - a freak - bleeding and weak, Death holding my life in the palm of her hands.
I didn't know how long I had left before She destroyed me, before I crumbled into oblivion - nothing more than dust on the breeze, destined to be absorbed back into the stars in which God had forged us - but I needed to find Evie before Death claimed me. I needed to see her one last time.
I knew she was alive. I could feel it, could feel her heart gently thrumming with mine.
But, despite my pleading and my aching need to see her, I didn't even make it off the tow path.
A grey cloud began to fall over my vision. I struggled to stay on my feet, clinging on to the trunk of a willow until my fingers bled, until my muscles roared with pain. I fought hard against Death's attack, and held onto life with everything I had, my mind oscillating between this world and the next, as I battled Her attempts to drag me back to the Other Side.
But finally, I lost the battle and Death's veil descended upon me.
I lost my grip on life.