In Memoriam of a Soul

WAKE UP.

YOU HAVE TO WAKE UP.

Lights flickered. Tiny spots of warmth in the sea of darkness.

wakeup

youhavetowakeup

Falling from the heavens. Her lungs filled like parachutes. Clouds came rushing by. But she didn’t care. It was over.

Izhari and the tower were falling towards the world below. She didn’t know how far they had gone, and how long she would fall for. None of it mattered. It was over.

All she cared about was holding on to Tomita’s limp body so that he did not get pulled away by the rushing winds.

You have to wake up

“Please, wake up,” Izhari cried as The Void smoldered and faded from her body.

Something had shifted in her spirit. There was no glorious release or victorious ecstasy. Instead, a heavy, dampening lightness had taken her body and mind.

Her vengeance was complete, and for the first time since the great breaking of the world, Mathael’s insidious influence was not permeating the realm. In the absence of purpose or existential dread, Izhari felt lost. It was over.

None of it mattered anymore. Let them die. If Tomita couldn’t be with her, she didn’t care.

Across the realm, The Void had faded, but its victims were still gone. All across the world, chunks of existence had been ripped away. Thinking of all of those now left to suffer in confusion, a terrifying guilt seized Izhari.

Clarity gave her sympathy, and for the first time, she felt regret for her actions.

This wasn’t what she wanted. This wasn’t what she wanted. She didn’t want the innocent to suffer. She was innocent once. No one deserved to experience what she did.

You have to wake up.

All of this was her fault. She had to stop it.

Silver tears ran from the strain as she held up her hands in a desperate plea.

“Please, stop! Heal! Stop falling! Stop breaking! Stop hurting!!!” she cried.

Nothing changed. The sky was still broken. Millions upon millions of memory orbs were still falling to the world below. Though it might have been her imagination, Izhari swore she could hear the cries of millions in pain. But she couldn’t stop it.

Her energy was spent. Empty thoughts supported broken spirits. Everything was going to fall apart, and it was all her doing.

You have to wake up, Tomita.

Mathael was right, she was nothing but a weapon.

“Please, stop…” she cried as she forced herself up to expend the remaining bits of her lifeforce in one desperate attempt to fix everything.

Grunts of exhaustion mixed with rushing winds. Let this be the one good thing she had ever done. Take all of her and save this place. The innocent did not deserve to die or suffer. Even if most of the world would never change, it was not her place to damn them all.

Remorse coursed through her veins like adrenaline as she set her feet one final time.

“Hear my plea…” she begged the ether.

But nothing happened. No magic came forth. She had nothing left to give.

In her fury, she had destroyed everything.

Then, his hands were there, holding her up.

Touch so familiar, she dared not turn and look lest her heart shatter. Words of comfort from a familiar voice. Exhales drifting against her whiskers with familiar softness.

Her familiar.

“Izhari…” said Tomita.

His voice cut through her remaining resolve, and she turned to face the one she thought she had lost. It wasn’t over.

Tomita was there, still alive. His mind had returned.

“Tomita?! How?” Izhari asked in shock.

“You won. I think Mathael’s magic faded with him. Whiiiiiich might explain why we are in free fall…” sighed Tomita as he forced himself to laugh.

Izhari dropped her staff and hugged him without hesitation. He pulled her close as all the world streaked by in a blur.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I was so far gone. I destroyed everything…” she cried.

His hands held her face.

“No. You can fix this. We have to fix this. Somehow…”

It was a noble thought, but in his heart, Tomita doubted his words.

Her spirit was hollowed. As much as he hated to admit it, her life had not given her enough peace or clarity to do something as all-encompassing as rewriting reality. She had the strength and power to do so, he knew that, but her heart and mind were not ready.

Hundreds of ideas rushed through Tomita’s mind with the wind as they dropped further and further through the clouds. Beyond the two of them dying, Tomita and Izhari both knew that if she died, the entire world would be doomed.

She was the last maji. Any hope at a remade reality would die with her.

“Izhari, I know you can do this. You have the power. But your heart, and your mind. I’m so sorry life was so cruel to you,” said Tomita.

To his surprise, Izhari shook her head as she wiped her eyes.

“No. I’m not anymore. All of that suffering. All of that pain. It led me to you.”

She smiled a smile that was weak but sincere. Tomita laughed joyously and pointed in happiness.

“Aye! Look at that! A smile!!” he said as he took her paw once more.

It was proof that she could be happy. It was there. It had always been there. Life had denied it, and she had buried it, but she was not just a weapon. She was not a monster.

Then the idea finally struck him. It was desperate and unrefined, but it was clear. To Tomita’s sadness, he knew what it would cost, and he knew there would be some lying involved if it were to work. But it was all he had.

“Izhari, I have an idea. I need you to trust me,” he said as tears formed in his eyes.

What awaited him would be painful. Hopefully, it would be kind for her. If it worked, the other side of this would be peace and maybe a chance to fix everything.

“I trust you, always,” she replied.

Memories of the cave danced in Tomita’s mind. Pocket realities. Worlds where time did not move. Moments of existence that were meant for grieving, but he had wanted healing. The cave would not allow such a thing, so he would make his own. As he gathered his thoughts, he pressed her paw to his chest.

“Izhari, I need you to be a conduit for my thoughts once more, just like the battle. What I am about to think, I want you to create.”

His voice betrayed hints of sadness that she noticed and could not dismiss.

“What are you doing, Tomita?” she asked.

The ground felt close now. Warm air began to rise to meet them. Chaos and screams below were now faintly heard even through the gusting wind.

“You are the best thing that ever happened to me. You won’t remember these words outright, but let them reinforce your heart in the deepest parts of your soul: Take as much time as you need. When you are ready, return to me, and we will fix this.”

“Tomita, what are you saying?” she asked.

Memory star falls struck the ground all around them, flinging shards of lost recollections across the sky like sparks. Tomita didn’t flinch or look away. He knew that for him, this would only be a moment, but it would take an immense amount of pain and burden sharing. For her, it could be a lifetime. He was going to make sure it was a good one.

“I love you, Izhari,” he said.

The words were foreign to her. It was not a phrase she had ever known, but something in her chest told her she agreed and felt the same way.

“What does that mean?” she asked with a confused glance.

“It’s a phrase. You’ll understand. Say it back to me when you come back.”

“...Roger…”

Hearts move across space and time looking for partners and connections. Souls exist across innumerable realities, seeking comfort in people and places. Memories and experiences shape the reality of all who are aware. Sometimes, all of those things exist in conflict, creating an existence of hardship for the unfortunate ones cursed to never know peace. But for some, they are fortunate enough to cross paths with others that resonate with them in the most fundamental of ways. For Izhari the Abandoned One and Tomita Kichirou, it took a supposedly failed summoning across different planes of reality for them to find one another.

There, on that stone tower, as they fell towards impending doom and the destruction of all, Tomita focused all of his warmth and gentleness into the purest, clearest thoughts he had created in perhaps his entire life. In the absence of alcohol or depression or dissociation, his mind was finally clear.

His hand touched Izhari’s chest and he closed his eyes.

“I’ll be here when you get back,” he said.

For Izhari, everything faded away.