Embrace

Yuna always thought she would surely die as all humans do one day.

But she never thought the day it'd be her turn would come so soon.

She never thought it'd make her feel so utterly powerless or that there'd be so many things to regret; things so hard to forget had made her feel sick to the stomach, yet she felt oddly relieved.

As if a massive burden had been lifted off her shoulders.

She knew she had given it her best.

A warm feeling had embraced her before the truck hit. She knew what it was, but it was hard to recall it quite exactly. All she could say for sure was that those safe arms made one never want to leave.

'Warm,' was her last thought before it wandered off into nothingness, along with her tears and to the stars.

...

'What did I do to deserve this?' – Yuna always found herself asking this question.

She was an obedient child since birth and tried her best not to cause trouble for others. She didn't complain or throw fits as the other children did, never asking for anything in return. She always did as told and followed her pre-made path.

She never did anything wrong, so why?

Why is it that she is subjected to such loathing? Why did they stare with such disgust?

She had exceedingly good looks and excelled in everything she did, so why was it so hard to get along with others? Yuna found other people overly complex and equally puzzling, never fully comprehending their thoughts.

She tried to socialize, but they took it as a provocation.

Noticing how strange and unlikeable she was, they naturally drifted away.

Soon enough, she became an outcast.

Isolation evolved into bleeding wounds and a masked heart.

'What did I do to deserve this?' she asked again. Why did they hate her so?

She never understood them, and they never understood her.

It felt heavy—anxiety built from malicious stares.

So, unknowingly, she built an invisible wall that separated her from peering eyes.

As time passed, she'd grown numb to the reoccurring questions in her mind and gave up on the hopeless dream of finding that form of warmth she kept dying for.

That is, until one day, an unexpected factor walked into her life and brought with it, an answer and meaning.

...

Faintly, off in the distance, the crisp voice of a maiden giggled. In the dark nothingness, it brought a light—pure and divine.

But giggles turned into coughs, followed by cries of a man. The darkness stirred, and the light flickered until it vanished. Before it completely disappeared, a streak of silver shot through the space and into the light.

When everything blackened, a loud rumble resounded through the space, powerful enough to shake one's soul.

Eventually, the darkness got brighter until it was a brilliant, grimacing light. The voices had become more audible.

The weak voice of the maiden struggled to mutter, "...-ster..ia," she smiled weakly.

Gently rubbing the head of the little life in her arms, the young woman planted a shaky kiss on her forehead, turning to look at the confused man and innocent boy who stood by the bedside.

She coughed out a bit of blood, her skin becoming paler by the second. With a deep and unstable exhale, she whispered, "I...," her eyes flickered, yet a tall smile stood brightly on her face, "Take care of yourselves," she coughed again, "I'll be... watching over you..." One last inhale fell with the drop of a needle. Her eyes stopped moving, her heart stopped beating, and she was gone.

Panicked cries broke the silence.

The voices of a dozen people in the room shouted at each other. A man in white ran out from the crowd to grab the maiden's wrist. His crestfallen look explained it all when he turned around to shake his head.

The room returned to silence, and the man next to the boy scrambled to the woman before letting out a heart-wrenching sob. People previously surrounding the maiden gave him space.

The dazed Yuna, who found herself in the woman's lap, was confused out of her mind, 'Where am I?' she thought, stunned.

'How did I get here? Wasn't I just hit by a truck? If I'm alive, shouldn't I be in a hospital room? What's with the giant cosplayers and medieval room? A prank?' the questions left her mind in the form of wails.

The man beside the bed twitched his furrowed eyebrows when he heard the baby's cries on the woman's lap.

His lost gaze morphed into rage.

He abruptly stood up, ignoring the little boy beside him, who fell off his stool from this sudden motion.

"You..." he pointed to the baby on the lap of his dead wife, "You did this... you killed her. She died after giving birth to you. You... You bastard...You thing!" his lips trembled with a blaming finger. The man lifted the baby from the maiden's lap and wrapped his hands around her fragile neck.

Yuna choked from his firm and unrelenting grip. The man's bloodlust ran deep into her bones to where it gave her chills. Each breath got shorter and shorter, 'What's happening anymore? Am I going to die here?'

She could feel her heartbeat slowing down, 'No, I don't want to die!' Yuna felt her consciousness slipping away. She felt the grip around her neck gradually loosening, but the man's following words dispelled the short relief.

The man at the baby in his hands with an inexplicable expression. He let her fall back on the woman's lap, "No, such an easy death would be too good for you," he continued ominously, "Since you took the life of my beloved wife, I'll have you pay tenfold and make you wish you were dead."

Staring deep into her eyes, the frightening man made her break out into a cold sweat.

Yuna knew one thing for sure, 'I don't know where I am, but this is not a dream.'

She had an idea of what might've happened, but it sounded too unbelievable to be true. Her eyes locked on the man's strange attire, 'Where am I?'

...