All that matters is the time we had [yanhua]

[Borderline]

despite the overwhelming odds, tomorrow came

I have no awareness of the events that follow my death, and the only way I would ever know what happened is through Yanhua’s words and memories. As he lay there beside my body as the warmth slowly left it, something within began to change. A magic leaches into the earth where I lay, and a new growth begins.

Time is slow to move, it would seem, crawling by like inches a day. I could not feel anything, not the growth that was happening, nor the particularly powerful echo that @[Yanhua] sends into the surrounding forest, nor the energy he exudes in his hope to contact Leilan. I do not know that @[Leilan] arrives, nor do I feel the stream of magic that flows from him to my now cold body, but whatever it is that comes from within me latches onto the magic, absorbing it, utilizing it, and things begin to change.

My body begins to wilt, as though it is decomposing at an astounding rate, though no rot happens, no stench, no maggots or any of that. Instead, it seems to sink into the ground where something blue begins to grow around it, something unique and unlike anything found within Beqanna–or possibly anywhere else in the world. It is not something small, not something insignificant, but the strange thing grows as large as my body had been, absorbing the nutrients that had once been myself until I am no more, but in my place stands an odd looking plant, or at least the beginnings of a plant–well, it can be assumed it is some sort of plant. What I have become does not look like a plant, though. Instead, it looks like a giant, blue bulb that is spongy to the touch.

For a time, nothing else happens. I am unaware of what Leilan or Yanhua are doing during this time, nor how much time has even passed, but it wasn’t as long as one would imagine, but probably a lifetime to at least one of the stallions present.

And then something does happen. The bulb begins to split into obvious petals that expend and grow and bloom into a flower similar to a rafflasia, though larger, and it contains seven long petals that stretch out and elongate into an oval shape. The flower opens to reveal a surprise. Curled tightly within is a body–my body, but not the same as the body that had collapsed earlier. This body is new. Where my old body was beginning to lighten, and my dapples had begun to fade, this one looks the same as the day that Yanhua and I had met, young and vibrant, untarnished by scars that had been there once before.

It is then that my awareness returns. My blue eyes flutter open, and an ear lifts itself and twitches, and the sounds and sights begin to flood my senses. My nostrils flare, taking in the divine fragrances of the flower from which I’d just been birthed. My legs tremble, and I can feel the soft bed beneath me. I open my mouth, and a breath fills my lungs while my tongue takes in the delicious taste of the pollen that surrounds me. My senses overwhelm me for a moment, and it is all I can do to just lay there.

It takes time before I realize where I am. The last thing I remember is watching Yanhua’s face turn from adoration to horror before my eyes, and I jolt upward, eyes wide and searching for him. He is still there, along with Leilan. I blink, confused. “Yanhua!” I manage to breathe out as I stumble to my feet and pull myself from the depths of the flower. “Wha–what happened?” I am scared. Unsure of myself. Confused. I look to Leilan, unsure why he is even here, but my attention is mostly for the chestnut stallion as I flounder towards him. I feel like a newborn filly once more, as I stumble forward and nearly fall into the stallion. I use his shoulder to brace myself, and throw my neck over his to steady my shaky legs. And then the tears begin to flow, hot and heavy down my cheeks.

Borderline

Image by Calcifer