Page 190 of Whispers of Wisteria

My vision blurred, turning dark, before suddenly, I was no longer falling.

I was no longer me.

The light of the red dawn touched the thousands of bodies scattered throughout the valley. I rose above it all, taking to flight to account for the fact that I was both gravely injured and hopelessly outnumbered.

Never before, in our three thousand years of being, had I ever been so close to death.

I could not afford to die.

Our work was not yet complete.

They called us immortal—a gift we’ve bestowed upon our chosen leaders of our realms.

But that wasn’t the same as being untouchable.

We could be wounded, and with enough damage, eventually killed. Our existence was bound as one, and if one fell, the others would fade within the span of a human lifetime.

As my fingers began to numb, and I strained to keep to the air while our enemies gathered below, I knew this would be the moment our immortality ended.

No one, not even Jin, whose form I could faintly see soaring closer from the mountains, would arrive in time to prevent it.

My bow slipped from my fingers as my vision turned gray. A new volley screamed through the sky, tearing into me and shredding me further, but I felt no pain.

Sleep called, and my vision tunneled to the earth. My heart ached.

Tu, Huo, Shui… I would never see them again. And Jin wouldn’t make it before the end.

They would rage. Huo would burn worlds. Shui would revel in blood. Tu would lose his restraint. But Jin…

Jin would carry guilt forever. He’d shoulder the blame until it broke him.

And they’d all live for a time without me. Alone.

We were never meant to be alone.

I fell, rock and sand rushing to meet me, as my chest grew heavy. We were not finished. We couldn’t leave our children, our people. I didn’t want to return to the feeling-less void.

I could not abandon them.

The earth split below me as something answered. An old magic, more ancient than the gods and goddesses, had responded to need.

Roots tore upward and branches burst into the air. A tree rose through drought-cursed soil and caught me before I shattered. Its branches surrounded me until I could no longer feel the wind.

The last of my power spilled outwards, reaching through the leaves to the sky. It sought them—Jin, Huo, Tu, Shui. It reached even to our Bond and enclosed it in a golden light.

We would die.

But it would not be the end. Not anymore.

I exhaled as the bark closed around me. I would not leave them. Even though forms might change, and as mortality touched us—

Our souls would meet again.

I gasped as my eyes flew open. We were still falling, the wind still slamming against my face. I still held on to Titus.

I was stillme, Bianca.

But the humming under my skin was older.