24
Ember
The spell gnaws at my guts, unleashing a throbbing pain accompanied by strikes of lightning. Thousands of sharp blades plunge into my nonexistent flesh, forcing me to writhe in the vain hope of escaping this unbearable suffering. Helpless and unable to make the slightest move to help, I watch Believe, who remains immobile. On her swollen lip, a large cut lets her blood run down her chin before dropping to the ground. Her bruised cheekbone takes on strange colors as the hematoma settles.
Her white braid is now unraveled, little shaggy locks encircling her livid face and her silver eyes concealed by large, purplish circles. She”s a shadow of the woman I met a few days ago, a pale counterfeit of the one I kissed. Humans are so fragile. She gives the impression of having already died, as if she has given up the game, exhausted by the frantic race of circumstances.
“Believ...”
Our assailants freeze.
“Did you hear that?” says one of them, trembling.
“He”s here,” confirms another, shivering.
If they can hear me, now”s the time to speak up. It”s my turn to dictate the rules!
“Let her go!”
Despite the pain spreading through every centimeter of my being, I feel a surge of power flowing back. My voice, which until now had mingled with the breath of the wind, thunders in a cavernous storm like a sinister warning.
“Don”t!” shouts the man who seems to be leading the small assault group. “Carry out orders as quickly as possible!”
Although shaken by my presence—not to say terrified for some, whose knees knock together despite their steps—they comply. Two of them grab Believ”s arms and drag her toward the exit.
Did I really believe they would obey me?
Ghosts are part of the landscape of this cursed abbey, as I understand it. That some are still impressed is astonishing, when you think about it.
My threats will have no echo in the face of these warriors, but I must carry them out. I must save Believ!
“Ember!” she screams.
As she begs me with a volume to tear her vocal cords, my heart rips out of my chest and crumbles to pieces. It can”t end like this. She wanted to help me. I can”t let her perish without intervening!
“Ember!”
Her voice fades, gradually blurred by the growing distance and wavering hopes.
“Get over here!”
“You didn”t have to be so clever! You”re going to tell us everything, otherwise...”
If not, they won”t be content with torturing her.When they tire of mutilating her, they”ll finish her off, like all those Sin Eaters sacrificed and exposed for the example she told me about.
She”s going to die.
This revelation strikes me with an even sharper violence than the one that paralyzes me. Whatever the secrets of my demise, I cannot conceive of her dying in this way. I refuse to let her lose her life through my fault.
“Ember.”
This time, her voice fades to a whisper.
She falls. Her small, frail body crashes to the ground with a dull thud before being shaken by impressive spasms.
“What”s wrong with her?”
“Epilepsy?” worries one of the guards.
“It doesn”t matter; just take her away!” interjects the chief, who clearly refuses to keep his share of humanity.
She”s so pale, so disjointed, so...
The memory of our kisses comes back to me. The sweetness of her mouth, the taste of her tongue, the ardor of her body sparkling with desire. She brought me back to life, even if only for a few moments, when she seems determined to give up hers.
I don”t want to!
“Believ! Liev! Liev! Lie. Li...”
My timbre reverberates under the dome, accompanied by a vengeful echo.
I tear myself away from the shackles of pain that lacerate me. My steps are heavy, painful, each one pulverizing my flesh,disintegrating me from the inside. How can I suffer so much when I no longer have a material body?
My body...
I see it. It’s there, in front of me, asleep as when I met the woman who changed my death: serene and radiant.
At the cost of unbearable pain, I manage to reach the table on which it lies. My substance brushes against its toes without going through them. I”ve touched it!
“It”s not letting up...”
Indeed, even though I can no longer see her, I can hear Believ”s limbs banging frantically against the floor. What”s happening to her? Why is this happening?
“We”re wasting our time. Finish her off.”
I, who naively believed that religious people were the bearers of peace, and who, not so long ago, was convinced that they protected honest people, now feel quite credulous. Although mankind denies it, the only thing they protect is their own personal interests, even if this is at the expense of their most innocent peers. Or their most devoted.
Now that she no longer serves their purposes, they’re ready to eliminate her without the slightest consideration. Without a thought for those she’ll leave behind. Without even a prayer for the salvation of her soul.
I grab my ankle and pull myself up onto the edge of the table. Feeling this inert body awakens strange sensations, a kind of primal instinct that spreads through my...
Veins!
I’ve reinvested my body! What a strange feeling. And yet, although the situation is hardly conducive to it, I”m thrilled to feel... alive again!
“Let her go!” I shout.
My voice is hoarse, my throat desperately dry, but no matter. The cavernous sound reverberates under the dome, and its echo makes the strongest of them tremble. I feel powerful, an unprecedented sensation, but a euphoric one. Although my body is heavy, it anticipates my thoughts. Before I know what to do, it”s rushing toward the squadron whose weapons are pointed at Believ, who lies inert on the ground. Her agonizing tremors have ceased, but she hasn’t regained consciousness. Her eyelids are closed, as mine were just a few minutes ago. Could she already be...?
No, no, no, no! I will not allow this to happen! We”ve come this far with the energy of despair, and yet here we are at the end of this quest. It can”t end like this! As long as I”m alive—and that”s putting it mildly—no one will harm Believ.
Carried along by the impulse of despair, I pounce on the guards, who remain frozen, so stunned that they”re gripped by an intense terror. Am I that frightening?
“A capture spell! Hurry!”
I don”t give them time. With Believ as my ultimate objective, I swoop down on the men and sweep them away with a single thought. I grab the lifeless body of my rescuer and hold it close to me. Despite her leather jacket, I can feel her heart beating timidly.
She”s still alive. And I”ll make sure she stays that way.
Suddenly, as the members of the divine squadron stir, there”s a lightout. Like a blackout, in light. As a spectator of what”s going on, I feel myself being sucked up by intense radiation, lifted into the air by the screams of the audience, divided between those fleeing to save their own miserable skins and those who claim that this will be their last chance to capture me.
A jet of flames bursts into the room, engulfing whatever it can. I tighten my grip on Believ, still unconscious.
Suddenly, just as I’m about to reach the ceiling, the vault collapses. A shower of rock and earth falls on us, burying our pursuers. Instinctively, I fall back and wrap myself around Believ, offering her my recovered body as a shield. If this collapse is going to kill anyone, I”m determined that it”s going to be me. She will live.