The Revenant:Book 2

The Diary

ESKARINA

I hadn't been in Nova's room since his death. It hadn't changed. All of his clothes were still inside his cupboard. His coat still hung by the hanger adjacent to his cupboard, and his scent still lingered in the air.

I took a deep breath and shut the door to his room behind me before stepping inside.

My heart suddenly decided to leap into my throat. I found it difficult to breathe and my vision became blurred with tears.

When Hirovia had opened the tank, I thought I'd seen him. An almost exact replica of Nova. From the black curls on his head, to the lithe curves of his body. Unfortunately, his mouth was devoid of any lips, having only the monstrous jagged teeth of a revenant and instead of the hazel jewels Nova had, there was nothing but the black void of Revenant eyes.

The clone choked on the air, writhing and kicking around in the pod. It thrashed around and clawed at nothing, clutching at its own throat before it stopped.

Hirovia declared it dead soon after, and Roman, rather than consider the project a failure, gave her further funding for greater research and development.

I felt as though I'd just seen him die again.

I have no idea what I was expecting. For Nova to miraculously be back? For things to be okay?

Instead there I was. Sitting in his room, choking back guilt and regret.

Not a minute went by when I didn't think back to that day.

The look in his eyes, the bloody tears streaming down his cheeks, the sheer agony dripping in every word he spoke, and the pure rage when he swore vengeance on us.

I sunk to my knees and buried my face in my palm. As I did, a memory flashed into my mind as if it were playing right before my eyes.

Nova and I were in his room, sitting cross legged together on this very bed. We just finished training a few hours prior, and we sat eating bars of chocolate.

Sometimes I'd wondered why he'd eat chocolate when he couldn't taste it.

"Come on, there's gotta be something you enjoy about books that you aren't telling me? You're at the library almost every day!" I said.

Nova shrugged, staying quiet as he took another bite from his chocolate. "Don't know."

"Try? C'mon for me? Please?" I asked, giving Nova puppy eyes.

Nova chuckled and shook his head, letting out a deep sigh. "Alright alright. I'll give it a shot I guess."

I pumped my fist in the air triumphantly and waited patiently for his response.

Nova seemed to contemplate it for a while before giving me an answer. "I guess...the same reason I love music. A good book can take you anywhere. To worlds outside of this one. To a reality where the harshness and pain of this one doesn't exist. A good book can be an adventure. Something that never gets old or boring, every page is a new burst of spontaneity, a break from the deadpan routine of  everyday life. It can also be relatable. Characters can be people you relate to or understand, so you feel less lonely even though they aren't necessarily real. Some books help me feel like the things I struggle with or have trouble dealing with can be overcome. I mean, if a character who doesn't even exist can do it, what's to say I can't do the same?"

That was the day Nova started changing. Or at least trying to. There were days when he'd struggle, but he kept trying, and he kept getting better. He still wanted to avenge Elena, and eventually we set out to do so, but he was almost a completely different person.