Blue Moon

C H A P T E R 33

PREY

ARRAH

Body heavy with exhaustion, I laid on my back as my head rested on nothing. Everything was pitch black. Eyes wide open, it made no difference; there was nothing to see. There is nothing here but darkness and pain. I closed my eyes and eagerly grasped on happier memories to ward off the emptiness that has nested on my heart. But alas, it brought no comfort.

It was not the memory of Kai walking away, the petrified looks everyone gave me, or the sight of Kai with our baby in her arms backing away in fright that brought tears this time. The happy recollections did.

I must have cried or inwardly lamented at the bitter memories when I experienced them but recalling them at this point, it didn't hurt as much as the smiling faces and the happy days with Kai. Frame by frame, the memories I expected to bring me a little joy were doing more harm than good.

Those precious moments brought more pain as I look back to see what I had and lost.

Shouting Kai's name as I lay immobile and powerless, I cried for her to come to my rescue. Get me out of here. Calling out the names of those I love, I screamed and cried until my voice was hoarse. Exhausted than I ever was before, I was panting. I tried to catch my breath, my tears, ceaseless.

Save me.

"Enough with the tears, child," a gentle voice said. "Happiness and sadness are fleeting, why weep for so long?"

The woman bathed in light floating around her - even her skin glowed with an inner light. The sudden light filling my unadjusted eyes burned. However, once the initial tears dried and I could finally see, I found the woman - I found Búlan. Sid's wordy description of her only showcased half of her splendor. She was beyond description. I could only stare at her.

"Humans really break easily. Such fragile creatures. Oh, but you're not all human... maybe that's why you're weaker. You're something in between... I can't figure you out," she murmured. There was no malice in her statements. She was merely speaking her mind. "Here, let me ease your pain."

A moment she was hovering from a meter's distance but then she appeared in front of me, bending down as she placed a soft hand over my head. Warmth came with the touch. I could feel my limbs down to the tips of my fingers and toes. A few seconds more and I was able to sit with her helping me up.

"Thank you," I said.

She barely smiled and returned to where she was standing before. This time I was able to see it unfolding before my eyes. Búlan fragmented into tiny orbs of white light and disappeared until finally taking form a meter away.

"Sid has been looking for you," I blurted out.

"Sid?" her head slowly tilted to the side.

"Tall and broody but could be very stunning if she smiles. Cold hands... wrapped arms?" I described her the best I could. "Broody with a capacity of sudden bouts of anger and fits. Mostly brooding." Because when she's not angry, most of her facial muscles kept her face sullen. Others might argue it as a poker face, but beg to differ.

"Broody? Tall? Sid? Bouts of anger... Cold hands?" An array of light formed into a crescent moon behind her as she sat on it. She sat trying to recognize the name. Silently, I watched her confused face until a smile of recognition lit it up. "Ah!"

"Sidapa! The goddess of death." She once again disappeared from her shining crescent moon throne and flashed in front of me. "My goddess, Sidapa."

"Yes, Sid - I mean, Sidapa."