Return of the Asuras |Lesbian Story| (The Sequel)

Chapter 30

Amarisa wiped my blood away with her bare hands and took my head to her breast, trying to comfort me. But there was no pain, no grief, no suffering. She was saved, and that was more than I could ask for.

With her face hang over me, her tears tumbled down like fallen leaves in the wind. I wanted to touch her cheeks and wipe them away. I felt my hand struggling to move, but my strength had left my body. Every part of me was both light and heavy, both air and stone.

Amarisa took my hand in hers and guided it to her tender lips. She kissed it, and I could feel her skin soft like petals. She was so soft. I remembered how soft and how gentle she was when she touched me.

"I love you," I said again. It was barely audible, but she nodded. More tears sprang furiously from her eyes. They dropped onto my chest like dripping dew from the branches of the trees.

"No, Nikita, the soul of mine, please, don't leave me, don't leave!" Amarisa's lovely voice grew faint in my ears. I managed a smile, but it was also full of sorrow. Her soft cheek rested against mine. Then she bowed down and gave me a long kiss on my lips.

But I could feel the last bit of essence leaving my body, like a tide ebbing away from the shore, and though Amarisa held me close against her chest, I began to slack. Every moment passed like sand flowing away, and slowly, a deep heavy veil of darkness shrouded me.

~*~

It was so strange. My pain was gone. I was not lying on the ground anymore, but I can't seem to feel either. Everything that had mattered just moments ago had fallen from me like the shredded skin of a snake. No worries, no sadness, no life, no death. I was beyond myself, genderless and infinite, yet I was always so. And for the first time, I was truly whole.

Then a voice came to me, speaking to me gently, urging me in a familiar wonderful tone, telling me that it was my time to leave.

The objectives of your appearance in this world were completed and it was time for you to return.

There was a balmy sensation over me. I was surrounded by light with nine different and distinct rays, the seven colors of our earthly prism, and two beautiful rays which, to me, were new and nameless. Someone's face illuminated like a thousand suns above me. A brilliant halo ringed the person's head.

'Vishnu,' I thought. 'Am I truly dead?'

'No, you're returning, but you can also call it that.' this golden voice spoke in the same bell-chiming sound.

'But I don't want to go.'

'Your role in this world is over. You have fulfilled what was asked of you. There is no more reason to stay.'

'My wife is here. Amarisa is here. She needs me.'

'No need to mourn this separation. She shall always be yours. How can one be apart from his or her own soul? You both are one in spirit and existence. Wherever you might be.'

But with all that I was, I fought and begged to stay.

'Please, just a bit longer.'

I turned and saw Amarisa again. I reached for her, but my touch came back empty.

If there was any sadness or sorrow left, I hardly grasped it now. I wanted to feel sad, but I was just air and thoughts that remained. I wished I could hold my beloved again. I tried to touch her face and failed. It was like she was made from air.

Oh, why has it ended like this?

I wanted to cry, but there was no tear coming. My heart no longer ached, neither did it beat. I was indeed dead. I waited for the first chill of panic, of fear, and despair to scrape my spine with their icy nails, but the realization did not shock me as I thought it should be. I remembered the pain and grief, but they were only memories now.

At least, Amarisa was alive and free. That was all that matter in this world.

My friends came to me. They started to move my body, but Amarisa would have none of it. She fended them off and held me with all of her strength. A wailing scream, tearing its way out of her throat. Then another and another.

"No! No! Don't take her away from me!" she cried, tearing at her breast, her neck, and her lovely face in anguish.

Oh Amarisa, what an innocent beauty you were, so good in your heart, so precious in your soul. I wished for her to live, love, and be happy forever. Even if I was gone.

It took a while before they could retrieve my body. Amarisa had fainted. Slowly, as if not to damage something fragile, my friends brought us back to the camp.

I did not see any event that came next. Everything shifted and only showed up on its own. I realized I had no control of the psychical world either.

Slowly, the view of the battlefield came. A terrible work had been done here, and an even more terrible work was left to be done. The ground was covered with bodies, blood, and weapons. Chariots overturned and burned into ashes. The horror of war. So many brave men, women, and souls had lost their lives. So many futures had ended here. The cruel harvest. Now the remains were left to rot.

The scene of blood and death surrounded me like an empty ocean.

No one neither man nor woman saw them, till the Queen, standing on the high platform where she waited all night and all day, caught sight of her dear husband in his elephant, and his army behind him.

But what made the Queen's heart rejoiced the most was the sweet glimpse of her darling daughter. Back to her warm bosom that beat a mother's heart.

She saw also a form of someone lying beside her. The Queen knew that hard time was lying ahead.

The procession ended and my body was laid on a bed of silk and fur. The people blurred into view. At this, there was not man nor woman left without so great a sorrow possessing them.

Other royal families mourned their own losses.

The King in his turn took up the strains of mourning.

"This is the most grievous time for our house to lose not one but two precious members," he spoke grimly before the gloomy crowd of avatars and warriors. He paused then looked at his wife with lingering sorrows.

"The first Queen, my sister is back to the hand of our Great Lord only days before. Now her daughter, dearest like our own child..." the Queen spoke and trailed off, overwhelmed by emotions.

Then she turned to put her hand on my forehead.

"You were the savior and guardian of the holy city. So long as you were alive the avatars and our people loved you well. Your courage and sacrifice shall be remembered, and we shall never cease to grieve for you."

Amarisa was sitting next to me, cradling me in her arms. She did not cry, but tears never stopped falling. The women joined in her lament-making as though their tears were for us both.

At night, she remained with me. Bitterly did she weep, and the others joined in her lament. She had taken the task to bath and dressed me herself.

"Love of my heart, here you lie all fresh as dew, and comely as one who is still living," she sobbed. "What I would do to see these eyes open again. And these lips."

And she kissed me and did not stop weeping. She could not stop until her body lay limply beside mine.