—- There was a gaping, bloody hole in my chest, my life force draining away. “Don’t die…” the Isla in the memory sobbed. “Please, don’t die…” She placed her hands on my chest, and a pure, silver light poured from her palms. It was life energy. The rarest, most precious kind. She was using her own life force to save me. “Is it enough? If it’s not enough, you can have it all…” Her voice grew weaker, but the silver light grew brighter.
I watched as young Isla’s face went deathly pale, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. She was burning herself out. “Isla!” another voice called out in the memory. Seraphina ran into the clearing. “Are you crazy? You’ll die!” —- “T can’t let him die,” Isla’s voice was firm. “I love him. ” “Let me help!” Seraphina tried to push her aside. “No, I can doit…” But Isla couldn’t hold on. She collapsed into the snow, and the silver light vanished. My wound was only half-healed.
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“He’s not stable!” Seraphina checked on me. “He needs more energy!” “I… [don’t have any more…” Isla gasped. Seraphina glanced from the dying Isla to me. Then she placed her hands on me and channeled a tiny trickle of herbal healing energy. A pathetic, insignificant amount. But in that moment, I started to wake up. The first person I saw when my eyes opened was Seraphina. —- Isla was passed out in the snow beside me, completely ignored. The memory faded. The world tilted on its axis.
Every memory I had, every certainty I’d built my life upon, turned to dust. It wasn’t her. It was never Seraphina. It was Isla. It had always been Isla. “So now you know,” Chloe’s voice was as sharp as a blade. “Who really saved your life?” My lips trembled. I couldn’t speak. “She pulled you back from the brink of death with her own life force!” Chloe screamed. “And you… you absolute fool.
You threw away the woman who gave you her very soul for a manipulative parasite who did nothing but watch her burn.” I turned and ran. Ihad to find Seraphina. —- Thad to know. I looked down at my own hands. The same hands Isla had warmed with her own life. And [had used them to push away my own salvation.
