Rebirth

16. Rebirth II

Dear Journal,
                 As an angel of death, I have just given life. I would have never thought that since my resurrection, I have been walking this earth as only half a being. But here I am, at present, whole.

- 𝓔. 𝓢𝓽𝓮𝓮𝓵𝓮
                (1605)

As the words of the chant left Elias's lips, his heart effectuated a lethal contraction.

Had he been human, his death would have been certain as the severity of his tightening chest resulted in him falling on to his back while writhing in pain. Tearing off his doublet and linen shirt, he clutched his left breast as he groaned in agony, his fingernails digging into his pale skin.

"What is happening to him?" Emma cried frantically, rushing to his aid as she fell to her knees to rest his bobbing head in her lap.

"The sire bond is being formed. He is in pain as this specific turning requires him sharing pieces of his soul. It is only a matter of time befor..." Zelda began to say before flinching. Syrus's body had suddenly began to convulse, startling the witch.

Emma's eyes bulged with disbelief as the previously dead boy began to shake violently, his body mimicking the same intense spasms as Elias'.

"...before that" Zelda finished, her chest rising and falling rapidly from the anomaly she was witnessing.

She had seen it happen before but it had been such a longtime, the sudden movement of the dead had actually surprised her. Perhaps it was the cold night air or the wind that had engaged the leaves of trees in battle, triumphantly defeating them as they fell from their branches to swirl wildly around them. Zelda was not sure, but the night had surely turned eery and frigid.

Both women squinted as the gale roughly swept through their hair, threatening to take them away in to the ether.  Somewhere, hounds howled in the distance and birds that previously slept soundly flew away in fear. The fish swam to the bottom of the river and the humans shivered from a sudden draught. Zelda considered this as a sign that something extraordinary was about to happen.

The sound of wings fluttering could be heard in the distance, closing in on the group's location. Emma held Elias's convulsing body a little tighter as a colony of bats broke through the forest, circling above their heads as they shrieked gleefully.

"What is happening? What are they doing?" Emma shouted above the noise of nature and its beings.

"I'm not sure. I've never seen this happen before" Zelda said truthfully, referring to the sudden and strange behavior of the nocturnal mammals.

After a moment, Elias and Syrus's convulsions had ceased and Elias was no longer conscious. The bats dispersed, flying back into the night as the wind rested its boots by the bed of calmness.

"We need to lay them beside each other" Zelda told Emma, helping her place Elias abreast of Syrus.

Standing up, the women stepped back as they watched the two bodies become engulfed in a golden aura, joining them together like a link.

Emma watched in amazement as Syrus's hair metamorphose into jet black, just as as Elias's. His skin, which had turned blue from the cold of the river had become pale and his jawline was now flawlessly chiseled. The wound Elias had opened in his chest closed and a dark, patterned mark had appeared on the left side of both his and Elias's neck.