Wolf Heart

Chapter 67

Planet: Eteran, Kalto

JAMES

Debris clattered in dust waterfalls. It broke him out of the crimson haze he lost himself in when he burned in the flames and avoided the fire of the metal forest. He groaned and kicked metal beams off himself. Grime settled from the collapse, but his world spun on a twisted axis of cruel gravitational pulls.

Knives pierced his heart when Rayan drove it into his chest.

Streams of twilight splattered smoke danced across ruined architecture and torn catwalks. He narrowed his eyes when his thoughts plagued him with dissonance, and then he jolted.

Wait. Rayan... he pushed me out of the collapse.

Trees slammed into the ground.

Fog filled his mind in Rayan's embrace, and he dragged himself out of the rubble on shaky knees. He spotted a blood trail dragged through the worst of the debris, and he followed it to its dying source. Rayan Falae leaned against the wall, oozing his life among the scaffolds. Crimson matted his black hair and joined the dance of tears.

James shambled over to stand in front of him, before kneeling on his broken level. He froze when Rayan tilted his head at him, where his eyes remained closed, sewn shut from the blood. Red tears fell down his cheeks though his expression remained calm. James glanced at his arm, swollen from the debris and his shot.

He sucked in a breath, then shook his head. Everything... for this.

He primed his pistol and stood up, but frowned when Rayan whispered, "Jamie?"

"Yeah."

Rayan winced and went limp. "You're safe..." James stared down at him when he coughed and blood pooled into his pale lips. Each shallow, death-defying breath shook his body and tore into his soul. "Good..."

He dug his fingers into the grip of his blaster while he pointed it at the man he once shared everything and all with — who he shared his dreams and viewpoints without judgement — who he once sat with to capture frozen moments in time by the starlit river and stole into all of his shots. Both of them saw the beauty in a captured moment in time. His best friend. His first, cruel kiss. Everything.

He had to let go, or the flames would never leave him alone.

He had to let go.

Let go.

His finger rested on the trigger, and Rayan relaxed.

There's a moment in life where we have to decide if it's worth the consequences. In that moment of time, what do you do? His chest in sputtered words given to him by someone who tried to save him from the dark. Do you despise yourself? What are you willing to do to protect who you love?

He tried to press and end the flames, but it stuck with the fervent words of his own body and fought against his mind of stone. No matter how hard he tried to follow someone else's goal, he struggled to take the first step.

"Why?" he asked through a sob. "You could've escaped the collapse."

Rayan frowned, then lifted his head to him with a soft scoff. "I'm sentimental," he whispered. "I wasn't... willing to lose you."

James drove forward in his anger. "That's not a good enough excuse for me!" His voice echoed through the dusty space. "Give me a reason! Give me something better than that!"

Let go.

A soft noise escaped Rayan as he shook his head. "No excuse will be good enough." He sighed through another death-defying breath. "What are you waiting for, James? It's over. End it."