Sleep Keeper

by Wilcox, April

  The rain briefly stopped and the last of the water fell from the trees and dripped down Orion’s shaking sword. Erebus was amused to see him so disconcerted. The smirk smeared across his face sent my blood boiling.

  “Oh… you actually thought she loved you?” he roared out a laugh. “That is amusing.”

  Orion was frozen with shock.

  My body was full of rage; my mind consumed with an intense desire to tear the flesh from his gauntly bones. But at the same time, my heart tore open from watching Orion drowning in anguish.

  Then… something changed. Orion’s face went blank. No more pain, no more sorrow, no more anger… just an expressionless glaze. Erebus turned for just a second, letting down his guard. Without a sound, Orion covered the distance between them with lightening speed. His sword sliced across Erebus’ stomach. Erebus screeched in pain. The sound of his cry made me smile. Orion lunged again, but this time Erebus was faster and disappeared into the darkness.

  Orion stood still under the dark sky; he did not give chase. He stood there for a long while. His hope was shattered; his shoulders hung in defeat. He crumbled to the ground, buried his face in his hands and wept. My heart ached more now than any other moment in my life. I tried to cry, but no tears would form. What I wouldn’t give to put my arms around him and take away his pain. I dropped to me knees next to him… then opened my eyes to my bedroom window.

  What? No! No!

  I squeezed my eyes tight and concentrated on the dark forest.

  Nothing.

  “Please, please take me back!” I begged aloud.

  Nothing but silence. The dim sunlight shone gently under my eyelids.

  Was that real?

  I knew it was. Past or present, I knew Orion was in pain and I couldn’t reach him. My heart ripped in pieces. A flood of tears poured down my face and I bawled uncontrollable. I cried myself to exhaustion. I laid down my head and drifted out of consciousness…

  The scent in the air was slightly different. I took a deep breath; my nose and throat burned. I opened my eyes to a familiar yet different scene. I was standing in the forest but this time it was foreign. Charred brush and fallen trees were at my feet. The muted sky held a thin layer of smoke that hovered over the remaining scattered trees, blocking most of the sunrise. My eyes burned as I scanned my surroundings, searching for Orion.

  “Orion!” I yelled, but heard nothing in return. “Orion!”

  The forest held a strange sense of isolation. It was… quiet.

  I began to run through the forest, scouring the area. Shortly, I came to the clearing that was once the budding meadow leading to Orion’s house. Ash and smoke had replaced the sea of yellow flowers. I rushed through the clearing and paused at a pile of burnt debris where Orion’s house once sat.

  “No!” my voice quivered as I fell to my knees.

  Mixed within the ash, only inches from my feet, laid Orion’s charred guitar. I reached to pick it up, but it crumbled in my blackened hands. Wretched sorrow filled my chest; I couldn’t breathe. I sucked in gasping breaths of air and began to cough from the smoke. Gagging, I jumped to my feet and rushed toward the beach in search for cleaner air. I sprinted across the sand and spotted a figure up ahead.

  He was sitting in the sand with his knees bent and head between his hands. Orion was covered in a mixture of soot, dirt and blood. I was filled with both overwhelming excitement and sorrow from the sight of him. I rushed over… but paused twenty feet away, unsure how he would react to seeing me.

  “Orion,” I called his name with a broken voice.

  His head snapped up. My heart ached at the sight of his tortured face.

  “Alexis?”

  He jumped to his feet and I ran the rest of the distance. I threw myself at him, wrapping my arms tightly around his back. He embraced me in return. I tried to resist but couldn’t fight back the tears.

  “I thought I lost you,” his shaky voice whispered as he held me tightly against his chest.

  I tried to respond but couldn’t get the words out between my sobs. He held me and waited, letting me weep. I calmed myself and wiped the last tears from my face. I peeled my head from his wet shoulder. My mind danced with a million questions. I stared at his beautiful face for just a moment then his lips were on mine. I lost all previous thoughts and melted into his kiss. His mouth was tender and tasted amazing. My body euphoric - an overwhelming rush of love poured from my once broken heart. I could barely handle the flood of emotions as fresh tears flowed down my cheeks. So caught up in the moment, I could only comprehend one thing…

  “I love you,” I whispered, with eyes still closed. I didn’t mean to say it aloud.

