Eternally Bound: Aftermath
----- Paige: Daughter of the Sea -----
(written by Harid/Paige/TheDejarins)
-----
Paige Dejarin hated closing her eyes.
Even as ash swept up along the winds battered her tear streaked face and made her eyes burn, it was still less pain than what she felt when her eyes were shut. Each time she allowed darkness to replace the horror before her, she heard the voices in her mind...a 'gift' from her mother perhaps.
The former speaker of the dead...apparently Paige took on Vivian's gifts more keenly than anyone could guess. The ghosts respected her with silence as she gazed upon the carnage before her, but when her eyes shut...
Run go and fetch the lion guard
Dear Gods no. Dwaya help us
Where is the lady? Where is her father!
Mommy
Daddy
Mother
Sister
Daddyhelpwhynogetawayfrommestopican'tbreatheican'tseemercymercymercy
mercy
mercy
mercy
Paige opened her eyes and wrapped her cloak tighter around herself. Though the chill she felt in her bones wasn't from the wind that drew the acrid stench of burned flesh and ruined grapes to her nose. Nor was it from the moonlight that provided no succor in this blasted landscape that was once her home. It was once Six's home as well...but now she was gone a possession of the monster.
It was the chill of knowing that she failed hundreds who relied upon her.
Each step she took left her feet crunching down on the remains of wood, the corpses of plants, and memories that were now lost to time. Each step brought her closer the the center of it all, where she knew that the magic had originated from. Each step...was terrible.
But then, Paige saw it.
In the center of it all was the last thing she expected to see.
She fell to her knees, as jagged chunks of charcoal tore through her robes leaving gashes of black across her mocha knees. The smell was worse here and the ash was dangerously close to filling her throat. But she found something that she knew must not be left here for scavengers and thieves to retrieve.
It was a puzzle box. One that was given to her on her fifth birthday. the one puzzle that Paige had never solved. It was magically enchanted to resist flame and water because the gift giver wanted Paige to never be without a puzzle. The box itself was clutched in a bony hand that Paige implicitly knew belonged to none other than Sebastian.
Paige wanted to curse the old man for trying to rescue such an object...but she couldn't bring herself to chide the dead.
Especially when she felt a ghostly hand upon her shoulder.
Paige shut her eyes so that her old butler could speak to her.
She expected shouts of range. She expected condemnations. She expected pity.
But he said nothing...yet said everything.
Paige kept her eyes shut and let her soul guide her to pressing buttons, twisting shapes, and twisting knobs on the puzzle box. It was as if her father, her butler, her lovers, and one hundred and sixty-seven names that also mattered to her spoke through her. As each name crossed from her mind to her heart, she felt more ghosts approach her and rest their hands upon her shoulders, her cheeks, her hair...
And they all said nothing.
It wasn't until Paige heard a click from the box that she finally opened her eyes...and just like that the ghosts departed and the air felt warmer...as if they had fulfilled their purpose and could move on to the mists.
She gazed upon the object and didn't know what to think of it...until the meaning of the gift jumped to mind. She arched her back and gazed at the moon as she parted her lips and laughed and laughed and cried. She brought the object close to her breast leaving the solved puzzle box aside.
It was a map of the ocean and nothing more.
When Paige finally stopped laughing the answer was as clear as day to her. The ghosts may have forgiven and moved on, but the monster had to be put down and the answer lied in the sea.
"Father..." Paige finally said, "It's time that I become a daughter of the sea as you always wanted."
Aftermaths:
Note: Read these in any order, then the Epilogue
