It was cold.
I struggled around in the darkness, trying to free myself. Ever so often a foreign voice would penetrate the silence, persuading me to abandon everything and give up. The voices were different each time, some mellow, some friendly and some with a tone of malice in them. I ignored their pleas, not wanting to give up. My screams were heard by no one, as I twisted around. A glowing orb floated serenely in front of me, before it was devoured by the infinite blackness. I managed to squeeze myself free from my spiritual restraints and ran away, but to where? Every step I took seemed to pull me back. Nevertheless, I continued to run. The voices around me started to murmur, and before long they started to chant incessantly, escalating to wails of torture. I tried to block out the screams but I failed. I still went on, ignoring my legs’ cry to stop.
The wails got louder and my ears exploded under the extreme volume. I was deaf, I did not know why. I gave up and collapsed on the non-existent ground in a sobbing mess. I thought about my situation, my twin, and the life I was never going to have.
“Zavier… are.. are you in there? Please… come back…”
I pricked my ears up at the voice, and a glimmer of hope appeared. I was doubtful though, since I was deaf. Zavius’ voice was faint at first, but escalated in volume when I got up and ran after it. I was so happy, even in my blind-deaf state. I was just relieved to hear my sibling’s comforting voice again. I was already thinking how I should greet him after escaping this God-forsaken place, when his voice grew even louder. I picked up my pace.
I was almost near the source of Zavius’ voice when I tripped. I tried to get up but it was as if my arms had lost all their strength. Out of the blue, a tendril grabbed my arm, or what I thought to be one. I was caught again. Before long I was trapped again, flailing helplessly in the increasing darkness. I cried, not silently, but literally cried blood out. The crimson tears flowed down my cheek and I tasted its familiar salty, metallic taste. Half of me wanted to give up, but the other half wanted to see my brother. I just slowly gave in to the force and got ripped to shreds. I struggled more, not wanting to die. The supernaturally strong tentacles relentlessly tore me apart, continuing their cruel display of pleasurably degenerating me.
Before long I could not feel anything. My legs, arms, neck, all of them, gone. The only things I could feel were wings, butterfly wings, to be exact. It was my soul, now transformed into a glowing crimson butterfly. I was released by the tendrils and the voices immediately ceased to exist. I floated around pointlessly, before my brother’s familiar cry broke the deafening silence. I followed his voice, crying minuscule tears. I flapped my wings as hard as I could, and before long I was looking down at Zavius, who was looking at me. I surveyed my surroundings, and finally realised what I was meant to do.
“Zavier… d-don’t leave… me…”
I led my brother out of the village, to the top of the hill. My duty now was to protect this village. I ignored Zavius’ cries for me to stop, I didn’t want to hurt him further. He ran, fueled just by adrenaline and the want of me. Selfish as I may sound, I didn’t want to go back to him, I wanted to go up to Heaven. I finally reached my destination, and I looked back at my twin. He was practically bawling his eyes out when I looked at him. As I did not want to hurt him anymore, I flew to him. He reached out, but I did nothing but graze his finger, and that was it. I turned back, and disappeared.
