Page 140 of Love, Nemesis
Though free of damage, there were large pieces missing, paynes neatly missing from windows, bricks missing from the wall, boards missing from the floor. Beyond the holes in the ceiling she could see that entire buildings no longer existed above her, streets and stands and whole houses were gone from the world outside, neatly cut from reality.
It took her a moment to recognize that she was still in existence.
It took her a moment to recognize that all of the things that were missing had likely been built by people who had been illusions from the start.
She winced as she eased up in bed, freeing a leg from under the sheets as she inspected her arms. If her pain didn’t speak for her being alive, she wasn’t sure what could. Her entire body ached and was covered in every bruising color.
She slowly searched the room. It was silent and still.
Why was she still here?
An eagerness in her caused her to sit up further, but her stomach churned and her limbs felt like they were made of butter, grip slipping underneath her and causing her to fall right off the bed. She groaned, laughed a bit to herself, and then stifled a heaving stomach as she rolled against the side of the bed. She groaned again, her commotion seeming to draw a rushed set of footsteps near her bed.
“Ana!” Ana turned as Diane rushed to a stop and knelt beside her. “You’re awake! We weren’t sure you’d ever wake up. We had no idea what happened.”
“You’re alive,” Ana stared as she eased back to her feet. Diane helped her crawl back into the bed and settle under the covers.
Ana hesitated. So, she really was alive? That didn’t make much sense.
“Where are we?” Ana asked, searching the room.
Diane ruffled her short hair with a hand, “The medical ward, well, some of it. It’s missing an entire wing, several rooms, some roofing, most of the doctors and a couple of nurses. What happened to you?”
Ana was still staring at the world and then Diane prodded her again.
Ana explained her last battle, leaving out Lethe and using the term “The Strike” instead. Diane slowly took a seat as Ana spoke, easing back into a chair without removing her eyes from her friend.
“And now I’m here,” Ana said. “We broke The Great Light, didn’t we? Why am I still here? Was there more than one we had to break?”
Diane nodded in acknowledgement of the question but said nothing.
“What is it?” Ana prodded.
“Ana, I’m not an illusion, and neither are you.”
Ana shifted in her bed. “Yes, I am.”
“No.” Diane shook her head, and then explained her side of the story.
They had found Ana alone amid a war-torn battlefield. Released from Chronos, no one in camp had been sure what had happened. The devastation of the city had provided some clues, but the only real clue was Ana, with the broken shell gripped in her hand.
“The Great Light broke,” Diane finished. “There was a lot of sorrow and joy in that.” Her smile faded for a moment. “We’ve been grieving a lot for everyone we lost. They’ve made a ledgerof everyone and every place missing. I think it may just be best for you to read it yourself. Cal—that little twerp—is real. Not sure something fake could be that annoying.”
Ana laughed, exhaling deeply when her ribs and chest ached.
Diane told her about the damage. The State’s population was in shambles, but not nearly as bad as the Mystics. Generations of the illusions weaving themselves into the fabric of family bloodlines left entire royal houses empty. People were planning to dig up graves to see who the last living relative of a bloodline had been.
En Sanctans who had departed from En Sanctus weeks earlier had rallied at the State, the groups uniting in sequences of grief and celebration.
Secrets were unearthed, secrets upon secrets, and with all the destruction, the silence that had haunted them all had finally been removed.
“What about Lethe?” Ana asked after Diane didn’t mention him for some time.
Diane rubbed the back of her neck. “That’s another point, Ana. There are people who disappeared that you know.”
“Who?” Ana asked urgently.
“We couldn’t recover Jasper’s body. And Lethe was missing.” She then listed the names of other people that Ana knew. With the almost callous fashion that Diane shared them, it was clear to Ana that this practice was not unfamiliar to her. No doubt,discovering that missing loved ones were not real had been a heartbreaking and frequent occurrence the past few days.
