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Click here"Darkness... I'm afraid that I'll be trapped in the darkness again, maybe forever this time. I- I don't want to go back there, Jagón. I lose myself when there is no light." The goddess felt so foolish confessing such a seemingly childish fear, but it was a valid one.
Centuries in the darkness had broken her once. Just a few short days of it after the attack on the ceremony was enough to drive her near insane once more. When she had finally been freed in the desert, she couldn't make sense of anything, not until she sought out her knight once more in her dreams.
"Alice...." Jagón started remorsefully. "I can't imagine what it must have been like. I would never ask you to go back to that place, but you should also know I would never abandon you there should you ever return to it. I freed you from the darkness once, right? I could never forsake someone I owe so much to so easily. I will not turn my back on the very sun. I will seek it out until we may follow your light into a new dawn together. I want our son to meet his second mother and understand who she is. I will not let that be denied to him."
Alice thought her heart would burst. Never would she imagine Jagón calling her a mother, nor Cortist her cub. She took a moment to take in that warm image of him, to preserve it and to focus on it before she closed her eyes and leaned into his hold. She whispered faintly, her voice shaky, and still afraid of what she needed to do. "Will you stay with me? Will you hold me when it happens? Please?"
The tears of the sun splashed gently against the ebony coat of the general as she begged him for one last selfish request. He pulled her closer to him with his left hand on her back, his right hand tenderly embracing her own. The knight leaned in slowly, planting the softest kiss of forgiveness upon her brow as he assured her dutifully. "Even if you can't see me where you go, know that I was holding you here, and know that I'll come for you again. Just wait for me. We still have so much to discuss, after all."
Alice exhaled heavily, preparing herself to do what she had to. She began focusing all of her remaining strength near her center, deeply concentrating as she reached for a familiar part of herself. The sun goddess soon found what she was isolating.
A faint glow and warmth appeared within her chest, a steady rhythm of the beating heart audible to the knight in that moment. It was so very peaceful to Jagón. Her warmth was truly encaptivating in its raw state.
"This is the last piece of my heart I have left, the only one I was able to keep for myself after all of this time." The smaller feline was speaking softly in admiration, feeling so simple confessing such previously hidden emotion. "This was the piece you stole the day you broke my chains. I'm thankful you've kept it safe for me, and I'm grateful that our cub will be the one to hold it now. I waited centuries for you before... just try not to take quite as long this time."
"Wait, Alice, what do you-" Jagón didn't get to finish.
"I may be unable to command my own core anymore, what is left of me may not be enough to manage such a thing...." The crazy cat smirked lightly at the end. "But with the last little part of me that remains, I can create something that can regulate even a deity's might."
The fading light of the sun goddess shone so very brightly in the garden before her slumber came in the arms of her knight.
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Alright guys! Sorry for the delays! Lot to get down with little freetime, but only one chapter left of the Afterworld, and a closing chapter after. Thank you so much for being patient while I write this, and for following my story!
I would love to hear any feedback you have for me! Looking forward to closing out book 1 soon!
-Bayou
- COMMENTS
geemeedee29 days agoI just cried so much reading this. I’m really going through it in my life right now and this bit from Jágon truly resonated:
“I no longer let the fading pieces of who I was distract me from what grows in its place. Wisdom, empathy, reflection, responsibility, acceptance; those are things that have come from who I am now. That small part of myself now holds far more value and strength than any of the parts that have faded from my reach. The little that remains of me still amounts to more than I ever was before."
Masterful.
PupBayouabout 1 month agoAuthorI appreciate the kindness and praise!
Just finished closing out ch. 47! Editors are looking over it first, but should be up in a few days! I think if you've followed the story this far, you'll enjoy the conclusion to the final arc for book 1. Thank y'all so much for reading this last year and a half! Its been a blast to tell this story!
Anonymousabout 1 month agoThis is well worth the wait! Well thought out, plenty of twists and turns, and a whole bunch of characters that could each make a stand alone story.
