Chapter 37 - THE END

The thunderclap frightened her like it had never before, rocking her to her core screaming at her to get up. It was as if the thunder was sending a message placing her whole body in alert. Every fiber, bone, and making of her being ached with pain. Her heart, though it had experienced much pain, had never hurt this much. Her entire body shivered as she barely muttered his name "Lycurgus". 

She dashed out into the storm not knowing the direction she was going but simply following her will. The winds battled and lashed at her, make her journey cumbersome. The howl it brought was deafening, but it didn't mute the sound that played in her heart, the inclination that her son needed her. The dread and worry surpassed all feelings before it, but it gave her strength, it gave her focus, it gave her power she had never felt in her body. She ran till her legs came to a stop. Her body had stopped before her eyes ever spotted him.

  Lycurgus, seemingly dead and lifeless, missing an arm and both legs. Shezira choked back tears as she ran to her son scooping his body. When her eyes came upon his face, she let out a yelp reaching for him. In that moment she saw it all, all the moments she spent with her baby, and to look upon her baby rocked her too her core. Her hands shook uncontrollably as she touched his face, lingering for only a second before moving to check his vitals. Barely faint but there and steady. She quickly examined his wounds. Realizing he had stitched himself together haphazardly but just enough to stop any excessive bleeding. Even though he did good enough, considering his condition, she realized she needed to tighten up, especially around the legs. But her hands kept shaking she bit down hard on her forearm drawing blood but managing to cease the shaking. Even with the rain bearing down on her and the winds blowing fiercely she didn't waste time and finished patching him up.

  She then pulled him close and held his head kissing him ever so gently upon his forehead, she sat there like for a minute, her heart trying to get a grasp of the situation before picking him up in a way she hadn't done since he was a small child. Cradling her little boy. Tears, camouflaged by the rain, stung her eyes. Every inch of her heart wanted to sit and cry but she didn't waste any more time and began making the trek back to the cave.

  Battling the elements, fatigue, and guilt, her mind raced. Regretting everything that led up to this moment, condemning everything in her heart. Cursing herself, Taryu, and Le for what had happened. Tears, snot, and sobs escaped out the orifices of her face. As she continued her vision blurred and her heart ached, as though it was tearing itself asunder. She barely maintained a level of consciousness, only the drive of getting Lycurgus to the cave kept her going. Every step felt as though she was battling fate, battling against her son's demise as the earth itself was against her and her baby. Each step fighting against the mud, resisting the push of the wind, the strike of the trees, and the drowning of the water. She knew not how she managed to stay on her feet, but she did so somehow. At some point she had lost herself, solely in autopilot striving to save her son. 

To fall it's such a quiet thing, inconspicuous in its arrival, yet it still comes, and when it does it is crushing all the same. She knew not the time nor place that passed; she didn't even know if she was awake. This horrible, horrible nightmare that she had been in for so long that she couldn't escape. But regardless of the nightmare her heart was set on making her son whole again. At this point it was all she could possibly live for. Gone were all her dreams and gone was the life she once lived. Her mind, body and soul stuck in the ephialtes that was now her life.