The moment that Aeria stepped inside the room, she was immediately filled with regret. Her heart started to beat rapidly when she almost took another step forward. There was no flooring beyond the first few steps into the room, and she couldn't see anything beyond it. The darkness just seemed to stretch on for miles and miles away. That one step would have led to her death. Aeria looked at the door she entered through, wondering if there was some kind of mistake. Suddenly, a very familiar voice called out to her, causing her to freeze in place. "Aeria," The voice was gentle and endearing. Nate? Her blood ran cold. She slowly turned back to the large pit that separated her from the other side. She tried to focus on the air particles around her to amplify the sound, wanting to know where it came from. "Come Aeria, I'm waiting." The sound came from every direction, and she couldn't pinpoint the exact location of it’s source.
For a moment there, she wanted to believe that it was her brother. She wanted to fool herself into thinking that he was back. The idea gave a her a sense of comfort and joy, at least. But Aeria knew that wasn't the case, and once again, she was reminded of how empty she truly felt inside. Brushing off the sadness, anger took over. Whoever was using her brother to get to her wasn't going to get away with it. The voice, and even the the way it called out to her, it was exactly the same. But one thing was off, her brother never called her Aeria. In the first place, he wasn't supposed to know that name. Nate, her brother, calls her by her real name. Cerelia.
A few days before her brother's disappearance, there was a riot in their town concerning mutants. It was a fairly peaceful town. She did not know how the word about mutants got out, but she suspected that a fellow mutant like her was discovered. A day after her brother's disappearance, her father felt a sense of urgency. He assumed that Nate was caught, and possibly killed. But Aeria knew everything. The reason for his disappearance, no, the reason why he left. But it was their own little secret, along with the promise they made to see each other again. Aeria's father was consumed by sadness, paranoia, and fear. They immediately moved to another town, and as if that wasn't enough, he changed their names. After her brother left, nothing was the same at home. Aeria's father became violent, and would often rage. She was locked up in her room, day after day, and he would give her three books every weekend, thinking that those would be enough to provide her with some sense of enjoyment over the week.
Aeria was alone in her room with no one to speak to or listen to. She eventually became cold and quiet. She didn't speak unless she needed to, and she didn't have to show her emotions. In the first place, she didn’t feel anything. She was empty. She was numb, and couldn't even feel sad. She was deprived of her freedom, and deprived of the world outside. When she was being sent to the Savrix Vessel, that was the first time she ever got out of the house after seven years. What seemed like a bad thing for everyone else was a good thing for her. She was free from the confines of her room, and not only that, she was able to meet wonderful people. Namely, Tollank and Leon. Although she would never tell them how much their friendship meant to her, they were the ones who gave her a new reason to keep going on. She came to this vessel, ready to throw her life away in a whim. But after meeting them, that changed. No matter how uncertain the future was, she felt comfort in knowing that she wouldn’t have to face it alone.
The moment that the voice came to an end, the awful smell of decay, burnt flesh, oil fumes, and other things, filled her nose. Her eyebrows furrowed and she immediately placed a hand on her nose to block out the smell. She snapped her fingers, and a gentle breeze came and filled the air with the scent of vanilla. For the first time, she appreciated it. It didn't take too long before the smell dispersed, and was again replaced by the nauseating smell that came from down below. Her awfully sharp sense of smell was unfavorable in this situation. If the long drop wasn't going to be the cause of her death, the smell would be. The horrible smell was suffocating, it was getting difficult to breath. She knew she had to do something about it soon. If she can easily move and manipulate the air around her, she could try to draw the fresh air in, while simultaneously drawing out the bad air. It would take a lot of time and she wasn’t sure if it was going to work, but it was worth the shot.
