- Chapter One -
Purgatory
At
the first stirring of consciousness there was nothing, like she had fallen into
the swirling abyss of purgatory. Or at least the version of purgatory she had
envisioned as that stereotypic little-girl that went to Catholic school in her
plaid blue skirts, freshly pressed white shirt, and blonde little pig-tails. But
if this was purgatory it didn't actually matter because either way she was
here, trapped, floating in an endless ebony void with no sound. No sight. No
taste. No smell. No anything. Even the icy-chill she had thought would permeate
this in-between place separating heaven and hell, she simply could not feel.
She questioned whether or not she was there at all. But she knew better. Her
warrior hardened mind and the quick wit that had helped keep her and her fellow
team members alive told her that she was real. That she was in fact here. Wherever here is... And that she was being silly for thinking
otherwise for how else could she be thinking about being not real?
At the same time that these thoughts
crossed her mind, she felt the overpowering pull to go back to the state
before, to let herself give into the bliss of not knowing or pre-feeling. Part
of her likened the feeling to the same force she had felt after parachuting out
of a plane on that dare her brothers had given her right after high school. You
knew you were falling, how could you not when the wind lashed your hair around
you, whistling even as you seemingly floated there weightlessly? It was an odd sensation,
floating and yet falling. She had enjoyed it then. The thrill. The heart
thumping ecstasy of knowing you were risking it all for some pointless dare and
knowing that the thin, bright-pink camo-print nylon that was your only lifeline
could fail you at the last second, causing you to plummet to your death.
But even as her mind offered this, she
found herself shooting it back down, putting holes in it with her Marine
assigned Glock 17 handgun to show the rhetorical ones her mind already found. How could this be that feeling when I feel...
nothing? If anything this concerned her, her body protesting to function
like this as it froze, hovering over the button that should jump-start all her
senses, unwilling to burden herself with reality. This only led her to question
where she was or where her body was in the real world and what had happened for
her to be like this. Was she stuck in some vegetative state after being shot?
Defenseless to all those who could harm her? Because there was no doubt in her
mind, there were people out there that wanted to kill her, kill her for being
an American, for being a Catholic, for being a soldier. Especially when she had
been...
Where had she been?
The memory was hazy but the bright hot sun
blaring on her back, the beading sweat on her brow and thin layer of it
covering her entire person, or the harsh gritty sand was not by any means hazy
in her mind. God, the sand. It gets
everywhere! And in a place where bathing was sometimes hard-pressed to come
by it was more bothersome than those wasps that always accompanied the family
gatherings that were held outside under the Hedge Maple at her Nana and Gramp's
place. Stings like them too when the wind
picks up. Oh how she hated this irritating sand that was the color of her Uncle
Roy's yellow teeth. It had many times made her question whether she had made
the right choice in enlisting instead of taking that full-ride scholarship for
basketball to some college she couldn't recall at the moment. She would be in
her senior year, where the only thing she had to worry about was her next exam
and what she was going to wear that night to some party.
At the same time she knew she wouldn't
have done anything different. She loved her job... in spite of the sand it
suited her just fine. Enough complaining
soldier, Semper fi! She needed to remember what happened to her crew, what
happened to her, and where she was. With the key features of the hot sun and
stinging sand in place, her mind slowly started to form the bigger picture. I had been in Iraq? No, Iran. Tehran to be exact if the propaganda painting on the side
of a building to her right was anything to go by. She had seen that painting
with the red stripes as falling bombs and the stars as skulls all in the shape
of the American flag before online when she searched about this place before the
surge months back. She was waiting, waiting patiently for the signal to take
the... the building? Yes, the building.
The war tattered off-white structure that was surprisingly American in likeness
was there, before her as she hunched down behind a green shrub that had seen
better days. This whole city has seen
better in all honesty... but what I'm I thinking, that's not the issue here.
What mattered was figuring out what happened to her. She stood in the frozen
picture she had created in her mind, bringing her hand up to helmet to block
the sun as she surveyed her surroundings closer than before.
While in the large scheme of things it was
an exact replica of where she had been, not everything was clear. There were
gaps here and there, places where the focus would swirl into darkness and mists
of grayscale gloom. At the same time other places were so detailed she could
walk right up to them and touch them... like she was back there, waiting. Most
of these areas were places where other members of her team were hiding and
waiting with her. She could make out the 'who' under each of the helmets, the
sweat that trailed down their cheeks, dripping from their chins or the recent
red and angry cuts they had received.
