Treyan lived his life bound by duty and honor, believing his future as told by the Prophecy of Fire and Light. Even after he found his Empress, he felt he was doing as he was foretold and in the best interest for the Empire. But when his own brother...
His eyes refused to open; his world remained dark.
The warmth he felt in the arms of his wife melted away to a shiver that chilled him to his core. The sweat on his brow was no longer from exertion while making love, but from an infection his body refused to fight.
He was dying.
"Alex." His throat was so dry, he could barely call out her name, but he could sense her next to him. Her cool hands touched him urgently. First his cheeks and forehead, then his neck and chest. Her hands began to move downward, and Treyan wondered if she would do him the honors of finishing their dream from where they left off as one final send-off, but before he could follow through with that thought, she had gently rolled him over into his side.
Treyan's scream drowned out Alex's gasp as the pain that seared through him brought tears to his eyes. He didn't dare move, for every nerve ending within him heightened to hyper-sensitivity at the poison surging through his veins. The sobs sent a tremor through him and brought agony beyond injury with no relief in sight.
He wished he was dead.
He continued to hear his name, but it soon dissolved to a whisper on the wind.
The surrounding darkness engulfed him, overtaking his psyche and sending him down a twisting nether of torment. He could hear the muddled, urgent pleas from his wife, begging him to wake, but he was unable to answer.
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"Turn him onto his stomach, quick!"
"Crystal, but... Sarayna's crying!"
"She'll be fine for a minute, just help me! Hurry!"
Treyan was so numb to the pain, he was too weak to scream as hands grabbed hold of him and flipped him onto his stomach. Instead he held his eyes shut as tight as possible and his teeth clenched together with so much pressure he was sure they would shatter in his mouth.
"Crystal...."
"Okay, go—go!"
The bed next to him jostled and he heard footsteps walking away. There was the sound of distressed crying in the distance, followed by a hurried shushing which seemed to cause the sobs to stop moments later. A part of him felt relief, while the other yearned to discover the source. Hands on his face and back, however, kept him in place, as if he would even have the energy to move himself from the bed.
He had to keep his head to the side so as not to suffocate, but each breath brought new agony to his already vandalized body. His breath stopped as those same hands prodded at the open wound along his spine, and he screamed out in sheer torment as the blinding white of unconsciousness began to sweep over his eyes.
"Oh, no you don't," that unfamiliar feminine voice, deeper and more demanding, threatened as a hand slapped his cheek. He opened his eyes slightly but couldn't make out the foggy figure hovering over him. Just as well, he decided, as he closed his eyes again. It was easier to ignore those he didn't know.
It was hard to continue to ignore the individual next to him as she, the unfamiliar voice, began to sweep a cloth along his back. Something was on the cloth, perhaps some sort of antiseptic, and it burned as the liquid evaporated from his feverish skin. He didn't know what the point was, as the wound had refused to heal since it was inflicted, but his caretaker insisted on cleansing it every time she visited. This time, however, the pain refused to dissipate, and he sensed there was something else concerning the woman above him.
"Crystal, what are you doing to him?" another voice- this one he knew to belong to his Empress- spoke up from his other side.
"His wound is infected, I can't stop the bleeding this time!" The stranger seemed extremely panicked as the hands along his back began to move with more urgency.
"Dammit, Crystal! We talked about this! This isn't a wound from this world! Your normal healing techniques aren't working!"
"I know, but I had to do something!"
"You've clearly taken care of that already!"
A second pair of hands joined the first already on his back, and the pain of the applied pressure sent another tremor of pain throughout Treyan's body. If it didn't stop soon, he wouldn't have the energy remaining to withstand another bombardment.
"Alex..." was all he could whisper.
"I'm here! I'm here."
And she was. Without even opening his eyes, he sensed her close to him, he could smell her like the comfort of a warm cup of coffee on a cold winter's morning. It wasn't as though he could have opened his eyes if he wanted to, but as soon as he tried, even the slightest sliver of light through his lids sent a searing migraine through his skull.
She had a hold on his hand, but he couldn't find the strength to return the grasp. He couldn't feel much else. His body had gone numb from the pain, and Treyan grew weary from fighting it. Instead, all of his energy went towards memorizing the weight of his Empress' hand in his, for at that moment, nothing else mattered.
He tried to convey the sentiment to her, but he must have opened his mouth with no words to deliver. His jaw ached from the effort, and Alex's other hand smoothed away the hair from his feverish brow.
"Shh," she soothed him. "It will all be over soon."
He could tell from the tears in her voice the true meaning of her words.
He would no longer need to wish for death.
He was close enough.
"Alex, get over here!" the other voice ordered, and the comfort of her hand in his soon melted away as the agonizing pain again took over his body. It felt as though a thousand needles were ramming into his skin simultaneously, slowly carving away at his muscles and bones. The white stars that once clouded his vision began to turn black, and he felt himself slowly falling into their endless oblivion.
He heard Alex calling to him, pleading for him to stay, but he couldn't. The pull of the darkness was too great, and her voice was so far away, he would never be able to reach her.
