Blood was flowing. Every single breath was agony. She tried to press her hand against the gaping wound in her chest. But the blood kept running. It seeped through her ice-cold fingers and finally found its way to the ground.
Each drop created a splashing sound. In the silence of that moment, when time itself seemed to have stopped, the dripping echoed unbearably loud in her ears. The parched ground greedily absorbed the liquid.
Her entire body was trembling without end. The strength in her legs left her, and she fell to her knees.
Every drop of blood was like the grains of an hourglass. It would not be long before her time ran out. She was certain she would die without a doubt.
The land around her was unrecognizable. Everything was destroyed, shattered, or leveled to the ground. Thick smoke had gathered and spread like a curtain across the sky, plunging everything into darkness. Fires burned in many places. Embers drifted through the air. In front of her, the shadow of a monster rose over the burning earth, so immense that a human would seem like an insect beside it. Greater than anything she had ever seen. As old as the earth itself, with scales black as the night.
Her vision began to blur, and the shapes around her melted into one another. She was so tired. This battle had gone on far too long.
Was it all right to give in at last? Was it all right to let go? She had fought for so long, done everything she could to escape this fate. And yet it had caught up with her. To believe she could change anything had been nothing but an illusion. What point was there in continuing to fight now?
She let go, and the darkness closed around her. Gently, as if she were falling asleep.
Somewhere in the distance, someone called her name. It was a voice she knew. So familiar that she fought with all her strength to drive away the darkness. The voice came closer, repeating her name over and over. It told her not to give up, that she was not done with this world yet, and reminded her that there were people who cared for her, who wanted her to stay with them.
The voice was right. Giving up would be far too easy. She remembered. She remembered why she lived. She had not yet reached her goal. She could not die like this.
Now the voice sounded right before her. Someone was shaking her shoulders roughly. She forced her eyes open with all her remaining strength.
Reddish eyes looked down at her in concern. The silver-white hair he usually kept neat was completely disheveled and full of dirt. His glasses were damaged and partly broken, no longer sitting properly on his nose. The lenses reflected the flickering light of the fires around them. His pale, ashen skin looked almost translucent in that light.
Again, he called her name. She tried to calm him, to assure him that everything would be all right. But not a single word crossed her lips, no matter how hard she tried.
When she did not respond, he shook her in despair. Then, suddenly, everything went pitch black, and the voice was gone.
"Nova?" she was asked.
She stared at her hand and the foreign blood on it that had dripped to the ground. For a brief moment she froze while fragments of images from that day flickered before her inner eye.
"Nova?" she was asked again. This time with concern.
She pulled herself from her thoughts and answered,
"Hm? What?"
"I asked if you can heal him," her traveling companion named Rinniz repeated the question. Rinniz looked at her expectantly. The gold in her eyes flashed in the light of the fire.
For a very brief moment Rinniz's striking eyes had distracted her. Then she replied,
"N of course."
She shook her head to finally chase away the ghosts of the past.
"No, don't. You have to stay away," the injured man beside them cried out in panic.
"Ayaz, your leg is terribly injured. You cannot go on like this. It was hard enough getting you here without touching you. How are we supposed to get back like that?" Rinniz spoke to him gently beside Nova.
Seeing cheerful, joking Ayaz with a face twisted by pain and fear sent a stab through Nova's chest.
"It is still too dangerous," he protested and tried hastily to pull down his rolled-up trouser leg to hide the yellow-golden glow of his skin at his ankle again.
"You know what happens if…" he said in a hoarse voice, then squeezed his eyes shut and shook his curly head.
Nova met him with a gentle smile and assured him,
"Do not worry, I can fix this again without contact."
Ayaz paused with his trembling hands on the fabric of his trousers and looked at the two women uncertainly.
"You can do something like that?" he asked in a broken tone, as if he mostly wanted to convince himself.
Nova nodded slowly, whereupon Ayaz's tense shoulders eased a little. Carefully, without putting weight on the injured leg, he slid a little closer. Yet he always made sure to keep a safe distance between them.
