Young Writers Society

Sorry it's so short :l

______________________________

I struggled to stay awake. My eyes were weary, closing more often as I felt the pull to simply sleep. But every time I shook myself awake- I wanted to see Lyrel when he came home. He’d left on a trip to go battle some powerful demonic threat. Some might have worried that their mentor would die going on such a venture, but in my eyes, he was invincible. He was perfect. He was immortal.

He’d raised me as a father, he’d taught me as a mentor, he’d comforted me as a friend. He was the only one that didn’t fear me or treat me differently because I was of shadows instead of light or because of my scarlet eye or because of the corvid that followed me day in and day out. He was just there for me, surer than the suns would set in the west.

I didn’t remember falling asleep, but I must have, because the next thing I knew I was in my bed with sunlight slanting in through the curtains. Lyrel must have found me asleep and brought me up. He was home!

The grogginess of first awakening was gone in an instant as I leaped out of bed and bolted to Lyrel’s room. I shoved open the door and turned to his desk in the corner where he did paperwork and wrote letters every morning before I was even awake.

He wasn’t there.

I supposed even he would have to sleep in once in a while, but it was late enough and the day wouldn’t last forever. I trotted over to his bed to wake him up and the world came shattering down around me, like so many shards of glass as they burst into a million pieces upon hitting the cold, hard stone so far below it.

Blood pooled over the white sheets, dripping to the ground. His body was cold, lifeless, so pale…

I let out a choked cry, shaking him, calling his name over and over and over again. Time had no meaning. The world stopped turning. The sun stood still. All I knew was my fractured heart and the crushing feeling of being alone, so terrifyingly alone.

Hands gripped my shoulders, pulling me firmly but gently away. I found myself staring into the umber eyes of a lion, his great golden coat glistening in the light as Bericus let me go next to his familiar.

Why me?