Yet,
none of this offers any more clues to what had happened. If she was awake
she would have hit something to burn off some of this frustration. But doing so
wouldn't change the fact that this place in her mind was only a frozen moment
in time and no matter how much she willed her mind to recall what happened
after that it would not come. So she let the image go, going back to the empty
void that was neither floating nor falling. Well,
what now soldier? she asked herself, knowing she couldn't wait here until
some sort of epiphany happened, any second could be her last. Not to mention
the thought of being stuck here forever in this... nothingness... really
frightened her. Would I even hear myself
if I screamed? She wasn't going to try, the thought of not being able to
instilled enough panic to deter it.
Whether it was fortunate or not, her
senses started to come online, only slowly like some virus ridden computer that
groaned as it tried to start up. The first was sound. It was dull and distant.
Like there were walls of thick obscure glass between her and the noises. Did someone just scream? She wanted to
surge awake and alert at the noise but her body refused to obey her mind. As
the sounds became clearer she realized that perhaps hearing was not all that
great. At least not when the only clues it gave were distant screams, sobbing,
moans of pain, and frantic voices speaking in languages she couldn't
understand. What is happing here? Have I been in some sort of explosion? Where
is my team? And did I just hear
German? Last she could remember she was in a bloody war in Iran... not...
Germany.
"Pourquoi moi? Pourpuoi moi?"
someone whimpered close by in French. That's
it... I have to be losing my mind! Or rather had lost it depending on how
one looked at it.
Training took over and she remained silent
instead of calling out as her instincts dictated. She may only have one sense -maybe
two now, seeing as she could feel the cool dirt around her stealing any warmth
she had or the gentle breeze across her exposed flesh- but it was more than
enough to get some general idea. Clank,
clank, clank was tapping rhythmically off to her right, like someone
hitting something hard and plastic against some metallic object. Many of the
voices and soft cries around her were coming from people who were... rocking?
Back and forth, back and forth. Or trembling in fear. How many of us are there? If she had been taken hostage she would
not be surprised, but never would she think they would take so many. By all the
sounds she heard there had to be a hundred or so. Again she could only question
bewildered at why there were French and German people here... had they joined the war? But there were
also a lot of other languages she couldn't place here too. Why would the Iranians do this? It
doesn't make sense. Also... Why do I only hear females?
"What are they going to do to
us?" a young woman with an Iranian accent asked hesitantly close to her
and she tensed.
But she held still as clammy fingers
started to play with her hair, only to relax when a familiar voice responded,
no doubt the voice coming from that hand as it gently stroked. "To be
frank, I don't have a clue what is going on... I'm sorry."
It was Rachel, the only other female in
the team. She was -not much of surprise- her best friend. They had stuck
together these past four years like twins, after meeting at boot camp. Initially
they had hated each other until some guy tried to talk her down, insulting her
and Rachel had defended her. Laws and ideals may have changed about women
serving, but as Rachel said 'there will forever
be pricks in the outfields, always looking for a way to steal a girl's hard
earned fly-ball.'
"You speak English?" another
female questioned, whispered voiced raised loud as if trying to speak across
some distance, her voice shaking as if afraid something would happen to her if
caught. It wasn't the fact that she was asking, though it was an odd question,
just her accent was... British? as it came out, "You speaketh
English?" Am I dreaming I'm in some
Shakespearian play?
"That I'em. Where y'all from?"
Rachel asked, her southern twang entering with her confusion, probably hearing
the same thing she had.
Another woman answered, "I'm from
Seattle as are these three, but those two are from... I really don't know how
to say it, but... I think old Victorian England..." The hand weaving
through her hair stilled for a few seconds. "... and if that wasn't
strange these two sisters are ancient Romans or during that time frame cause
they only speak Latin..."
What
shi- bull crap is this! She couldn't remain silent anymore. "How is
that possible?" Only to wince at how rough her voice was to her own ears.
"Evaline?" Rachel shifted, moving
so that her head was propped up in her lap, fear and concern etched in her
voice. The fact that Eva could hear it shook her, Rachel never showed fear.
"Are you okay?"
"Other than not seeing, yes..." Eva
muttered, wishing someone would just tell her what was going on as she
attempted to ignore her own rising fear encouraged by her friends tone. How
could any of this be possible?
The woman who last spoke offered, "It
will return soon -the eyesight I mean- the amount of time it takes is different
for everyone. Your batch just got here not even ten minutes ago... I'm amazed
you three are even awake yet, let alone functioning. As for what's going
on..." She hesitated before sighing, "We've been kidnapped by... I'm
not sure what you would call them. I think they call themselves the
K'eye-lore'an or something."
