Gazing at the starry night through a large window a young man sat with his arms folded across his body. The moon illuminated His haggard face as he sat rested on a chair. Decorating the room were fine cabinets and drawers. Behind the man to the right was a large sized bed. It's sheets and covers were sprawled and unkempt. An enormous red rug imprinted with gold designs covered the center of the room. The night’s cool breeze drifted in causing the red curtains to dance in the moonlight.

Disturbing the night’s silence, a long sigh was made by the young man. Despite being very tired he could not sleep. In fact, he had been sleeping less than his usual sleep deprived nights for the past few days.

Every time he dozed off he had this bizarre dream. At first, the dream only gave him slight discomfort but day by day it had grown worse and worse. And today it gave a sense of fear. Just closing his eyes made him want to curl up in a corner and shiver in fright.

The man shook his head causing his black hair to sway in the moonlight. He had to snap out it.  He knew If this continued any further it will affect his duties. It was already hard enough to do his job. He didn't need any more problems.

Picking up the sword that laid next to him, the young man sighed once more but this time, with content. As always, holding a sword gave him comfort. While wielding one was more suited for his job, holding a dagger just didn't give him the same sense of comfort. Of course, he was still proficient with it. He had to be.

Thinking about it, five years ago when he was just sixteen, as a rookie adventurer, he would have never thought he'd be where he is now. He suddenly chuckled at his naive past self. He remembered how free he was back then. How he only needed to care about defeating monsters and turning in quests. Truly, nothing burdened him. Oh, how he wished he could turn back time to three years ago.

Turning to look at the small desk near his bed, a small reflective light met his eyes. The young man was about to get up from his seat to retrieve it before a low growl sounded throughout the room. The man jerked his head to the source of the sound. A large beast, with its two glowing red eyes staring straight at him, laid curled up next to the wall behind him. It's magnificent black fur reflected not a single light. It softly growled again.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Orthus” the young man smiled faintly. Orthus, one of his most loyal companions. The other being Kerberos, it's twin brother. The howls of these beasts use to strike fear in the hearts of many much less their terrifying wolfish appearance. The young man slightly laughed remembering how he met them during one his missions. After the event, he had fooled the adventure guild and registered them as slain. Even his brother was not aware of their existence. Although not always seen they were always by his side, never leaving, never desiring to. One could say they were forever bound together.

However, suddenly a few days ago as well, Orthus had been acting up. She was always the smarter of the two, and usually acted with reason, but the young man just couldn't figure out why Orthus was so nervous. She seemed to be always watching him as if she feared something terrible was going to happen to her only friend.

The young man suddenly stood up causing the large wolf to be tense. It's ears faced forward in alert while lifting its head. But seeing the young man walking over to it, the wolf somewhat relaxed and placed its head back down. Its eyes still followed the young man as he sat next to it.

“Orthus, what's wrong girl? Why not sleep like your brother?” The man asked as he patted the wolf’s large head. Hearing a sad whine as a reply the young man could only sigh.

Still seated, he looked out the window. The night sky was still filled with the twinkling of the stars. Glancing slightly down, the enormous wall and gates of the “Aurelia” Kingdom could be seen. Life like Statues of griffons stood on top of each tower poised as if ready to strike anytime. The walls were reinforced with magic to be able to withstand most attacks. Yet, even knowing he was safe behind the walls, the young man could not shake the sense of fear he had from his dream. 

An assassin? The man thought but dismissed that immediately. If there was an assassin lurking around Orthus or Kerberos would have notified me already. 

His eyes shifted to the wolf adjacent to him.

"Hey, Orthus, do you think my dream means something?” The young man suddenly asked, " do you think a dog -"

A knock sounded from the door. The young man frowned but replied “Come in”

“That doesn't look very comfortable,” the entering figure spoke with a surprised look finding the young man sitting alone on the floor.

The young man just smiled faintly, “Another one?”

The figure hesitated a bit before nodding grimly, “Yes, and probably the most important one”