85. Chapter 85
CHAPTER 85
Cassiel
I t all came down to this moment. To the end of all things. Cassiel couldn’t even be angry because what else would he deserve? He couldn’t control how his life began but he could control how it ended.
A dull darkness swallowed him. Thin strips of faint light spilled from cracks of debris. Cassiel’s chest ached with the crushed ribs, his body trapped beneath the earth. It was crushing him alive, and he had no way to breathe. As death drew near, all else faded.
No pain.
No fear.
Only remorse for what should have been.
On the other side of his consciousness, Dyna was there. Soft and warm. Beautiful, gentle, foolish, safe. Alive.
At the end he made sure she would live even if it meant he didn’t. In that he could rest, because there was no greater miracle than that.
But as his life began to fade, a force burst open in his soul, and he felt her. The bond surged to life with Dyna’s scream that rendered through the earth. The force behind her cry brought one last gulp of air through his lungs.
Her magic ripped through the air with a powerful wave so strong, it blew the darkness away. The building shook again, and boulders cracked as they lifted off him, leaving smoke and green embers failing down like rain. His broken chest rose with a gasping breath as he blinked up at the opening several feet above him. Dull gray light filtered in.
“Cassiel!” came her cry again, closer this time. His waning vision fought to stay at the sound of her voice. “Cassiel, where are you?” she sobbed. “Answer me please!”
Here… He lifted his hand or tried to. He couldn’t feel his body anymore. I’m here…
Scuffing footsteps. Shimmering green light.
“Cassiel?” Dyna’s face stained with tears and dust appeared in the opening above him. “Oh, no. Oh, Gods. I’m coming!”
She vanished from the opening
Don’t come down… His eyes grew heavy, and he took a shallow breath, coughing up blood. It’s too dangerous. he tried to say, but his voice came out raspy and tasted wrong. He tried to sit up with no success. Nothing worked, he was pinned again.
It hurt. Everything hurt. Darkness filled his eyes.
The air hurt his bruised lungs.
“Cassiel! Oh gods, please!” A hand gently patted his cheek, and pain yanked him to consciousness. A blurry face surrounded by red hair hovered above him. “Please wake up.” Dyna’s voice broke on a panicked sob. Her small hands closed over his face. “Cassiel!”
He stared up at the most beautiful emerald eyes glistening with tears. His chest struggled to rise with shallow breaths. Dyna sobbed as she looked over him because she knew he wouldn’t be getting up. His ribs must have punctured a lung. He coughed up blood, struggling to breathe. Pain, there was so much pain, but he could take it because she was there.
“Oh no, Cassiel.” She sobbed as she looked over him and he knew it must be bad. “Can you heal with your divine blood?”
His back ached. He felt the hole there, the emptiness of where his wing used to be. “I can’t heal myself anymore…” he rasped faintly.
“Then use your fire.”
His fingers twitched and the flames flickered, sputtering out. He knew what it meant and so did she. “Dyna…”
She shook her head, weeping. “No.”
He smiled faintly, remembering they had been here before. They say one saw their life in their final moments but all he saw was her.
“You can’t do this to me now.” Dyna angrily wiped her cheeks. “You will not die here.” She placed her hands over his heart and her magic swept over him. It sunk into his cold body, easing the last of his pain. But he was too broken beyond repair. He would bleed out faster than she could heal him. She shut her eyes tight and pushed herself beyond the safe parameters of Essence Healing.
“Dyna…” Cassiel took her hand. “Stop.”
“No, I am not giving up. You must hold on. The others are coming.” She looked up at the opening at the distant call of voices. “We’re here!”
“Dyna, listen…” Cassiel murmured, making those pretty green eyes look at him. “I should never have taken your choice. No one can decide your life’s direction but you…” Every word cost him, and he struggled to take another breath to finish what he should have said from the beginning. “I will no longer beg for your forgiveness because it was never mine to have…” Cassiel’s shaking hand reached for her wet cheek, but he had no more strength left. She caught his falling hand and cupped it to her cheek. “For what I have done, and I have failed to do, I am sorry…”
“Stop it,” she wept, holding his palm gently against her cheek. “You will not die. I will not let you. Because I love you. Even when I hated you, I still loved you.”
He smiled. “I know…”
Her tear landed on his face and his vision wanned with the soft press of her lips on his forehead. Blinding light lit the cavern as the heat of her magic flared through him. She continued to try to heal him. But without his wing, he could not heal. It was too late for him.
Dyna…
“No, you must hold on,” she cried. “Hold onto me, Cassiel. Please don’t give in.”
Cassiel tried. He really tried. But the light was streaming from him like a bright star. His eyes began to drift shut. He could no longer speak, so he left his thoughts float to her through the bond.
Maybe in another world, in another lifetime there is a version of us that survived. I see us together on a hill evergreen, watching the sunrise…
The light carried him away on a cloud of peace. The world ebbed, and the cry of Dyna’s voice faded with it.