Amortal Song

20.Maybe

Calypso

And in the end, I always learn how to be strong.

Alone.

*

*

*

"Arden?"

"I'm here."

*

*

*

"Is this real?"

"Yes."

"Are you real?"

"Of course."

"Did we make it?"

There was no sadness, no hesitation in his voice. "We made it."

*

*

*

And in the end, I always learn how to be strong.

*

*

*

The darkness had lifted and now we stood, on the bridge, basking in the red light, no spiriost or monsters lurking in the corners. Nothing but us, the tears slipping onto the stones, and our arms wrapped tightly around each other. It had been a dream. It had been a dream. Arden wasn't gone. He was here. With me. Standing on this bridge.

We had made it out in time.

Together, we had beat the gods.

And maybe we would find a way to be the last to have to go through, maybe we would be the ones to stop the god's games.

Maybe, maybe, maybe...

All my thoughts seemed to contain that word.

I wanted to apologize but I didn't know how.

Everything about the world still felt unsteady, like it could still tip over the edge at any moment. I didn't want to say anything that would make it worse and send everything falling into the spiraling abyss.

But it didn't feel right to leave the words unsaid.

"I saw you in the mirrors," I spoke, unsure of how he would react.

He seemed genuinely curious, his eyes studying mine, "What happened?"

I screwed my eyes shut, seeing the scene again, watching Arden fade away and the coldness coating my veins. "I got out in time, you didn't, and I watched you fade away until I was... all by myself. You told me to be happy for you... and I didn't know what you had meant by that...how could I be happy if I had known someone had died for my selfish reasons?"

"You would find a way," he said quietly.

"Maybe," I said, "but the guilt may have ended up being too much."

His mouth formed different words before settling on a simple question, "What does immortality feel like?" He had been born one, a full god really, so it made sense he wouldn't know how the change felt like.

I answered as honestly as I could, "Torture."

It was true, like the blood in my veins kept shifting between being ice cold and fire hot. I could see my reflection on one of the stones, a sad smile twisting my lips when I noticed the silver scars had become a shining gold-like inked line that had been put on my skin. It was prettier though. A beautiful reminder of my pain.

Closing my eyes, to stop the tears from forming and giving me away made my gut wrench.

I felt Arden run a finger over one of the ones marking my arm, the one twisting around and around like a coiling snake. "Don't cover these, Calypso. You can't hide your story. Even if it has that chapter you don't like."

A tear slipped down my cheek as I nodded. One part of me wanted to ask him if there was a way to get rid of them, to hide them. But another, the more truthful part knew he was right.

A story couldn't be hidden even if you don't like what's written.

"What are you going to do now?" he asked, "You're an immortal now, you have this whole world at your fingertips...and this time you can stay in it."

I swallowed hard, "Maybe...maybe I would start by making something right. Arden, I'm sorry for the way I acted...I can't even come up with a proper apology. We were in it together and now that we're out of there, I can't get over how horrible I acted."

"It's okay." He offered a small smile, "The stress got both of us...especially after her."

"Vespera?" I regretted saying the name as soon as it left my mouth, a crashing silence suffocating the air around us. "What happened to her? Did she..."

"She's dead. My mother told me in the mirrors. She died when one of the shards cut into her heart and..." I shook my head hard, not wanting him to finish the description he had been giving me. It was a rather brutal death, a glass orb shattering in your face, cutting into your skin-- but she had deserved it.

"She's going to come back, though."

I blanched, "What?!"

"Certain, monstrous, beings come back after a time, just for when the last cut at revenge. Vespera will be one of them."

"No, no, no." I ran my hand through my hair, shock seeping in as I stumbled away from Arden. She couldn't come back...would she? "This can't be happening again. Vespera will come after us and..." I shuddered to think what trickery she would try to pull off. "Maybe... maybe there's a way to stop her, maybe there'll be a way to keep her from coming back."

"No, there isn't. She'll come back and then, when her time comes to the top, she'll forever be stuck in Umbeunter. After those 400 years she'll be stuck down here for, with no power and only revenge on her mind, she will come back. But, we have 400 years. 400 before she comes back to hunt us."

I shook my head, still trying to deny everything he had just told me. If she was dead, she had to be dead and nothing could change that. " It's not true, it's not going to happen. And even if it does, that's 400 years too soon!" The breath seemed to have been knocked clean out of my lungs, carried away in a wind of pure dismay and horror.

"But, you're immortal now. Those years will be gone in an instant. And if you survive that one encounter, you'll have the rest of your life." His voice was pleading, begging now, trying to sell me on this new life. "You can't give up yet, Calypso. We can start fresh. And we'll stand a better chance against her if we're together." He extended his hand, his eyes willing me to take it.

I took it.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I added, "Promise, Arden, that when the time comes, we'll face her together, and you won't leave me to deal with her on my own. Promise me that."

"I promise. But tell me this."

"What?"

"I'm getting there." He paused long enough that it made me want to strangle him. Finally, he uttered, "Why did you see me in the mirrors? And don't say you don't know because I know you do."

"Because...I don't think I can lose you. Not you. I've lost too many people." The tears burned my eyes but I didn't dare let one slip.

He studied me, "Calypso?"

"Yeah?"

"Promise me I won't lose you."

"I'll do my best."