08-29-2015, 03:26 AM
and death shall have no
DOMINION
And death shall have no Dominion.
The words whispered along her skin in a thousand long-dead voices, a chant that repeated endlessly until it became a blur of sounds that had no meaning. It was the only thing that existed, that eternal echo in the darkness. Fragments of thoughts drifted through her consciousness, snippets of awareness that were quickly drowned out by the heavy weight of empty space pressing in on her from all sides. Faces flashing in her mind: a man whose laughing eyes made her heart skip a beat; a serious, solemn boy who made her heart ache; a tiny dancing girl whose smile lit her up from the inside. There and gone again, and every time their voices joined the chant.
And death shall have no Dominion.
She was spinning, swimming, drifting through the nothingness that had once been filled with stars. All gone now, swallowed down by a dark god somewhere at another world’s end. Devoured one by one, screaming as they sacrificed themselves to give their last living daughter a chance to escape. Three faces, the only three stars left in her sky, and their images slowly, so slowly solidified out of the nothingness into a solid presence.
Love. The boundless love of a man for his lady, laugh though she had when he’d called her a lady. The helpless, hopeless, heedless way she’d found herself throwing her heart at him without a hint of restraint. The unconditional, all-encompassing love she had felt for her babies the moment she’d laid eyes on them. Their love for her, soft and needing and somehow innately trusting that she would do whatever it took to take care of them. All that love wrapped around her, sinking beneath her skin and holding her tight, anchoring her to those three faces.
“Oh, Dom.” His voice made her ache, made her yearn to feel the brush of his lips against her skin, the weight of his body pressing into hers. She could almost reach, almost touch him if she just—“No, love. I know. I want it too, but you can’t.” A whisper, a breath against her cheek, and more words that twisted their way around her heart and squeezed. “You were only mine for a little while, darling, and we can’t go back. I want to. I want to be every single star in your sky, my heart. I want to light up the night for you, for only you, forever. But I was never meant for forever. You though? And death shall have no Dominion.” She could almost feel his lips against her forehead, could almost feel the rush of air against her skin as he sighed. “You were never mine to keep. But I treasured every moment.”
Tears fell down her cheeks as she whispered a broken goodbye to the man she had loved for four too-short years. She felt his presence fading, felt him dissolving around her, using everything he had left to give her one last push and she was moving, down, down, down through the darkness toward a world she had left behind…had it been days, hours, moments ago? Closer now, she could feel the faintest tug as it tried to draw her back even as she slowed to a stop. She couldn’t feel him anymore, one less anchor to a past that was dead and gone. But the children. Their love still wrapped around her, holding her close. She could almost feel them cuddling into her as they’d done when they were alive.
He took his time, her not so little boy. He always had, pondering every word before he spoke, such a solemn soul, a stark contrast to his charming, silver-tongued father. And when he spoke, his words were heavy with consideration. “I don’t know why. You never asked why we came into your life or why we left it. I don’t think it ever occurred to you to ask why. That was always my favorite question, not yours. I don’t understand why we existed at all, if we were just going to die. Except. We changed you, I think. We gave you the life you always wanted, safe and loved and raising your babies somewhere you didn’t have to worry about us starving to death or being hunted our whole lives. We gave you a taste of happiness.
“And…and we fulfilled your duty to your family. You never saw it that way, I know. But part of you wouldn’t have felt right, living and dying and never fighting to bring the next generation into the world. Even a strange new world like this one. You never saw us as an obligation to your ancestors. Children have always been a fact of life for you, and one you loved ferociously and with all the devotion in your heart. But…you don’t owe it to anyone to try again, and to keep trying until you have nothing left. There are more important things than four dead tribes from another world. You are more important than your legacy. And your legacy will be greater if you understand that. Wait to try again. Wait until you need to, until it burns inside you brighter than all the stars that ever filled the sky. It’s only then that another star can be born. Do you see?”
As if he knew the answer already, he began to dissolve around her just like his father had. She wanted to call out his name, to beg him to stay just a little while longer. But she had lost him long ago. She whispered another goodbye as he too pushed her closer to the world she had left behind. The darkness started to fade around the edges, and Dom could almost feel ground beneath her feet as she once again drifted to a stop.
“Hi, Momma!” Her baby girl’s voice was sweet and clear and bright, the high-pitched voice of innocence unbroken by the trauma of her death. “I love you. You did a good job, you know. You didn’t mess it up, and you didn’t lose us. It wasn’t your fault. And if you do want to try again, that’s okay. If you want to love somebody who isn’t Daddy, if you want to have more babies, you should do that. We want you to be happy, especially because we can’t be there to make sure you will be. And Momma? I know it’s hard. I know you’ve lost a lot of people, and it’s hard to keep your heart open when it’s been broken over and over like yours has. But can you promise me something, please? Can you do me a favor? I’m not going to be there to remind you, so you’re going to have to remember for yourself. Don’t forget to dance!” Baby Aya lit up with her biggest, most radiant grin as she started to fade.
“I promise, baby,” Dom said softly as the last of her little girl’s love dissolved around her and pushed her back into a world that had slowly started to become her own. The darkness faded, and Dom saw the frozen surface of her lake. Weeping willow branches draped around her, welcoming her back to the world. They were gone, her three loves. But this time she had gotten to say goodbye. This time, it was not the senseless cruelty of a vindictive world. It was…a gift.
She didn’t notice yet the sky full of stars sprinkled across her skin. Nor did she see Beqanna’s sky, filled now with its own stars instead of the stars of a dying world. She just leaned up against the trunk of the old willow tree with a smile curling the edges of her lips upward, greeting an old friend as the world began again.
