Kaija: Queen of Stone

3

I stood in the river alone and couldn't remember how I had gotten there to begin with. There was no gust of wind and the water I was standing in was not cold or moving. The babble of the stream vanished and silence sang. My surroundings were as numb and empty as I was. A shadow in black stood on the other side, holding out its arms. White bony ones made fear awaken. I knew somehow it was Death.

From beyond the clouds of my mind, someone whispered in a breath, "It's okay, I won't let you die." I thought I smelled pine again but it disappeared before I could relive it again. There wasn't in the air, not even the smells of Udan.

I heard a click and turned to the left to see a doorway form in the sand. The archway of the doorway glimmered and glowed blue and pink. It clouded into colors before fading into the middle of the open doors and illuminated white.

Smiling, I started to walk toward it and the hurried voice sounded again. "Hang on."

From inside the space, iridescent light shined, inviting and warm.

"Welcome to Azali," the figure I knew as Death whispered lyrically. "The land in between the living and dead."

The word chilled me.

"Dead?"

It nodded.

"Am I dead?" I asked the question, fearing the answer.

"Seconds away," it answered, trilling in a high-pitched squall.

"What happened?" I looked around me, trying to understand what was going on.

"You were already gravely wounded when you fell," he declared. "Then when you fell again and again, the wounds got worse."

"Worse?"

I looked behind me, blackness crept in, drawing toward me. I glanced back, the figure was now in the water, instead of on the shore. Its cloak darkened the water, making it like black silk. Not a sound came from it as it moved through. I tried to move back, but my feet were trying to move toward it as if an invisible force was pushing me toward it.

"When it is your time to go, you will go," it hissed. "Either by force or will." Its voice darkened.

"I don't remember myself," I tried to say but the words fell, fading away with the rush of the current. "I can't go until I know who I am."

I held my hands to my mouth, my eyes wide as I watched Death. It stared back at me with eyes I couldn't see beyond the shadows. A non-visible door creaked and slammed. I jolted, trying to understand what was happening and what was going on.

"You are hearing what is left of your conscious mind," it explained, stopping inches away from me.

I listened. There wasn't much to hear, or think, or remember. Everything was impossible to find within the growing blackness.

"What is this?" a firm female voice roared from the sky, echoing around me.

I looked around for the source, but I couldn't find where it was coming from.

When I looked back, death was standing inches away from my face. I wanted to scream at its appearance, but the scream nestled in my throat was gone. My feet were frozen, body unable to move as if I was coated in ice. Its eyes were non-existent, and neither was its mouth or nose. There were pools of blackness from within a gray canvas that should have been a face.

"Is this the intruder?" a woman's voice called out.

I looked at Death, but there was in indication that the words came from it. The voice I was hearing seemed to not be of this world at all. Death did mention that this was what was left of my conscious mind.

"No," the male voice from before sounded. It was familiar still, more so than before, and a little comforting.

Intruder... why did it sound familiar to me. I looked down the river, feeling like I have been here before. Racking my brain, I tried to know it again, but the memory was still a distance away.

"This woman looks like one of them," the female hissed. "And I will not be deceived by yet another Kaijan."

"Queen Baria," the male started. "I know she bears a resemblance but I don't think she is our enemy."

Were they speaking of me? From beyond my mind, was my body in this man's arms? I remember falling but I didn't know what came after.

"And how do you know this?" Queen Baria questioned.

"Because I have met a Kaijan before and you know how I felt about her," he replied. "Please, she needs help. She is near death. Look at her wounds."

They did speak of me. I was dying. Death was closer now, nearing my face. I looked down. My body was vanishing. Blackness took the place of my legs, seeping out into the river. The door with the only visible light had vanished. The scene was disappearing before my eyes. In time, darkness would consume me.

"Are you sure you want to be responsible for this woman, Hona?"

The name ignited my mind. His warm eyes, kind smile. He saved me from Jonga's cruelty.

Hona.

In the river, I struck him. In the village, I fell, and he ignored me. He was one of my captors. The warmth from his body flowed through my being as I remembered how he embraced me. The smell of pine appeared again, making the darkness back away as if it was poison.

"I want to save her life."

Even though I had acted in such a manner toward him, he was calm, and determined.

"Very well."

The shadows of death disappeared, fading into the water like dissolving ink. In the river a vision appeared.

A queen with honey-colored hair, wearing a white gown and a fur boa, stepped down from a dais. In the distance, on the floor, was what I recognized to be my body. It was unconscious. My eyes were sealed, my skin paler than before. I looked like a ghost before I even became one.

Blood poured from my wrists and pooled onto the white marble floor. The woman known as Queen Baria knelt, staining her white gown. She took a dagger from her side, and held it into the air. Silver shined within the light of the room from the sconces. The hilt was bound with red fabric and sealed with black wax.

My breath caught. She was sending me to death so I wouldn't have to suffer any longer.

But I was amazed to see the opposite. She lacerated into her own wrists and blood poured over. She touched her bloody wrist to my mouth, staining my lips. As I drank, the memories of where I was found had discovered me again.

I marveled as the sky lit up with memories of Udan, Jonga, and Hona. From when Jonga captured me and maimed me to when Hona saved me. I watched as he rushed me to the castle, leaving Jonga behind in a stunned stupor.

I returned my gaze to the vision in the water. The woman's hand pressed against the back of my head, encouraging me to drink. Though I was a distance away, I felt her hand there. Soft, gentle, and nurturing. I was no longer an empty shell, I felt alive.

The memory faded and left in the land between death and life were their voices. The river ran once more, shifting from crystal blue to crimson red. Death had vanished entirely and so had his shadows. The doorway once present was nowhere to be found.

"I will send Qia to dress her wounds."

"Thank you," Hona breathed.

"Thank you," I whispered with him. I looked to the sky as a beam of light cloaked my figure and I disappeared from the place known as Azali.