First, the world scribbled into many hallucinations.

Then she found herself floating amid this space. It was bubbly and soft and squishy. Then she found herself on the ground without her brother’s chair. “Ma? Where are you?” She whispered. She was surrounded by dots of white light.

“Huh?” She looked up and saw a figure who breathing roughly. “Miss? Is that you? How?”

“Camilla?”

“Miss!” Camilla kneeled and placed her head on her lap. “I thought…I was alone. The sky got cracked, and here I was thought. Madam, and Sir, forgive me I’ve failed them!”

“Ma?”

Camila sobbed while clutching her clothes. “I couldn’t do anything, but run. Madam, I promise you that I won’t leave you behind!”

Camilla was her light. She was carried behind her back and through times she could only cry as Camilla risks her life to protect her fragile body. Even when she’s out of breathe or passed out on the ground. She could only cry and hope that she would wake up.

It felt like an eternity inside this place. Camilla had lost what she carved for herself and a wide scar slanted on her face. It doesn’t bother her but it bothered her.

The place was a world that they didn’t know about. She didn’t know why she had barely grown old despite the times that had passed. The milky stars and countless mirages of galaxies that gathered and formed were something she watched.

In the world that turned warm and cold. She and Camilla found freedom in a basin where there were monsters. However, upon arriving in this basic they found two infants that were connected to a rope-like energy. The infants were crying as the energy passed through them.

“Can we get them out?” She said.

Camilla tried to pull the twins out of their pods. But the bolt of lightning was too much for her. She almost lost her hand. She could only give up and notice that no monsters would come inside this basin. She had to work out the rest and through her efforts they made home.

However, to sustain her she has to venture out in the open where the beasts are. The area was filled with growing fruits and a drinkable source of water. But she knew that Camilla won’t give up.

Every time she goes out of the basin she would come back exhausted. Despite the scars that riddled her once pristine skin. Camilla doesn’t stop with her smile. She couldn’t complain, and she had to be brave. Still, when the night was cold, and when the dark seems to consume all the light. She would hear Camilla cry somewhere and call out to her brother.

There were days she would found Camilla talking to herself.

Camilla became strong. She was a fierce protector. However, she could not pretend that Camilla’s heart was broken. Small as she was, she did not miss the affection of this loyal servant. She had protected her out of obedience to the master that she might be able to see.

Layla’s heart ached at the thought of not seeing her brother. It was harder for Camilla who saw how her masters die, and all she could do was run. She was clinging to the hope that her brother might be able to come back to them.

But the world was so dark and above and below were worlds that differed. She knew that they were relying on the poor infants who were being used as a catalyst for these worlds. They were always hurt and only through the dews that fall on top of their pods that they are soothed.

Their thundering cries were maddening sometimes when the stream of energy was transferred on their bodies. Camilla could do nothing. She could not do anything to soothe their woes. However, she found herself sitting near the twins, singing, hoping that her songs would soothe their troubled life. That was all she could for she had no walking limbs. She thought of herself like a leech that could only empty the blood of her host.

Her heart feels heavy all the time.

Help. She would cry out sometimes to the dark.

Her voices echo.

Body-shaking sobs would try to get out of her voice.

But she could not let it out. Not when even Camilla was holding it. Not even when those who suffer for her was holding it.

“Please help,” she said quietly. “I don’t know what to do. I’ve been trouble for everyone. So please, if it means anything, please help Camilla. Please, I don’t want her hurt so badly every time. Brother, please help me. I’m scared. It’s so lonely without Mama and Dada. Brother, I thought you will protect me?”

How long has it been since the worlds conjunct?

Days passed yet there was nothing she could do.

Camilla toiled the basin to her liking. She created a cabin and had fashioned herself with the fur and bones of the monsters. For the sake of her alone, she would toil and fight while searching for a way out of this hell. She wanted to whisper for her to rest.

But Camilla had forgotten what rest was.

She would not give up until she finds a path out of this world.

Camilla won’t be stopped no matter how she pleads. That was one of the pillars that held her heart together. She knew what doing so would mean to her. She was barely holding and she could only function because of this belief. This belief that catapulted her into action.

“Camilla,” she gathered her courage. “Please come back safe, okay?”

Camilla widened her eyes and smiled. It was bright despite that scar across her face.

“Of course, Milady. How can I ever leave you behind?”

“I’ll see you later.”

“Of course, Lady Layla. I’m off now.”

Her steps were invigorated and her stride was firm. All she could do was see her go. That was all Layla Elior could do in this world that did not give her any power other than her words. She rested her head on the chair that Camilla made for her, and prayed.