Marabella
Death… It is… Well, it is, I guess. But it is nothing like I thought it might be. Nothing that I imagined for it to be.
I expected oblivion, nothingness, peace, and solitude. Silence, at the least… But this?
It’s something else, so far away from everything I craved when I thought of the escape I desperately need, it makes no sense. Nothing makes sense anymore.
This experience is something else. I know, for a fact, that I am dead. After all, I felt how my heart stopped moments ago. I heard the last thump. But even while I know that there is no more me in the world I came from, why do I still feel? Where is the numbness I sought?
I still feel like I can’t breathe. Like something keeps tightening around my neck and blocking off my airways. I still feel how painfully my lungs burn, desperate for the tiniest bit of air to put out the fire spreading through them.
And what is worst of all, I feel like my body is tingling all over. Like tiny pins and needles are thrust into my skin, just to disappear and come back with double the force a moment later. The only comparison I can find for the unpleasant sensation is the same as not moving for so long. The limb dies for a bit and then comes back to life with the same feeling all over again.
It is horrid. Always has been. I’ve always hated this very feeling, and now, just to spite me, it wraps around my body while I deserve nothing but the numbness I welcome more than anything.
My subconscious feels like it is floating in space, but the feeling doesn’t fade. I give up and tell myself it’s about time I get used to this torture because that must be what I will feel for eternity. But right as my mind repeats the words for the second time, I feel a tug on my chest, right where my heart is supposed to be.
I feel like something is pulling at me, my entire body is pulled towards… Something new?
Light flickers ahead of me as my body is thrust forward so suddenly, I barely realize how fast my surroundings move. And then, just as quick as it happens, it stops and I come to a halt.
I squeeze my eyes shut at the motion, take a breath, as silly as it seems since, hello, I’m dead, and slowly open my eyes again. Once my vision adjusts to the new surroundings, I notice a man.
And then, my eyesight sharpens enough just to notice that he isn’t alone. There are hundreds of people. As I squint my eyes at the scenery, I frown. No, those hundreds, they aren’t people after all.
They are almost translucent, like ghosts, but the man in front of me is flickering. I hold out my hand and look at it. I, too, appear to be just as transparent as those ghosts.
Just the man I am as transparent, but I flicker the same as the man before me. We look out of place amongst the shadow beings. Especially since I am surrounded by the abyss of shadowy mist.
“Hello Marabella,” the flickering man suddenly greets me and I jump. That voice… I recognize it immediately. I couldn’t mistake it for anything else.
I blink and look over at him. He is just as tall as Kyan. His hair is dark black, and he is wearing a finely tailored suit, the buttons undone, revealing his chest and stomach. As my eyes slowly take him in, I notice that he has shadow marks all across his chest and arms. They are the same as Kyan. There is no mistaking who he is. Even if I want to deny it, I know better than that.
“Dominic,” I whisper his name and a lump forms in my throat. As I try to force it back down, Dominic nods his head and steps closer to me.
It’s like an instinct, but I don’t hesitate to reach my hand out to him. However, I jump when I do, because my hand goes straight through his chest.
My brows crease in confusion as I look around again, taking in as many shadowy figures as I can. And yet, while I do my best to notice something, I can’t seem to understand why these figures don’t flicker as Dominic does. Like I do…
“Where am I?” I ask as I peer into the mist.
“In the shadow realm, where all Octavians go,” he answers.
“Shadow Realm?” My eyes snap back at him.
A slight smile spreads across Dominic’s face and it reminds me so much of Kyan. It pains me. At this very moment, some memories decide to assault me. For example, how this man gave up his life for mine, and I didn’t appreciate it. I gave up and completely disregarded his sacrifice. I took this man from my own mate, even if I had no idea it was because of me.
I nearly allow my mind to push me into another oblivion of darkness, but before it happens, Dominic saves me again. His voice is all I need to focus on him. “Yes, there are many realms. Like the Moon Goddess realm, prison realms like this one, which is reserved for Octavian descendants and their mates, exist. There are more realms than anyone could fathom,” he explains.
I am amazed at how soft-spoken Dominic sounds considering his intimidating appearance.
“But I am not an Octavian, Kyan rejected me,” I tell him and shake my head. This has to be a mistake. I’m dead, yes, but I must be elsewhere. I can’t go where Kyan’s bloodline rests or wanders, for I am nothing to him anymore.
Dominic shakes his head. He turns his back to me and starts walking somewhere. Even though he doesn’t tell me to, I feel like he wants me to follow, so I do just that.
He walks through the mist and through the people who aimlessly wander around this place. In the shadows, there are so many of them here that I can’t see any end to them. We walk through many, just to move ahead and see even more.