Aeyrin closed her eyes once more, trying to finally fall asleep.
She almost had before, but that was before Bishop started to squirm and mumble in his sleep. It rarely happened that he managed to drift off before she did and it really couldn't have come at a worse time. This way, she wasn't able to concentrate on resting at all, fretting over him.
She didn't want to wake him up though. She knew that they might be woefully unrested from their night here again, so the more sleep he got, the better, right? Even if it was filled with nightmares. She felt bad for leaving him in their grasp, but he wouldn't remember. Waking him would do more harm than good, wouldn't it?
Now that he was awake again, trying to rest once more, the quiet might let her sleep. He seemed fully awake and alert. It would take him a while before he managed to calm again. His breathing was still a little uneven.
Though she shouldn't concentrate on that too much. The more she tried to fall asleep before him, the harder it would be.
She tried to empty her mind of all worries, thinking hard about something pleasant or mundane.
Like what they would do tomorrow.
They studied the map before bed. There were quite a few places where they could go and explore. Vekel, one of the Guild members, had mentioned some old cavern to Bishop that was supposed to have a necromancer in. Apparently the Guild was interested in his journals for some buyer but they haven't had a chance to go there yet. Bishop didn't promise anything to Vekel, but now that they were here, they could stop by and earn a few drakes from the Guild again. There was also a barrow nearby which they haven't explored yet, back near Nightgate Inn.
She started to imagine their plans for the day, when they would roughly be able to head out, if they had all the supplies.
And with these thoughts, sleep claimed her soon enough.
…
It was no use.
Her eyes kept snapping open – she couldn't sleep at all. She kept tossing and turning, thinking incessantly how she needed to fall asleep already. That hardly helped. The more she thought about it, the more impossible it was.
Bishop was already asleep again. He looked really exhausted after his nightmare, but this time, he actually seemed to be resting calmly. At least his distress didn't keep her up, though it was not as if it helped. She couldn't sleep anyway.
With an almost silent groan, she disentangled herself from Bishop's embrace. She was worried that her movement would wake him, but he really seemed to be hard asleep. That was good. He needed the rest. So did she, but nothing could be done about that, apparently.
Maybe she was too anxious about the potential nightmares. It was silly, really. She wouldn't even remember them. What was she so worried about?
She just needed to do something else for a while. To concentrate on something enough to take her mind off sleeping.
She shimmied across the bed towards the foot of it. She was squished between Bishop and the wall and there was really no other way to go. Luckily, Bishop still didn't wake. Not even when she managed to get off the bed and locate her pack. She hastily threw some clothes on and moved towards the small table in the room.
She wanted to look at the map again. Or count her gold. She wasn't sure how much she had left after the supplies shopping.
She pulled out her coin purse from her pack and a few washcloths to put on the table in order to prevent any noise that could rile Bishop up. She began to put down the coins on the washcloth slowly, one by one. Master Therien once told her that this kind of slow counting could put people to sleep really fast. She used to try, back when she was little and couldn't sleep in the new place, but it never worked. She could never concentrate on it too long, whether she was trying to count something real or some imaginary animals she conjured up in her mind for the task. Maybe this time she would be more lucky though.
It was kind of working. She was feeling more and more tired each second. Her movements were getting slower and her eyes were beginning to flutter. But just as she was starting to lose herself a bit, a sudden noise startled her. The drake she had been holding fell from her hand, bounced off the table and began rolling over the wooden floor towards the door of their room.
She followed it with her eyes, but then the coin disappeared into a slight crack by the doorframe. Odd. The door was open? They left their room door open and unlocked? How had she not noticed that?
She stood up from her chair and followed the coin briskly, out of the door.
When she opened it up wider, bright light assaulted her senses. For a second, she couldn't understand where she found herself, why it was so bright, before her eyes adjusted a little. The sun was high in the sky, illuminating the familiar sights in front of her – the grey paved streets, the old ramshackle houses around and the majestic mansions in the distance, somewhat hidden behind the tall spires of the chapel in the center of town. Chorrol. Her home.