Rinniz and Ayaz looked at Nova with slightly open mouths and raised eyebrows.
While sitting opposite him on the frosty ground, Nova closed her eyes for a brief moment.
She focused on the energy in the surroundings, which she could make out as a barely perceptible shimmer over the magic-sensitive skin of her body, absorbed it and mixed it with her own. The gentle shimmer turned into a tingling.
She opened her eyes again and saw the small, familiar sparks floating in the air, slowly but surely growing larger until a thousand lights above them lit up like tiny stars.
The lights brightened not only the cave where they had found refuge from a snowstorm, but also noticeably the faces of Nova's traveling companions.
Then she turned to Ayaz, but before Nova could say anything, he shrank back from her in fear.
For a fleeting moment she paused.
"It is all right," Nova said softly to him. When Ayaz seemed calmer again, she explained, always careful not to move too hastily so as not to frighten him again,
"My healing magic only works if you accept it. Touch one of the lights when you are ready. Take your time."
Ayaz looked at one of the orbs near him with a pale face. Beads of sweat had gathered on his forehead.
Carefully he asked,
"Is there no danger to others in doing this?"
Nova shook her head. Ayaz hesitantly pulled off his thick, bloodstained glove. His entire hand glowed in the same golden hue as his foot and the deep furrows in his face.
Nova would have preferred to heal that affliction as well as the injury to his leg, but unfortunately not even she knew a remedy for it.
With a trembling hand Ayaz nudged one of the light-orbs with his fingertip. As soon as his skin made contact with it, the orb broke apart into several smaller ones that settled around Ayaz's injured leg. The face that had been contorted with pain smoothed out again, and the pallor also seemed to recede little by little.
A soft but well-known crackling running through his leg as Nova's lights passed through it told her that it had worked.
The wounds closed within a very short time, and not a single scratch remained. As if the injury had never existed.
The lights at his leg dissolved and drifted through the room before they went out with a soft hiss. The others disappeared as well, so that only the light of the campfire cast flickering shadows on the wall.
Nova exhaled. She was truly glad that he had calmed down and had let her heal him.
Ayaz blinked several times in quick succession, stood up, and tried without hesitation to put weight on the affected foot. He beamed from ear to ear when he realized he could step without pain.
There he was again, the old Ayaz whom Nova and surely Rinniz cherished so much. The sight drew a smile from her, and when she glanced over at Ayaz's girlfriend, she saw that she too was grinning.
Then Ayaz turned to Nova in delight,
"Thank you very much."
Before Nova could answer, Rinniz grabbed a light, dry piece of wood she had not yet fed to the fire and tossed it at the back of Ayaz's head with little force. He rubbed the spot with an annoyed expression.
But Nova was quite sure that Rinniz's loving attack had not been particularly painful.
With his lower lip pushed forward he grumbled,
"What was that for?"
"For being so careless. Next time listen to us when we tell you not to go so close to the drop," she scolded him and put her hands on her hips.
Ayaz cast a pleading look at Nova, but she raised her hands and gave him an apologetic smile.
Sorry, she tried to tell him without words, but you brought this on yourself.
His prompt sparkle of the eyes told her that the message had come through loud and clear.
So Ayaz sat down a good distance from the fire with his back to Rinniz and Nova. Nova could no longer see his face, but she knew him well enough to know that he was sulking. At first this trait had especially annoyed Nova, but by now the two women knew how to handle it and took it with humor.
When it was Rinniz's turn to look at Nova with a lost expression, Nova signaled her traveling companion with a brief gesture that she had better deal with the problem herself. She did her best not to laugh out loud.
Rinniz's eyes narrowed, so Nova quickly turned away while rubbing her neck.
"You are lucky that you only broke your leg in the fall and cut yourself on the sharp-edged ice," Rinniz finally scolded Ayaz.
But her better half did not respond.
Sighing, but with a soft voice, she added,
"I just worry about you."
