The world as we knew was collapsing before our eyes. Slowly without us being able to do anything to prevent it. Our free will was taken away from us. We became puppets, controlled by a higher power. All we wanted was to escape, to cut the threads th...
When the evening came that day, neither my body nor my soul could rest in the shared bedchamber. I had to listen to how the forest called me. The trees that creaked in the wind outside.
So with long strides I made my way through meters of forest to get out on the other side. In front of me, on a high ledge lay where I longed for: The city. In the dark I could still see all the failing buildings. I lived there just a few days ago. So close, yet so far away. I stretched out a hand and tried to capture the view in front of me. It wasn't the forest that called me, it was the city. The road below that whispered to me to come closer. My feet walking across the grass, down the hill. Closer, I wanted to get closer.
And so just when I reached the border between nature and man's own works, the body stopped working. I can't explain how, but the legs beneath me folded away. I saw the asphalt road coming closer and closer to my face as I fell. And just before we were to meet, the road and my body, everything blacked out in front of my vision.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The same strong arms that picked me up when I fell down the stairs now held me as the world before me was blurry.
- Gabriel? His name came for my lips. He soothed me reassuringly.
- Relax, I have you, then the world disappeared in front of me again. The last I saw were his dark eyes that met mine half-closed. They looked worried.
-
- Don't talk, don't even try. Just listen.
Those words was the first I heard when I came back to consciousness. Without even opening my eyelids, I knew who the voice belonged to: Beatrice.
- Meet me tomorrow at the spot above the hill you were just at. I'll help you from here. I know how to do it.
I knew it wasn't a dream, but it might as well have been. I was so out off it. And when I heard other voices in the background, I fell into a deep slumber again.
It wasn't until the morning of the next day that I really woke up. Alone in a room with a single bed. I understood that this was the infirmary, we had gaped into this room earlier when Mikael was given me and Gabriel a tour. The head ached, but other than that everything else seemed fine. I put my bare feet on the cold floor.
What had happened? Or did I know clearly exactly what had happened? Hadn't Mikael warned me and everyone else earlier about approaching the city? Was this the punishment for going against those very words? Without waiting for someone to come check on me, I went back to my room. It was certainly quite early for Gabriel and the other man lay undisturbed and asleep in his bed.
A need to curl up next to Gabriel and find comfort from him made me stop in my tracks. I stood in front of his bed and looked down at his sleeping form. The way his chest slowly rose and fell, the closed eyes and the calmness. He seemed to have accepted his current situation so quickly. It bothered me that I couldn't do the same. There he slept like a child, without any worries whatsoever.