She didn't get to look around much. The noise of the coin rolling on the pavement called to her again and her eyes fell down to it once more. It kept going, rolling ever forward and without thinking, her feet carried her after it.
She kept following, until she noticed someone standing in front of her. They bent down to grab the coin with a surprisingly practiced motion and it promptly disappeared from her sight.
She looked at the thief in shock. Odd, as bustling as the city usually was, she hadn't expected anyone but her to be here.
There was a little girl, right in front of her. She was dressed in old faded tunic and ill-fitting trousers. Her feet were bare and filthy and her hair was messy, tangled in knots and visibly unwashed. Her elven ears barely managed to poke out of that mess. Her black eyes looked up with a hint of fright behind them, but she didn't flinch away. Aeyrin had barely recognized herself.
She didn't like the image in front of her. It instantly brought back memories. The constant fear and despair that hounded her every step. Would she be able to eat that day? What awaited her when she came back to that hovel? Would she get enough money to make him more… malleable that day?
"You took my coin," the words left Aeyrin's lips before she could even think about them. It wasn't even an accusation – she didn't care. She was more shocked to even see the girl there.
"No I didn't," the girl shook her head briskly. She took a tentative step back and Aeyrin knew exactly why. She was worried that Aeyrin would get aggressive. People often did, even for a single drake accidentally rolling away from their pocket.
When Aeyrin didn't react, the girl instantly sensed her opportunity and she looked at her with pleading eyes.
"Do you have a few septims to spare? I need some for a remedy for my father," she clasped her hands together with a desperate tone in her voice. 'Remedy'. That was one way to put it.
"You should go to the temple instead," Aeyrin sighed, but she wasn't even sure why she had suggested it. There was no changing the girl's path, was there? She would not find her place there on her own. She never could.
She always needed help. They taught her not to see it as a weakness, but right now, she saw how much it could help, how many bad memories it could save the girl from. If only she would be able to take action on her own. Without guidance.
"I can't," the girl shook her head as her black eyes focused on the spires on the horizon. "That path leads to him. He's waiting there and beyond. If I go there, there's no going back." She suddenly sounded much older than Aeyrin had anticipated. Maybe wiser? But what she was saying made no sense. The only person waiting at the chapel for her was not to be feared.
"He'll help you," Aeyrin tried to convince her. Maybe it wasn't so bad, if the girl got a helping hand. Why would it be? Why was Aeyrin doubting it? Nothing bad waited for her on that path. There was only acceptance and shelter.
"He doesn't help anyone," the girl's voice trembled in fear as her eyes still stared at those spires. "He will swallow the world."
'Swallow the world'? What did that mean? The girl didn't know what she was talking about. She would be happier there. She would be safe there. She needed to be safe and protected.
Aeyrin reached out to take the girl's hand and, surprisingly enough, the child complied, despite the fear in her eyes. This was for the best. It was going to make her life easier.
Aeyrin led her through the streets silently, getting closer and closer to the chapel with each step. It all filled her with strange hope. The girl would be safe there. She would not have to fear the shadows in the past anymore.
But once they reached the square, the girl stopped, forcing Aeyrin to do so as well and turn back towards her.
"See? It leads to him. No matter what you do," the child pointed towards the temple steps.
As the sun illuminated the entire city, there was a large shadow there. Not cast by the majestic spires, not colored by the brightness of the stained glass and the artful depictions of Stendarr in it.
It was an enormous black shadow in the shape of a familiar monster, with wings spread menacingly, covering the entirety of the square in front of them. Sparse sunrays reached those wings, but they didn't banish the shadow. It only made them look enveloped in a fiery golden tint.
"He will kill us all," the girl whispered. "You can't stop him. I can't stop him. And if I go there, I will have to go through him someday."
Now Aeyrin felt the same fear and foreboding that the girl had the entire time. She didn't want to go anymore. She didn't want to take that path. It led to the end of everything.
