Falling
A grunt ripped from my throat, cutting through the air, thick with anxiety. My arms burned with strain and exhaustion. Stinging pain plagued my fingers as I desperately clung to the rocky cliff ledge. My head felt numb. I couldn’t seem to grasp any substantial train of thought. Whisps of panicked thoughts raced through my brain like electrical pulses that faded before I could logic my way through any of them. I couldn’t see my way out of this. Maybe if I had gone to the gym, I would be strong enough. But now was not the time for regrets. Now was the time for action. What action was possible, though?
Cold sliced through my body as a deluge of adrenaline pumped through my veins. My chest tightened impossibly more when my hands started to grow sweaty. No! I have to save him. I couldn’t let this be his end. He has so much life left to live. Somehow, with my chest constricting, my heart raced ever faster, as if attempting to rip through my rib cage to save itself from my inevitable demise.
Tingles manifested in my fingertips, tongue, and chest, and began to radiate outwards. This was it. I had failed. I failed him, my precious little brother. I failed my parents, losing both of their sons at the same time. I failed myself, not strong enough to save the person I loved most in this world.
Hope died as realization set in and acceptance took over. I swallowed the lump in my throat, blinked away the tears that were obscuring my vision, and looked down at my brother’s lifeless body dangling from my slipping grip. I could still see the panic in his little eyes as I caught his arm. I could see the strain in his hand, his arm, his shoulder as he clung to me frightfully for a moment before he looked below us and passed out.
“I’m so sorry I wasn’t enough. I wish with everything I had that I could save you.” I whispered. The air stung my lungs as if it knew and was betrayed that I was about to die as I gulped in a deep breath. My fingers on the ledge slipped further, causing my brother’s body to jerk, and his wrist slipped just a bit more from my grip. His big blue eyes popped open wide in a panic as he awoke and looked up to me.
Unable to stand the fear on his face, I smiled down at him. “It is okay. You’re okay. We’re okay.” I tried to console him the best I could with my own fear fogging my mind. As I felt my fingertips give way, I dug deep within myself and pulled him up to hug his little body to mine. Despite the violent shaking that overtook his body, he clung to me as we descended to our doom. He squeezed his eyes shut against the horror that was our reality. For a moment, we were weightless. If I closed my eyes, it would almost be peaceful with the burden of life lifted and the wind blowing by us as we fell. So, that is what I did. I closed my eyes and imagined I was a bird, free falling before I would inevitably spread my wings at the last moment and soar towards the horizon unscathed.
“I love you.” I hoped he would hear these last words and find comfort in them. It was the least I could do. As if sensing we were about to land, my heart skipped a beat painfully in my chest.
My body jolted, I gasped, and opened my eyes to darkness. I was alive. Instead of the rock basin I was just plummeting towards, I was lying on something soft and warm. A bed. I was in a bed at the inn near the dungeon. My body was slicked with cold sweat, my heart raced as if it, too, remembered my final moments of my past life. I sucked in deep breaths, trying to slow it all down. I looked around the room to ground myself.
After my death, I had woken in a new body, in a new house, an entirely new realm. So many things were foreign, but I retained my memories even as I learned to assimilate into this new world. From time to time, the memory of my Earth death terrorized my dreams. My new parents thought it strange that I learned faster than was normal. That is, until I was old enough and trusted them enough to properly convey my circumstances. I waited until I felt I was old enough to be able to survive on my own if they decided I was insane or defective and threw me out. To my surprise and wonder, they not only believed me, but they accepted me. Turns out, while it doesn’t happen in excess, reincarnation happens fairly regularly here. When I was 10, I began my search for my brother. We died together, and I was here, so it made sense that he was also reincarnated into this realm. After nearly 20 years of searching, I still had not found him.
While my brother was not with me, she was. Safiria was curled into the fetal position next to me, facing the door. A habit she brought with her from her past life. She couldn’t trust anyone there. So, she didn’t trust anyone here either. As her best friend, she trusted me more than most, but still not fully. Her PTSD from the past translated to her facing the door of whatever room she was in in this life.
I took a deep breath and rolled towards her to run my hand all over her body. The soft warmth of her skin was a welcome change to the clinging memory of the cold rocks slicing through my stinging fingers in the dream I just woke from. She blinked her eyes open and smirked at me. Not even questioning my motives, she rolled onto her back and pulled me to her body. Her embrace was the warm connection my soul needed. It wrapped around me like a hug. I brought my lips to hers and chased the distraction I desperately craved.
I found Safira shortly after I had decided to become an adventurer as a way of giving myself purpose as I traveled, looking for my brother. She was at the adventurers’ guild herself, newly licensed, but too shy to ask to join a party. I approached her, invited her to party with me (and others we would find together), discovered that she was reincarnated here from Earth as well, and the rest is history. We bonded over our Earth lives and became best friends…. Who occasionally exchange benefits, as evidenced by us sharing a bed now. Occasionally, we will separate in a town to do our own thing, but we are mostly together. We travel with our adventure party to the different dungeons in the kingdom we call home, the Kingdom of Nyxaria. We are both satisfied with this arrangement.
In this new life, the world of Astra is home to only one continent surrounded by ocean. Our kingdom is the westernmost side, separated from the other of the eight empires by mountains. I traveled throughout each of the eight empires searching for my brother, before deciding to concentrate my search to Nyxaria. I decided to continue searching for my brother, while also making a living and living with a purpose, all while remaining close to my parents, who reside in the capital, Vireluna. During my travels, I met with all sorts of people. I liked to seek out those who were reincarnated from Earth, to swap memories and see if they had come across my brother.
