Chapter six 

Gillian could barely count herself conscious  laying on the forest floor, she was sure some bones were broken, maybe even fatally. Perhaps the snow broke her fall, it was the only reason Gillian could manage to explain her not instant death. 

Her arms and legs she could tell were mangled by the several crashes and hits she took from tree branches on her way down. 

Her vision was unfocused, blurred by something she felt trickling down her face, she could hardly tell if it was day or not, her brain fuzzed, time hardly seemed to move yet moved far too quickly, it made her feel sick, but the pain soon made her forget that. It shot through her body like lightning, electrifying every nerve. She couldn't handle the pain, gritting her teeth as she tried to get up, she knew she'd find no one who would help, there would be more creatures that would help her closer to the veil of death. Yet she yep out, trying to speak no matter how difficult it may be, her throat rasps and her jaw screamed in agony, there was no doubt it was dislocated.

 She shut her eyes, tears streaming down her face. No one would come, when Charlotte and Thomas returned without her they would surely make up a story to delay any search parties, and none would be willing to enter the sorcerer's forest. She was alone and likely to die. 

Gillian wanted to laugh, her life long torment was near done, she wouldn't suffer anymore, she could finally admit to all things she tolerated, it was relief and guilt all at once. For she and Charlotte were so similar. She was happy that she would never have to see the worst parts of herself reflected back at her through Charlotte. Smiling she gazed up, 

"Sister?" The voice was elegant, sweet and soft. She knew that voice, it had been so long, the figure looked down at Gillian with pity, her beauty blazing. 

"Here to gloat?" Gillisn questioned, 

The girl's head shook, closing her eyes in disappointment. Gillian frowned, "no of course not," she sighed, "typical you would haunt me in  my last moments. Though strangely I'm glad, I'm not alone," 

Gillian thought she felt fingers lightly brush along her forehead, creasing away stray hairs. "How can you be so kind to me after everything? Comfort me as if I would do the same?"

"We are sisters," 

Sisters? That made Gillian laugh, though quickly she groaned in pain. 

"I deserve this, for all I did. Back then it felt all so…." She sighed, "my reasoning seemed so solid," 

Her sister laughed, "it is a sight to you see you remorseful,"

Gillian tried to snort, but instead a bile of blood gurgled from her mouth, coughing ever so slightly at the action. she rasped in a breath, "i-" speaking was too painful, “the goods would not be so good to allow me a quick death now,” she scratched out, the words seemed to barely escape her lips. 

Gazing at her sister, she thought how wasted her new world was on Gillian and how much her sister would love the commonality of magic around her. Their old world had long since lost the ability for magic, the dragons dying out centuries before, unicorns hunted to extinction for their horns, the spirits and fairies had closed the paths to their realms, and magic practices and crafts were forgotten to all. Only stories and bones remained to remind people that magic once existed.

Now Gillian would die before ever truly seeing works of magic, though from the small amount of times she had seen her father use magic, she was not too eager to see too much of it. 

Her body was beginning to feel numb as if she were not connected to her body at all. Gillian was tired, so tired, the urge to close her eyes was heavy, but she knew if her eyes fluttered shut, they would not open again. 

“Sister,” Gillian called in a quiet rasp, “Sister?” she no longer saw her, perhaps her sister was never there to begin with, she felt so dizzy, so hazy, she wanted to sleep, she knew sleep would solve it all. But she couldn’t. 

“I am sorry mother, i wish i said goodbye,” she took a radged breath, sleep was something enclosing surround her, making her sight blur, her eyes coming in and out of focus and her eyelids fell down. 

Just as slumber found Gillian, a figure coming out between the trees stepped towards her disjointed, broken body. Gillian could not help to think how much this figure looked like death…