Chapter Four – The light

When I came to, I was lying down from what I could tell. I tried to move but I was unable to. I could hear murmurs in the room I was in, hushed tones I couldn’t make out. I was starting to slip back into a sleep which I couldn’t get out of. I kept drifting in and out of consciousness. I felt trapped in my own mind which itself was starting to lose control. At one point, I could make out who was sitting next to me speaking to me, the next it was hazy.

Then, after what seemed like hours and hours, I jolted and my body felt alive. I managed to open my eyes to see no one in the room with me. The room being one of their incredibly advanced medical rooms. For elves I would have thought they resorted to nature but with the electrical equipment to my right I assume they needed to upgrade in some areas. I tried not to move around too much as my neck felt really stiff. I slowly tried to move my fingers and to my success they still worked, thank God. I started to wiggle my toes and felt movement. I tried to sit up and found that I could do so without much trouble. It seems however when I did manage to sit up, a ringing sound erupted from the machine I was taped up to.

A few seconds later, Elder Liandor, Orla and Elijah came into the room with exhausted looks. “You’re awake!” Exclaimed Elijah and suddenly rushed over to hug me. “Careful Elijah, don’t cause any more stress to her body, we still don’t know the full extent of the injuries.” Orla scolded, but Elijah kept me in a tight embrace.

“What happened? I don’t understand.” I said, as I try to recall what happened at the Naturlesseum. “One moment, I was looking at the shooting star and then it was as if it hit us.”

Elder Liandor looked at me questionably, seemingly as if he expected me to know what happened. “That was no shooting star Aliana. We’ve never seen that in our existence, and I myself have been alive for thousands of years.”

I looked at him shocked. He was how old? I knew elves lived for a long time but that’s too much for me to process. I look at Orla and Elijah and I wonder how old they are, but then something else comes to me in that moment from memory.

“Did that thing hit me? How am I here? What was it?” All of these questions spilled out of my mouth at once but my mind was in a rush. How am I not dead?

“Yes, the light hit you directly and embraced your body for a few seconds. For your other questions though, I’m sorry, I cannot say. All I can assume is it is a sign from our God and Goddess. A sign for what? Unfortunately we don’t know.“ Elder Liandon said, with a faint frown.

At this point, Orla had come over and was starting to check my temperature, checking my heartbeat. I understood that she needed to do this but I felt fine and didn’t want her prodding me.

“Please Orla, I feel fine. It feels as if I’ve had a long sleep….how long was I out for?” I asked, as I genuinely had no idea how much time had passed.

“You’ve been out for a week Aliana. Your vitals look fine and I can’t see any issues with the rhythm of your heart since I’ve started monitoring it. It’s as if nothing’s happened.” She says quizzically but then carries on before I get a word in “I think you should stay here, awake, for a few hours before we let you go, I don’t want anything random happening to you.”

“A week?!” I state, loudly. “That’s crazy. What happened whilst I was sleeping?” I notice a very quick look between Elder Liandor and Elijah which piques my interest. I look at Elijah straight in the eye “What is it?” I ask.

Elijah hesitated for a few seconds before sighing loudly. “You were glowing, for minutes after you were hit. No one knew what was going on or what it was, we’ve never seen anything like it….it’s like you had starlight around you. It started to fade, and you were just lying there. We thought you were dead. We ran to you right away to see if you were still alive and then Orla noticed you had a pulse so we brought you here.” He looked really shaken recalling it so I didn’t question him further.

We all were awkwardly silent in the room, I suppose all our minds were processing this information.

Elder Liandor then looked at everyone in the room. “Please can I be left with Aliana for a few minutes? I have some things I want to discuss.” Elijah and Orla looked to him, then to me, shrugged and left the room. Elijah looked back once, gave me a small smile and left the room.

“May I sit” Elder Liandor asked kindly.

I waved to the seat “please do.”

He picked up the chair and brought it closer to the bed I was sitting up in, “Like I said before.” He started, then stopped, perhaps trying to think of the right words to use “We’ve never seen anything like that here. I had tried to look in the history books but came across nothing. As one of the Elders here, I have a responsibility to look after my people but I also have a responsibility to our God and Goddess, and they have undoubtedly chosen you for something.” He looked at me, expecting something in return.

My mind at this point was blank bar one question. “Why would I be chosen for something? My race has died, I have nothing, and I am nothing. I just don’t understand.”

