Page 170 of To Free a Soul
Like before, he brought forth the fate tethers that connected him to his offspring and mate.
Only one was taut, the others drifting and swaying as loose, glowing strings that twined with his shadowy thread.I thought it was Faunus again,he mused, as he wrapped his finger around the one in a different state from the others.
He yanked the pink glowing string, and there was no resistance this time. The Mavka came to him easily, and within a second, Aleron’s spectral, ghostly pink body was brought to him. He lay asleep in the darkness, one wing resting back as if he lay on something, while the other hugged the top of him.
His chest was unmoving, and no heartbeat throbbed.
But even if it didn’t seem like it, his offspring was alive, just not in the realm of life.
What of Ingram?
Weldir waited to see if his raven-skulled offspring would be joining his twin, the bat-skulled one, but he never came. Considering their special bond, and their inability to leave each other’s side, what had felled one should have gotten its claws into both.
When he willed the viewing disc of Ingram to the surface, instead his mate appeared.
Hugging his large raven skull, which seemed to encompass the entire length of her torso, Lindiwe knelt on the ground, swaying back and forth as she screamed out hysterical sobs.
Half of her face was torn apart and bloodied, and only a few patches of her cloak remained white. Her hands glowed with strange streaks of lava, and if she experienced any pain from it, or any of her wounds, it was obvious she couldn’t feel it under the waves of her grief.
She refused to let go of Ingram’s skull, even when she buried her wounded face between his short ram horns and cried against it. Her shoulders shook as she heaved.
“I’m so sorry, Ingram,” she sobbed against his skull. “I’m so fucking sorry. And Aleron...”
She couldn’t get her next words out, instead screaming a breathless cry to the world. Thankfully she was protected under Merikh’s glowing red ward, and the surly bear Mavka was nowhere in sight.
“Lindiwe?” Weldir called.
“Weldir!” she rasped loudly. “Aleron… Aleron isgone.”
“I know. His death woke me.”
“I had to choose! I had to choose which one to save.” She buried her face against the top of Ingram’s skull once more, smearing her own blood upon it. “I tried so hard to save themboth, but there were too many of them. I couldn’t... I tried... I had to watch himdie. Why?! You weren’t there. I had to do it all by myself. And then I had tofleejust to protect the ones I carry because you weren’t there to take them. It’s notfair.”
“This was the risk we took to save Faunus,” Weldir answered curtly, disliking the possibility she was insinuating he’d had a choice in the matter.
“I know!” she yelled, shaking her head. “I know it’s not your fault, but I can’t do this anymore. I can’t watch them die, knowing there is nothing I can do to save them. I shouldn’t have to bear witness to this!”
“Aleron is here with me, Lindiwe,” Weldir reminded her, his tone softening, understanding now that she wasn’t blaming him – just grieving. “In Tenebris, he’ll be with me and Nathair. We will take care of him.”
“It’s not the same!Theredoesn’t exist! It isn’t real! It doesn’t matter to me when I can never see or speak to him again, and it won’t matter to Ingram when he comes back to realise his twin is truly gone!”
He was rendered silent. He didn’t know how to respond.
He... could never feel the same as she did regarding this death. For him, it opened new possibilities, new avenues. In Aleron’s death, his life with Weldir started.
It may be a pointless life, but it was one Aleron could share with him and Nathair.
As opposed to the sadness she felt, Weldir experienced... joy. The loneliness of his realm would become less apparent. It would be filled by another of his offspring, one with whom he could truly interact, speak, and play. Someone who could touch him, and he would reciprocate, even if he couldn’t feel it.
“Let me bring you to my realm so I can heal you.”
“No!” she yelled, squeezing Ingram’s skull tighter. “Just leave me alone. I want to stay with Ingram.”
“Then bring Ingram with you. You can meet Aleron’s soul before I consume him.”
“I don’t want to see it! I don’t want to see my son’s dead fucking soul.” She shook her head frantically. “I want to be left alone. I don’t want to see you, or it, or do anything but be here. Just... you don’t understand. I know you don’t, soplease.”
She’s right – I don’t.He never could.
