I.
He saw her fall from some feet away and knew there wasn't any way he could catch her in time, even with his fastest pace. She wasn't some enemy down on her luck, though, so Kaim felt the need to at least see if she was going to be okay; or maybe be with this stranger in her last moments.
He knew in the back of his mind that she wouldn't live long, not from the height she fell from, but sometimes mortals were lucky enough. He had seen his fair share of people who have come back from illness and injury as if it were nothing but a minor inconvenience.
Her limbs were at odd angles and one of her legs twisted behind her unnaturally. The fall broke almost everything that he could see, and left her busted and bruised. There were papers and books spread out haphazardly around her, and he was left to wonder what she was trying to do up top that odd cliff in Tosca. The ocean waves beat up on the sand to his right, and there was a storm coming soon, if not that night; and she could have hurt herself anyway if she was caught in the rain. That was beside the point, though. She had already fallen. She was already close to death.
He bent down and saw that she was breathing, slow wet breaths. Blood dripped from the corner of her mouth and from her forehead into her eye. Kaim tilted his head a little. Even in his unending, sad life he could remember most faces, and hers almost seemed familiar. Yet, there wasn't any way he had met her before.
"Oh," she gasped out, finally noticing his presence. The word came out in almost a whisper. He knelt on the ground next to her. "Oh," she said again. "That hurt."
"Shh." Kaim moved her brown hair out of her pale face, carefully feeling around her neck. Somehow it was spared, and he felt it was safe to tilt her head towards him. "That pain will go away soon," he said to her kindly. He wondered briefly if he should just end it here and now. His hands were in the right position, but this wasn't the battlefield. This wasn't some nameless soldier who was bleeding and begging for a swift end. She wasn't saying anything otherwise. So instead, he set a hand gently on her shoulder. Some tiny little piece of him to let her know she wasn't alone. Her lips twitched upwards as if she understood the meaning.
"Really, is this it?" Kaim let her speak. These were her last words after all, and ones he wouldn't soon forget. "Is this what it feels like to die? So cold. Can't feel a thing. Not at all like…what I've read." A tear ran down her cheek. She coughed a little and he could tell in her eyes that she was fading fast. After another moment, she took in one last shaky breath. "And all of my books are probably ruined."
Kaim watched as she closed her eyes and felt the last breath leave her body. What an odd thing for a her to say, he wondered. Looking around to see if there was anyone nearby in hopes he could have some assistance, but this woman was truly alone. What a sad sort life, though he wondered if it was any different than his.
He couldn't just leave her here; all sprawled out and ready for whatever beast came to pick what was left. Kaim took a moment to think, and decided to correct her position. He rolled her fully onto her back and straightened out that leg. When she was finally laying peaceful-like on the ground, he broke off some big leafed plants nearby to cover her with, and then turned back towards the little village he just left.
. . .
She was so worried about those books, I wonder if I should have brought them back with me. Maybe someone would have recognized the odd collection and told me who she was. An hour later into his journey back to the dead woman, Kaim was a little lost in thought. It bothered him that he was so concerned by the mystery girl. She was alive only minutes in his life, and he didn't even know her. But here he was, carrying a blanket he purchased to wrap the poor woman in. Maybe if I take her back into town someone will be able to tell her family. If she has one.
He pushed the leaves away and noticed that she was starting to stiffen a little. He lifted her up and carefully positioned her onto the blanket. He still wondered why he cared so much about this mortal he had just barely met, but the last look on her face and the sad realization that her books were all ruined seemed to haunt him. Even more than some of the soldiers he's killed in wars past. Maybe it was because of the short life she lived, or the weird loneliness of knowing she only had her books to think about. She looked like she was trying to accomplish something, but now she'll never get the chance. There wasn't a last wish in her last breath, so he didn't know if she needed something done with the books she was so haphazardly carrying about her. There were too many unknowns and too many questions unanswered, and Kaim speculated he was going to think about her for the next century. Just another tortured face in his sea of memories.
He looked down at her again. Brown hair a mess, bruises all over, a little mole poked out from beneath her left eye; almost hidden by the dirt mixed in with blood that still lay sticky on her white cheek. He took the corner of a blanket and brushed away what he could. She at least deserved some dignity in death.