The words whispered along her skin in a thousand long-dead voices, a chant that repeated endlessly until it became a blur of sounds that had no meaning. It was the only thing that existed, that eternal echo in the darkness. Fragments of thoughts drifted through her consciousness, snippets of awareness that were quickly drowned out by the heavy weight of empty space pressing in on her from all sides. Faces flashing in her mind: a man whose laughing eyes made her heart skip a beat; a serious, solemn boy who made her heart ache; a tiny dancing girl whose smile lit her up from the inside. There and gone again, and every time their voices joined the chant.
And death shall have no Dominion.
She was spinning, swimming, drifting through the nothingness that had once been filled with stars. All gone now, swallowed down by a dark god somewhere at another world’s end. Devoured one by one, screaming as they sacrificed themselves to give their last living daughter a chance to escape. Three faces, the only three stars left in her sky, and their images slowly, so slowly solidified out of the nothingness into a solid presence.
Love. The boundless love of a man for his lady, laugh though she had when he’d called her a lady. The helpless, hopeless, heedless way she’d found herself throwing her heart at him without a hint of restraint. The unconditional, all-encompassing love she had felt for her babies the moment she’d laid eyes on them. Their love for her, soft and needing and somehow innately trusting that she would do whatever it took to take care of them. All that love wrapped around her, sinking beneath her skin and holding her tight, anchoring her to those three faces.
“Oh, Dom.” His voice made her ache, made her yearn to feel the brush of his lips against her skin, the weight of his body pressing into hers. She could almost reach, almost touch him if she just—“No, love. I know. I want it too, but you can’t.” A whisper, a breath against her cheek, and more words that twisted their way around her heart and squeezed. “You were only mine for a little while, darling, and we can’t go back. I want to. I want to be every single star in your sky, my heart. I want to light up the night for you, for only you, forever. But I was never meant for forever. You though? And death shall have no Dominion.” She could almost feel his lips against her forehead, could almost feel the rush of air against her skin as he sighed. “You were never mine to keep. But I treasured every moment.”
Tears fell down her cheeks as she whispered a broken goodbye to the man she had loved for four too-short years. She felt his presence fading, felt him dissolving around her, using everything he had left to give her one last push and she was moving, down, down, down through the darkness toward a world she had left behind…had it been days, hours, moments ago? Closer now, she could feel the faintest tug as it tried to draw her back even as she slowed to a stop. She couldn’t feel him anymore, one less anchor to a past that was dead and gone. But the children. Their love still wrapped around her, holding her close. She could almost feel them cuddling into her as they’d done when they were alive.
He took his time, her not so little boy. He always had, pondering every word before he spoke, such a solemn soul, a stark contrast to his charming, silver-tongued father. And when he spoke, his words were heavy with consideration. “I don’t know why. You never asked why we came into your life or why we left it. I don’t think it ever occurred to you to ask why. That was always my favorite question, not yours. I don’t understand why we existed at all, if we were just going to die. Except. We changed you, I think. We gave you the life you always wanted, safe and loved and raising your babies somewhere you didn’t have to worry about us starving to death or being hunted our whole lives. We gave you a taste of happiness.
“And…and we fulfilled your duty to your family. You never saw it that way, I know. But part of you wouldn’t have felt right, living and dying and never fighting to bring the next generation into the world. Even a strange new world like this one. You never saw us as an obligation to your ancestors. Children have always been a fact of life for you, and one you loved ferociously and with all the devotion in your heart. But…you don’t owe it to anyone to try again, and to keep trying until you have nothing left. There are more important things than four dead tribes from another world. You are more important than your legacy. And your legacy will be greater if you understand that. Wait to try again. Wait until you need to, until it burns inside you brighter than all the stars that ever filled the sky. It’s only then that another star can be born. Do you see?”
As if he knew the answer already, he began to dissolve around her just like his father had. She wanted to call out his name, to beg him to stay just a little while longer. But she had lost him long ago. She whispered another goodbye as he too pushed her closer to the world she had left behind. The darkness started to fade around the edges, and Dom could almost feel ground beneath her feet as she once again drifted to a stop.
“Hi, Momma!” Her baby girl’s voice was sweet and clear and bright, the high-pitched voice of innocence unbroken by the trauma of her death. “I love you. You did a good job, you know. You didn’t mess it up, and you didn’t lose us. It wasn’t your fault. And if you do want to try again, that’s okay. If you want to love somebody who isn’t Daddy, if you want to have more babies, you should do that. We want you to be happy, especially because we can’t be there to make sure you will be. And Momma? I know it’s hard. I know you’ve lost a lot of people, and it’s hard to keep your heart open when it’s been broken over and over like yours has. But can you promise me something, please? Can you do me a favor? I’m not going to be there to remind you, so you’re going to have to remember for yourself. Don’t forget to dance!” Baby Aya lit up with her biggest, most radiant grin as she started to fade.
“I promise, baby,” Dom said softly as the last of her little girl’s love dissolved around her and pushed her back into a world that had slowly started to become her own. The darkness faded, and Dom saw the frozen surface of her lake. Weeping willow branches draped around her, welcoming her back to the world. They were gone, her three loves. But this time she had gotten to say goodbye. This time, it was not the senseless cruelty of a vindictive world. It was…a gift.
She didn’t notice yet the sky full of stars sprinkled across her skin. Nor did she see Beqanna’s sky, filled now with its own stars instead of the stars of a dying world. She just leaned up against the trunk of the old willow tree with a smile curling the edges of her lips upward, greeting an old friend as the world began again.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;