~.✧ Ethira ✧.~ [COMPLETE]

~.✧ twenty-six ✧.~

The darkness surrounding me was heavy but comforting, like a quilt on a cold day. Each time a sound or a light or a feeling tried to pull me out of it, I resisted, not having the strength to emerge from the night.

Despite how much I desired to stay asleep, away from the problems and pain, there were small pockets of time where I couldn't prevent agony from plaguing my body like no other, smarting red as it entered my lungs with each breath. In these times, very soft and distant voices filled my consciousness. I wasn't sure if it was a figment of my imagination, or a hint at reality, but they were there, no matter how faint.

Most of their words were incomprehensible, diluted by the discomfort that overwhelmed me. But some of their tones of voice were familiar, drawing my attention away from my body. Though it took me several bouts of being dragged from the darkness, out of my blanket, I was eventually able to place their voices.

One was Anarie as I matched it with the last words I'd heard before I'd fallen into the comforting darkness. The swimming of my brain somehow deciphered that this meant he was alive. The comfort that I'd kept my word to Kes, that her brother wasn't killed in the fight, was enough to let me fall back into the nothingness.

Another was Kartren, that one easier to identify than Anarie's. I'd grown up with his voice, his calm, authoritative tone similar to my father's yet having a distinct rhythm and gentleness all its own. But he sounded far more subdued and anxious than I was used to. I wondered why but there were no answers as his voice, too, faded away.

The last one was most distinct. The last one tempted me to fight my way out of the darkness more than the others. I missed Var. I wasn't sure how long I was stuck in this state, but I longed to understand his words. I longed to know why he sounded like he was sobbing so I could comfort him...

"Please, love... Come back to me. Come back to me..."

But even then—these few words being the only I'd been able to understand through the murmurings in my mind—I couldn't wake myself. I wasn't strong enough. I never was.

Eventually—after what felt like centuries yet only a few seconds simultaneously—the blackness faded into a soft, dull grey on its own without me fighting it. While I tried to grasp at its edges, to keep the pain away longer, I couldn't. The reveal of the grey light was quickly followed by a perpetual ache that filled my entire body yet radiated from my chest. I inhaled deeply, but the air rattled within my lungs and I regretted it. Too bad I had to breathe to stay alive or I'd choose not to.

I grimaced and let out a groan before my heavy eyelids worked to pull open. I quickly squeezed them shut again against the light fluttering in from between the tent's entrance flaps.

Uncomfortable stiffness weighed my body and limbs down, like I hadn't moved in far too long and had sunken into the thin pallet below me. Trying to adjust my position, another moan escaped my lips. Moving felt nearly impossible with the pressure on my chest, like a horse had decided to tap a nap on top of me. There was something around my chest but I didn't think it was a horse. It felt more like tightly pulled cloth.