Flames And Starlight

Chapter 28

It all happened so fast yet it felt as if it took centuries. That scream still echoed in my mind on repeat. Upon impact, I slipped through his fingers and fell. I will never forget what I saw.

Above me, Kyan roared in pain. Those mighty wings pierced in three difference places. That roar ripped through my bones.  I swear I felt a phantom pain as if arrows had pierced the wings I didn't have.

Despite his pain, he still launched himself towards me, grabbing me out of the sky as we tumbled towards the ground together.

The beat of his wings every so often in addition to my wind was the only thing that slowed our descent. And thank the gods it did, however small.

Just a couple hours ago we had leapt from that terrace in a free fall. Giggling. Now we fell from the sky crying in pain. It was a mockery of our flight earlier in the evening. Because this was real. Because reality will always mock perfection.

We fell towards the forest, thankfully towards a patch where the branches didn't reach. If we had been a few feet over in any direction we would have landed on the trees and that would have been even messier than what we had to face now. Perhaps that was one small mercy the gods gave us.

We hit the ground. Hard.

When I opened my eyes I was surprised. Surprised they even opened. Surprised that air filled my lungs despite the pain in my ribs. Surprised I had survived. Yet I didn't think about it for more than a heartbeat. The first word on my mind wasn't even a word. It was a name. Kyan.

I could barely breathe, it was like all breath had left me on impact. Twigs dug into my back piercing skin and sliced my arms. But I didn't notice. How could I?

There was a ringing in my ear. Actually it was less of a ringing and more of a high pitched screech. As if someone had pressed the highest key of a piano in an echoing room and never let go.

I could barely see my surroundings. Everything came in and out of focus. I shook my head to try to clear the blur. Kyan's cry of pain snapped my attention to my left.

Six feet away, I could see his crumpled form beside me. Three dark arrows protruded from his wings. Six feet had never felt so far away.

I screamed his name and it was only then that I realized his cry of pain had been my name. Even in agony he called to me.

I sat up, continuing to scream his name. And I crawled to him. Crawled. On my hands and knees each inch feeling like a mile. Twigs and rocks cutting into my knees and palms yet I still crawled. Everything was slow motion.

Tears streamed down my face as I finally reached him. I knelt over him, my hand resting on his heart because I needed that promise that was present in each beat. The promise that he was alive.

He sat up slowly to cup my cheek in his hand. Those eyes of violet moonlight were red with tears. I cried into his hand.

"I'm here." I choked on my own tears. "It's gonna be okay, I'm here."

"Lyria," tears rolled down his cheeks. "Are you hurt?" Before I could respond, he gasped, falling back to the ground with a roar.

I didn't know what to do. But we had to get out of this forest. And quick.

"Can you make them disappear?" I asked. They twitched with pain and he gripped my hand and squeezed it hard in response.

He shook his head, sweat dripping from his hair. "If I make them go away they won't heal and I'll never fly again." The words broke my heart and he looked up at me with saddened eyes as if realizing what he had said. "What if I never fly again?"

"Kyan," I whispered but he didn't look at me. No, his focus was on those wings. Those broken wings. "Kyan!" This time I yelled it more assertive, grabbing his face and forcing him to look at me. "You will fly again. I promise that."

He nodded as if in a daze. I guess with all the pain he probably was.

I stood up, knowing what I had to do. Kyan knew it too though we never spoke a word. There was only one option to save his wings. One solution no matter how painful.

I would have to pull those arrows from his wings myself. One by one.

I did my best to comfort him. I slipped into his mind and sent an image of myself hoping that maybe he could see it and think of good times, or a future that was much happier than this present. The image I sent him was of both of us on a hill underneath a tree, watching the sun set. I tried to see myself as he would see me. And he was right. In his eyes, I was beautiful.

I pulled the first arrow, and I swear every tree in this forest shook in response to that cry. The cry that reverberates in your bones. The cry we had both made. Because it hurt me as much as it hurt him. Physically and emotionally. And I couldn't decide which one hurt worse.

I tossed it aside, and it hit the ground with a thud. I blinked my flow of tears away and choked down my sobs.

"Please, Lyria, please" he begged me not to do it. But I had to. His pleading did nothing to cease the unending flow of tears. My heart was shattering more and more with every broken breath I took.

I sent that image to him again and pulled. I swayed on my feet. This time, as the arrow was dislodged, blood spurted all over us. Dots of red blood splattered my clothes and skin. Those beautiful silky wings were ripped.

Kyan slammed his hand to the ground as he gritted his teeth in pain. The ground shook.

I knelt beside him again. "It's okay. You're okay. We're gonna be okay." I wasn't even sure who I was reassuring more in that moment, Kyan or myself.

I stood again, to take that last arrow out of his wings but he grabbed me. I looked down, those violet eyes said one word.

No.

He spoke to my mind. Maybe because he was too weak to say it allowed.

"I have to." And before I could let him stop me, I grabbed that last arrow, said a prayer to the gods to help us, and pulled.

Once again, his scream echoed in my head and I dropped to my knees, overcome with sobs. Agony. I felt his pain, physically felt it. I had no wings and yet I felt that pain. With each arrow I had felt it. A phantom pain that linked us together.

Blood poured out of that last one, coating both of us. I ripped the fabric of my pants below my knees and pressed to his wound. How do you bandage wings?

Even I knew the answer to that question.

You can't.
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Hey everyone! This chapter was literally painful to write and I'm so sorry for another cliff hanger.

Sometimes I really wish I was good at drawing or painting because I want to frame a picture of the image Lyria crawling to Kyan and finally reaching where he laid with those damaged wings. I hope y'all could imagine it the way I did bc it gives me goosebumps!!

I hope you all enjoyed and I can't wait to hear what y'all have to say!!

Love, Rosie 🥀