  He took my face in his hands, forcing our eyes to lock. “I love you,” he proclaimed.

  He kissed my lips again. Then gently pulled his lips from mine and we studied each other’s faces, both mesmerized that the other was really here.

  “What happened here?” I was in disbelief at the broken world around me.

  He guided me down to the sand and I molded into his lap.

  “On the sunset of the first day I spent without you, I grew worried, but thought there must have been a good reason that you didn’t show. You probably stayed up all night, but I would see you tomorrow. The second day dragged on forever. The sun finally made its descent, but again you didn’t show. I stayed on beach all night waiting for the sun to rise, refusing to go inside. I’m not sure what difference it would have made, but I was restless with you being gone so long. When the sun set on the third day without you, I knew something bad must have happened,” he explained.

  “Orion, I didn’t mean to stay away. I mean, maybe I did at first… I’m not sure. After Mitchell died, I was so confused. I didn’t sleep for a while… but when I tried to see you, I couldn’t. I don’t know what happened…” I said trailing off as my eyes drifted toward the sea.

  “Mitchell’s dead?” he gasped.

  “Yes, he was… murdered.” I cringed. The word felt like fire on my tongue. “It happened the first night. I spend the entire night at the police station and didn’t sleep much for the next few days… or month actually, although that hadn’t stopped me before from seeing you.”

  “Murdered?” he repeated with his eyes frozen wide.

  “I saw the whole thing. Well, not really, but I dreamt it. I don’t know how to explain it.”

  “Erebus…” he muttered.

  “I think so. At first I thought it was my fault for… you know, the night before…” I glared down at the sand shamefully.

  “Oh,” he paused for a moment, “I am so sorry, Alexis. That was wrong of me. Please forgive me.”

  “Please don’t apologize,” I dismissed his remorse earnestly. “I made that decision too and honestly I don’t regret it.”

  “I don’t regret it either,” he confessed.

  I shot a warm smile. “Tell me the rest of what happened.”

  “I thought Erebus did something to you. I couldn’t sit around wondering where you were or if you were still alive. So, I gathered some essentials and headed out to look for you, you know, in case you were trapped somewhere in my world. The first place I looked was the cave but it was apparent that no one had been there in a while. I heard stories that Erebus was hiding somewhere deep in the Zumi Mountains, so I made that my next destination. It took two days to reach the base of the mountains and I spent another five days searching for him, but I returned, defeated.”

  “You spent a week searching for me?” I asked in surprise.

  “That was just the Zumi Mountains. The next place I searched was the Gondulla Forest, about 90 kilometers east of here,” he pointed out toward the forest.

  “How did you survive? What did you do for food?”

  “I hunted. I’m perfectly capable of surviving in the wilderness,” he said smugly.

  I was impressed and I had to admit, a little excited of the thought of Orion out in the wilderness for days on end, hunting for his food, and searching endlessl
y for me.

  “When I was hiking through the Gondulla Forest, I came across a small village in ruins. The elder in the town said that a great evil plummeted through the village just two days prior. ‘There was a dark cloaked man and another with ghostly pale skin and black dreadful eyes of death’ as he described.”

  “Erebus and Draco,” I answered.

  Orion nodded. “Draco threatened the villagers and burned down the homes of anyone who refused to join them. A few men tried to fight back, but were slain. The rest of the villagers weren’t prepared for a battle and most of them fled. Draco set the entire town ablaze. Several of the men were missing.”

  “That’s horrible. I don’t understand. I thought Erebus could force others to join him,” I asked.

  “He isn’t that strong alone. He becomes stronger as his army grows. He feeds off their negative energy the same way they feed off of his.”

  “But I felt it before, in the cave.”