Just as he was going to tuck the last of her hair into the folded blanket, her eyes popped open. Kaim couldn't remember the last time he shrieked in fright and after a minute he realized that this was the first time.
"Ow!" The woman was shaking her head. "What is this? It's like a cocoon!"
"How?" Kaim remembered her soft, last breath. Felt it slowly move out of her. He blinked in surprise. "What?"
"Unwrap me please!" she was looking at him with an almost smile on her face. "I need out, and you have got some serious folding skills."
Kaim unfolded the blanket with deft fingers and watched as she stretched her hands. "I've got feeling in my fingers first. Alright, noted. Toes, too."
He watched as she slowly said aloud all of her body parts that were popping back into place. She jerked and winced as bones and tendons rearranged and formed under her suddenly unbruised skin. She looked to be in an immense amount of pain, but Kaim wasn't expecting: "Everything is so hot! It's fascinating!"
Kaim knew that no human could do this. At least not a mortal one. "You're like me." And he didn't realize he had said it out loud until he looked at the woman's face. "I mean—"
"Kaim Argonar." She smiled at him and lifted a shaky hand. It would seem that her body had finally finished its healing. "I know you! Or at least. In books." She blushed a little.
Kaim took her hand and helped her up slowly. She began to rotate her arms, do little squats, and stretched out her back and legs. He thought she almost looked a little comical doing all of this in her torn dress. She wiped the drying blood off of her mouth and forehead with the back of her hand. Then she began to pick up all of the papers and what was left of the books. "Oh, it's going to take me a decade to find more copies of these," she was muttering to herself in exasperation. "And I'm going to need new glasses." She clicked her tongue in disappointment.
Kaim helped, carefully picking up halves and thirds of books, and trying to remember her name. He hardly remembered waking up in this world and seeing just glimpses of those he came here with before they silently went their separate ways.
"Oh, dear, sorry." She grabbed the books from his hands, setting them into a pile on the grass. "You probably don't remember. Sarah Sisulart." She gave him a shy smile. "Thank you for staying with me for…that. It was my first time." She bent over to drop some more papers down into her pile. "Dying that is," she added.
"It's a little scary," he chipped in, not sure what he was really doing. He couldn't remember the last time he spoke to someone in an informal manner. A decade or two? "It's happened to me a few times."
"Just a few?" she asked with another shy smile. Her voice was so very breathy and soft. "From what I read, mysterious mercenary, you've lived some centuries of war and have never fallen. I've tracked you, on my downtime. From your first victory recorded until the last one that was just in the Toscan paper a few weeks ago. I mean, isn't five hundred years of fighting a long time? Aren't you tired and ready to move onto something more…less deathly?" Her face turned a deep red. "I am so sorry. You've probably seen the world, and here I am mocking your life—your livelihood. I can't imagine what you've seen and maybe even who you have helped along the way. It's not my place to say anything."
There was an awkward silence. Kaim cleared his throat. "It's been four-hundred and thirty-six years," he corrected. He laughed at her ever reddening face. "But who's counting?"
Sarah laughed at that, and Kaim found it to be beautiful. "If you put it that way," she said finally looking at his face. Her lips were dry, there was one bruise that was slowly turning green under her cheek, there was still a bit of a stain from the blood on her face, but Kaim thought she was beautiful. "Thank you for your help. I think I better go back to Tosca before they notice I'm missing."
Kaim offered to help with the books, but she shook her head. "I'm sure it would be weird enough for you to go back through that town again. Besides, I'll be okay. I can't die, right?" She smiled again, bowing slightly. He watched her back as she made her way through the trees to the village, her limp very slowly shifting into a normal gait.
"Sarah. I wonder if we'll meet again?" he asked himself, before folding his blanket and heading in the opposite direction.
Author's Note:
I thought about putting the whole story into one chapter, but I was starting to get nervous about the length? I don't know, I guess I don't know how long one-shots should be but this was about to be my longest. So I broke it into three. The second, longer, chapter is done! I just need to go through it again and add/erase anything I need to!
This idea got stuck in my head yesterday and I wrote like 5000 words in one sitting. So. Yep.
This game needs some more love. Seriously.
