Something happened again to the spirit of the animals and it might not be a good nor pleasant one. Their body were disintegrating progressively before all of the debris got sucked by an unknown force under the sand. The creatures' dust seeped through the seafloor, decreasing the corpse count one at a time.
Aria and I stood speechless, turning our bodies around and around inspecting every spectacle we could spot. Our real bodies were not being affected at all and chose to keep on being dormant instead. However, we quite had the same idea of what might occur next.
It would not be long before our turn to be crumbled and vanish alongside the sands that accompanied our bare feet.
Aria impulsively tried to grab my hand in a fright state but failed since our bodies were not able to even make a contact and stumbled by her own. I was facing her trembling back, unable to do anything as she stayed in the same position for a while. Her hands were struggling with all the tremor to support her whole figure at that time.
One could easily tell she was in a crying position if not for the absent tear that was impossible to spot under the water. No matter how tough of a front she might show for me, it must not be easy to come to terms with your own demise.
Regret was impossible to be avoided after thinking all the things you still wanted to do in your life but couldn't be completed anymore. I never knew the full extent of her intention or even mine with life beyond our promise, but whatever it was, we did not have the luxury to see it by our own eyes.
Slowly, my nerves made me approach her from behind instinctively. By then, her shaking had abruptly stopped, replaced by an unsettling silence that only worsened the already vacant place.
Driven by my curiosity, I examined her and got a revelation to the situation that pushed her into disturbance. Her fingers were beginning to lose parts of themselves starting from the top like blown dusts.
Shock filled me when I brought both of my hands in front of my eyes and witnessed the same thing as hers. The crumbles slowly fell to the ground ignoring the water influence and got devoured by the ground without a trace.
I hurriedly attempted to catch back my leaving fragments without even remembering how useless it was. Similar to me, Aria was watching the process on her knees with widely opened jaw as though she was screaming senselessly. I did not even want to imagine how unpleasant my expression must be.
I shivered so hard when everything happened. I was ashamed of it. After all the brave yet reckless statements I spouted to her face, this was the only amount of courage I could muster up in the last moment of my life. Deep down in my mind I could not easily accept such a detestable end for me. It was almost strange for me to be so unafraid before this.
My palm had already turned into nothingness at that point and my feet were disintegrating before I could notice them. Even though I was fearing for the uncertain fate beyond those seemingly deep sand, I craved to take a last look at her before I would eventually be gone forever. This would be the last moment available for me to exclaim a deserving farewell for her.
When my vision was focused back on her, she was standing towards me with lifeless eyes. Her mouth was making a whimper and her unstable gesture was worrying. She returned my gaze with such a hopeless demeanor but suddenly formed a forced smile on her face.
'Thank you...' she uttered slowly and carefully to make sure I could read her lips movement properly.
'And sorry...' she continued while the smile on her face was already wearing down. Her eyes weren't even properly gazed into mine as she spoke.
'For everything.'
With that, she closed her eyes so hard as if holding the tears that formed inside her eyes. I was stunned before I could reply anything to her, but I genuinely thought it was enough for a last goodbye. My arms were gone and I decided to do the sole thing I could at the moment; waiting for the time I would become one with the sand.
My life might not be so pleasant until the end, but at least I was able to experience every moment of it. The bits of them were flashing in front of my eyes in a high speed, from the memories of the little me until the point of conclusion. When I was reminded again of the blank stage in my future that was impossible to fill, I was shook to the core.
I looked down to witness the absorbance of my pieces by the ground. My toes were nowhere to be found and the sand was whirling chaotically as a reaction. I felt something wrong when my heels were detecting vibrations that were only growing larger and larger.
Suddenly, a light spurted from the ground. My eyes were almost blinded for how bright it was. Before I could do anything, it dashed to the side until it reached a big idle rock. The light split into two after stopping for a bit and circled the both of us in an area.
Aria wasn't believing her eyes as the shock was so obvious in her expression, a sentiment we shared together at the time. The circling had stopped and the light dimmed out, only to be continued by a loud tremble on the ground and even bigger spurts of the blinding lights.
By the time I was able to see again, a big layer of white wall emerged on our surrounding, forming a circle on the path that the light travelled through. The ground which was contained with sands and rocks had gone and replaced by the same white material that became the foundation of the wall. In a horrified state, Aria quickly tried to push the wall but immediately retreated after discovering how hard it was with a knock.
What again this time?
It was an endless stream of bizarre things that kept happening to the point of creeping me out. My mind couldn't take anything at all.
At the center of this weird glowing place, I spotted an arising round thing that was covered by golden hair or strands. When I was hesitant about approaching it or not, I immediately lost the control of my legs and fell down sharply. I finally noticed that our calves were already starting to crumble and thus our ability to stand was taken away.
I checked on her situation and found out she was also laying by her back. Her eyes were glaring open, showing terror in what she saw. I followed her gaze and traced it back into the mysterious thing I saw before.
I gulped.
I didn't know it was possible but my throat did it.
The thing, or rather the person fully emerged, revealing an adult lady with stunning appearance. The golden strands I saw before was her hair, extending long enough to cover her eyes and her upper body like a cloth. Her lower half was wearing a clean white garment that waved inside under the water.
Under her covered eyes, the nose and mouth that appeared was enough to tell her beauty. I swore I could even see a glow that radiated from her body. Then, her voice unexpectedly echoed into our ears,
"I have long awaited for this moment."