My Dear Savior

Episode 3

“Please don’t be dead.” I whispered as I glanced over the person, feeling my intense aversion to dead things start to rise. I kicked gently at one of the feet, seeing if I could rouse a groan or something out of the person. I was weary of getting too close since I knew this was an enemy of my people based on the berry red droplets I followed here.

I couldn’t immediately tell if they were a man or woman, as they were facedown in the snow and had long black hair that was wildly spread around their head, indicating that they had fallen down quite abruptly. Given the amount of blood I had seen so far, they had probably passed out.

Feeling a bit reassured that I was safe for the moment, I bent down over the body and struggled to turn it over. I was shocked to see that the person wasn’t an adult but was actually a boy around my age. His height and breadth made him appear to be older than his relaxed face revealed him to be.

He was so pale that his eyelids looked like lavender petals caressing his face, framed by thick black lashes that casted even more shadows over his young cheeks. A closer inspection of his hair revealed intricate braids wound throughout the threads decorated with beads and feathers. I found myself enraptured by his exotic physical features. I had never seen one of these people in real life before. To me, they lived only in the stories my mother told me late at night and in the rumors that gossips spread in town.

I put my finger under his nose and could faintly feel his slight breaths coming out every so often- he was out cold and clearly fading quickly.

I went to work trying to determine the source of his bleeding. I had seen my mother work many times, so I knew some basic things to do to help the injured. When I patted down his abdomen, I not only found the source of all the blood but also a pendant necklace under his collar. I held it up the in dim light for inspection. It was a heavy piece of metalwork with intricate carvings centered around a brilliantly cut garnet. Something about it seemed oddly familiar, as if I had heard a story about it, but the words were just on the other edge of my memory.

Suddenly, red-stained fingers curled around my hand, gripping me urgently. I bit back a small scream and somehow managed to remain squatting despite my surprise.