Mrs. Weller’s eyes widened, concern etched into the wrinkles on her forehead. “Is Freyah in danger, Alissa?” She moved to stand, ready to rush out and protect her daughter, but Alissa’s hand on her arm stopped her.
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Weller. This is simply a hypothetical question.”
Mrs. Weller’s gaze narrowed with suspicion. “Do not lie to me, Alissa.”
“I’m not. I promise you, Freyah is perfectly safe.” Alissa picked up a cookie and took a bite, carefully avoiding any mention of the other life that was truly at risk. “But you still haven’t answered my question.”
“If Freyah’s life were at risk, I would do anything in my power to save her,” Mrs. Weller replied with resolve, waving her hand dismissively, as if the answer should have been obvious.
“What if there was nothing you could do about it?” Alissa’s nails drummed on the wooden table. “If… this was the work of a bigger power, something you couldn’t avoid.”
Lorena’s voice softened. “You may find that the impossible is more often a product of our own convictions rather than truth set in stone, my child.”
Alissa’s eyebrows shot up, but before she could make sense of Mrs. Weller’s statement, the woman continued spilling words of wisdom into her.
“Would you, as a mother, sit still and quietly watch your daughter die, or would you do anything you could to avoid thatfrom happening?” she asked. “Even if your attempt fails and their life is taken regardless, wouldn’t you prefer knowing that you fought?” Mrs. Weller spoke with such unwavering resolve that Alissa felt foolish for even questioning it in the first place.
“Yes, but…” Alissa trailed off as words failed her. She couldn’t see how she could possibly fight an invisible foe.
Mrs. Weller rested her hand on her chin, her brows furrowed. She could see through Alissa, sensing all the turmoil eating away at her mind, as only a mother could.
“The love of a mother has the power to change the world, Alissa. You would be surprised to find out that, given the chance, you would do anything for your child. You would kill and die for her in the blink of an eye. As I would for mine.”
After hearing such powerful words spoken aloud, Alissa found herself unable to respond with anything that could match the intensity. Instead, they finished their tea in silence. When it was time to leave, she accompanied Freyah’s mother to the door, still unable to find the right words. The ones Mrs. Weller had spoken lingered in her mind, echoing as she searched for their meaning.
On the other side of the door, the woman placed a gentle hand on Alissa’s cheek and smiled. “Think about how far you would go for Dhalia, and you’ll have the answer you are looking for, my dear.” Those were her last words before disappearing into the night.
Alissa paced the cabin dining room, revisiting her conversation with Mrs. Weller. Each word replayed in her mind with the same weight of the burden she had carried on her shoulders since the threads of light first glowed vividly before her eyes.
As much as Alissa wanted to be the hero Mrs. Weller implied she could be for her daughter, she knew that, of anyone in this world, it wouldn’t be her; she couldn’t defeat this opponent with her bow and arrow. In truth, Alissa didn’t even know what she would be fighting against in this impossible quest to save her daughter. Never before had anyone claimed by this evil survived to tell the tale, not in centuries of history.
What were the odds of Dhalia being the first one to ever survive to the end of this?
Growing up, Alissa had learned to be selfish. She had learned to care less for the victims each day. Not to let the guilt of knowing it all beforehand eat her up inside. It wasn’t like she came to a state of not caring at all by this point. Despite her efforts, she still felt their losses every single time; she felt sorry for the victims and their families, like anyone else in Bryniard did. But the truth was, their deaths never motivated her enough to dig any deeper into what Senectus Subita actually was. To truly understand whyshe,of all people, was the only one who could see the faint glow of death, or to understand the meaning behind it.
Sadly, Alissa had come to terms with never having the answer to that question.
She was content to accept that this was something completely out of her reach, a greater power she had no control over. So, she continued living her sad little life with the excuse that she was no hero. She couldn’t have saved any of them; it was inevitable.
Being perfectly adapted to that idea allowed her to live several years of delusional peace. But from the moment her daughter’s life hung in the balance, the stakes became too high to ignore the question that had been hiding beneath the surface for so long.
Is there reallynothingI can do to change this?
“You may find that the impossible is more often a product of our own convictions rather than truth set in stone, my child.”Lorena’s words came back to her.
But what could she do to prevent destiny from doing the same thing it had been doing all this time? How couldshebe of any use in saving a life when all she knew how to do was kill?
Alissa didn’t realize then that she didn’t need to be the best warrior in the kingdom, gifted with incredible skills, or the smartest person who had ever lived to begin her pursuit of saving her child. All she needed after all was to be a mother.
Her mind rambled for hours and hours, until night faded into the first light of day. Pessimism flooded her consciousness, convincing her she was incapable of saving Dhalia’s life. Yet she debated whether letting go of the one thing she held dear in life was even an option. When conflicting thoughts escalated into a full-on argument with herself, she decided to listen to the side of her that was guided by love, rather than reason.
Mrs. Weller was right.
Throughout her life, Alissa had convinced herself there was nothing she could do to help those with Senectus Subita from losing their lives, helplessly watching them die one after the other. People full of life and dreams who had everything taken away from them in one single day. But what if she was wrong all along—what if there was something she could do to change their fate?
She didn’t know the answer to those questions, but as Dhalia was about to face the same ending, she couldn’t sit back and wait, as she’d done since the beginning. She needed to do something about it. Imagining a world in which Dhalia didn’t live was inconceivable.
For the first time since she was struck by the premonition of death earlier that day, she felt something resembling courage and motivation. Alissa had always been fierce and adventurous,but at that cemetery, her innate bravery had been replaced by cowardice.