Realms Beyond

The Last Goodbye

The hunter was standing on the other side of the room, near a bed. He spun as the door opened, his eyes searching me instantly. I stepped inside, looking down the hall to my sister's room. Shutting the door, I carefully wove an unseen web through it, blocking all sound from escaping and reaching her ears. I couldn't risk her waking. Not now, not until I was gone. Locking the door, I turned back, my head down. A deep breath. I looked up.

"I'm ready," I said, not able to meet his eyes.

"Sy..."

"Kaen, you have to. My sister will try to escape with me in the morning. You can't let me escape again." I finally met his eyes.

"Why not?"

I tilted my head and frowned in frustration. He knew why. It was an issue we had come across before, and I wasn't going to risk it again. He took a few steps towards me, and I suddenly couldn't breathe.

"You can't do this again. Kaen, don't," I warned.

"I don't care."

Suddenly his lips were on mine, and my body was flooded with emotion. His lips were warm, and mine were wet, my body still dripping from the water. His hand wove through my hair, the other pulling my closer even as he stepped forwards. I pressed my body to his, desperate for this last kiss, because I knew what would come after it. I didn't want to die, but my life was worth his.

I felt his mind on mine, and I opened up to him. Suddenly our minds combined, open to each other. I could feel everything that was running through his head, just as he could feel everything running through mine. Nothing was left between us as we used this last moment to drown in each other. Our bodies continued acting on instinct as our spirits wove together, strengthening each other and reading each other one last time.

I felt bare, but his mind was gentle as it searched mine. As he did I searched his, feeling everything he had, every time he had seen me in the past, every time we had talked, as if I was him and he was me. We studied each other from the inside out, until we knew exactly who the other was. Which caused more problems.

We were both willing to die for the other. And the only way he would survive was if I was dead. I withdrew to my body, just enough to feel how close we were, to talk and listen through body rather than spirit.

"You must kill me."

"I can't, Sy, I can't. I could kill myself, but I could never kill you."

I pulled away from his mind, needing to be separate to think clearly. My own emotions were strong enough, adding his as well was making my body ache.

"There's no other way. Your masters won't let you fail again. If you don't kill me now, they'll kill you and send someone else after me and I'll die anyway. If you kill me now, you'll live. You can take Myre home, explain everything to her, tell her why I had to do this."

He just shook his head, his dark hair falling across his face. We were still wrapped in each other's arms, standing, my back pressed against a wall. I should have felt trapped, my hunter cornering me with his body, but instead I felt protected. That was how it was meant to be. If good and bad didn't need a balance, if good could win, that's how it would be. He would be my protector, not my hunter. But the darkness had got to him, the badness had overtaken him. Now he had to kill me. We were out of choices.

"There has to be some other way. This can't be the only solution," he begged.

"We don't have enough time to find another solution. The sun must rise, and by then I must be dead, or we both will be."

"I would prefer to be dead with you than living without you."

His comment was quiet, but it struck deep. I pressed my forehead against his chest, burying into his shirt. I could not think of another way, not like this, with my fate and his pressing on me. Not when my sister could be affected forever. I had to consider her life in this as well. I let my mind go, let it flow past the web of silence I had woven into the door, let it float down to the silver monster in the pool nearby. She stirred at my touch, having been asleep, and listened carefully as I showed her what to do.