  “You may have felt his darkness, but it takes a stronger hold to force someone to obey. Especially someone with a pure soul, like yours, untouchable.”

  “Huh!” I chortled, “Well, he should try my soul now. It’s tainted,” I mumbled.

  Orion looked deeply upset. “Tainted? Why would you say that? Because of me?” he asked.

  I immediately regretted my comment. The last thing I wanted was for Orion to feel any of my guilt. “Of course not because of you. You’re the only good part of my life. It’s because of me. If you knew who I really was deep inside, you would run and never look back,” I warned him.

  “I do know who you really are, Alexis. I probably know you better than you know yourself. You are smart, stubborn, sarcastic, compassionate, courageous, and sexy…” he said.

  “Sexy is not a personality trait,” I teased bashfully.

  “Oh I think it is,” he replied and kissed the back of my hand. “I wish you could see yourself through my eyes.”

  I shook my head, “I don’t deserve you.”

  Orion flashed a beautiful smile that melted away my self-pity. I tried to shake off the intoxication and focus back on reality.

  “Why has Draco been serving Erebus so long? Draco must really be bad,” I assumed.

  “Not necessarily. Draco was taken long ago and Erebus used most of his remaining power to retain him. His strength and skills are essential to Erebus’ survival.”

  “But what about Mitchell?” I questioned.

  “I don’t know. Maybe the rules don’t apply the same in your world. I don’t know how Erebus was able to cross over. This means you are in danger in your world as well as in mine,” Orion’s face contorted.

  “Don’t worry about me,” I said confidently, brushing off his apprehension. I tried to play brave but honestly I was just as terrified as him.

  “I thought I lost you once already. I couldn’t bear to lose you again. I will protect you when you are here, but when you are away…” he shook his head. “I hate that I can’t come with you.”

  His hands tightened on mine with such force that I pulled them away with a wince. He loosened his grip, “Sorry.”

  “I wish I could stay here with you,” I pouted with a deep sigh.

  I could feel Orion’s stress pouring off of him. I rubbed his hands for distraction and looked out across the forest at my perfect world, fallen. Although even amidst destruction, I was in an oasis of serenity being near Orion again. I turned back toward him.

  “I tracked Erebus and Draco to Awkland, but they escaped us,” Orion said.

  “Us?”

  “I met someone in town. A butcher. He helped me free the men.”

  “Leyland…” I muttered in excitement.

  Orion’s browed narrowed, “You know him?”

  “So it was real? I mean, it felt real… but I wasn’t sure! I… saw you! In the town... I was with you… it must have been a dream or something… I don’t know…”

  “You were with me?” he asked.

  I could tell Orion was having a hard time following. “I can’t explain it, but I had dreams… or vision… of you and Leyland fighting… the girl in the white dress…” I sputtered and winced away.

  Orion’s face was flush. “How? I don’t understand…”

  “I don’t know. But I was there with you in Awkland and the next minute we were in the forest…” I concentrated hard to recall the vision. “Then Erebus…” I paused at the memory of Orion kneeling in the forest, broken.

  There was awkward silence for a moment.

  “After we left Awkland, we traveled for days searching for him. At night we looked for the glowing fire of his destruction and adjusted our course as needed. I learned a little about Leyland. His father was a butcher and Leyland helped with the family business when he was a child. When his dad was too old to work, Leyland took over the shop. He had a wife, Raina, whose family ran the town’s bank and the two grew up next door to each other. He wouldn’t say much about her, except that something tragic happened. From what I gathered, there was some type of accident a few years back. Raina was killed,” Orion explained.

  “That’s terrible,” I whispered.

  I wouldn’t wish the misery of losing the one you love to anyone. I wondered if during their journey, Orion told Leyland about me. If he did, how much did he say?

  “The thought of losing you consumed me. My head swam with different images of you capture… some of you in captivity… cold, alone, terrified… some of you in torture, crying out for me to save you. And the worse… the worse were of your lifeless body with dead eyes staring up at me,” Orion shuttered. His eyes glistened with unshed tears as he stared into the sky.