She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on the smell and movement of the air around her. She couldn't sense any fresh air in any area, nor can she sense any fresh air coming through an opening, and she groaned in frustration. Her eyes flew open when she heard the sound of rocks breaking. The rocks at the edge of what she was standing on broke and fell. She gulped in horror, at the sudden realization that there might be a time limit. Aeria knew what her objective was. She had to cross this chasm and get to other side. She figured that much. However, she didn't know how, or even if she was capable of it. Back then, she would have just jumped in and taken the risk. She used to think that she was brave, but now she was able to comprehend that it was the opposite. She used to not care about dying, because she was afraid of living. She was afraid that she wasn’t going to be able to face the challenges that were going to come her way. Aeira continuously took steps backward until her back hit the cold surface of the metallic door. She slowly sat down and placed her hands on her face, feeling the despair creep in.
Aeria didn’t know how long she sat there in silence. But by the time she looked up, the size of the ground was already incredibly small. She knew that if she waited longer, the part she was standing on was going to fall apart next. On the bright side of things, she was slowly adapting to the horrible smell around her. Now, she just had to focus on getting to the other side. She had seen her brother do it before. He walked on air, treating it like solid matter. He glided with the wind like it was nothing. Aeria admired his outstanding talent and skills, and she used to wish that she was naturally as skilled as him. Her brother told her that she would be able to do it in time, but she never learned. All those years, she was locked up, and was never given the chance to learn it. She spent those years in a small room, and her health began to drastically drop. She didn’t have enough strength to do anything extreme, nor did she have the space. “This isn’t exactly the way I wanted to learn how to do it.” She said lifelessly to herself.
Aeria looked down, but all she could see was darkness, along with the sound of rough winds howling. If she fell, she was sure to end up in pieces. She swallowed the lump that formed in her throat. She was running out of the time, and she knew she had to do something soon. The howling of the wind taunted her, making her feel incapable of doing anything, and she felt more hopeless as the seconds passed. She had a feeling that she wasn’t going to make it out alive, and the thought itself brought a burning sensation to the back of her throat. Before she could sink in deeper into her thoughts of despair, she heard a very familiar sound. Rocks breaking. She wasn’t given a moment to react as the rocks crumbled into pieces beneath her and fell apart. For a split second, she felt her heart stop and her mind go blank. She wished it would have stayed that way, because she found herself falling, deeper and deeper. And the fear crept in as she felt death lurking around her, waiting.
God must have been watching over her, because the moment that the sharp winds were about to hit her, she instinctively wrapped herself in a protective bubble of air. She wasn’t fast enough, and the wind managed to give her deep cuts on her arms. The protective air around her wasn’t strong enough either, because from time to time, the wind would slip through and slash her skin again and again. She cringed in pain, and as much as she wanted to pressurize air on her wounds to seal them and stop the bleeding, she needed to save as much of her strength as she could. If all her power was drained out of her, the only thing protecting her would disappear, and she’ll eventually end up in a state beyond recognition. She was falling down at a fast speed and the darkness engulfed her. She couldn’t see a thing, and the appalling smell grew stronger, even when the scent of vanilla lingered in the bubble of air around her. She could smell both, and her head started to pound. She didn’t know how long she had been falling into the chasm. It felt like minutes, but it could have been seconds.
Aeira could feel the air around her growing hotter and hotter, and she knew that there was no more hope left for her to make it out alive. Her heart was beating frantically, and she could barely think straight. The hole must have been very deep, because it might have already been a minute, but she was still falling. She closed her eyes to brace herself for the impact, knowing full well that it was going to hurt a lot. On the plus side, she was only going to feel it for a second, because the second after that, she was going to be dead. She had completely given up on saving herself, and the only thing she could do was to accept the fate that was laid out for her. In life, death was certain. It just came sooner for her than later. The protective air around her was growing weaker, and the raging winds started to lash at her. Her throat tightened and her lips quivered. She fought hard to stop the tears that were threatening to spill. She placed a hand inside her pocket to stop it from trembling, and for a moment, she felt a sense of comfort when she felt the surface of the locket. At least she had it with her in her final moments.