She didn't want to, but she couldn't stop herself. Her eyes traveled upwards, towards the thing which cast the enormous shadow. It must have been perching atop of the chapel, but as she looked up, the sun blinded her once more.
Was it even the sun?
It was more like… fire.
Suddenly, she could no longer feel the girl's hand in her grip and intense heat enveloped her. Unbearable, scorching heat. Like she was surrounded by flames. Her ears got filled with intense screams of fear and panic all around her. She could hear stone crumbling, she could hear things falling.
And when her vision cleared a bit, she could finally see the damage, the wreckage around her.
There was no Chorrol, no chapel, no mansions, no shacks. There were only burned houses, dead bodies and flames all around. The only thing that still seemed to stand was a large stone tower and a keep nearby as fire rained down from the skies on the small Nordic city. She had been here before. She had run through this city before, trying to escape the terrifying beast in the skies, but she barely remembered any of it.
Just as back then, even now it was too chaotic to make sense of, but one sight caught her attention instantly.
The body of the little girl, down by her feet.
Dead.
Aeyrin knelt down instantly and tried to shake the girl, tried to examine her for any wounds or signs of life. She couldn't be dead! Despite her dire circumstances, there was so much hope in the girl. That couldn't just all be snuffed out by that monster.
Could it?
The girl wasn't moving. She wasn't breathing. There was nothing left of her there.
Everything had ended on those chapel steps.
And there was no going back.
There was only the large shadow in her path.
But Aeyrin refused to let go. She still tried, she tried to find a way to bring her back, constantly checking for her pulse with despair. She couldn't just let her die! That monster wouldn't get to win! It wouldn't get to kill everything. It wouldn't get to swallow the world.
But it was no use. The girl was never coming back.
And as she knelt there, still trying, she could feel the flames and the light receding again.
She looked around herself in panic, but all around her, there was only shadow. The same shadow in the shape of a dragon.
It was still there, always waiting.
And now it was all around her. She suddenly felt like she was suffocating, like the darkness was seeping into her very being. Like it was swallowing her.
She couldn't breathe. Her vision was getting cloudy and she desperately kept gasping and searching for breath.
Soon, she couldn't see a thing. She couldn't feel a thing. All her thoughts slowly evaporated from her head and the fear and panic got replaced by strange… emptiness.
There was nothing left.
And she let herself be consumed by it, as if she was falling into blissful sleep.
…
The grating, continuous sound of slowly dripping water bore into Aeyrin's ears with incessant persistence.
She just wanted to sleep. She was so tired, but that sound wouldn't let her. It was better than before though. Before it felt like some other sounds kept disturbing her. Screams? No… why would there be screams. There weren't any now. She must have been hearing things in her half-sleep delirium. Who would even be screaming?
It was just the water. Maybe the ceiling leaking. Just the water.
Although…
She could have sworn right then that she heard more voices again. Like a distant wailing. What was that?
And where was she?
She slowly opened her eyes to take scope of her surroundings. It was dark. Very dark. The only light coming inside was from the heavy door she could make out, cracked open a little bit. It had countless locks and bolts on it and she recognized the dark grey stones in the small room she found herself in. Besides, the smell was unmistakable.
The Riften sewers. The warrens, to be exact. What was she doing in this place? Has someone imprisoned her here again?
But the door was open. She was free to leave, wasn't she? She had her freedom. This place could be left behind, once and for all. Along with everyone in it.
She got up on her feet and followed the light, stepping into the familiar 'prison complex' below the cistern. Or maybe it was a refuge. She was never sure. She never knew if the madmen were here voluntarily. Maybe even they didn't know.
"The tender meat is back! Back!" a familiar erratic voice called out to her from the cell in front of her. She had almost forgotten him. The man whose ramblings told secrets. The man who cost Raven his tongue. At least that's how she always thought about him. The truth was, she didn't actually know anything. She never knew. Everyone was scheming, with their own agendas and secrets and she was always so blind to it until it was too late.
"Not so tender now. The fear stays. The anger stays. Never leaves. Never leaves."
