It was a dark night. 

The clouds, grey-clad in the night sky, covering the bare sky with their wings. Covering the night sky like a conquering soul travelling across the dark sky.

The moon pushed through them, a wraith-silver discharging in the lonely sky, bleaching the land into a ghost - like replica of daytime. The grey-clad soul and the silver pearl fighting for dominance in an endless ritual. Sublime and beautiful. Streaks of moonlight, as bright as diamond-flame, piercing through the clouds like spears of melted platinum. it was as if watching a scene from an old fable stepping off the page. Beguiling in its beauty.

One such moonlight spear illuminated the majestic oak, a lonely figure, rested under it, his back against its trunk. It was a young boy, clearly undernourished, its deathly claws visible through his dangerously thin frame. His hair, midnight black, was short and irregularly cut, adding to his pitiable image. 

The boy looked up, an empty husk of what he once was. His eyes the most remarkable feature on his otherwise ordinary face. They were a shadow of what they once were. Distant and forlorn now, replacing the liveliness they once contained. The twinkle in his eyes, hinting at mischief and laughter, hinting at wit sharp as steel tempered in dwarven hearths… replaced by sorrow.

They were a shadow of what they once were.

Expressive eyebrows, shaped into a deceivingly perfect arch, followed the slight curve of his eyes. His facial features were sharp, merely a reflection of his entire body structure, and everything - from his skeletal arms to his thin waist screamed of unnatural skinniness. 

He looked up at the sky. It was a beautiful night, he couldn’t help but observe despite himself. If only his situation was different, he would have stayed there, under the tree, taking in the night, its beauty and its magnificence. But that was not the case. He had to move, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t.

Has the peace he so desired finally come forth? he wondered as his vision slowly dimmed. He was happy… It has been a long time since he has felt anything. The act of feeling an emotion felt alien to him after so long. It doesn't matter anymore, how it felt, he just wanted peace. He looked up at the magnificent oak, remembering the last few weeks. 

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

He had been walking…

He had been walking, the action consuming his entire mind. He walked, not with a destination in mind but with an intense desire to forget. He walked so as not to remember. He let it consume him. The action, one foot ahead of the other, over and over..He let it consume his entire being. He breathed in the cold air without conscious thought. He ignored the biting cold his ragged clothes couldn't keep out. There was nothing to ignore. There was nothing else. There was only one thing his mind knew. 

One foot in front of the other. The moonlight spears occasionally casting their pearl-light on the path. The wind howling, the cold biting. One foot in front of the other.

His feet were covered in blisters, a majority of them broken and bleeding. He couldn’t feel them. He couldn't feel anything at all. He did not know how long he had been walking for.  He couldn't remember where he was going. He had been walking for so long. He stopped counting after three weeks. He no longer recognised the surroundings. It has been a long time since he recognised any of the markers along the path.

He wished he would die soon. He wished he could just drop down while walking and never get back up again. He kept walking until he could walk no more.

There was an oak standing proudly off the path, like a sentinel guarding an entrance. he had always loved trees. They felt so magnificent. They felt so accepting and tranquil.

Fighting off the weariness, he pushed forward, on his will alone. His body protesting against the torture he put it through, he moved, with his will alone, crawling to the oak after his legs gave in. His fore-arms bleeding where stones dug into them as he dragged himself forward.

He collapsed onto the trunk, he had nothing else to give, he had given it his all, his entire soul..to make it here, wherever it was, he had reached the oak.  

He could carry on no more. He embraced the night then, welcoming it like it was the love of his life.