Pamuya - Goodbye My Love
Pamuya POV
She heard a rustling of leaves behind her and grabbed her spear, readying herself. The wind whistled, but nothing or no one appeared.
Whrrr—chink
There it was again. But it was different this time. There was a soft sound at the end. Like two wooden planks being hit together. But they sounded hollowed out.
This sounded familiar to her. It usually signaled the arrival of a celestial, a high level spirit deigning to delve below the heavens to the mortal realm. But she couldn’t tell who. Surely it was Amek. Last time they spoke, he told her he’d never lay eyes upon her again. Plus, his arrival echoed ominous twinkling, like tiny silver bells that sounded far away. No, this felt empty, as if it were a ghost approaching.
Ayden had to explain to her what a ghost was. A mortal’s soul that didn’t pass on to the afterlife. Pamuya had never heard of such a thing, but to be trapped between the here and the after, was a fate worse than death. If a spirit lingered too long in this world, they became more and more human. And if they tried to return to the heavens, they’d be cast out, forever left wondering, not human, but no longer a spirit either. She guessed they were one and the same.
She heard it again and this time, prepared herself for the attack. Amek may have made her mortal, but he forgot to revoke her powers. Though she wasn’t as strong as she was in her celestial form, she could still lay waste to any low level spirit and fend her off any high level ones.
From amongst the darkness Ayden emerged and she lowered her weapon.
“Oh, it’s only you.” She breathed a sigh of relief.
“Who else would it be?” He seemed to snap at her.
She chose to ignore this. Ayden had been on edge for a bit now. Enduring a harsh winter, outside, with little food and water, and natives (as he called them) and his own chasing them, have begun to take their toll. She built them a shelter that at least could withstand the blistering, wintry winds, but even she had to admit, she missed home. As hellish and lonely as it was, she couldn’t deny the part of her that yearned to lay lie amongst the heavens, basking in the spiritual energy that surrounds celestials all the time. And she was sure Ayden wouldn’t mind go back to his home.
Next thing she knew, she felt something warm and wet collide into her.
“Hey! What is your problem?!” She threw what looked to be a dead rabbit down onto the ground.
Ayden refused to meet her gaze. His whole stance reeked of anger and irritation. She knew things had been hard living in the woods, hiding from their enemies, barely scraping by all in the dead of winter. But he wasn’t in this alone. He didn’t have to treat her this way.
Pamuya took a deep breath and began calmly, “Is there something you want to talk about?”
“What do you think I want to talk about?”
“I don’t know, you tell me.” She tried not to grit her teeth. Ayden was clearly upset. She needed to remain calm. Not escalate this into something worse.
He chortled. A sort of derisive, snort. Was he making fun of me?
“You had—correction have—all this power and this is what you choose to do with it? Why if I had that power—”
“But you don’t,” I cut him off. “Ayden, what’s this all about?”
“Do you know what this is?” He pulled a luminescent, pale blue pole from behind his back. Upon first glance, it looked to be made of ice but what she assumed was frost coming off the staff was celestial dust. This was a device that came from the spirit world, which meant it had the power to defend against spirits or worse, destroy spirits.
“Where did you get that?” She gripped her spear harder, preparing herself for battle.
No mere mortal could travel to the spirit world unless they were no longer bound to this world. But Ayden hadn’t died. Not that she knew of. Did he die while hunting for their dinner? She had tried to convince him to let her go, but he was adamant. She relented because she knew he needed a moment away from her. She should have followed him or insisted more that she’d do the hunting. Why didn’t she listen to herself?
“Oh don’t worry your pretty little head. Your precious Ayden isn’t dead,” he broke through her reverie.
Why was he talking like that? Why did he say his name like that? Like it was a bad taste in her mouth. What was happening to her sweet, loving Ayden?
“Do you want to know what it does?”
“No.”
She was done talking. She needed to figure out a way to get that spear out of Ayden’s hand and send it back to the spirit world. Something was going on with Ayden. Maybe he was possessed or something, but before she could come up with a plan, Ayden lunged forward and nearly impaled him with the celestial spear. She blocked it and lightly shoved him back.
