"I have seen this before."
Echoes. Many, many of them. It felt undisputably heavy, hard to keep a grip on to the thin strings of consciousness. In any case, after such a long, indefinite gap - it was hard to know if it was consciousness.
"Sister?"
An accelerating scream of refusal followed. She did not know if she was shouting herself, but she was sure she heard her own voice, from the ears of a third person. 'One hears her voice differently when it does not echo in her head,' she thought.
This was one of the moments when the selection of words did not matter, for languages are only for the ones who are aware. She could well be talking, when she thought she was thinking.
In any case, it was more confusing for her than she anticipated.
"Don't worry.... -ou are fi-"
Voices accelerated, decelerated, it was reflecting somewhere - as if bouncing from a narrow, square cell. She could imagine the rays of sound hitting one wall after another. She could actually imagine what sound looked like.
"No, no... Not her..."
What was it? Where was she? She never knew. These things she was witnessing within her head -of course, presumably within her head- were far more interesting. She was paradoxically conscious enough to know that dreams sometimes make no sense when you wake up - even if they make sense while sleeping. She was merely enjoying this irrational sense she managed to grasp in her unconsciousness.
"Wake her-"
Wake? Why? She felt pain. It was like a burn, sudden and intense.
"I TOLD Y-"
She felt the same pain. She felt her soul frowning. She heard constant mumblings, unintelligible gibberish, some familiar, some entirely unfamiliar.
She felt a hand on her shoulder, or so she thought.
"Do you think you are done here?" asked a tranquil voice, ending any other sound that echoed in her head, any familiar and unfamiliar gibberish she's been striving to dismiss from the walls of her mind.
"No," she answered, as if expecting such question. "What happened to me?"
"You have your enemies, my beloved sister," appeared the owner of the voice, from the blinding, captivating light, and walked towards her.
"What should I do?" she asked.
A tall, female fylla, her fiery-colored wavy firmly braided hair falling down on her thin waist, her bright, red eyes peering at Urnyras with compassion stood before her. She merely smiled, then shined the blinding light. She felt sick - someone was dragging her upwards. Her body crumbled in pain momentarily; she, all of a sudden, felt exhausted.
It was a drop of water from the ceiling. Then another one. Then, another one.
...
"She is severely injured," a voice said, as she could understand. "She has to rest. We can't relocate her anywhere. This is her second injury within three weeks. She is extremely, miraculously lucky to be alive. At least luckier than him."
She struggled to open her eyes, however failing to do so. After a while, she simply gave up trying, and focused on what is being spoken around - to figure out whether or not she is in a friendly zone.
"My Queen," spoke a tired, yet fierce woman voice. "We have collected our dead. Should you order, we shall burn them by the shore."
"Hold the ritual until sunset," a softer, dreamy woman spoke. Urnyras knew this voice - it was Gallanae-mylen of Wundh. "We have matters to attend. Gather the prisoners of war by the Town Hall. Fyllian elites may help you out. I am to attend these two. Call Bryllane and Upprylla here, I will need their assistance."
"Right away, my Queen," said the other female, probably walking away.
Shortly after a moment of silence, Urnyras Jael felt a touch on her shoulder. This was not a touch of compassion or so; apparently only a touch of examination. Urnyras Jael still couldn't open her eyes, yet she was fully conscious and aware of everything around. She could not open her mouth either. She tried to move her body a little, but gasped in pain.
"Try not to move, Jael," said Gallanae-mylen with a harsh Wundhian accent. "In case you are with us, let me inform you that you have numerous broken ribs, two broken legs, a broken arm and a partially burned face. Not to mention your other burns and miscellaneous wounds. Do not worry, we will tend to you."
'How?' she wondered. 'How am I alive, here, with the most powerful Queen-Priestess of the entire Northrealms, waiting her to tend to my wounds? How did I even get out of that hell? That explosion... that voice... was I ever taken away? What happened? For how long I've been sleeping?'
"How?" she could mumble. The word came out of her partially burned, disfigured mouth, as if she was grunting. She coughed. "Where?"
"It must be overwhelmingly confusing for you," Gallanae-mylen said. Urnyras could feel a slight smile as she spoke. "We've reclaimed Calua, confiscated the traitor Bannerlord and disbanded the mercenaries. Currently Wundhian and fyllian joint forces are establishing a garrison here, we will be heading south to assist the Empire Army. However, you are not going anywhere for a while."
"Alùn," Urnyras said. "Where..."
"I am sorry to be the one to tell you this, but he passed away," Gallanae-mylen replied with a grim tone. "Thanks to both of you, we managed to reclaim the city. It is a miracle that we managed to save you. Your sacrifice... the Empire is in your debt, Urnyras. When you are in better condition, I assume Krischnokh will answer all your questions. Now you have to rest."
'Sacrifice? What? I haven't done anything! I don't even remember... Why? What is going on?'
She touched Urnyras' forehead. Urnyras fell asleep in seconds, merging with the emptiness, once again.
...
"You look fine," said Krischnokh, his hair tangled, wrinkles and purplish circles around his eyes and slight wounds here and there on his body, obviously lost weight, stench of blood reeked on his armor. Even in his situation, he was kind enough to smile and try to keep Urnyras' mood up.
"The Queen was kind enough to offer her aid for your recovery."
Gallanae-mylen nodded slightly.
"I appreciate," Urnryas could say. "Thank you. Both of you."
"It is early to thank us, since we have done nothing as of this moment," Gallanae-mylen replied. "It is us who should thank you. If you really desire to do so, you can do it after we completely heal you."
"I am sure you have a lot of questions roaming around your mind." Krischnokh said, followed by a deep sigh.
"I have," said Urnyras, opening her eyes to look at Krischnokh. "I have no memories whatsoever since that explosion in the Temple-"
"Temple, yes," Krischnokh said. "Yes. I will try to explain you what happened from that moment on, as much as I can, as much as Alùn tried to explain to us, in his last moments."
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