(Rose)
I cried in my sleep, because I somehow still recalled that I've lost you forever. Instead of realising the sad truth when returning to reality, and cry once awoken to the sadness of my lonely existence.
Even at night and in dreams I cannot escape my fate. You're gone, and that sorrow is haunting me. And perhaps she's gone too, but because of me...
I wake up with tears at the corners of my eyes. Around the one that still sees at least. My broken and empty left eye socket also has tears flowing I can feel. I guess I don't need an eye to have tears.
Blume did not greet me today as I woke up. It's the second time only this ever happened...
The first one was when she felt the Ogre's presence. Today is the day I survived the Ogre. But maybe Blume did not.
The sky I look at between the fallen walls of this tall building is as beautiful as it should be. It's deep blue, still clustered with stars.
I see the colours again. The curse has been lifted. Which certainly means that the Ogre is either gone or dead. Probably dead... Even if I don't see a body around, I don't see why I would still be alive this current day otherwise.
I'm so cold... I remember vividly my head being crushed, my skull being broken, my left arm and right hip being shredded off by large teeth. My chest was skinned, my flesh ripped away down to my guts. I felt everything... How can I still be alive after a night left like that?
My head hurts but manages to move. I look at my left arm. Some skin covers the stump between shoulder and missing elbow. New fresh and translucent skin has grown, stopping the bleeding. I understand now, my flower told me about that possibility to heal fast...
My flower... Thinking about her brings back my tears. I recall my screams as she was torn away from me. I remember the pain when her roots all over my internal organs were pulled outside until they ripped off.
I can move a little. All my wounds are covered with that translucent soft skin my body managed to grow. My skull is still in pieces, so moving my head gives me awful headaches and dizziness. My skull is like a frail balloon now. If I'm not careful, that thin skin barely covering my brain could rupture for good. And the power that saved me, all the powers that could save me, they now are gone.
My wounded body turns and I crawl, still lying on my back, because the skin on my chest is too thin and frail. My feet can move despite the injuries. I should be able to walk.
I crawl closer to the drying bouquet that was thrown away and dried. I clutch onto them, bringing them closer to me and cry.
~
I hear nothing but the wind. I'm waiting for nothing, still lying up there. Resting. Breathing. Watching the sky turn brighter very steadily. The world feels so empty without her voice. I clutch on the flowers, pressing them hopelessly against the soft skin covering my remaining ribs and my heart.
I'm breathing steadily. Though it feels weird where ribs are missing or cracked. I didn't think possible to survive losing that many bones and their related tissues.
I can only hear the wind going through the building and very slowly eroding it.
I manage to sit slowly, and almost to stand. I crawl toward the pile of burnt memories. I clutch to the flowers but they're dry and some leaves are falling.
I grab an ankle and pull a leg out from the pile of ashes. Some bodies begin to slide off from that pile the Ogre had built. I find one near the bottom that had clothes in better shapes than mines and proceed slowly to take them. I don't want to keep crawling naked like an animal.
I dress with burnt clothing that smells just weird... I close the jacket over the flowers against my heart.
I walk unsteadily around. The monster didn't leave any visible remains, but I did. I find some of my own bones still lying around. Two pieces of ribs and small bites of my left arm. And a few pieces of skull where hair remains.
Bones can regrow like skin right? Wait, no... Amputees can't regrow lost limbs I think.
I'm stuck with what I am now. She made me dream I could become far more... What were her last words again? I can't recall.
I can only recall her playing some violin sounds when she was scared.
I recall her saying something one day, about being maybe able to survive even if her flowers were removed from my flesh. Didn't she say something like that? Maybe this was a lie... She's not just quiet right now...
She's gone...
The anxiety makes my heartbeat rise. I look around and outside, but what is there beside the quiet world? I'm alone and lost in there again.
My victory over the Ogre is bitter. It costed me my dear friend. And a significant amount of my body also. Though I worry less about that. Maybe I can set a hook on my left arm like a marine officer, or a pirate.
I breathe painfully and brush some last tears away from my ravaged face. From the touch of my fingers, I can feel that new skin covering my head. I must look like a monster right now.
I always were one a little bit at heart. Only it never showed. I had a rather fair human mask and kind look to cover it all.
A body. Culture. Clothing. Language...
Masks to cover the beasts we are, and try our best to blend as humans in society.
I still feel a little lighter from my victory over the evil Ogre. It's gone. The land is free again. It won't extend. I didn't expect such desolation but that nightmare is now over anyway.
We won Blume. What you did worked. You defeated an evil far greater than what you thought you could defeat. You accomplished something heroic, defeating an opponent stronger than you were...
My chest feels cold... I'm glad we made it, but truly sad that I lost her.
I wonder where I will go now...
~
I spent half the day at the summit of the city, the Ogre's lair, looking at the sky and resting a little.
Then I finally came down. I found my hap hazard way through the ruins and empty streets, recovering at least some shades of their former colours.
I walk slowly and help myself with a stick like a cane, to make sure I don't fall.
Passing by something shiny, I see a reflection of myself. All my hair turned white, oddly. Though the picture on this aging piece of metal is distorted and blurry, I can get a glimpse at my true face.
I look like I should have died... With an empty eye socket and most of the skin so pale it becomes translucent, my skull somehow visible here and there. I look like a grim reaper or a dead person brought back to life through dark sorcery.
I don't like the sight of my face, and lower my gaze from it. My hair is floating in the wind, being much thinner now. Despite being white, I do like my new hair. It looks eerie. Still hard to believe that this sort of a person I look at is myself...
I used to look older than I were, and slightly sickly, but I was easily more pleasant to look at than I now am.
I wish the Ogre left another wishing stone behind when it died. I might have been able to bring Blume back to life...
I follow the wind and leave the city walking unsteadily, with my improvised cane. Everything is so silent it depresses me.
I'm alone, but I'm alive.
Being alive is more important. I will remain sad, but I will thrive.
Roses will thrive...
~