Evaline frowned, or felt her face frown...
she wasn't too sure given some parts of her body tingled with numbness.
"What's your name? How do you know this?"
"Sorry, my name's Dr. Melinda Jordan,
I'm a scientist and scholar. I only know so much from the two Roman girls...
they said they could somewhat recognize what our captors were saying from some
tribe near their settlement in the British Iles..." Her voice trailed off
and Eva felt her anxiety rise, unsure whether she wanted to hear what the other
woman was holding back.
"Why are there no men here?"
Rachel asked as she shifted, just as uncomfortable about the situation as she
was. After an awkward hesitation she added, "What is it?"
Oh, I'm
hating this not being able to see crap...
"If men come in with a group, as
yours had, they are taken away... None of them have ever come back."
Evaline mind froze as dark questions came
to mind. Did they take them away to kill
them? Or simply separate us? Judging
by the tone in Melinda's voice which was a mix between pain and pity it was
probably the former. This isn't good. Not
good at all. Anger swelled inside
her, a firestorm that would consume her if she allowed it, but Eva had to keep
her cool, remain calm and think her way through this. That was the only way
out. But what else was going on here? Why were there women wailing in the
distance? She knew there was more... more this doctor was not telling, things
that were detrimental to their lives.
She was thinking of how to best approach
this when everything unnaturally stilled. Every woman that was awake suddenly went
quiet as something... someone walked by. It was an odd feeling, to have sound
finally return to her only for things to grow deathly still. She didn't give
much thought other than that, however, for this someone... more like many
someones' were just as silent as they walked, but with her training she could
tell there were five of them. Five graceful -Kyloran?- that walked on the dirt like ghosts on a long forgotten
battlefield. She suppressed the shiver, but the chill crept over and smothered
her anger. Her instincts were warning her to remain unmoving, unseen. That
these... whatever they were... were the devil incarnate. At least this was what
she had always thought meeting the fallen angel would ever feel like.
"May'molo sah'nee'tah?" a male voice
spoke, yet it was not jarring with is soft tenor singsong manner. If anything
it was the most beautiful thing Eva had ever heard, heavenly even.
Another male replied with the same luring
speech, "Mah'nehs, mah'nehs kan'eem sahmn'rah'mee roo'nah mah'rah."
Those
voices... She was enchanted by the cadence and inflections, they were like radiant
birdsongs and she dimly wondered if this was what the Irish sounded like when
they talked in that Gaelic language of theirs. But no, how can this... angelic language be Earthborn? Couldn't be
when they instilled this sense of calming peace and tranquility that seemed
otherworldly. One word and she felt her fears sedated, all concerns lulled to
sleep by the elegant voices and her muscles relaxed as they continued talking
about... whatever it was they were talking about. She didn't have the slightest
clue, but her imagination could try. Boy could it ever. She saw a sky of
rainbows and a bay of gold, this magnificent creature standing on a strawberry
hill and singing out to the rejoicing sea as others rose from the golden depths
to join his voice in harmony. And
unicorns!... There had to be unicorns in this captivating land of mystical
voices. Angels that looked remarkably like fat little cupids flittering and
dancing in the air, pudgy cheeks and all, with their rosy bows strung. Maybe
some even playing little silver harps that chimed on the glittering winds. It
was every little girl's fantasy, this land that birthed these voices. So sugary
sweet that it intoxicated all who stepped a foot into the portal of the fae,
gorgeous fae, with wispy prefect hair and striking blue eyes, their translucent
wings fluttering like humming birds. They would open their mouths and
scream....
Scream?
She shook her head startled from the haze of bewitchment that had pulled her
from her body as the piercing wail sounded again. The sound rattled everyone,
shocking them all out of their reservoir of lovely dreams like they had jumped
into a lake after the first snow thaw and chaos broke out around Evaline. As
Rachel helped her up more screams joined the first, all female, some calling
out for their friends or loved one. It was maddening how she couldn't see what
was happening as she clung onto her squad-sister and lifeline, depending on her
for protection. The enchanting voices were still just as enchanting as they
spoke to each other, but the lure had been shattered and she could now hear the
harshness in the singsong voices that she never noticed before. It sounded like
they were opening cages, grabbing some of the women and dragging them away.
Even the smell of fear was thick in the air, so tangible she could taste it, dark
with a skewed muskiness mixed in with what she could only describe as nature -dirt,
fresh trees, and morning dew of a huge forest.
