Iruppu maṭṭumē uḷḷatu

Alexander watched the footage for the upteenth time. 'it was two males...right?'

He rewound the video and watched again. All he could see was soldiers falling left and right.

"You're absolutely certain that Myriah was there?" Alexander asked the wounded soldier who was being tending to by three army doctors. "I-Cannot say." the soldier whispered, "I cannot recall.".

Alexander cursed under his breath.

It would seam to be anyones guess. He looked to the frozen shadow on the screen.

"Who are you if not Myriah?"

***

Myriah shifted on her feet under Axels piercing glare. 'Angalo doesn't want Axel to know...' Her eyes found Axels and she knew that she could not keep to Angelos wish.

'I will not lie to him.' Myriah internally justified.

"Atoli took a bullet to her heart." Myriah mumbled after a pregnant silence, "She died." Axel's eyes widened, "You just said-"

"I know what I said-" "Besides Atolis over five centuries. There's no way a silver bullet could-"

"Axel, I-i... brought her back to life." Myriah whispered as the tears in her eyes slid down her cheeks, the walls around her sin crumbling under his piercing stare. "I-I couldn't l-let her- I c-couldn't watch her-" She fumbled on her words as her throat became clogged with thick sobs that made her body shake.

"Please..." She pleaded, "Please forgive me..."

Despite his body's resistance, Axel was in-front of her as her knees buckled and she fell into him, crying. Axel's arms slowly came around her as she buried her face into his chest and cried for all she was worth.

'She brought the dead to life....'

He had only seen it done once... the magic was so powerful that the caster burned and aged before his very eyes. The person who was revived also burned from the tainted magic... nature claimed her price as well as what was taken from her...

Axel could only close his eyes as his mind wondered back to when he was a small child... basking in the healing warmth of his mother.

"Eṉ makaṉ (My son...)" her voice was smoother than spider silk, "Uṅkaḷ tāyiṉ vārttaikaḷai niṉaivil koḷḷuṅkaḷ (Remember the words of your mother.)" Small hands fell into slender dainty ones,

"Mantiram nallatum illai tīmaiyum illai. (Magic is neither good nor evil.)" Silver eyes watched the flowers around him bloom and wilt as her silky words burrowed into the recesses of his mind.

"Iruppu maṭṭumē uḷḷatu. (There is only balance.)" Silver eyes met translucent grey. he often dared to say her eyes were the color of rain,

"Iṟantavarkaḷait tirumpak koṇṭuvaruvatu eṉpatu iyaṟkaiyiṉ carva vallamaiyuḷḷa ōṭṭattai māṟṟuvatākum. Atu kālattiṉ eppoḻutum nilaittirukkum karuṇaiyai citaippatāka iruntatu. Iyaṟkaiyaip pōṉṟa tūya caktiyai taṉ viruppattiṟku vaḷaippatu taṭaiceyyappaṭṭatu... Camanilaikkāka maṭṭumē atu taṭaiceyyappaṭṭatu. (To bring back the dead is to reverse nature's almighty flow. It is to corrupt the ever resilient grace of time. To bend a pure force like nature to ones will is forbidden... it is forbidden solely for the sake of balance)."

Axel ran a soothing hand through Myriah's hair and he let her lean into him. For a Pure one, to bend the balance was to invite death. It broke his heart to see her like this... she should be happy to have saved her friend...She should be relieved to have successfully revived the dead... and live to tell the tale. Axel wrapped his arms tighter around her, hoping to pull her broken heart together. He wished he could ease the ache that was eating at her... A creature as pure as her should not be subjected to such pain, one such as her is not made for the hell that is war.

As grateful as he was to hear that his sister in law was alive, Atoli should have died in that battle. 'Is that what is eating at Angalo? The Knowing that his mate should not be alive right now? The mixed feelings that danced between grief and relief?' What would this sin to do Myriahs soul? Would she truly survive it?

Axel wasn't sure how long he sat with Myriah crumpled at his chest, he only knew that she eventually gave into sleep...

***

Alexander sat near the tank, idlily listening to the creature inside hum.

"Where is your mind?" The creature inside sang, "Will you not join me here?" Alexander sighed And watched the video again. Pausing at it the shadow. The creature fell silent as her eyes fell on the shadow as well,

"Avaḷ eṉṉaip pōṉṟavaḷ (she is like me...)" Alexander blinked at the foregin tongue, "Iṭam illāta peyaraṟṟa uyiriṉam (a nameless creature with no place)..." Alexander watched the image move in slow motion. "Iruṇṭa iṭattil veḷiccam tarum tūya itayam (a pure heart that breads light in darks place)" Alexander found himself trapped within ocean blue eyes, "Uṅkaḷ irattattiṉ vāḻkkai atikārattil pātikkappaṭukiṟatu (the life of your blood will suffer in power.)" A gasp escaped his lips and those blue eyes continued to dig into his own, "Eṉatu kaṭaici nērattil nāṉ inta kōpurattai viṭṭu viṭukiṟēṉ (in my last hour I leave this dower)."

The memories attacked his mind. Alexander groaned as his father's madness seamed to fester within himself. "Uṅkaḷ pāvaṅkaḷukku nīṅkaḷ paṇam celuttuvīrkaḷ. (you will pay for your sins.)" The images that haunted the facility seamed to haunt the mad scientist. "Your torment will never end." The creature sang as she released a trembling, sweating Alexander.

***