“This must be dying.”

The thought came and went in my mind, along with other random, senseless images.

I’d stab my own heart and die already if I had the energy. Curl up in a godforsaken hole, close down my mind and succumb to eternal sleep.

“Peace and freedom it’ll be,” I whispered my conclusion. My breath cooled my cheek. The warmth and feeling of life was escaping my body. It wouldn’t be long before my slumber became permanent.

“Will you find this in death?” The wind whispered its question around me.

I pried open my eyes to a grassy sludge and winced from the instant hit of aches and pains I felt to my chest.

“Pain in the butt,” I coughed and cringed at the sharp jab I felt to my lower back. So much for that peaceful hole to die in.

I closed my eyes again; the image of shadows flickering on the ground etched into my retina. I listened to the irregular pounding against my ears that seemed to say, “Dumdum, it comes, dumdum, you’re done.”

“I’m done here,” I whispered as I drifted into a dream of baby-blue and peach-colored skies. Swirling watery clouds overwhelmed my vision. Brushed on their surfaces were a collection of grandiose images, faces, far-away places. All wondrous and inviting.

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“Not yet,” Wind slapped into my senses.

I felt its harsh scolding strike at my exposed skin; doing all it could to keep me alive. Some strength returned to my limbs.

Damn nature.

“Grip the pain. Listen for water. Find it, find answers, daughter of Marsilien.” Its shrieking voice instructed.

I opened my eyes to light and heard the rustling of trees, a shifting in the grass and a steady gush.

“Find the water.” The instruction came again.

“Why?” I groaned but knew I would comply since I was now feeling life in me again and a body’s will to hold on to it. The idea of finding water had also latched onto my brain.

I inhaled deeply, coughed out my pain, and faced the sludge. Warmth and the flow of blood empowered my limbs into movement. I made a slug trail toward a muddy river edge and felt cold life brush my fingertips. Water!

I fingered the sense-snapping coldness and scooped a handful toward my lips. The water’s taste was tainted with iron and a putrid stench of decay.

The ground underneath me slipped away into the water. I found myself in a wrestle with a villainous river.

The river’s assault was brutal. Its water invaded my throat and nostrils. It stung my eyes, pushed against my chest and threatened to break my ribs. My screams came out as gurgles and pitiful bubbles. It punched, knocked and dragged my body for some time. Eventually, it spewed me out as deadwood toward the hard edge of something.

Twilight flickered about my eyes. A calming breeze soothed my aches.

“Finally, the end.” Words spewed out of my mouth on the back of my last breath.

“Rest now, daughter of Marsilien. Know, nature and magic are with you,” the wind cooed into my ears.

I felt hands wrap around my waist and lift my body into dry air. Pins and needles jabbed the tender spots underneath my skin.

Suddenly, I felt and saw nothing.