Elder Liandor smiled warmly and responded “My dear child, no one knows why the God or Goddess do what they do, we simply and humbly follow. It may be that you are the last human for a reason.” He paused here, standing up and finished with a parting. “I understand it is your wish to leave. You know we will never stop you, but you should know you are always welcome here, and welcome to come and go when you please.”

He started towards the door, and just before he opened it to exit, he finished with “As you know, most species are gifted with a significant other especially for them from our Moon Goddess. I understand you and Elijah have grown close, perhaps too close. I would ask you to let him down gently if it is your wish to leave, rather than not let him down at all.” He opened the door and exited the room, closing the door behind him.

My mind was going one hundred miles an hour at this point. Did I get too close to Elijah? Sure, he was all the things a woman could ask for, but I had never felt that way about him. I loved him as a friend. Did he feel differently?

Before I can make any headway on that, Orla came in to check on me. “Look, I don’t know what happened and it’s weird the Elder doesn’t know either, but it’s really miraculous that you’ve survived whatever hit you from the sky.” She gives me a quick look over “It’s amazing how you’re fine even though you’ve been out for days. Would you mind if I took some blood samples to take a look?” She gives me her brilliant smile, and even though I hate needles I nod my head.

Orla gets really giddy as she starts looking for her needles and vial bottles to take my blood and I was interested in the results. “Will you let me know if you find anything please?” I asked, hoping she wouldn’t hide anything from me.

“Of course I will! It’s your blood after all!”

Orla proceeds to take my blood. At the same time, Elijah comes in “Oh…I didn’t see….” He sees my blood was being taken and his face goes a shade of white.

“Er, I’ll come back in five.” And he runs out the door closing it behind him.

Orla and I looked at each other and cracked up as she finished off taking the blood she needed. “I’ll leave and take these to test to see what I can find. I’ll see if I can get Elijah back in here. Who would have known one of our best rangers is frightened of blood!” she cackled then left the room.

I waited for around ten minutes before I became impatient. Was Elijah still outside? I decided to get up and separate myself from the machine that was steadily beeping as it had been since I woke up. I don’t see any need to have that attached still. I remove it and it makes a strange crackle before just turning off as I was no longer attached.

I swing my legs to the side of the bed and hop off. My feet on the cold smooth floor feel normal, and I start to walk to the doors. I don’t feel any different to the night where I blacked out. I get to the door and put my ear to it, but I hear nothing, maybe it’s sound proof? I open the door slightly and hear some voices down the hall.

“….I wish you didn’t say anything Elder, I’d rather it was just kept quite so I can convince her to stay” I heard Elijah say to someone, presumably Elder Liandor.

“Elijah, you and I both know she doesn’t belong here. Even so after last week’s ceremony. We both know she is meant for other things and she has to find it. I’m sure it will be as hard for her as it is for you for her to go. She cannot stay and she knows and respects that. I have no doubt she will be back, but it will not be to fall into your arms.” The Elder says sternly.

I hear Elijah sigh. I then hear him say good bye to the Elder and steps heading towards the door. I quickly walk towards the bed and start to sit in a lopsided position when my door is pushed open and a defeated looking Elijah walks in.

“Hey Elijah”, I say quicker than I meant to. “Did Orla tell you to come? I asked her a while ago to get you, I thought you weren’t coming” I splutter out, hoping it didn’t look obvious I was peeking on his conversation with the Elder.

“Hey Aliana, no sorry I just had to check on something, sorry for running out.” He says in a sad tone.

One thing I have learned here is that everyone looks up to the Elders and they are seen as the wisest, with the most experience. “Aliana, I’ve been with you every day since you blacked out, did you know that? Did you hear anything I had said?” He asks expectedly.

I take a few moments to try and think about the time from when I blacked out at the ceremony to when I woke up. “I do remember hearing voices and murmurs, but unfortunately I don’t remember anything. I’m sorry.”

Elijah sits on the side of my bed, quite close to me and he takes a long sigh.“ I was here because I thought I’d lose you. You’ve become the best thing that’s happened to me and I thank the God and Goddess for brining you here. We’ve been through a lot in the months you’ve been here and I’ve felt myself get closer to you, even though you are not an elf.” He says as if it pains him.

He takes my hands into his and follows on with. “Aliana, I saw you get hit with something not even the Elders have seen before, nothing that is in our history books and believe me, they’re ancient. I sat here with you, day in and day out thinking you could probably die at any moment. I believe I have fallen for you yet others do not think the same or do not believe it is written in the stars. I love you…..do you feel the same way?”