Cosmically Bound

My head hurt from the lack of sleep, I had only gotten an hour's rest. Luciean told me that some of the medics needed me urgently, which caused me to end my conversation with Nellion earlier than expected. As I rushed down the stairs and out of the Silken Haven I could feel the sudden change in the atmosphere. Usually the area was bustling with talk, good and bad. Now...it was dead silent. Almost no one wanted to speak about what had happened, about the losses they endured. For once I wished that the sound of chatter wasn't missing, I remembered complaining about it but now without it, it was way worse. The air felt thick, and suffocating at the same time, the cool breeze was freezing instead of cooling. It felt almost as if the forest was mad at us, witches were seen as the Forest's Guardians, to protect the forest. Not to inflict harm on it, I could only imagine that this place was beginning to hate us. The last winter here was horrible, the crops were never affected by the change of weather here, but for the first time, they were. Especially with humans now running about, they know this place is enchanted, that's why they hunt us. Maybe the magical wards were wearing off now that the witches were gone. But they've lasted us over ten years without them. Why now? I was glad that snow never fell here, if so that would be catastrophic. Bringing my eyes up to the place I was meant to be I noticed Celestara was there, lying down against a bed of herbs and blankets. Her leg was leaking oozy golden streaks of blood, covered by heaps of bandages. I could feel my core drop to my chest. I immediately rushed over, the medics that were crowded around her instantly caught me and guided me away for a moment.

"Don't, she's injured—badly as you can see. We can't risk her getting riled by seeing you." One of the medics exclaimed, pushing me away.

It was far too late for that! I cursed in my mind, she was hurt. Badly hurt. And they wanted me to stand back? Why was I called here in the first place? If Luciean called me to say goodbye to Celestara then...I wouldn't allow it. A simple leg wound couldn't kill her, but our medicine wouldn't work on aliens. Most of the time anyway, but she couldn't just die. I had healing powers for the witch's sake! I could heal her! I could mend whatever was broken, I could. I had to. I could hear talking all around me, multiple people touching me trying to calm me. But it wasn't working, I could barely make out any of the words. I didn't want to be babied, I was leading a war. I could do this, why weren't they letting me? I grit my teeth, wanting to say something. Lashing out wasn't an option, screaming wasn't an option, I couldn't do anything at the moment, my body wasn't letting me. The sounds of talking grew more distant as if I wasn't in control of myself. I wasn't going to lose someone else I cared about, was I? This soon? First Lunara, now Celestara, this wasn't an option.

"Mendora!" A male voice shouted.

I felt a cold reassuring touch on my shoulder which immediately brought my consciousness back to my body. Luciean pushed everyone away and yelled at them to give me some space. He looked at me in my eyes and put his hand on my forehead as if he was checking my temperature. He cared, that much was obvious.

"Are you alright? You went as pale as a ghost." He flared his wings in defence, his voice sounding a lot more anxious and severe.

Taking a moment to gather my thoughts I nodded, it helped now that everyone wasn't bombarding me with questions. Luciean nodded and sighed, his gaze turning over to Celestara. The sudden change in the way he looked at her gave me all the reasons to not look back at her. I squeezed my eyes shut and looked away. I couldn't bear to see her like this, going from her strong-spirited self, to an alicorn who couldn't even stand. Something I couldn't stand. I knew she wasn't dead—not yet, I could still save her, we could still save her. If those medics didn't do their jobs I don't know what I'll do, they've saved countless lives, yet the ones that mattered most to me died. I tried to think about anything but death, loss, grief, anything along those lines I didn't want in my head. Clearing my thoughts I focused on the positive, for example, the fact that Lunara wasn't dead yet, and the fact Celestara was still alive at this very moment. Suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around me and pulled me into an embrace. Luciean proceeded to simply say the words.