The Last Whisperer

~PROLOGUE~

The sky was dark and the wind was unforgiving. She dragged her feet forward as if it were the last thing she could do as she carried the dying body of her cousin on her back.

The snow was knee-deep and soaked her to the bones. Her knees wanted to give out, but she denied them over and over again. She denied them for the sake of her cousin's life. She denied the idea that this was how they died. She denied everything because they were all wrong.

"Seren," Astra whispered from the back of her shoulder. His voice was so low it was inaudible to the howls of the wind. "I'm not going to make it."

"No. We're almost there. You have to live."

Her feet crunched on snow. Her lungs were freezing—she had never gone out and braved a storm like this before, but she could make it just in time. She knew her own body and she knew that it would not betray her. Her bones have been shaking all day, but she ignored it. This is for Astra. This is for him.

"I... can't feel my fingers anymore," said the person she was carrying.

"Just be quiet and hold on tight!" She lectured, but as she said it, tears ran down her face.

His arms were dangling down from both of her shoulders—she could not even feel his breaths anymore.

"You're the strongest person I know, you idiot!" she told him. "So don't you dare die!"

Even at his last moments, they were still spitting at each other's faces. These two, they never really had a proper conversation with each other. Their exchanges were always filled with mocking remarks and insults. But apparently, this was as normal as it could get between them, because there was not much time left.

"I really can't"—his voice strained— "feel my fingers anymore."

"Told you to shut up, didn't I?!" She just couldn't break her stature right in front of him. She could never, not in front of her stupid cousin, which she had hated and rivaled against with as they grew up together. "Just shut up and let me save you."

As they reached the top of the hill, she saw what the other side awaited for them. There, when she saw the hellish sight, she finally dropped her knees and broke down. She buried her face in her hands.

"Why?" she sobbed. "Why is this happening?"

The sight that she saw upon climbing that last hill was enough to break a person's heart, mind, and spirit. It was that sight that made her see all the people she knew lying on the ground, dead and on fire. It was the sight that broke all hope.

The fortress was on fire. The gates were broken down. The flames were so high that it mixed with the dark clouds, and the clouds covered the sky that was supposed to show them stars. There was no hope. All she saw, was hellfire. All she saw was burning hatred.

She clawed on the snow and clenched her fists. "In the end, I couldn't do anything! I couldn't do anything at all!"

Astra, who lay on the snow beside her, watched her as she unfolded. He watched her like how he watched the ocean, peaceful and serene. He watched her like she was his last show.

"I'm dying," was all he said to her.

She looked up, realization hitting, and turned to him. She tore on the makeshift bandages they made from their clothing wrapped around his side and tore a fresh piece from her pants with trembling hands.

"It hasn't closed for days. I tried my best." He was breathing raggedly now, like it was a struggle for him to keep breathing. His face was pale and blended with his hair. She ignored his words and proceeded to wrap him in new bandages. "Stop that, you idiot. You're wasting your clothes on me."

"I am not going to sit still and watch you die!" She screamed at him. Her chest heaved. "If you died, what am I supposed to do?!"

Astra chuckled lightly. "You look ugly when you cry."

"And dying doesn't look good on you either!" she retorted. She dug her fingers into her hair and succumbed into herself. She was shaking so much it was even hard for her to resist the wind that tried to push her down.

Her voice broke as she said all of the dangerous thoughts that had been swirling inside of her head.

"You were always the better pick, and I've always hated you for it. It just doesn't make sense if you died. That's why you have to live, to save everyone! You can't just die and leave everything to me, you prick!"

She punched the snow because she could not punch him, because she could not punch the bastards that did this to him, and most importantly, because she did not have the strength to punch herself. It was all so frustrating.

Astra stared at her, unmoving. Perhaps he saw something that made him speechless. "I've never seen you like this." Not even when we went neck and neck with each other.

Seren had never seen herself in this state either. But she could not bring herself to maintain her self-composure, because she was breaking. And the last person she knew that was alive was dying right in front of her, and she couldn't do anything about it.

She was still powerless.

She was still weak.

And she was still afraid.

She brought her forehead down to Astra's chest.

"Just," she said, pleading. Her voice brought out all of the emotions stirring in her. "Just tell me what to do."

For a long time, there was a silence between them. It was only the howling wind and their burning home behind them that she could hear.

But then Astra spoke and broke that silence.

"Find a way to live, then. That's what you should do."

And those were the last words he had ever uttered.

Liked this chapter?
~Support the story by voting!~