Immortals | ✓

08 | art

━━ αθάνατοι ━━

MY dreams have never seemed more realistic and lately, it is scary to even think about them after waking up. I see her, Aethera, in most of them. Always running, always scared and I see myself too, always helpless. 

The sun glistens on my fingers as I wake up and I know it's late in the morning but no one's disrupted my sleep yet so I remain in the bed. It's unreal to imagine that even from the comfort of my bed, I can hear her; she's in the room on the opposite side of the hall.

Aethera hasn't slept much. Whether it was her soft footsteps near her door and then near mine at night, or her frantic heartbeat when Clarissa knocked on her door, I heard it all. I could hear the tension in her voice as she thanked Clarissa for bringing her breakfast and I could hear her near my door again. 

She's hesitant, to say anything; to talk to me. And while I hate to admit it, so am I. 

I don't know where we are, who these people are and why Clarissa called me "brother". But I know one thing for sure. Either I have brought myself into a weird cult or they have answers that I have to be patient with. 

For the first time, in a long time, I want to be left alone, even if it is for ten minutes. Left alone and devoid of the voices that I hear, of the things I see now but a part of me remains alert for her now. 

And as if on cue, she's back near my door, but this time, she knocks softly. "Art? Are you awake?" You already know I am, I want to say to her.  

"Yeah, come in," I say instead, throwing the covers off myself as she creaks open the door. I see her standing by the frame and one look at her and I know why Clarissa was asking her persistently to change. She stands in a plain white dress, which reaches just above her knees, and at that moment, I see her and the woman in my vision together. They are a splitting image of each other but Aethera could never cause me the pain she did. 

"Clarissa wants us to meet her downstairs in the study. Will you be ready soon?" 

"Yeah, if she's giving me some answers," I mutter, rubbing my eyes as I search for some clothes in the gigantic closet in the corner of the room. Aethera chuckles, finally entering my room. 

"Do you like it?" 

"The room? It's alright." I shrug as I see her noticing the furniture in my room.

"It's more than alright! It has murals along the hall, have you ever seen murals in a house?" she gasps, like a child in Disneyland, carefully touching the flowers in the vase placed on the old table in the corner. "Even the furniture is art," she mummers, mostly to herself. I can't even see her eyes but it won't take a genius to guess that they are gleaming in awe. 

"It's beautiful, yes," No lies, it screamed money but not the kind that made me comfortable. "But we still don't know who these people are, Aethera, let's keep an eye out for them rather than the architecture."

"I know that, alright." Her tone was devoid of excitement now and suddenly I felt bad. Was I overthinking this or just being careful? While I grabbed a shirt, she walked inside the closet, gesturing me to come closer. 

"Come here!" she whisper-yelled, more careful now that we knew Carissa and many others here may as well be like us. "I know you hate lack of information and you're scared but around six in the morning today, I was awake and I heard someone talk to Clarissa in the garden outside my room. Jace, the scary dude from last night was also there."

"What were they talking about?" I asked, stepping closer to make sure she whispered and no one heard us at all. "Us?"

"Yes, but it was so strange," she continued. "Clarissa said something about not being alone anymore and there was a third person with them whom I couldn't see but he said something along the lines of being happy that we were alive and safe." Aethera then took a step back to look at me. "They're happy that we're here. Even Jace seemed happy from his tone, I didn't even imagine him to be someone who could smile-"