"Hey, chica, you still alive?"
That deep, lively voice reached me slowly.
"C'mon, I know you're in there.
Talk to me."
My stomach twisted.
I vomited.
I opened my eyes.
Swollen. Aching.
Blood stained everything.
I was too weak to keep living.
I wanted to cry, but there were no tears left.
Not even enough water for that.
"S-stop."
"No, chica, it has to be more than that."
Denden sounded alert.
"Hold on.
You can do this.
Those bastards were saying how resistant you were — you denied them what they wanted."
He spoke with an excitement that only brushed the surface of my essence.
"I-I'm glad you're alive."
If I was going to die, at least I wouldn't be alone.
That idea felt… comforting.
"What is this, muchacha?
You're in front of Denden, el grandioso.
These mierdas think they can do something to me?
I'm already fucked in the head, chica — there's no way to fuck me up more."
I forced myself to lift my head, as if tons of stone were crushing me.
I looked at him — it was irresistible — and let out a weak laugh.
I choked and coughed blood.
His face looked worse than before.
Bruised. Swollen.
Wounds covered every piece of visible skin.
Blood soaked his torn pants.
His lips were so inflamed.
How was he still talking?
But his eyes…
Ferocious. Unshaken.
One thing was undeniable:
his spirit was invincible.
"Yeah, chica… you're like that too.
I know how to recognize a soul like mine.
We're the worst kind of people for them.
People who look death in the face are unbreakable.
You understand that, right?
Death circles us, but memory anchors us.
And when the body is gone, love is what lifts us."
"S-stop…"
"Quit talking mierda.
Come on, react!
You think you get to die like this?
That I'll let you?"
He was smiling.
"Hold on, chica.
If you're going to die, let it be on your terms, not theirs."
A strange way of encouraging me.
It wasn't enough.
I was at my limit.
I had blocked the information they were searching for, protecting my mind.
It had cost me dearly.
I used the last thread of my life against Sinaptic-V.
My last breath.
My last sigh.
I did what I could.
I reached my limit.
I hadn't even imagined it was that vast.
Death circles us.
Denden's words echoed in my mind.
Yes…
It would free me.
Silence was empty potential.
It glowed.
It called me.
Death embraced me with the tenderness of an old friend.
I accepted it.
At last, I would join Maia, wherever she was shining in the Cosmos.
We would meet again like stars.
Hand in hand.
She could tell me all her secrets.
Open.
Wild.
Free.
Just her and me, in our intimate and infinite paradise.
Yes.
That vision was so comforting.
"Hey, chica, what are you doing?
Don't—"
Denden's voice dissolved.
My vision darkened.
Before I blacked out, I caught sight of a beam of light slipping through a crack in the wall.
Soon it would disappear too.
I mean… it disappeared.
What was that?
I was held firmly.
The weight that had been pulling me down… vanished.
I could float.
A swaying motion.
Was I being abducted by the sky?
I smiled at the thought.
If I opened my eyes, would there be a white light carrying me to the cosmic plane?
I gathered the tiny strength I had left and opened them.
But what I saw was an eclipse.
"Take this."
That husky voice vibrated through me.
My mouth was opened.
Something wet and cool slid down my throat.
"And for you, I've got this…"
"Carajo, no creo!
A Cuban Montecristo no. 13 cigar?"
Denden inhaled the scent.
Pure happiness.
He laughed, half-manic.
"Ah, that's what I'm talking about!"
A little of my energy returned.
My head fell to the side.
I was moving farther and farther from a long corridor.
At its end, a pool of blood kept spreading.
Above it, bodies and more bodies, beyond the reach of my sight.
Nausea.
A strangely warm touch lifted my head back up.
"Now that is what I needed, fuck!"
Denden was still vibrating in the background, but I was already focused on something else.
The figure before me became clearer.
The square jaw.
The tight lips.
The fixed stare.
The familiar coldness.
His eyes met mine.
Amber eyes.
So familiar.
The touch was real. Solid.
It shouldn't have been.
I should have been floating back to the cosmic tapestry.
But there he was.
Warm. Present.
Saymon.
Was my delirium… him?
I wrapped my arms around his neck.
Clung to him with whatever strength remained.
Buried my face against his chest.
I cried.
I cried with the last trace of water left in my body.
Every restraint broke.
All the fear, despair, and agony spilled out in tears.
"You're going to be alright."
His voice was a whisper meant only for me.
Saymon.
His aura was fearsome, but his gaze hid something…
Maybe I was delirious.
Yes.
I definitely was.
It was probably nothing.
I leaned against his shoulders.
And cried again.
I cried for the pain.
I cried for the part of me that was gone forever.
I cried because, for one fleeting second, I had looked at features so familiar and believed I was before her.
Before Maia.
My heart hurt.
It hurt because it was him.
Because I wanted so badly for it to be her.
For an instant, I believed I had died and was with Maia.
Was living really that terrible?
Why did I want so badly to die?
"Denden, go to this address.
Meet Cron."
Saymon ordered.
"Alright, muchacho.
Take good care of the chica.
She almost went back to Cosmara."
Denden's footsteps moved away.
"And you and I…"
Saymon looked at me.
"We're going to meet Kiara."
His cold gaze passed through me.
Pain still consumed me, but the mention of Kiara warmed my heart.
I clung to that small flame of life.
With all my strength.