saved from the eternal dream
a/n: a little late, but hopefully not too late. Either way, this felt like a very satisfying conclusion to my past two @flashfictionfridayofficial entries. I'm always grateful for the prompt they put out ^^
Frederich watched as the great creature reared its body back, mouth elongating into a warped scream. His blood ran cold as the scar splitting its mouth apart seemed to freshly bleed with each movement. Golden blood rained down, and he protected his face with his hand.
The shadow that the monster cast seemed to stretch upon the earth, engulfing it. But he felt no malevolence. He knew there was no ill will. The creature absorbed the Corruption into itself, preventing the ichor from further soiling the world. It wanted to protect, but never hurt.
He reached his arms up. “Radhildur!” he called.
The monster turned to him and its body loomed over him. With no eyes to look to him, the creature bowed its head, large antlers dipping dangerously close to the ground.
“I know it's you,” Frederich said, never wavering from his spot. “A thousand forms and a thousand bodies belonging to you, and I would recognize each one.”
A tremoring rumble rolled through the creature's body, as if it were thinking.
“I'm here,” Frederich urged. “I'm here.”
Then everything went dark.
The monster slammed its head into the ground where Frederich stood and swallowed him whole. But there was no pain. Radhildur could never hurt him.
It felt like falling asleep, slowly wavering back and forth in a dreamlike state as his body grew heavier and heavier. Still he never fully allowed himself to go unconscious. He had to find them. He continued to call out in the dark.
“Radhildur, I'm here!” his voice sounded distant, as if it weren't coming from his own mouth. “Radhildur, talk to me, please. You're not alone!”
He shouted until his throat was hoarse. Until he sunk to the bottom of the darkness.
Their voice sounded faint, as if on the other side of a wall, but it was there.
Frederich could've cried out with relief.
“Where are you? I'll come to you,” Frederich waded through the nothingness.
“Why are you here? There's just the monster,” Radhildur’s voice said.
“There's no monster here,” Frederich responded surely. “Certainly it's not you. There's only me and Rathi. My Rathi. My Rathi who would stupidly become a ferocious beast to see everyone's safety. But never a monster.”
The voice didn't respond.
“Come home,” Frederich called. “You don't have to fight alone anymore, Radhildur.”
Then there were arms around his neck, hugging him fiercely. He felt the strong and solid form of Radhildur’s body against his. The darkness melted away and gave way to the gloomy grey sky and the pool of black ichor around their feet. Radhildur’s clothes were torn and their hair strewn haphazardly from the tie that pulled it back. Frederich exhaled softly and ran his hands soothingly through Radhildur’s hair, memorizing the texture of the strands against his skin.
“My curse,” Radhildur rasped.
“Abated for now, it seems,” Frederich said, burying his nose in the curve of Radhildur’s neck, refusing to let himself tremble at the lingering thought that he could've lost them. They could have succumbed to the weight of the Celestial's curse and never returned from becoming the shadow. He tried instead to forget about it. He focused on each breath they took, relaxing everytime their chest heaved and eased against his. “A pity. I hear kisses are the way to break such hexes.”
Radhildur choked out a sob or a laugh, he wasn't sure, but they held on tighter. “I think it's true love, you idiot, not the actual kiss.”
“Well you never know until you try,” Frederich murmured, voice terribly terribly affectionate. Perhaps he'd never doubted for a moment that Radhildur would return to him.
Neither of them moved, just embracing tighter until it was uncertain where Radhildur began and where Frederich ended.