Aeyrin gritted her teeth and continued through the complex. That madman always scared her. She didn't want to listen to him. He was just insane. There was nothing to his words. She didn't even want to think about him. She didn't want to think about everything that started here, in this sewer. Everything that the few days spent here led to.
She broke into a run and rushed through the halls, on the stairs, before another familiar voice stopped her. It came from one of the cells. Muffled and scared.
"He will come. The prophecy doesn't lie," Esbern's voice came out so quiet she barely heard it. "He will come for you, for me. For everyone. Even I can't hide here from the end."
Enough! She didn't want to think about this! It felt like she had spent too much time already thinking about this, but she wasn't sure why. She couldn't actually remember the last time something prompted those thoughts of despair and helplessness. But maybe they were just always there, at the back of her mind.
She ignored Esbern's voice and ran forth, ever onwards and towards her freedom, outside the dark sewer. She ran until she reached the cistern. It was eerily empty, void of all the familiar faces, save for two.
"Ah! There she is!" Mercer's grin widened when he noticed Aeyrin. He had just been discussing something with his 'guest' in the middle of the cistern. Aeyrin only wished that she hadn't actually ever looked at the other man. She hoped to forget his face. She hoped to erase all memories of him from her mind, but she couldn't. Just like everything else, he was always there, always somewhere in those deep recesses. Waiting. Reminding her.
"Go on, she's all yours," Mercer smirked and nodded at his guest. Thorn. That name, even that word alone, would forever send chills down her spine. There was no escaping that. But there had to be an escape from the man himself.
She broke into a run again, rushing with fierce determination around the center and towards the exit. She didn't look at them anymore, she didn't look at anything but the path ahead, but she could still hear them, feel them, chasing after her. Never resting, never giving her a moment's respite.
They would always be there, behind her back.
And there was ever only one thing that could reliably make her feel better about that.
She didn't stop until she reached the ladder leading outside. She could already feel the fresher air and see the light. The secret entrance was open, waiting for her. Bringing hope and shelter closer with each step.
Those men would never catch her. They would never stop chasing, but they would always stay behind her.
She was so sure that she would only find comfort and happiness ahead. She had to, right?
She made it out, into the familiar cemetery and she looked around. The men were nowhere to be seen, but she could still hear the footsteps chasing her in her ears. No matter. She would learn to ignore them one day. She just needed to feel comfort again. To feel protected. Loved.
"Where's Bishop?" she asked desperately. She didn't even know who she asked. She could have sworn that there was no one there, but that was before someone actually answered.
"You know where he is."
She turned around sharply to see the source. The red-headed Nord leaning on the walls of the crypt.
"Everyone enjoys some time there. Sorry, lass."
Her stomach clenched with overwhelming insecurity. She knew what he was talking about instantly. She wished she hadn't. Why did it make her doubt herself like this? Doubt the strength of their bond? She hated that. She hated herself for not being able to help but feel like this.
But the feeling was always too strong to ignore.
She turned on her heel and rushed towards the other side of town, towards that inconspicuous building. Once again, she was alone – there was not a soul around. Everything looked abandoned, as if the town had been ransacked. She wasn't sure why, it filled her with strange foreboding and a fearful feeling, but she tried to ignore that as best as she could and ran on. She didn't have time to worry about this. She needed to find Bishop. She needed to make sure that he was there… alone. And then everything would be alright again. Everything would always be alright when she had him.
She ran through the frighteningly silent city and reached the Bunkhouse in no time. She barged inside without even thinking. She just needed to see for herself.
But she regretted it instantly. She should have just ignored the insecurity. She would rather not know. Ever.
There was only a small dark room, lit by a lone red lantern and nothing else in it. It was almost entirely shrouded in darkness, save for the one light. If only that light wasn't there. Without it, she wouldn't be able to see this.
Bishop was leaning on a practically pitch-black wall with his shirt off and a girl covering most of his body, kissing him along his neck, her hands roaming along his abdomen. Aeyrin didn't recognize the woman. She could barely see her. She was naked, her grey skin glistened in the red light and her black hair barely hid the elven ears poking through.
