8 Chapter 8: The Long Road Ahead

"Odin." Achlys pants and wheezes. "Can we please take a little break, I can't run anymore."

"Oh?" Odin asks mockingly surprised. "Is the journey a bit too much for you?"

"You're flying!" Achlys yells. "That counts as cheating you know that?"

"Fine we'll take a small break." Odin says as he looks for more tree stumps and finds two. "Take a seat."

"Thanks. (I think I can't breathe)" Achlys says weakly as the two of them sit down.

"Be honest with me right now Achlys." Odin says. "Why do you want to die? Besides the screams."

"Why ask?" Achlys says looking below the mountain. "I'll be gone soon, there's no point in telling you."

"There's also no point keeping it to yourself if you're going to die soon." Odin says. "Just please tell me."

"Okay." Achlys says. "It's my, my, my…"

"Achlys." Odin says while tears swell up in Achlys' eyes. "It's okay, you don't have to tell me."

"No, you got me talking, now you have to hear the rest." Achlys says, letting the tears roll down her face. "I don't know who I am. I've been up here so long I don't know who I am anymore. I've been living in a world so fake I lost touch of the real me. And, and, my family."

"Achlys."

"My family." Achlys cries, tears flooding her eyes and flows out like a faucet on low. "I can't remember my family. I don't know who they were. If they're alive. "If they still look over me or if they ever did. Who they were, I may never know."

"Come here." Odin says while Achlys lets go and cries as he holds her and comforts her. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be Odin." Achlys says while she's still crying. "Just let me go."

"Achlys, I promise you, you will be happy again. Even if I have to die doing so." Odin says while holding her close, staring at the top, holding his tears in. "I promise."

"Thank you."