Lahnthean Aria

13

Noorh cursed under his breath as a wave of dizziness hit him.

His heart was racing at the thought that he had led Kiran to her death, proving the prophecy that had been tied to his birth. His rapid heartbeat likely spread the miasma's poison throughout his body.

He suddenly felt Kiran's body slowly slide away his arm, threatening to fall into the nests below them.

Noorh gasped as he tightened his hold on her. The best solution to his predicament was to let her lifeless body go and allow the snakes to devour her corpse, but he couldn't bear to see the monsters feast on her.

Kiran was a kind soul underneath her futile attempts at appearing strong and collected. She didn't deserve to be summoned into his world to carry a terrible burden, let alone die at an early age and become a feast for monsters.

Noorh saw the darkness creeping into his vision.

If he didn't let her corpse go, he would die with her. Determined to give Kiran a proper burial, he looked up at the step where his other hand held onto and muttered a spell. Doing so would deplete his energy reserves but it would hopefully propel them up to safety.

Once they were safe, he would properly examine her - confirm if she was really gone or, hopefully, just in some comatose state.

Noorh's dark eyes faded into a bright, luminous sapphires as he muttered a spell. He felt his grip on the stone step weaken and his body slip further down. It was stripping his energy away.

A bluish silver circle of flickering symbols appeared underneath his feet and supported his weight. It then pushed him upward, allowing him to climb over the step with Kiran in his arms.

Noorh gasped in relief as he rested his back against the icy cliff wall. Kiran's unmoving form laid safely on his chest. He was heaving for breath. Bullets of sweat littered his forehead.

A chill seeped into his bones. He was drifting away. What a miscalculation.

Noorh sadly glanced down at Kiran. His vision had gone blurry. Whether it was due to sweat, tears, or dizziness was already a mystery to him. His thoughts were slowly becoming as cloudy was his vision.

He slowly lifted his heavy, trembling right hand to touch Kiran's cheek.

"K-iran," he choked in between deep gasps for air.

The poison rendered his lower limbs useless. He would have no use for his arms next. Kiran, on the other hand, was pale and unmoving. Her lips had turned a deathly shade of purple.

"I think it's really beautiful," he remembered Kiran say about his hair.

His hair was a curse. It isolated him from everyone since he was a child. While it may have demanded reverence from people, it also reminded them of the thing they dreaded the most: the sin they kept ignoring from one generation to another.

Kiran was one of only two people who honestly told him that it was beautiful.

It could likely only be because of naivety. Blue hair like his could have simply been a palatable fashion trend in her world, but her words still made Noorh happy. He wished he could return the favor.

Was it pity for how Kiran's life had been cut short? Was it regret about how he stripped her of her family, strung her around over false hopes, and led her to her death? Or was it both?

Regardless of what it was, it urged Noorh to use his last ounce of energy to lean his head closer to Kiran's and plant a lingering kiss on her hair.

***

The mild but familiar stench of rotting flesh made Kiran squint.

She slowly opened her eyes. She felt like she woke up from a long and much needed nap. Instead of a cozy pillow or a comfortable bed, she woke up to the crook of Noorh's neck.

Kiran gasped and quickly leaned away, her cheeks flushed scarlet at the thought of sleeping on his chest. But to her surprise, Noorh didn't move in response. He didn't react. He remained still.

"Noorh?" Her hands tentatively touched his shoulders. His head was bowed. "Noorh, wake up," she said gently shaking him. "Noorh." She lifted his chin take a good look at his condition.

To her horror, Noorh's face had turned gray.

His skin was ice cold and his lips had turned a shade of purple. Black veins crept up from his neck to his jaw.

She remembered similar veins in fantasy comics. Characters had them when they were poisoned or cursed. Where could he have picked one up? Kiran remembered what happened before she fell asleep.

Had he been bitten by the snake? The black veins could be the giant snake's venom creeping up to his brain!

Based on the TV shows and movies she watched, one way to save someone bitten by a snake was to suck the venom out of the wound. It wasn't recommended by experts because the venom could kill whoever tried to suck it out. There also wasn't any guarantee that sucking the venom with one's mouth could get rid of all the venom inside a victim's veins. Having no prior experience to sucking venom - much less blood - out of someone, she wasn't confident that she could perform it properly. She was still determined to try it though.

Kiran quickly peeled away his scarf to trace the origin of the black veins. She saw it stretch further down his torso so she opened his shirt. It stretched to his arm so she pulled the clothing off. When she didn't find the snake bite, she traced the vein down to his waist.

Kiran bit her lip. Of course, the likely location of the bite would be somewhere in his legs. His pants were a tight fit and there weren't any signs of bites on it. His boots were dangling over the edge of the stone step and she was too afraid to pull it up.

What if he was bitten in the a*s? Kiran's face flushed scarlet. No! She had to save him no matter what.

First, she had to be sure it was there. Kiran unbuttoned his pants. She peeked behind him and didn't find traces of the veins down his behind. The black veins seemed to end at somewhere in his thigh.

There wasn't any sign of a snake bite anywhere.

Should she slice the black vein open and suck the venom from there? What if she cut the wrong vein?!

Tears were welling up in Kiran's eyes. The gravity of her situation was dawning on her. She couldn't do anything to save Noorh.

"Noorh," Kiran tearfully called out. "It's all my fault. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm useless. Please wake up." She wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. "Please don't leave me. I promise to work hard for you. I'll do everything I can to help you. I'll be more like Alessa if I have to. Just please…please stay with me…"