"Oh. Hey, Aeyrin," Bishop finally noticed her, but he didn't seem disturbed by her presence at all.
'Aeyrin'? No 'princess', no 'sweetness'? No 'love'? Why did that hurt even more than seeing him with that woman? She couldn't even speak. She felt like her throat had closed off entirely. Like she couldn't breathe. Why was this happening? Why was he doing this to her?
Bishop noticed her distress, but he didn't really seem to be bothered by it. He let out a groan of pleasure as the woman nipped on his skin, but then he looked back at Aeyrin again. He shot her a somewhat defensive look before he only shrugged in response.
"She's an assassin. Come on, you gotta admit, that's just exciting." Was it? Aeyrin looked uncertainly at the girl as her stomach kept twisting in knots. She felt like crying, or running out of there. Was this what he wanted? What he would eventually want? Something new? Exciting?
The Dunmer woman turned her head towards Aeyrin for a while. Aeyrin was waiting for the moment she could recognize her, but she didn't. There was no face. No mouth, no nose, no eyes. It was all just… blank. But for some reason it didn't terrify her nearly as much as when that woman turned back to Bishop, disinterested in Aeyrin entirely. They both were.
"Definitely more exciting than some sheltered priestess," Bishop scoffed, but he wasn't even looking at her anymore.
"I'm not a priestess," Aeyrin's voice came out as a barely-audible squeak. She didn't even know why she corrected him. She was impressed that any sound left her lips at all.
"Exactly," Bishop scoffed. "At least those have the whole 'forbidden' thing going for them."
Right. Even some unattainable priestess would probably be more exciting. Aeyrin just wanted to run away already. To get as far as she could from this room and hide herself somewhere. But her legs felt like lead. She only wanted comfort. Shelter. Love. Was it really that naïve to hope for a lasting one? What if everything that brought her happiness vanished like this one day.
And the only thing that would remain would be the large shadow waiting for her.
She wasn't sure why that thought just popped into her head.
"Heh, what's that for?" Bishop chuckled a little and Aeyrin's attention went back to them instantly. The woman was still kissing him, still clamoring all over him. Aeyrin had to wonder for a while how she was able to kiss him with no mouth, but those ruminations quickly got replaced by panic.
The Dunmer was holding a knife in her hand.
"No!" Aeyrin lunged towards her, intent on taking the blade. That bitch was going to hurt him! She was an assassin! He said so.
But before she could reach her, she collided with something. Like an invisible wall. She couldn't get to them. She couldn't even move closer to them. Bishop was out of her reach. Alone. With that killer.
"One day," a raspy Dunmer voice echoed through the small room, but Aeyrin was sure that she had never heard it before. "We will take him. One way or the other. And there's nothing you can do to stop us."
Aeyrin gasped in horror and she tried to get past the invisible barrier, over and over. But there was no use. She couldn't. There was nothing she could do to stop that woman. She worried every single second that the knife would be plunged into his neck, but that didn't happen.
Instead, the woman grabbed Bishop's arm and tugged him away, towards the exit.
They passed through Aeyrin, as if she wasn't even there. Not there to help him, not there to protect him. To save him. Somehow she always knew that this would happen. How could she ever protect him from… from them?
It was impossible. Hopeless.
But she couldn't give up.
She turned on her heel and stormed out of the room, as fast as she could.
But they weren't outside. They were nowhere to be seen. Nobody was.
She stood there, in Riften again, alone, staring in horror at the sight in front of her. Something perched atop the Bee and Barb, but she didn't dare to look up. All her attention was fully captured by a large shadow it was casting onto the ground.
It was as if she knew that it had always been there, but she didn't want to think about it. She kept pushing it in the back of her mind, but deep down, she knew that it was always waiting somewhere.
It kept growing. Growing and growing. Its wings kept spreading further each second. It would swallow her. Swallow the whole city.
'Swallow the world.'
