Chapter 5: Messenger
By the third day, I was about to go crazy.
“How about-”
“Okay! Please, Eir, do you have anything to drug him up? He won’t stop asking questions!” I yelled, exhausted by the number of questions that poured out of the stupid kid during the past three days.
“I’m sorry, Messenger, but I can’t do that. It’s against my morals and the hippocratic oath that I swore,” she sweetly smiled, but this time, I could see a hint of slyness in there.
“Come back here, you cheeky little doctor-”
I reached out to grab her, but suddenly, I couldn’t remember what I was doing in that bright-lit room.
“Messenger, are you-”
A girl with brown hair and eyes stared at me with concern, but I couldn’t tell who she was. The world drastically dimmed and I fell against the floor, unable to control my body anymore.
When I woke up, I groaned and tried to open my eyes.
“What…”
I couldn’t even form words, but a small, warm hand gently held me.
“You’re okay, Messenger. You’re here, at the Meliora’s Institute of Learning. I’m Eir Santos. Do you remember me now?”
She held a small timer in her hand, and it stopped at three minutes. Suddenly, I remembered who she was.
“Eir. I remember now. I was just about to grab you from running away.”
My mind slowly began to clear, and she smiled.
“Now you remember, right? Can you get up this time?”
She propped me up from the floor.
“I can do it.”
I stood up, and instantly fell onto the bed beside me.
“Well, that was better than last time. Messenger, why didn’t you tell me that your system needed fine-tuning? I could have fixed it for you,” she frowned, pulling a blanket over me.
At that moment, a certain darkness grabbed me, pulling me under, and I realized what it was. Not this. I couldn’t dream again. Please, not again.
“Eir, please, help me. I don’t want to sleep…”
My eyes widened as I tried to grope for her hand, but it was too late. Everything turned black as she reached out to me. My head crashed into the pillow, and the familiar world of nightmares began again.
“Messenger, come help me with the children. They like it when you come to say goodnight to them.” Her sparkling strawberry blond hair glittered like sand when the sun touched it, and I sighed.
“Really, Raine, I’m already tired-” I complained, pretending that I was worn out but keeping one eye open to see her expression.
“Really, Messenger? Then, I’ll sing you to sleep too if you come with me to send the children to bed,” she winked, and I opened both eyes.
“Aw, is that it?” I whined, and she glared at me.
“Take it or leave it, Messenger Kustai,” she threatened, and I laughed.
“Fine, fine. Seriously, this is called taking advantage of people,” I jokingly complained, and she smirked.
“Yet, you keep falling for it.”
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“Yes. Yes, I do, only if it’s you.”
I reached out for her hand, and she looked at me with surprised, wide eyes.
“Thank you, Messenger. But, I’m not ready. Not yet.”
She looked down, hiding the sadness behind her eyes as she pulled her hand away from mine.
“Of course. I’ll wait for you. Take all the time you need, because I’m not going anywhere soon,” I smiled, walking away to tuck the school children into their beds for nap time.
The next scene passed by, and I was thrown into another memory.
“Messenger!”
A squeal surprised me and I turned around to see a fully grown Clymene dolphin ram into me.
“Adrah, what happened?” I frowned, and she whistled happily.
“Nothing. I’m just happy to see you, that’s all.”
She nosed my cheek fondly, and I smiled.
“I’m happy to see you too, Adrah.”
“Gosh, did you forget about us once you saw your Guardian? Sheesh, that’s not fair at all. I know I’m not as pretty as Adrah, but couldn’t you at least say hi?”
Kai’s spiky black hair waved around in the ocean currents, and his dark brown eyes pierced each person he looked at like a spear. Fayre was beside him, his unusually tall lanky figure was masked with a wave of soft light brown hair that contrasted with Kai’s.
“Hey guys. Where are we going today?”
I slid on Adrah.
“We’re going to ride the ocean currents today. Care to join us or are you too busy?” Fayre smirked.
“Busy? No way, I’m going with you guys. Adrah, are you up for it?” I said, leaning down to look at her.
“If you’re ready, I’m ready!” she piped, sending a happy tail flip that almost ripped the kelp off the floor.
“Let’s go!” I smiled.
My friends were around me, and we were out doing dangerous stuff as usual. Nothing changed. It was me, Adrah, and my friends, and I felt like I could conquer the world.
I was always dreaming of people that ceased to exist. They kept haunting me after each episode, reminding me of my failures. I failed to save them. I failed to keep them safe. I failed to protect them. I was too busy fighting by myself to realize that I needed them, but by then, it was too late. I lost. But most of all, I lost to a small, puny boy with those hateful violet eyes.
One day, if we meet again, I will tear you limb by limb and make sure you know how painful it was for my friends to endure your schemes. I promise that you will absolutely, painfully die by my hand like they did to yours.
“Messenger? I know you’re awake now. Dr. Liam is here for you.”
She gently shook me awake, and I opened my eyes.
“Eir…”
My little sister. When everyone else was gone, you still stayed by my side.
“I want to sleep more.”
I flipped over, hiding my face in the pillow. I could hear her sigh beside my ear and leaned down to my ear.
“Brother, would you please wake up? Pretty please?” she whispered, her voice cute and lovely as ever while tickling my ear with her breath again.
“Ah, you know all my secrets!” I groaned, twisting around to face her.
“Yep,” she smugly said, and I sat up.
“Then, you also know the other condition, right?” I smirked, and she blushed angrily.
“But we’re in the ICU-”
“The condition, Eir,” I sang in a singsong voice, and she sighed again.
“You never grow up, Messenger.”
She reluctantly reached up to kiss my cheek.
“There you go. Now I’m ready to face this cold, harsh world,” I sighed, lifting her up like she was a kid again and giving her a little twirl.
“Am I coming with you too?”
The little annoying voice of the boy spoke again, and I sighed, looking at Eir.
“Dr. Liam asked if you would kindly bring Altair in too,” she winked mischievously at me, and I playfully glared at her.
“Fine. Let’s go. I’m going to ask Dr. Liam why he made me part with my darling, cute little sister.”
I jokingly pinched her nose, and she waved me away.
“That’s enough, Messenger. I have to work now. You will bother me if you stay any longer.”
She tilted her head back a bit as she waved goodbye. I stood up, watching Altair stand uncomfortably, picking at the new swimsuit that Dr. Liam probably issued for him. The old one he was wearing when I first saw him was barely called a swimsuit, considering how tattered it was. There was barely anything to salvage.
“You’re… pretty close to her,” Altair stammered, and I stared at him with my eyebrows raised.
“Yeah, and?” I challenged, daring him to say something.
“That’s… cool. So, is that what siblings are like?” he shyly asked, and I stared at him. What kind of question was that? He must have never had siblings before. Actually, I was absolutely sure that he lived under a rock.
“Well, there are many kinds. I know of siblings that never get along, but Eir and I get along fine. She’s my baby sister; of course I love her to bits. But, it depends on the family. Some just weren’t raised right, some were raised right but it didn’t go well, while some were raised wrong in the right circumstances,” I admitted, wondering why he had such a forlorn expression on his face.
“Which one were you?”
He looked up, and I stared straight ahead.
“Raised wrong in the right circumstances.”
We met each other at the right time. But, I couldn’t raise her like the proper brother I was supposed to be. She had to carry the burden of my failure.
