A Brotherhood of Crows.
Chapter 39

“Does it?” Red asked.

I guess so. That’s where I started, didn’t I? Falling out of the sky. Dying. You asked me how I got there. This is how.

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I’d like to think it’s more than that, though I don’t really understand how you got here.

That little mischievous smile. “Maybe I’ve always been here.”

Knew you’d say something like that. So...am I still falling?

She mulled it over for a second. “I guess you still are. I just slowed things down a bit.”

Kind of you, but I’m ready to die now.

An archly raised eyebrow. “Are you, now? And why’s that?”

You really want me to spell it out?

“Please, chika.”

Back in the wood...he kept telling me knew what I did. And I saw something.

She hesitated. “Did you see all of it?”

No, just a word.

“And that’s enough for you to want to die?”

It I can remember a word, I may remember other things.

Red rocked her head from side to side, contemplating. “There’s a chance of that. But there’s also a chance you won’t.”

The fuck is that supposed to mean?

“It means that sometimes life keeps going, and we’re not ready for it. Doesn’t mean we have to end it.”

Are you going to try and stop me?

“Couldn’t even if I wanted to. I used up too much trying to warn you about the wood.” she stopped, and examined her hands silently for a moment. “But I will tell you something.”

Go on.

“When you hit the storm, try closing your eyes and opening them again.”

...I don’t understand.

“Try it. If you want to.”

And I kept falling.

“You sure about this?” bellowed Tobias.

Zularna dropped the groaning form of Crucius into the copilot’s chair and buckled him in. “You got a better idea?”

“Nope. You’ve only got one shot at this so -”

“I will. Get ready to open the hatch,”

She slid down into the cargo bay before he could reply. The net launcher had a jumpseat attached to the trigger, with a targeting computer next to it. Zularna climbed in, tightened the sturdy restraints around her body, and powered up the gun.

“Ready!” She yelled up to the cockpit.

Ahead of her, the skimmer’s forward cargo door opened. A blast of wind, so fast it felt like a cut to the face, hit her. The air buzzed and crackled with electrical energy, causing her hair to stand on end. She shook her head to clear it, and looked to the targeting computer, as it locked onto various falling bits of debris. Her fingers poised above the trigger, waiting, praying, hoping -

-There.

I watched the storm devour Cerberus as I fell.

It fell faster than me. Why I don’t know. Gravity worked differently here. Now there was nothing but me and the oncoming black.

I felt calm. I felt no pain. I was ready. It had all led to this. So be it.

Christ knows I was tired of it all anyway.

I exhaled and close my eyes and waited to die.

What I saw was: a grey world, with gunmetal clouds split by lightning, and wind that I could feel but not hear. It felt serene. Elsewhere always had that in its favour. If it was even real. Who cared. At least I could die in the quiet, watching the wreckage fall towards me.

....the wreckage fall towards me…

My eyes snapped open and I was back in the snarling wind. Back where I could see wreckage plunging into the storm. But when I closed my eyes I could...see…

Suddenly, what Red said made a hell of a lot of sense.

Something changed. The wind picked up and I found myself hurtling towards the storm, its eye beckoning greedily. Did I know what I had just realised? Did I matter? I had to time this to the second or...or…

I found myself screaming, screaming as I plunged towards the dark. Closer. Closer. A blink of the eyes show me hurtling towards the eye, from the other side in Elsewhere. Almost there, almost -

I hit the eye of the storm, and as I did so, I closed my eyes, and fell between worlds.

Everything shifted, flipped around, reversed. I swore I heard a great voice roar in agony and disappointment. And then I was falling again. Falling in a world of colour.

A world of clear skies.

Something wrapped around me, encapsulating me whole. A net. Then I was being pulled, dragged through the sky, spinning and flailing out of the light and into shadow.

“We have him, get us out of here!” called a familiar voice.

“Gotcha, hold onto your hats, here we go!”

I felt the skyskimmer shock. I felt hands tearing the netting away from my body. I was pulled gently, and I found my head resting in her lap, looking up to her face, tears of relief in her eyes.

“Got you,” Zularna whispered.

She’s going to save your life. Twice.

Two down. That’s my girl.

I couldn’t speak. But I did not need to, for the one thing I needed to say more than anything else, in that very second was something I can only say to you, my friend. And that’s this:

Elsewhere is real.

The End.

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