Alive Again - Valeria's POV

Alive Again - Valeria's POV
My mind stirs before my body does.

Pain is the first thing I feel. Not sharp, but a bruised ache buried in my bones, whispering of what I’ve done to return. Each breath scrapes against the inside of my chest like wind against shattered glass. But it’s air. I’m breathing. My lungs, greedy and stubborn, fight to keep it. My heart follows, thumping slow, then faster, then steady.

I’m alive. Warmth is next.

Fingers cradle my face. I know the hand before I see it. It’s Kendric. The calluses, the trembling strength. His skin is damp. From rain? From tears? I don’t know.

His voice is raw. "Val...?"

I want to say his name. To throw my arms around him. But my limbs are distant, foreign. My body is waking slowly, relearning itself.

My fingers twitch.

He gasps, sharp and unguarded. "Valeria? Say something. Please. Gods, please..."

I force my eyes open.

The world is a smear of moonlight and trees, blurred at the edges. I’m beneath the ash tree. The one where I died. The smell of pine and blood still clings to the earth.

When I bat my eyes a few more times I realize I’m still in the arena. This isn’t my past life. It’s this one and very real.

Kendric is beside me, on his knees, face streaked with mud and grief. His eyes widen when I whisper, "I came back."

A sound escapes him, broken and beautiful. A sob laced with laughter. He falls forward, wrapping me in his arms, forehead against mine. "You came back. You really—you idiot, you impossible, stubborn... you did it. I thought I was going to be alone when I woke up and you weren’t awake.”

"I told you I wasn’t done. We spoke in the afterlife.”

My voice scrapes like flint, but I manage it.

He holds me, and I hold him tight as if death might try again if we loosen our grip. The press of his body, the beat of his heart. It’s all real.

We stay there, tangled, breathing each other in. Time loses meaning.

When I finally pull away, I study him. His hair is a mess. His face is ravaged. But his eyes, those impossible eyes, still hold that light. The same one that reached me across the void.

"You reached me," I say.

He nods. "I felt you. Even after you were gone. I couldn’t accept it. I wouldn’t. When the witches stopped my heart, I followed the thread to you. Then something threw me out and I woke up slowly.”

"How long was I... gone?"

"I don’t know. Hours? Days? Time stopped when I woke up without you. The witches said the veil cracked. They’ve never seen anything like it. We weren’t supposed to return.”

I close my eyes. "Something followed. A shadow. Watching. Waiting."

He swallows. "I felt it too. Whatever power brought you back, it didn’t come clean. The witches said it would echo."

We don’t look away from each other. No illusions remain. We defied death. It will not be forgotten.

But we’re together and alive.

We stay there in the arena, the smell of blood filling our nostrils, until the sun rises the next day. I try to sit most of the time, though we fall asleep at some point. When we get up the next morning, my muscles scream, but I push through.

"Help me up?"

Kendric is beside me instantly, steadying me. I wobble. He catches me.

"Easy."

"I’m not a ghost anymore. Don’t treat me like glass."

He smiles. "You’re not glass. You’re the blade. And for a moment there, we were both ghosts.”

We walk, slow and steady, all the way out of the building. The witches wait for us outside.

Three of them. Blue flames dancing in a ritual fire from one they must have burned all night. Their eyes follow me with a quiet reverence.

The one on the left  tilts her head. "So. The warrior returns. We were preparing to bury you both today, out by the weeping willow, but Kendric woke up. He said to hold on, because you would be coming right behind him.”

My voice is dry. "Hope I didn’t break your ritual."

She chuckles. "You broke more than that. You chose life when death had already closed its hands. We gave you another chance for another life without pain and you chose this one.”

Kendric steps forward. "What’s the cost?"

The woman grows solemn. "She’s marked now. Both of you are. You weren’t meant to make that crossing. Something saw you. It won’t be forgotten."

I stare at her. "Let it wait. We have work to do."

The youngest witch, pale as mist, adds, "You were brave. That doesn’t mean safe."

Kendric lifts his chin. "Let them come."

The other woman nods. "Then go. But know this. Not all who felt your return will welcome it. To the packs, you are dead.”

We keep walking, heading to a nearby river. Once we are there, we sit and rest.

I sink my feet into the cold stream, trying to wash some of the blood off. Kendric peels an apple he got off one of the nearby trees and hands it to me. I bite in. Juice runs down my chin. It tastes like life.

"Feels wrong," I murmur. "Eating. Breathing. Laughing."

He watches me. "But it feels, doesn’t it?"

"Yeah. It feels. I don’t know how to explain it, but I just couldn’t cross.”

A silence settles, heavier than before.

"Why did you come back?" he asks. “Did you follow me or did you not want a chance at a pain free life.”

I swallow. "Because I remembered. You. Us. What we promised. The peace I saw... it didn’t have you in it. You were going to be pulled in a different direction and I couldn’t go without you.”

He doesn’t speak.

I reach for his hand. "You pulled me back."

He grips it. "Then don’t leave me again."

I rest against him. "Not unless we go together."

We sit until the sky turns violet. The birds fall silent. Still, we stay.

But I know the stillness won’t last.