Cold, he felt cold, cold and weak, that's all that Meikai could feel, he could feel the cold artic wind in his skin, especially in his open wounds, which soaked his clothes with blood, making the icy sensation feel even worse.
"h-how did I end up like this...?" Meikai tried to remember the circumstances, but his memory was hazy, with entire voids where important events should be, his brain was seemingly more occupied in keeping him alive than to remember what left him in such a deplorable state.
He breathed, heavily, in out, in out, every time he inhaled his chest felt like it was going to explode from the inside and when he exhaled, it felt like it was going to cave in, the wizard was sure that his ribs were broken, but his body was still trying to keep itself alive, even if doing that caused him unimaginable amounts of pain...
The wizard tried to move his arm, trying to maybe find a way to get off the ground, or at least to put himself in a more "comfortable" position, but when he tried to move his arm, it didn't budge, he was so weak that he could barely make his fingers twitch a bit, f that was the state that his arms were in, then his legs probably weren't better.
Meikai stared at the sky, it was a beautiful night, the stars shined brightly against the dark blue background, dots of light in the vast darkness of space. They made the wizard happy, but at the same time they reminded him of his home, the sea, a place as blue and vast as the cosmos itself, it also had its own stars, but those stars made him remember bad memories, of loneliness, of sadness, of pain... of loss.
Loss... the wizard closed his eyes for a second, he was starting to remember something, not about how he ended up in this situation, no, something happier, he remembered sitting in a beach, right beside the shore, staring at the same starry sky that he was now lying under, the only difference was the moon, shining with its calming silvery light, making the night slightly brighter. He wasn't alone in that memory, by his side there was another person, a woman, her long white haired shining with the same way as the moon, like she was some personification of its light, Meikai inched his hand closer to the lady's, closer and closer until they both touched, her skin was warm and soft , softer that anything he ever felt, the lady reciprocated, doing the same thing with the wizard's hand, the young wizard turned his head to look at her, she did the same, they stared at each other for a couple minutes, seemingly entranced by eachother . Meikai couldn't remember the exact details of his companion's face, it was such a long time ago that all memories of her were now a blur, but he could remember the loving warmth that her smile exuded, in that moment, the whole world didn't matter, everything else didn't matter, it was only the two of them, they got closer to each other, their mouths ready to make contact and finally make this moment one of the happiest of both their lives, and then...
RED... all he could see was red, crimson red, that crimson color tainting the beautiful silvery white, that crimson color that took away her softness and her warmth, and turning it cold, colder than even the pale snow that he now lied on. Then after that, there were tears, his eyes filled up with the same salt water that made up the ocean he loved so much, tears that shined in the now cold, silver light of the moon, turning them into stars, stars that shined in the endless dark blue...
Meikai opened his eyes again, which were now wet with tears, making them more vulnerable to the freezing winds. "I shouldn't have tried to remember that, god, I'm such an idiot".
Time passed, every minute he could feel himself getting weaker, his skin getting colder and colder, his chest moving up and down more slowly, with larger gaps of time between each inhalation and exhalation, his limbs getting weaker, more so than they already were and his eyes getting heavier, ready to close, seemingly forever.
"I think it's time... I'm sorry... to everyone, I wish I could have done better"
Another memory appeared in his mind, or to be more precise, fragments of memories, brief snapshots of moments, moments filled with happiness, then pain, then misery and sadness, images of war, weapons being wielded and thrown, torn bodies lying on the sea floor, pieces of eggshells floating on a puddle of spilled amniotic fluid, dying comrades giving their last breaths and words to him, then pain, sharp, intense pain, the felling of exhaustion of running away while bleeding, then swimming with that same pain, tainting the water with crimson and then after that... the cold softness of snow...
"s-so, that's how it happened, huh?". Meikai smiled weakly, going back to reminisce was painful, but at least he was happy to know how he ended up in his current situation.
The wizard breathed in one more time, he took a second of hesitation, and then he closed his eyes, preparing to welcome his final rest, it was both scary, but also recomforting for him, he wouldn't feel pain anymore, and maybe after that there could be a place where he could see everyone again, his friends, his familiars, his allies, his love, his daughter. Meikai always wondered what could have been of her, had her life not being cut short even before she even broke the eggshell by herself, well, it wasn't time to think about such things, in short time they weren't going to matter anymore...
The last thing Meikai heard were footsteps, they were hard to hear because they were being muffled by the snow, but he could hear them faintly getting closer to him, he opened his eyes, barely, they felt so heavy that at any second they could close again, forever, his vision was blurry but he could see someone's head, a woman's, her hair a beautiful white color, was it...
"i-i-is that you?... I always wanted to see you again... I'm sorry that I couldn't...protect you... I'm... sorry..." the wizard had barely any strength to talk, his words came out stuttered and with long pauses, thinking of what to say was also hard, he was so exhausted.
The wizard felt his head being lifted up slightly and then put against the woman's chest, normally Meikai would think this was extremely awkward and inappropriate, but in the state that he was, it felt recomforting, soft and warm, he could feel her heartbeat, it was steady, alive, it made him feel nostalgic and safe in his last moments.
"t-thank you... Shirotsuki"
At those where the last words the sea wizard ever spoke.
Rocma was wandering the pier of Iceberg Isle when she found the body of a strange man, his hair was a dark brown color, making him stand out from every single other inhabitant of the Isle, this grabbed the attention of the polar bear and made her go and take a closer look, she initially thought he was already dead, she made a brief inspection of the body, quite a considerable amount of open wounds littered his frame, Rocma initially thought they could have been from an orca attack, those where pretty common around the season, but on closer inspection they looked less like they came from an animal, and more like they where caused by some sort of weapon, something sharp.
"that's not something him would do". She thought to herself.
Rocma was taken aback when the supposed "corpse" opened his eyes slightly, whoever he was, he was still alive, but barely clinging to life. The man stared at Rocma, his eyes tired and lifeless, he was most certainly at death's door.
"i-i-is that you?... I always wanted to see you again... I'm sorry that I couldn't...protect you... I'm... sorry...". The man spoke, his voice was weak, tired, struggling to make sentences.
Rocma was dumbfounded, who was this man? Did he know her? She certainly had neve seen him before in her entire life, it was probably that the stranger was just suffering from delusions due to the cold and the loss of blood, but the way the man spoke, the strained, weakly tone mixed with tinges of sadness and regret, it made Rocma feel bad for the man.
The polar bear kneeled by the stranger's side, lifting the dying man's head with her hand and putting it closer to her chest, normally Rocma wouldn't think of doing something like that, normally if any men tried to get close to her chest she would maul them without a second thought, but Rocma knew that nobody deserved to die alone, this is the least she could do for him, giving company in the last moments of his life. The man blushed slightly, even in the barely conscious, dying state that he was in, he knew this was slightly akward.
A small, weak smile formed in the stranger's lips, he then closed his eyes and muttered his final words.
"t-thank you... Shirotsuki"
Rocma stayed still for a solid minute, making sure that the man had finally passed on, after confirming his death, Rocma stood up and with some slight force, lifted the man's corpse in her arms, so as to carry it back to the village and give him a proper burial.
-The End-