Those words rang in her ears unpleasantly and she couldn't help but feel like she had heard them before. She just wasn't sure where.
She couldn't move, frozen in spot, watching as the shadow grew. It was almost by her feet now. It wouldn't take long. The darkness would consume her soon.
When it touched her it felt like… death.
And the world went dark around her.
…
Aeyrin woke up with a start and she instantly snuggled closely to the firm body by her side.
She felt like she hadn't slept all night. So tired. And she had a very bad feeling in her core that she couldn't shake, but she tried hard not to concentrate on it. She just wanted to shelter herself in Bishop's embrace. It felt like she had to hold tight to him, lest he disappeared. She didn't know why she felt that way, but she wasn't willing to let go, not even for a second.
She pressed herself closer to him, trying to enjoy the proximity some more. His arm was lying limply under her head and she wanted nothing more than to have him hug her back with it and stroke her hair. She knew he was probably asleep and she was just being needy, but she couldn't shake this strange feeling no matter what.
If she wasn't that tired and lazy just then, she would have just grabbed a rope and tied them both together, just to be safe.
"On your feet, soldier!"
The sudden loud voice startled her so much. She thrashed frantically, so much that it would have woken anyone up, and her eyes snapped open.
What was this? Where was she?
It was a plain, but not one that she recognized from her travels – not in Cyrodiil and not in Skyrim. Though it did have soft hints of snow on the grass around.
Snow and blood.
The field was littered with bodies. She felt like she had seen this sight already. There was death everywhere around. She couldn't help but look at the body next to her and a shocked yelp escaped her lips as she found another corpse, right there. It wasn't Bishop at least. It was nobody that she could recognize. None of the corpses were. They were all nameless, faceless. She wasn't sure if that made it better or worse.
The only thing that distinguished them was their armors. It was a familiar sight in Skyrim – dead soldiers. There were small groups here and there, a scout or two, but she had never seen a battlefield like this.
"Are you deaf?! On your feet!"
That voice again. Aeyrin looked around in panic until she found the source – the domineering figure, dressed in an intimidating heavy armor with a blue sash over it along with a symbol of a bear's head. None other than the leader of the rebellion, of course.
"I don't take orders from you!" Aeyrin spat at him, but she did get up on her feet haphazardly. She refused to feel small in front of him ever again. Though… that was much harder to achieve than it looked. She knew that Ulfric was all tall, Nordic and broad, but… had he always been this tall, Nordic and broad? He looked kind of terrifying as he scowled at her fiercely.
"Naïve. Naïve to the very end, aren't you?" he growled. 'End'? What did he mean by 'end'? "Look around. You think you can escape this? You think you can keep hiding from this?"
She wasn't hiding! But her eyes roamed around the battlefield, despite the fact that doing anything the man said made her sick to her stomach. There were only bodies, blood and snow. But then, suddenly, a shadow passed. A large one, out in the distance. It was quick. Too quick to see it properly, but as it did, the strewn bodies that had been there before suddenly… vanished in its wake.
"One thing we can agree on," another voice caught her attention and she briskly turned around. The tone was similar, the armor was just as heavy and the man just as tall, but General Tullius lacked Ulfric's angry sneer. He looked much haughtier as he spoke. "There is no more escape. Kill, soldier."
"What? No!" Aeyrin shook her head at him incredulously, but then she saw the shadow again in the distance. Once more, the bodies disappeared right then and there. What was it doing to them? "Did you see that shadow? What is it doing?" she gave each of the men a panicked look, but it was as if they couldn't even see her. They were too busy glaring at each other.
"She will not kill for you. The Dragonborn belongs to the Nords and we will not let them fall into Thalmor hands," Ulfric scoffed.
'Them'? It was like he wasn't even talking about her anymore. There was only the Dragonborn. The person underneath never mattered to any of them.
Again! That shadow!
It passed closer to them now.
"There's something here! You have to look!" she urged the men, but she felt invisible, inaudible in the middle of their pointless feud.
