Chapter 71: Chapter 71
Sandy’s POV
It’s been a fortnight since Ora performed the ritual and she had yet to wake up. I waited in anticipation for the healer to finish checking her. King Augustine had sent the best Royal healer to check on Ora.
“Did you find out what is wrong with her? Did you find anything at all?”
“I am sorry, Master Sandy. There is nothing wrong with Ora; her pulse, heartrate, brain impulses; everything seems pretty normal.”
“Why in the world isn’t she waking up?”
“It is because of the ritual she performed,” King Augustine said as he stepped inside the room. I knew I should have turned around and greeted him but I just wasn’t in my element. He didn’t seem to mind either. He beckoned the healer to leave and sat down on the empty chair.
With a defeated sigh, I sat on the edge of the bed facing him, “If you knew that the ritual was so dangerous, why did you lie to me? I…We could have at least taken some precautions….”
“I didn’t lie to you, Sandy. The ritual was supposed to go flawlessly. I even gave her the resutrrection stone. I have no freaking idea why it didn’t work!?”
“What exactly does this stone do?”
“As the name suggests, it can bring back even a dead person to life.”
My eyes widened in shock, “What did you say?”
“The resurrection stone around her neck would have revived her even if she died during the ritual.” His gaze bore into mine, “Do you still think I didn’t take sufficient precaution?”
Chewing my lower lip, I shook my head. There was no denying that he had turned his best.
“The resurrection stone works only once…. Did Ora use it before ritual by any chance?”
“I don’t think so… I don’t think she even knew about the locket.”
“That is right. I didn’t even tell her that the crystal she was wearing was the resurrection stone,” King Augustine rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “I have been replaying every single detail over and over again. No matter how hard I rack my brain, I can’t figure out what went wrong.”
“Could the locket be a fake?”
“No chance. It was gifted to me by my first wife, Melinda. I never took it off my entire life. So, there is no way that it could have been used either.”
The sound of some commotion in the corridor drew our attention and we went to check what it was.
“Madam Emilia has fainted,” a maid stopped to tell me as she rushed towards Emilia’s bedroom. King Augustine instantly commanded the Royal healer to check on her
“Do you think we have done something to get cursed, Kevin?” Nivaan was saying in a desperate voice as I entered, “First me, then my son, now her….” He looked like he was on the verge of breaking down. Kevin and Kiara flanked him; silently supporting him.
The healer made Emilia smell something from a bottle and she woke up slowly. She checked her pulse then pressed her finger to her throat. To my surprise, her lips curved in a smile. She turned towards Nivaan and beamed, “There is no need to worry. Your mate is pregnant. That is why she fainted.”
I had expected Nivaan to jump with joy but his face grew pallid instead. Emilia’s expression was similar. She shook her head and whispered, “This is impossible. It’s been so long since I… we…. I mean after Nivaan returned we never came close.”
“She is right, Miss Edna. You should check her again. There is no way she can get pregnant. We never had s** after I returned. And, I know for sure that she will never sleep with anyone else.”
Edna’s face flushed and she conducted the tests again, “I am sorry but my diagnosis remains the same. In my twenty years of career, I have never been wrong.
Emilia buried her face in her palm. The atmosphere in the room bordered between anxiety and awkwardness. Nivaan moved closer to Emilia and took her hand in his, “What if the symptoms you used to give us the diagnosis is caused by something you haven’t dealt with before.”
Emila’s head snapped up and she gasped, “I was struck by a wave of magic fifteen days ago… Is it possible that this is an after effect of some weird spell?” She shrugged, her eyes lighting up with hope, “You have never dealt with patients infected by magic before, right?”
Those words made something in my mind click. I turned towards king Augustine and asked in a frantic voice, “This resurrection stone, how does it work?”
“It is mostly tied to the will of the person wearing the stone. The natural instincts of a person usually causes the stone to resurrect themselves when they die.”
“Let us say a person’s life source is tied to someone else… is it possible to resurrect that person too?”
“I really don’t know about this but there are some grimoires at my palace. There has got to be something there. If you want, you can come along and study them.”
I wasn’t going to let such a huge opportunity go. So, I agreed promptly.
“What exactly do you have in mind, Sandy?” Kevin asked as I walked past him.
“I am not sure but I have this weird hunch that Emilia’s pregnancy has something to do with the spell cast by Ora when she attaked her….”
“That is really absurd. How in the world did that idea pop in your mind?” Kevin countered. I merely shrugged and left. There was no point explaining anything when I myself didn’t know what had happened.
I spend the next few days reading grimoires, translating some of them when needed. After thorough analysis we finally got some idea about what might have happened.
Ora was probably lamenting the loss of Evaan when Emilia attacked. She used magic reflexively and accidentally triggered the spell of resurrection. As she was still alive, Evaan’s soul was resurrected because he was linked to her life source.
If Evaan was just brain dead like Ora, he would probably have just woken up. But, he just vanished with Valence during the spell; his body blending with the mysterious forces of nature. So, he was resurrected in the closest form possible. He turned into a fetus in Emilia’s womb.
Of course, this was just a theory formulated by my crazed mind. So, noboy believed me apart from King Augustine. Surprisingly, we both became quite close. Probably because we both cared for Ora.
One day, I ended up asking him, “King Augustine, do you really think that my theory is correct or are you just trying to console my frayed heart.”
He had let out a long, drawn sigh and replied with the wisdom of an experienced man, “Only time has the ability to reveal the truth of this theory, Sandy. If Emilia’s son is really a reincarnation of Evaan, his life source will still be linked to Ora. We will have a chance to wake Ora up then….”
His words stayed engraved in my heart as a beacon of hope ; keeping me afloat during the dark, depressing times that were to follow. At first, it was quite easy to hold on to the hope that she would wake any moment.
There was no healer that we didn’t consult, no cure that we didn’t try. Every time my heart would flutter in hope only to be crushed under the feet of destiny.
Nine months later, Emilia’s son was born. I don’t know what I was hoping for; maybe some sort of a miracle. Nothing happened. Ora didn’t even flutter an eyelid. She remained lying on the bed like a statue that is often a part of aesthetics.
That was the day, I broke down for the first time. I dropped to my knees and sobbed; cried like there was nothing left in my life. The love of my life still didn’t respond.
Desires become a million times stronger when you know that you can’t have something. My love for Ora intensified with time. The memories I had of her were like millions of sharp knives that kept stabbing me again and again.
Despite the pain, despite the torment I held on. I busied myself in taking care of her. I wouid pick fresh flowers for her early in the morning. Give her sponge baths, change her clothes and spend time combing her hair. When Kevin offered to keep a full time nurse, I refused. I didn’t know what I would do with myself if I didn’t even have those mundane tasks to do.
When almost an year had passed by, I started feeling the weight of helplessness. There were several times I wished I would just die rather than going through such torment.
You have no idea how it is to keep talking to the one you love only to be met with silence. How it is to feel your heart flutter with hope only for it to be crushed again and again; yet again.
It breaks you from the inside bit by bit until nothing is left but a shell. The memories faded slowly and a strange numbness replaced all my emotions. By the time, three years passed, there was not much difference between me and Ora who was lying in a vegetative state.
I didn’t feel anything; just like her. I couldn’t smile, laugh or have normal conversations; just like her. I was hollow and empty; the only difference was that I could move around; akin to some zombie that dragged itself around without any reason or purpose….