"Oh God..." Rachel muttered
softly, stepping both of them back until their backs met the back of the cage.
"Stay behind me, Eva."
Evaline was going to protest wanting to
ask what was happening only to heard the door to their own confinement opening,
the harsh grinding of metal a sinister warning that sent a shiver down her
spin. The other women in their cage that had been awake and sobbing, whimpered
as the soft footfalls entered and came towards her and Rachel. Her friend's
back pushed against her, making her press painfully into whatever metal confinement
that held them and she gritted her teeth.
"Stay away from us," Rachel snapped
darkly, her body tensing and readying for any assault.
"Ou came ith may..." the male
Kyloran said bluntly, sounding like he was disgusted and had been forced to
gnaw on old tires, "... oth'r not ghet pain."
Eva could feel her friend relaxing
ever-so-lightly, knew what she was thinking. "No..."
Before she could dispute, Rachel asked the
creature-man, "You won't hurt my friend?"
"No 'ert."
Rachel turned to Evaline suddenly. The
movement jarring when she didn't know it was coming. She felt her friend's not
so pleasant morning like breath hot on her face even as she shook her head, knowing
what she was going to do, what she was going to say. "You can't...
don't... don't leave me, Rachel."
Her squad-sister didn't answer right away,
pausing probably to look at the Kyloran. "Look, you're going to have to
find me. Okay. You have a head for these things..." she whispered, trying
to keep her voice as low as possible, "I don't and I can survive whatever
they throw at m-"
"I won't let them take you for my
protection, Rache. You know I won't." Eva continued to shake her head,
refusing to cry. I'm a soldier damn it! Soldiers'
didn't cry.
"You don't have a choice... you can't
even see."
Eva closed her eyes, squeezing them
painfully as she willed the sight to come back. Please, God... help me. Just give me my sight. That's all I need,
please. Please! She needed it. She had to protect her friend... her sister.
They both were going to make it out of this. They had to. She could never live
with herself if she let anything happen to her... But then her friend no doubt
felt the same way. Felt she needed to do this for her. It didn't matter to Eva.
She wasn't going to allow it to happen. And as she felt her friend's hands
slipping away, the Kyloran probably holding her arm, Eva opened her eyes to
still find the blank page of black. God not answering her prayers, not that she
expected him to, but it would have been nice.
Screw
it... I don't need my eyes.
Guessing at the creature's location she
lunged, arms before her searching for him before she slammed into a solid mass
of a rather muscular being and latched onto him. The tang of forest became even
stronger around her, but she ignored it, instead hoping he had a structure like
a human as she swung her foot before her and then back to take his legs out and
was pleased when he gave a surprised grunt as he started to fall backwards. But
whatever satisfaction she had was short lived as he pulled her down to the
ground with her, her landing on... his
chest?... before he recovered and rolled them so that he pinned her on the
ground. From her position under him, Eva could feel that these beings were very
human like, only taller it seemed and using that knowledge grabbed his forearm
that held her down and pressed her thumbs into sensitive nerve endings.
He hissed, his hold loosening momentarily
but it was enough for her to act. She head-butted him with the new room, and then
grabbed his hand, wrenching it sideways. Arching her back, she used her legs
flipped them back around and aimed her left elbow for the side of his head. He
managed to block it with his own forearm, but she was already countering with a
right hook that landed soundly. She folded one hand inside the other and
brought them over her head, bringing them down for his face, but at what had to
be the last second something blew her back. And by blew... she meant blew. Nothing actually made contact with
her, only the rich nature tinged wind and it had been a strong gust at that as
it lifted her from her knees and flung her backwards. She rolled with it, at
the end springing back to her feet, hunched down she slowly rose, but stayed
low listening as the man got to his feet.
"Eva!" Rachel called out from a
few yards at most, "Look out!"
A
blind here... how am I supposed to 'look out' at all? Eva hissed mentally,
frustrated.
As if her friend heard her, she added,
"More are coming."
She could hear those alluring voices had
indeed gotten closer and stiffened when the high-pitched grinding sounded not
far behind her left side. Cursing, she slowly backed up so that she was facing
the door and the original man, the other women in the cage knowing to move out
of her way. The man, he was talking to the others, not sounding angry... but
amused. But then she could be simply reading into it and trying to make it more
human. Her back foot hit the metal bars and she stopped, unwilling to be a
timid mouse.
