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The Blight was everywhere. It devoured the streets and alleys of my home, the city I had devoted myself to, the city I’d give anything to save. I made a promise to Bring the Light, yet the only light spreading its way through Minrathos was the eerie red of death and corruption. The red light of the Blight and the Venatori. Neve’s face, the Viper’s corruption…
Some Shadow Dragon you've turned out to be.
The aquarium beyond my bedroom wall was normally a comfort. Something about being able to look up and see the fish swimming peacefully, unaware of the challenges the world was facing, tends to take the weight off my shoulders. But as I wake from the nightmare of what I’d resigned my own home to, it reminds me of the Ossuary. Of Lucanis. The charming Antivan Crow I’d let convince me to sacrifice my own city for —
No. Enough.
It was clear enough that I wouldn’t be getting any more sleep tonight. Instead, I made my way to my mirror to get ready for another day of feeling exiled from my own home —
Hair. I need to fix my hair, an easy task with my magic. And my henna, the mirror showing that it has faded faster than normal from all the traveling and fighting. Yet one more piece of myself, fading away. I won’t even be able to get more from Minrathos since the shop I went to had been taken over by the Blight. My brief glimpse of the area filled with the silence of death, of pain, broken only by distant fires and the relentless heartbeat of the corruption —
“Ugh!” It was too easy to fill the silence of my room with memories and the horrible voice of my own hatred. A voice that only became more insidious when I fled the room, just like I fled from my own responsibilities.
This early, the Lighthouse itself was still quiet. Even Assan had yet to wake and start his morning flight around the buildings, just waiting for one of us to wake up and maybe give him treats. It might even be early enough to avoid Lucanis, not that the man seems to ever sleep.
The thought of Lucanis made me decide to try and make it to the kitchen for a solitary breakfast before the Crow would come out of his pantry. After all, poor moods can often be cured by sleep or food. If sleep was avoiding me, I’d at least try the other option.
“Ah, Rook. A few more minutes and I’ll have coffee ready.” Of course I wouldn’t be lucky enough to avoid him , I thought, as the gentle voice of the man I was trying to avoid greeted me with my first step into the kitchen. While I don’t normally drink coffee, the smile that grew on his face when offering to share was too handsome to — Minrathos, the Blight, he made me abandon my own city to save his — “Rook? Are you alright?”
“Sorry, Lucanis. I’m not going to be good company today.” I fled without another look at his face, deciding that for this morning, breakfast wasn’t a fight I could face.
But in the brief moment that I was distracted, Assan had fluttered over to his perch from Davrin’s room and trilled happily as he caught sight of me and asked to play. For the first time this morning, since Minrathos , I felt a smile on my face. If you feel like you hate yourself, sleep. But if sleep won’t find you, playing with a baby griffon is a good substitute.
And when, half an hour later, I was done playing with Assan, I turned to find a cup of coffee and a plate of fruit waiting for me a safe distance away.