Nova pretended not to hear the conversation, but she had known Rinniz long enough to know that this had surely not been easy for her.
"Do not grin like that. Or I will throw something else at you and your thick skull," she heard her traveling companion say with a laugh.
When Nova risked another glance, she saw Ayaz grinning from ear to ear while Rinniz's lilac-colored skin had flushed red. He sat down with them again by the fire. Apparently in the best of moods and back to his old self.
Nova smiled. She found it beautiful that the two got along so well. She had originally hired them for her expedition team in the ice desert they were currently traveling in. At first none of them knew each other, but through their journeys together Rinniz and Ayaz had eventually found each other. And even Nova, who had not formed new friendships for many centuries, had grown fond of the couple.
Nova stood up, swayed for the blink of an eye because her legs had gone numb, then carefully sat down next to Rinniz. She tried to ignore the numb feeling in her legs and instead pulled the collar of her well-padded winter jacket tighter around her neck. She shivered.
Suddenly someone held a warm scarf in front of her face. Nova looked up in surprise.
"Take it already. I do not need it," Rinniz urged her, still holding the scarf in her hand.
Nova hesitated for a moment, then accepted the scarf with thanks and wrapped it around her neck at once. Then she risked a glance at the entrance of the cave. Outside, a merciless snowstorm was still raging.
She heard Rinniz's muffled voice beside her,
"I am really sorry, it seems we will not find him this time either."
"It is all right. Maybe next time," Nova replied and forced herself to smile. But in truth her heart was broken.
Two weeks later, Nova's small expedition team reached the city of Uzhak. Since it lay far in the northwest of the country and bordered the vast icy landscape, she had decided to use it as her base.
After the weeks-long journey, Nova was completely exhausted, and a brief glance at Ayaz and Rinniz told her that they most likely felt the same.
While the couple talked as they entered the city, Nova froze at the entrance. Her head was tilted back.
They had taken a different gate than usual because the path was shorter. But Nova had forgotten what stood here. A massive statue. That statue. Carved from bright stone and weathered by wind and time. Yet it had stood unshaken in this place for two hundred and seventy-four years.
The outlines were deeply familiar to Nova. Even though it was only a statue, her heart leapt every time she saw it. The sculptor had captured the loving yet courageous face well, she thought. It was a likeness of Marceline, known as "the Great."
Nova stood rooted to the spot, her backpack slung over her shoulder. She had rolled up her thick winter jacket and strapped it to the pack, for despite the eternal ice nearby, the climate in this region was surprisingly mild. She brushed a copper-red strand of her long hair from her face.
Although the couple had walked a few steps ahead without her, Ayaz's muttering reached her ears,
"We should have taken the other city gate. The one without the statue. Every time she makes that face. It breaks your heart."
Nova sighed. She truly hadn't meant to upset them.
"I didn't think about it," Rinniz replied, "it must be hard for her. Being forced to keep living for nearly three hundred years while her friends and family…"
Rinniz fell silent.
Ayaz said something in response, but for Nova his voice vanished into the noise around her. Her fingers glided over the cold surface of the pedestal. How much I miss her, she thought.
Just as she was about to rejoin Ayaz and Rinniz to apologize, a stranger's voice beside her asked,
"An impressive monument, isn't it?"
Nova looked over her shoulder to see the person the voice belonged to.
Next to her stood an elderly man. His hands were clasped behind his back, and he was gazing up at the statue. His eyes shone with admiration and reverence at once.
"She gave her life to save so many others. Without her, the world would look very different," the man said.
"Yes…" Nova answered and looked up at the statue as well. For a while, the two strangers stood silently side by side.
Later at the inn, Nova sat together with Ayaz and Rinniz for dinner. The place was bustling with life. The scent of fresh food and alcohol hung in the air. Around them, people were engaged in lively conversations.
Nova poked at her stew. Even though her stomach growled loudly, she no longer felt like eating.