“Why do you have to leave, brother?” She asked, grabbing on the hem of his shirt. “I told you already, didn’t I?” He said, the smile on his face kind and tender. “Why can’t you bring me with you?” She asked, her eyes welling up. “Cerelia, you’re only ten.” He replied. “And so are you.” She shot back as she tried to blink back the tears. He chuckled lightly, his dark blue eyes beaming. “I’m older by a minute.” He smiled in amusement. “Besides, I’m a guy. And I can take care of myself.” He patted her lightly on the head. “I can take care of myself too.” Her voice trembled as the tears began to run down her cheeks. She didn’t want her brother to leave, he was the only friend she had. Most of all, he was very important to her. “Can you fly?” He challenged. “Well, no.. But I can learn if you teach me.” She sobbed. Her brother rested his hand on her head, enjoying the fact that he was much taller. “You’ll learn it in time. And Cerelia, save your tears for the next time we meet, okay?” He smiled at her. She could tell from the look in his eyes that he was sad too, but he was the type of person who didn’t want to burden anyone with his emotions. “Promise we’ll see each other again?” Cerelia asked as she wiped away the tears. “I promise.”
After her stroll down the memory lane, Aeria slowly opened her eyes. A dreary smile made it’s way to her lips. A tear escaped her eye, which was immediately followed by another. “How pathetic..” Her voice quivered as she tried to stop herself from spilling any more tears. “How pathetic of me to actually think of giving up.” She continued. She fell deeper and deeper into the darkness, and not a single sight could be seen. Grabbing the locket, she placed it’s chain around her neck. She took off her blood stained trench coat to get a better feel of the air around her, and she dropped it. Her coat fell deeper into the chasm.
“I’ll definitely see you again.” The tears stopped. Her eyes were cold, and her voice matched it. Upon saying that, everything stood still. The winds stopped, and there was not a hint of movement in the atmosphere. Every air particle froze in place and she herself stopped still in mid air. She closed her eyes and slowly let out a long whistle as she envisioned how she wanted the air to move. She slowly got up on her feet, standing still at nothing but air. The harsh winds that she used to have no control over, slowly moved in a circular motion beneath her. She could already feel her energy draining rapidly but she had to put everything into this. It was her last resort. Aeria felt light headed from the blood loss, but she would have to make this work before she fell unconscious or it would surely be the end of her. Her breathing hitched as she forced every energy she had left into her last move. The rotating winds moved quicker beneath her, and she could feel herself rising up. She wasn’t sure at first because it was too dark to see anything, but the drop in temperature was a sign that she was getting further away from whatever was down below. She opened her eyes and looked up. She spotted a tiny dot of light that came from above the door she entered through. Aeria could feel herself getting weaker by the second, and blood continued to drip down slowly form her wounds. She quickened the rotation of the wind beneath her, afraid that she wouldn’t make it. The light grew nearer and nearer, and just as she reached the top, the winds came to a halt.
Aeria was able to hold on to the cliff of the other side. Her arm started to hurt, and the sharp, jagged rocks were rough against her hand, causing it to bleed. The blood from the deep cuts on her arm ran down and dripped on her right eye, distracting her and almost causing her to lose her grip. She didn’t have any strength left to pull herself up, and her arm was close to giving up. Aeria placed her right foot at the rough edges to lessen the weight on her arm. Her other hand reached for the cliff, and she clenched her teeth as she desperately tried to pull herself up. It gave her hands deep wounds, but it didn’t make a single difference. Her breathing hastened, and tears began to run down her cheeks, “Please please please.” She repeated desperately to herself. Calling forth whatever tiny bit of strength she had left inside of her, she whistled, but it was cut short when she couldn’t breath properly. Luck must have been on her side, because a slow gush of wind came from below her. It wrapped around her ankle, supporting her up for a short moment before it vanished. It gave her that slight push she needed to get her elbows up there.
Aeria pushed herself up, stopping when her upper body was on the ground. She panted as she tried to catch her breath before pulling on the ground to get her legs up. She rolled over to her back and closed her eyes. She had lost too much blood, and she continued to lose more. This time for sure, she didn’t have any energy left to pressurize air on her wounds. Neither did she have the energy left to even lift a finger. She just lay there in silence as she felt her life force getting drained out of her. She felt dizzy and weak, and she had a hard time breathing. The beat of her heart slowed down as the seconds passed, and she could feel herself falling into what she believed to be a permanent unconsciousness.