Also it seemed her eyesight was coming
back. Everything was blotchy, black and dark gray, but she could see movement
in the shadows before her. When the sound of the man moving closer to her
agreed with the shadow she smirked darkly to herself before lunging at him
again. He reached out to stop her but she dodged his hand before her elbow
plowed into his side. She boxed his ears -strange ears that felt oddly fuzzy
and pointed, but she couldn't be sure- before she grabbed his arm and threw him
over her shoulder. She had no time to finish him as she turned to a new
attacker, who foolishly only went to grab her. It was like they didn't want to
hurt her. Foolish boys, no way in hell are
they going to get me without using force. She hadn't been the top student
in the Marine MCMAP class graduating with a forth degree black belt for nothing.
She was fighting off two more men when
Rachel started yelling at one, fighting him as he tried to capture her. Around
Eva she could hear the sounds of other women fighting their captors as well,
she smiled, Just the kind of chaos I
liked to hear... and see. She blinked. The shadows were becoming lighter,
more defined with crisp edges. Finishing the two men, she went to her friend
and grabbed her attacker from behind, putting him in a choke hold and
suffocating him until he was unconscious. Breathing heavily, Evaline let the
man crumble to the ground before she grabbed Rachel's hand and started for the
door to the cage.
"Ehl'eyen so'sah'ger!" A call
went out alerting others to their escape.
Eva pushed Rachel through the door only to
be grabbed from behind, strong arms wrapped around her, pinning hers to her
sides. She knew who this one was... the original attacker. She didn't know how
she knew that at first, at least not until she took a deep breath finding the
same nature scent that was traced with... apples?
It was the only word she could come up with for the smell as she kicked
backwards, trying to pull his legs back out from under him, but the man must
have been watching all this time, learning what not to do from the others. Or he learned from the first time around.
She cursed, struggling against him and he chuckled softly.
"Spheh'sah..." She shivered as
his breath caressed her neck and his enchanting voice almost purred. It called
out to her, making her want to relax along with his apple spiced scent that
reminded her of her Nana's famous apple pies. Even as she stilled she fought
herself, trying to gain some kind of hold on herself as she watched her friend
fight off another guy. At least her eye sight was back. It was all gray colors,
but it was better than nothing.
Having enough of being manhandled, she
stomped on his foot and he gave a startled yelp as he let go of her, that
angelic voice muttering things that she could only guess to be curses -that
sounded much like cat hisses- as she jumped away and turned to face him again.
She blinked when she finally took him in, all of him. He had to be standing damn
near seven feet. Eva was a tall woman at five-foot eleven, it was not often
when she felt this dwarfed by anyone. But it wasn't his height that made her
breath catch... No it was the exotic picture he made as a whole. Hair that
looked white in the grayscale, sharply angled face that the only way she could
describe it as... alien. His lengthy pointed
ears peeked out a good inch from that white braided mane of his that would have
hung at his shoulders if free. However, while certainly exotic looking, if
someone cropped his ears he may have passed for a human... Maybe... if not for those eyes. Those vivid golden eyes, the first
color she had seen since waking and they had these... slits, like a snake... or
a cat. Yes, more like a cat.
Eva shook her head, closing her eyes and
trying to clear her mind. This had to be some trick of her mind or something. Her
trying to make sense of what she was seeing. I couldn't have been taken by... cat-elves? It simply couldn't be
right. But when she opened her eyes, he glared back at her gravely like some
peeved housecat that got its tail stepped on. He was still this dangerously
beautiful exotic man that she could only call a... a caelf? Maybe when she had that trippy dream about the fae portal
it had been spot on? God, I have to be
going insane. This has to be a dream.
The chaos around her grew, more of these
Kyloran joined their brothers and not just males... but females. As a whole Eva
had to admit, they were all gorgeous, graceful, and... well, perfect. Almost disgustingly so with their tall lithe bodies
and anything else you could think of that some prissy model or over beefed
muscle-man would love to have, and spent thousands of dollars getting a fake
imitation of what these beings had. How
the hell are people this perfect? It is
so cliché. Certainly if this was some fantasy novel it would be burned for
something like this, perfect elven people stealing some humans into their realm
to do whatever it was they did with them. What were they doing with them? God, they aren't going to eat us are they?
That would definitely make these beautiful creatures not so... beautiful.