Eventually, Ayaz set down his spoon and carefully addressed her,
"Not being able to find him hit you hard again, huh? And then the statue, which obviously brought back memories…"
Ayaz was not wrong. Nova was indeed deeply disappointed. The clues that had led her to set out on the expedition once again had turned out to be nothing. On their way back, she had quickly buried the feeling, but being reminded of Marceline while her heart was already so fragile had completely undone her. Despite the long lifespan she had already lived—considerable for any human—it had become harder and harder in recent months to keep her emotions buried.
Rinniz joined in gently,
"You know, we understand that you've been through a lot and would rather suppress the past. But at some point, you'll have to face it. Maybe…"
Rinniz fell silent again while Nova kept stirring her food
Then Rinniz continued,
"I know, I know. We've been nagging you about this for years. But maybe it would help if you opened up to someone. You don't have to talk to us if you don't want to."
"But if you do, we're here for you," Ayaz added.
Nova bit her lip. She knew Rinniz was right. Repression had always been Nova's preferred strategy, but even she was aware that it could not work forever. It was a miracle she had managed to get through nearly three centuries that way at all.
Soon after, night fell. Nova was exhausted, so she said goodbye to her friends and went to bed in her room. For hours she tried to fall asleep. She tossed and turned restlessly, searching for a comfortable position. But no matter what she tried, every time she closed her eyes, old memories flashed before her memories she absolutely did not want to see.
At some point, she decided to go for a walk. She was certain that once she was tired enough, she would eventually fall asleep.
So she wandered aimlessly through the atmospheric city, admiring the architecture that had once again changed over the past decades. She breathed in the fresh summer air and enjoyed the fact that there were hardly any people out on the streets.
An hour later, she realized that she had, lost in thought, wandered back to the statue of Marceline.
She sighed and looked up at Marceline's face. Nova was frustrated. For so long she had been trying to find the one who meant the most to her, the one who had also meant so much to Marceline. Everyone else was gone, yet for this one person there was still hope. Marceline would have wanted Nova to never give up. What would she think of her if she knew that Nova simply couldn't do it? The thought sent a sharp ache through her fragile heart.
"Why did you leave me alone…" Nova whispered, barely audibly. She stared at her feet. A pleasant wind cooled the summer night. The leaves of the trees behind her began to rustle.
"Maybe it's better if I give up," Nova sighed. "No one knows if he's even still alive. And I don't know if I could bear it if he isn't."
She looked up at the statue as if it could understand her and added,
"Wouldn't you agree?"
Of course, there was no answer. But speaking her thoughts aloud helped somehow. It eased a little of the weight pressing on her heart.
"I knew she was starting to go senile," Nova suddenly heard a familiar voice whisper.
"Be quiet, you idiot," hissed another voice, one she knew just as well.
Nova raised an eyebrow.
"What are you two doing here?" she asked, slightly annoyed, and threw a sharp look at Rinniz and Ayaz, who stood behind her.
She crossed her arms in front of her chest, like a mother scolding her children.
"It's not nice to eavesdrop on people," she scolded in that same motherly tone.
Both of them looked away, embarrassed.
"Also… who exactly is senile here?" Nova asked, her voice rising.
Rinniz suppressed a laugh. Ayaz replied,
"How should I know? You're the one talking to rocks!"
Now Nova couldn't help but laugh too. She knew they were acting deliberately silly to comfort her in their own way. But at that moment, their humor was like balm for her soul.
Ayaz couldn't help but grin from ear to ear as well. The couple stepped closer. For a few minutes, the three stood in silence. Then Rinniz spoke, glancing carefully toward Nova,
"What was she like?"
She looked up at the statue.
Nova opened her mouth, only to close it again. For a long time, she had deflected questions like that without hesitation, no matter who had asked them. Not only because she didn't want to remember, but also because she believed the world never truly valued the old heroes. So why tell a story to someone who would only trample it underfoot?
But now she had these two standing before her. They weren't like that. Not once had they spoken ill of her old friends or of the events that had taken place long before Rinniz and Ayaz's time. And besides, Nova trusted them.