“Ayden don’t do this”
He said nothing. He straightened himself upright and propelled himself forward again, aiming for her head. She caught the staff in her free hand but it burned to the touch. She looked down at her hand and saw her flesh scorched. She figured it’d be best to deflect his attacks rather than take them head on.
Ayden attacked again, slashing wilding in the air, trying to cut any part of her he could reach. She blocked most of his advances, but he managed to cut at her lower abdomen, drawing quite a bit of blood. Her vision blurred as she knelt to the ground. Ayden charged again and she frantically swung her spear in front of her, hoping to ward him off.
She could hear Ayden chuckling. A mix between his voice and someone else’s, making it sound garbled and twisted.
“Now do you see?”
She swung her staff, sending another blast his way. She sensed his movement but hadn’t seen where he went. She kept her eyes peeled and her guard up. She saw a shadow cross her peripheral and no sooner had she readied herself, Ayden was behind her, pressing the celestial weapon into her back. She head butted him and darted closer to the fire.
He cackled, actually cackled.
“Ayden please, I don’t want to do this to you.”
“If you want to stop, you’ll have to kill me.”
He snuck from behind and grappled her down to the ground, spear aimed over her head. She opened her mouth, feeling the hot heat of her celestial being boil up inside her until a blast shot from within. Ayden pulled back, narrowly escaping.
“Ooh, you almost got me that time.”
“Ayden, please—”
A right hook assailed sailed across my face sending her flying across the ground. She caught herself, bracing against a tree, trying to catch her breath. She needed to end this. She couldn’t take much more of this.
Amek, if you can hear me . . .
She summoned all the strength she had left, pulling herself on her feet, holding her staff in front of her. A bright light circled over them and descended between them. She stepped into it, letting the heavenly warm wash over her. She emerged the spirit she once was, dressed in an all-white gown, with silver bracelets on her wrists with her staff now turned as pale as the moon. An opaque sphere at the top, capturing the moon’s rays.
Forgive me my love.
She stood, awaiting Ayden’s charge. In the dark, she could feel his sadistic grin, the spirit of his anguish radiating off him. A spirit may have possessed Ayden, but it was his rage that fueled this fight. Ayden was angry, angry at her and he allowed this ugliness to rule him. If he didn’t come back to his senses soon, she’d have no choice but to end him.
He ground his heels into the earth before propelling himself forward, racing towards her like a wild boar. Pamuya faced her love, tears streaming down her eyes as she plummeted her scepter into the ground. Placing both hands on the sphere, she channeled her energy through it before sending a celestial beam right through Ayden.
He flew backwards and landed in the woods beyond their campsite. She could tell she knocked the wind out of him, for there was a loud thump as he slammed into a tree. She hoped that was enough. She didn’t think she had another one of those in her. She already started to feel her spirit dwindling, the light fading from her staff. Soon she’d be mortal again and that was nothing she could do to stop Ayden then.
For a moment, she heard nothing. Heavens, she really had killed him. Quickly, she darted through the woods until she found his body, laying lifeless on the ground. Blood dripping slowly from his mouth. There must have been internal bleeding. She knelt down beside him, cradling his body in her arms.
“Oh Ayden, I’m so, so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I just—”
Then she felt it. A sharp blade slicing through her skin and organs, piercing all the way through her. She could feel what was left of her spirit drain from within her, seeping into the spear. She recoiled backwards, sinking to the ground, as a fierce cold spreading throughout her body that wasn’t the snow. She was dying.
Above her, a shadowy figure peered down at her, holding the celestial weapon. “I win,” It spoke and then it was gone, with Ayden standing over her, tears in his eyes.
“Pamuya . . .”
“It’s okay,” she croaked, reaching for him. He fell to his knees, grasping her hands in his, pressing her palm to his face.
“I tried . . . but I couldn’t . . . I never meant—”
“Shh. It’s okay. I know you’d never hurt me on purpose.” I caressed his face. “I’m just sorry we won’t get more time. I love you, Ayden.”