When the alien-man shifted in the corner
of her vision, she jerked her head forward to watch him, realizing she was
getting distracted and scolded herself. What kind of soldier was she, letting
herself get carried away like that? She needed to focus, find a way out of this
mess and return home from wherever this was. First find the rest of the team,
free these other humans... Shit -God, forgive me- I never thought I would be thinking like this, humans as actual humans
against another sentient race? It felt so odd. Black, White, Latino, Asian,
and whatever race or deviation was out there didn't matter anymore. Not when it
was them against these Kyloran.
As her thoughts swirled in her head, his
steady golden gaze watched her, still angry, but hadn't dropped into a
defensive posture. Something that was starting to irk her, clearly he didn't
think her a threat, but at least she could use it to her advantage when the
time came to finish this. She studied him, and now with the color returning she
found that his hair was in fact a very pale blonde, offset by his honey-tan
skin. His tall, lithe frame was clothed by cotton-like brown trousers with what
she could only describe as an oversized green sleeveless shirt as a top, tied
securely at his lefts side and hung below his waist much like a skimpy dress
would on one of those more risky girls she knew back in high school. Only, it
was far from girly on his muscular body.
"What do you want with us?" she
asked, shaking herself from such thoughts as she eased up slightly from her
stance, deciding to get some questions answered before she killed him.
He frowned, brow creasing as if he didn't
fully understand what she was saying or didn't know how to answer before
stating slowly, "Ordehrs."
"Orders?"
He nodded as he crossed his arms in a
rather human motion and making his cut biceps all the more defined.
"Orders... Kehl'mnahs orders..." he paused, looking around as he
tried to think of a word, "Keye'lor'eyeahn do, all do." He shook his
head, not looking pleased before his gaze came back to her.
"You don't have a choice?" When
he tilted his head, puzzled, she offered, "Forced into... this?" She
gestured at all the women fighting the Kylorian and not doing that bad of a
job, at least at first glance. When she actually looked she realized that the
Kylorian weren't even trying, they were waiting for something, only distracting
the women so that they couldn't run off. What
are they waiting for?
"No... no choice." He brought
her attention back to him, her blue eyes meeting gold. "Ou not...
go."
"Why not?" She stiffened,
lowering again in her fighting stance. "You going to stop me?"
He shook his head, something passing too
quickly in his golden iris for her to understand. "Not may," he said
softly, gaze going just over her left shoulder.
"Huh?" Eyeing him warily, she
went to turn her head and look over her shoulder.
But before she could see anything, a new
man spoke, his voice a more dark haunting song than the rest as it echoed
around her, "Mahn'leeah sora'nor lehn sehm."
Evaline felt her body relax against her
will, her eyes growing heavy. So so heavy. And she could hear and see in her
peripheral vision the other women falling, collapsing to the ground, looking
much like heaps of rags. What the...
what's happening? Gritting her teeth, she tried to fight whatever this was and looked to her right,
finding Rachel who struggled to stay up right, stumbling before falling onto
her hands and knees, only to lie on her side. Eva closed her fists, shaking her
head as she forced herself to stay standing, to not give into whatever sinister
magick this was, but no matter how much she fought it, she could feel her
strength leave her. And as she fell back, she felt as if she had stood up after
sitting too long and the blood rushed from her head. She didn't comprehend the
impact. It was like she was out of her body watching herself fall to the
overturned dirt beneath her. Numb. Cold. Hollow.
Eyes focused above, she looked into the
great expanse of the sky, finding the stars shinning brighter than she had ever
seen in her entire life as tiny auroras weaved across the heavens with a
magnitude of colors. It was like they were weaving into the stars, creating a great
quilt of a blanket that would have been the most amazing thing she had ever
seen if not for the circular mass that took up at least a quarter of the sky as
it hung there to her right. An object that reflected the sun's radiance far
better than any moon. An awe inspiring gem. A planet, she realized as she felt
herself slipping into unconsciousness, the blackness creeping in on her vision.
There was a planet where the moon should be, hanging over Orion and his belt.
The stars might look slightly different, but she knew the constellations when
she saw them and these were Earth's stars. What that meant she didn't have the
capacity to think about. All she knew was that the northern star, normally the
brightest object was certainly outshined in this planet's splendor. Is this what... astronauts felt when...
looking down at Earth? This mindless, gut clenching admiration as shivers
traveled down her limbs and spine leaving pin pricks of this tingling sensation
behind? How could anything be as beautiful as this mosaic of greens, blues, and
browns that was traced with a white puffiness?
The planet was the only thing she could
see as her eyes closed and the last thought she had was: how could anything so beautiful belong to purgatory? Before her mind
gave into the darkness that closed in on her, engulfing her in its tide.
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