So she took a deep breath and answered, "She was…"
Her voice failed her in the end, and she lowered her eyes to the ground. Could she not just push herself to speak? How was it ever going to get better otherwise?
"She must have been a wonderful person," Ayaz said suddenly. "Of course, not as wonderful as my Rinniz, but surely not detestable either."
Nova blinked at him, tilting her head slightly. What an unnecessary comment that was. But then she realized that the pain in her heart had given way to a gentle warmth. Once again, they had managed to make her smile.
Rinniz, beside Ayaz, giggled.
"Oh, you again…" With broad smiles on their faces, they waited for Nova's answer.
She thought for a moment. As she remembered what kind of person Marceline had been, her warm smile inevitably turned into a grin.
Ayaz sat down on the ground in front of Nova, waiting attentively like a schoolchild for her words.
"Hmm… She was incredibly brave and had a very big heart. But she was also terribly childish and very emotional. A bit like Ayaz," Nova said, grinning at him. Ayaz patted his shoulders proudly and bowed while sitting, as if before an audience.
She had to laugh. Ayaz was different from Marceline, yet the two shared certain similarities in how they behaved. It had been a long time since Nova had thought of that Marceline.
"What happened to all the other heroes? There were six of you, weren't there?" Rinniz asked.
Nova fell silent again for a brief moment
Then Ayaz spoke up enthusiastically,
"For centuries people have wondered what happened to them, or rather to you. You all just vanished, as if swallowed by the earth. Until you reappeared. But if I may say so… the most unbelievable thing was that you were even a group at all. You ignored the wars between your nations and did your own thing!"
"That's true," Nova agreed softly. She smiled faintly. The weight on her heart returned.
"But now only Iska and I are left," she said sadly.
"We'll find him too," Rinniz said, trying to cheer her up.
"Well then, tell old Ayaz about your legendary group of heroes," he joked, waiting eagerly. He pulled his legs up and rested his head on his knees.
Nova looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"You do realize I'm older than you, right? How old are you again? Ten?" she asked with a laugh.
"Hey, I'm twenty-three!" he laughed.
Still a child, Nova heard herself think.
Then he added,
"And besides, you'd be lost without us. If we didn't make sure you ate regularly, you'd have starved to death by now. Even a baby is more self-sufficient than you."
"Wow… those comparisons," Nova said, laughing as she buried her face in her hand and shook her head.
Ayaz and Rinniz joined in her laughter.
"All right, seriously now. How did the greatest misfits in history end up saving the world almost three hundred years ago and becoming legends? Was that on your hero to-do list?" he asked with a wide grin. Yet to Nova, his interest seemed genuine.
Rinniz sat down in the grass beside Ayaz and followed the conversation intently.
"No, no. Not exactly," Nova said, also grinning. She thought for a moment, then shrugged.
"Actually, we never meant to save the world. It was pure coincidence."
Ayaz and Rinniz exchanged a puzzled look. What had Nova expected? It was the first time she had ever clarified to anyone what had really happened. Until now, she had never had the energy to do so and had let the world draw its own conclusions.
Then Ayaz threw up his hands in disbelief.
"How can you accidentally save the world? You'll have to explain that one to me!"
Nova replied,
"That's how it truly was."
"Okay, okay. Start from the very beginning. Like, how did you all decide not to kill each other, which was kind of the norm back then between the nations?" Ayaz pressed, excited.
"We didn't…" Nova began to defend herself, but then she gave up and sighed, rubbing her temple with her fingertips.
"Never mind," she said quietly.
"So? We want to know everything about you and the others. You know… name, age, hobbies, relationship status…" Ayaz teased, winking.
Rinniz shot him a stern look.
"What? I'm just curious," Ayaz said with a mischievous smile. His girlfriend rolled her eyes in response.
Nova leaned against the pedestal of the statue, crossed her arms, and said,
"All right. But I'll tell the story my way."