As for Layla, the cathedral was bathed in a type of light somewhere between a flicker and a glow, akin to the state of emerging from a nightmare. It felt like her body had turned heavy, coupled with her breath lightly fogging due to the chill in the air. It was not clear whether she had slept properly or held on to a brief period of unconsciousness. Memories—or perhaps dreams—were still thrumming in the background like a phantom ache, mirroring a wound.
Aurel had not changed. With Kauai floating in her throne, the old man's respirators hummed in a crisp, synchronized manner. Not too far from Kauai, Serena was stationed within arms reach herself, seated on a cracked piece of mosaic tile. She was sipping something from a rusted metal cup, something strong smelling that was tinted towards the medicinal side.
"Oh, helpful as always, I see," Layla said fully irritated now.
"You kept mumbling in your sleep," Serena stated, still hidden from view. "Names. Places. Numbers."
The woman who was known for being scrupulous rubbed her temple a bit before responding. "Did I say Kamal?"
With a head shaking response, she looked puzzled herself. "You said your own name. Over and over. Like you were trying to remember it."
That was unsettling for sure, but not as unsettling as her try harder to push those thoughts away.
Aurel had begun fidgeting. His pupils pinprick and shimmering faintly in the dark glowed ever so softly. Speaking without turning to look, he blasted out some words, probably halfway hushed, but still powerful, "I know what you are thinking—"
"The body remembers what the mind tries to forget, especially in moments when the mind is fragmented and fractured."
"Come," he said with a hoarse voice while extending a gnarled hand toward her.
"Come," he said with a hoarse voice while extending a gnarled hand toward her.
Trying to mask the tremor in her legs, Layla approached Aurel wanting to turn back but knowing that something irreversible was about to happen. With every step she took toward him, the air grew thicker and a weight rested heavily on her chest paralleling the gravity of her desires.
"Did you not recently mention that you buried my father's fear inside me?"
Aurel not only accepted her statement but went on to elaborate further with, "Not just his fear. His regret. His failure. His last wish."
Confident enough to stem the flow of questions, Aurel, telling the truth disguised as an answer, added, "Because you were the only one who could carry it without breaking."
With a deliberate act of placing his fingers on her forehead, he directed her next action.
"Close your eyes," he instructs.
As soon as she does, everything around her disappears, the world shatters into pieces.
As if an over epochal ending has been inflicted upon, the cathedral abruptly vanishes while she plunges underwater yet again. This time however, she is merely suspended in the water, not drowning. Water illuminated from above the surface captures her attention as she gazes towards the flickering light. In every direction, formless pieces linger around her. Photographs, documents, and news clippings. Additionally, she hears an echo of her father's disembodied voice narrating through the pressure-free dark.
"This isn't just business, Layla. It's blood. It's legacy."
"Don't trust Kamal."
"If anything happens to me, find Aurel. He'll know what to do."
A stark constriction gripped around her chest.
And then, the scenes began to shift and flicker like malfunctioning film.
Kamal was gently handing her a sugar cube while telling her everything would be fine. She was eight and weeping.
She was watching her father slumped at the dinner table, motionless, as paramedics burst through the door.
She was recalling the time she discovered the ancient silat codex beneath her grandfather's floor. The heaviness of it and how the ink bled as if it was alive.
And then—nothing.
Stumbling backward, Layla opened her eyes with a gasp. Her vision swam and hands shook.
"You saw it," Aurel whispered.
"I saw everything," she replied. "He didn't just die. He was poisoned. The person who brought him his last drink flowers."
Serena stepped forth. "Was Aidan Rayyan."
It appeared that Layla was the only person to self-soothed with a rare inhale. It felt like fire for so many reasons.
"You said he could help me," she whispered.
Serena nodded her head. "But that doesn't mean he's innocent."
Aurel's chair lowered as he moved, cables around him twitching like vines sensing rain.
"He brought the poison to your father," the old man said. "But the choice to drink it was your father's alone."
Layla's voice wavered. "You're telling me he knew?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"To protect you, he the only way he knew how—removed himself from the board."
Removing himself from the board was better than allowing closure by watching you be used as leverage.
Not from visions, but grief brought Layla to her knees. The turmoil wrapped in sorrow forced tears laced with heart-wrenching anguish.
Serena reached out her hand, but refrained from touching her.
Minutes passed.
"It's time I bridge with Aidan."
"He's waiting. At the edge of Zone Four."
Serena spoke slowly while describing Aidan, waiting by the border: "He's always known this day would come."
Wiping the tears staining her cheeks, Layla turned her gaze towards the cathedral doors.
Stepping back brought her Aurel's last words.
"Be warned, Layla Arissa. Vengeance is a river that will you drag under. No matter where you step, the waters will carry under without mercy."
She glanced back.
"I'm already submerged."
The floodwaters shimmered as if a bruised mirror, and somewhere in the distance, hoverbike engines roared, only to be swiftly swallowed by an eerie quiet.
Outside, a sky of violet and copper hues shrouded the world in beauty, marred only by the gremlin-like streaks cutting across the horizon.
"Serena," she called out, "Aleya's pack is towards…"
Her fingers stung. The palms of her hands throbbed. A brand from Aidan's touch lingered and after almost a year, the remains of his touch had failed to heal.
"Let's move, swift and silent, like the secret breeze above the bougainvilleas."
Now?
Now she would see the depths of his true cruelty.
He watched her transform into the poison she'd evolved into.
Aidan Rayyan.
Years worth of memories washed away blissfully, for both parties. His hands had once held the venom, concealing all that their twisted minds yearned
for long enough to mold them into a cracked vessel full of unhighlighted torment.
Serena walked beside her in blissful silence.