  By now, quiet tears fell again down my raw cheeks. He has to take innocent lives and fighting for his own - it made my heartache almost embarrassing in comparison. There were no words I could think of to comfort him, so I squeezed his hands tightly and listened.

  “Then we found Erebus and Draco’s camp in the forest,” he continued.

  “The things he said to you, they weren’t true!” I blurted out.

  Orion looked away.

  “I saw your pain… I prayed you could feel me near,” I cried.

  “I have been alone for most of my life, but for the first time, I felt alone,” he whispered with his head hung, hiding his face from my view.

  “Oh Orion, when you were alone in the darkness… I was there with you. We may have been worlds apart, but I was suffering with you too. My heart was aching for you too,” I cried.

  I crawled into his lap. His wet eyes were closed. I draped my arms over his shoulders.

  “I love you, Orion. You have to know that I’ve always loved you from the very first moment I saw you,” I whispered. “In my heart, he stopped being my boyfriend when you became the man of my dreams.”

  I laid my head on his chest and listened to his heart beating strongly against me. My entire being was complete with him in my arms. He kissed the top of my head and wrapped his arms around me. I felt safe.

  “What happened after that night in the forest?” I asked.

  “When dawn came, I went back to the campsite. I packed up my supplies and horses and headed out, unsure where to go. I was no longer driven to find you; I thought you were no longer lost. My new mission was to find Leyland. I couldn’t leave a friend behind. I headed out to track down Erebus. That same day I came upon a man who lived in a cabin tucked among the trees. He said that two men came into his house and rummaged through his supplies while he was in the basement. From downstairs he heard them talking about plans to burn down someone’s house… Ryan.

  “I headed back to Onasius as fast as my horse would take me. We rode into the night and throughout the next day. As I came close to town I could smell the smoke in the air… then I saw the first of the fires suffocating the trees. I felt their distress as their limbs sizzled in flames,” he shuttered.

  “When I reached my house, it was fully ablaze. I came here to the beach, abdicated from my duty, and surrendere
d. But then… an angel appeared, when I needed her most.”

  He traced my cheekbone with his fingers. There was a renounced flicker in his eyes. In a moment’s time, the man I loved had changed, at least in my eyes. The Orion I knew was kind, gentle, content and somewhat surreal. Now, I gazed upon a chivalrous warrior, someone who was willing to sacrifice his life to fight for what’s right. Someone who, despite all the horror surrounding him, came out with a pure heart. I could never love nor respect him more than I did in that moment.

  “You give me a glimpse of a better world,” he said. “This one is not safe with Erebus in it. He needs to be destroyed. I can never stop searching for him, but I don’t know where to look. He could be anywhere.” The muscles in his arms were tense. He held a mixture of somber yet fierce fire in his eyes.

  I turned his face toward mine, “Don’t lose hope,” I encouraged.

  He placed one hand on my knee and the other outlining my face, “I could never lose hope as long as you stay by my side.”

  I smiled. I would never get tired of his mushy lines. He kissed me and my lips molded into his. I inhaled his breath and fresh desire flooded through me. It would be heaven if I could have stayed forever in his arms. His kiss became softer and he slowly peeled his lips from mine. I opened my eyes and studied the beautiful features of his face.

  “I wish I had a sign or clue that could point me in the right direction,” he sighed deeply, looking across the ocean then up to the sky.

  “He could be on the sea for all I know… or in the Valley Forest… or at Nobel Falls…” he began to rant off random places.

  A waterfall flashed across my memory, “Wait...” I put my hand up to stop his babbling. “What did you just said?”

  “Which part?” Orion asked.

  “You said something about falls. As in, waterfalls?”

  “Nobel Falls. Deep in the forest - about 300 kilometers southeast from here. It’s home to the tallest waterfall on record, with its first drop measuring over 2,500 feet. Its view is quite spectacular. I will have to take you sometime.”

  “Does it split into three small sections before joining into a lake?”