Farewell

She bent her head, a quiet, peaceful gesture of release. She had been defeated, her own body not listening, not heeding her orders. She had fought hard, but knew, now, that it was time to let go. At least she would have the last and final victory.

Closing her eyes, she breathed deeply. A final, resigned sigh escaped her lips, to flutter and dance in the air before her. She did not see it, not this last breath. She only saw the darkness of oblivion. Her last sight was nothing. She stepped forward. The great lip of the canyon, once so frighteningly close, was behind her now. She felt herself falling, falling. The sweet embrace of the wind clung to her, resisting her, bearing her upwards, ever upward. She reveled, in that brief second, in the feeling of power gained by absolute freedom of all constraints, of all bonds holding her to the ground.

And then she let go.

The falling body of the girl opened its eyes. The cunning smile of triumph, almost automatically there, quickly faded. It was one creature's release, one’s final rest, one’s act of sacrifice. To the other, this new creature, it was doom, destruction, the utter defeat and victory all in one. A moan of despair escaped her open lips, only to hang in the air as the girl kept falling, her last donation to the world left far behind. It was the unspoken farewell of two souls, the one quiet, peaceful, the other angry, hateful.

And the body fell…