"You would disjoint the Empire for your petty grievances? Give up already. The Dragonborn have always protected the Empire," Tullius scowled at Ulfric.
None of their talk stopped the shadow though. She could see it now as it got closer and closer with each passing – the span of its menacingly large wings covered so much, took so much. Every body in its path vanished. What happened to those bodies? And what would happen when it would reach them? They weren't dead. What would it do to them?
"Enough! Can't you see it? It's getting closer!" she practically screamed at them in panic. She could feel the wind rising, howling around her as the skies above started to cloud. But the shadow was still there, even with the sun gone. It kept flying around, snuffing out everything in its path.
"This is about more than the Empire. This is about freedom and faith," Ulfric bellowed. He acted like she wasn't even there. They both did.
Did they not see the shadow at all?
"Stop fighting! Look!" Aeyrin approached Ulfric and she forcefully reached for his braided hair. She fisted her hand in it and yanked hard, forcing his head to the side to see – the shadow just passed there, consuming the bodies. It was so close now and it was always circling them.
Ulfric grabbed her arm and he painfully twisted it, so much that she couldn't help but cry out in pain and let go of him.
"You think that's worth my notice?" he scoffed. "You take care of it, if you care so much."
Just as the words left him, he shoved her. Hard. She stumbled instantly and fell to the ground.
And before she knew it, the shadow was upon her.
She felt… pain. And despair. She didn't know what would happen to the two war leaders when the shadow reached them too. She wasn't going to know.
She was the first one on the line. She was the one who was pushed in.
There was nothing if she died. And if she survived, there was no shadow anymore. That's how it was supposed to go.
Why would anyone else risk their lives needlessly? Why would they care? Why would they try to help?
She was all alone in this now. All alone in the pain and fear.
It was overwhelming. Consuming. She was pretty sure that she was screaming, but somehow, she knew that no one heard her. Wherever she was, she was alone there.
Maybe she was always meant to be alone.
Always meant to bear the pain alone. It certainly felt like that at that moment.
And the more she thought about it, the more unbearable it was getting.
She slowly felt her senses leaving her.
…
A sharp gasp escaped her lips and she shot up to a sitting position from wherever she had been lying. She wasn't sure at first. Everything was confusing. She only remembered being in pain and scared but she wasn't sure why. Maybe she should be glad that she didn't remember.
Her breaths were frantic but she slowly started to take scope of her surroundings.
The familiar room at Windpeak Inn. Of course. Where else would she be? That was where they had stopped for the night. She wasn't sure why she had been so panicked. She knew that she must have had a nightmare, but she remembered none of it now.
A sudden warmth on her bare back startled her and she almost jumped up on the spot before she recognized Bishop's hand. He stroked over her back for a while comfortingly, but he didn't say a word, allowing her to get her bearings.
She looked around more properly. It was still dark out, but the sky was a little lighter with the sun peeking just barely from below the horizon. It was almost dawn already. Funny. It felt like she hadn't had a second of sleep.
Her breathing calmed a bit and Bishop sat up beside her too. He kept his hand on her back though – a constant comfort and reassurance.
"I don't even know why the fuck we tried again," he sighed morosely. He looked just as exhausted as she felt.
"We should write a note to our future selves or something, for when we get this stupid idea that 'it can't be that bad' again," Aeyrin smirked at him with equal moroseness in her expression.
"Yeah," Bishop scoffed. "Fuck it. Let's just get some food and sleep in a cave or something. There's that one far enough that we spent the night on our way to Labyrinthian, remember? It wasn't bad. Especially if there's only the three of us there now."
That sounded like an excellent idea.
It was that bad. Even if they didn't remember the dreams, the exhaustion and the unpleasant feelings were too much. And for what? A bed? They could rest much better in their bedroll.
"Yeah. Let's go get some food," Aeyrin nodded in accord. "If we don't, I'm gonna fall asleep again in like a minute and I really don't want to."
With a nod, Bishop didn't wait any longer before he got off the bed.
Hopefully they would get to that cave soon.
They both needed proper rest.