Bitten once, twice shy;
The young beast slumbers away in a dark cave.
A place where only the brightest light can save,
Blood dripping from old wounds, no sound, not even a cry.
-The Self-imposed Cage
Erebus awoke with a gasp, barely stopping himself from falling out of bed. All around him were the sounds of quiet snoring, blankets moving up and down like a wave. Sweat soaking his shirt, Erebus quietly slid out of bed and slipped through the door, careful not to disturb the sleeping bodies.
Taking care not to make any noise, Erebus quickly left the building. Feeling the cool night air embrace him, Erebus scrambled up a large oak tree that sat behind the gloomy building.
"Nightmare again," he muttered to himself. The same horror has been plaguing him over and over again. Ever since...that incident.
When his family died.
When his friends died.
When only he survived.
"Ugh," Erebus cluched his head in pain as images flashed through his mind.
Holding hands with his father and mother.
The pillar of fire that consumed the person behind them.
The gusts of wind that bisected those ahead of them.
The scream he heard as he felt his body get shielded by his parents.
Then, nothing.
The Lotus Massacres destroyed dozens of villages and towns in the Aetherian Kingdom, performed by rogue mages and soldiers of unknown origin. Named after the bloody lotus carvings on bodies and sides of destroyed buildings, the Lotus Massacres ended as quickly as it begun, their perpetrators fading into obscurity, leaving the people of Aether scratching their heads. Erebus was told that he was the sole survivor of the massacres, found by a squad of knights alerted by the smoke from the burning buildings. Dragged to a state sponsored orphanage, Erebus was reaching his fifteenth birthday, three of those years spent without his friends and family.
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Forcing the painful memories out of his head, Erebus started to doze off. He considered himself lucky to get a decent night of sleep once a week. All other nights were spent hovering on the edge of consciousness after being awoken by the same nightmare. Feeling a breeze blanketing him, Erebus entered a state of semi-consciousness for the rest of the night on the branch of the oak tree.
The rays of the sun pierced through Erebus' eyelids, waking him from his hazy state instantly. Groaning quietly, Erebus carefully climbed down from his perch. Already he could hear a large clamor coming from the orphanage. When Erebus stumbled into the building, a wall of sound assaulted his ears,
"EREBUS NOX," screeched the plump woman in front of Erebus. Red hair in all directions, her grey eyes tried to bore holes into Erebus. "HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO SNEAK OUTSIDE AT NIGHT?"
"This is the twenty-sixth time Ms. Eckenbar," Erebus whispered. "Sorry ma'am." Having said that, he proceeded to walk past the fuming woman.
Ms. Eckenbar, the primary caretaker of the orphanage, cradled her head in her hands.
"What am I going to do with you," she whispered to herself, letting Erebus go. For the three years that he has spent in the orphanage, he has barely said a peep to other people, only talking when he has to. He kept to himself; instead of playing with other children, he enjoyed the company of those damned books. "Children his age should socialize," Ms. Eckenbar muttered to herself. But no matter how much she poked and prodded Erebus to hang out with the other children, she always found him alone, reading a book. After a year, she finally gave up and let him do what he pleased.
As Erebus was returning to the room that he shared with the other male orphans, a stream of children scrambled passed him, heading towards breakfast. They didn't acknowledge him, and Erebus did not acknowledge them back. When Erebus first came here, the other children bugged him to no end to play with them. However, when he did not respond, they eventually lost interest in him. Occasionally newcomers would try and interact him, but Erebus' refusal to return the gesture made them quickly give up as they played with other children.
Erebus reached the small bathroom that they had, a bucket of water already drawn from the well. He gazed at his reflection, what looked back was a pale, haggard face. Straight black hair covered his left eye. His right eye was pitch black, as if looking into oblivion. Sighing, Erebus splahed some water on his face and dried off with a towel. Leaving the bathroom, he made a beeline to a dimly lit room. Here, books could be seen in small stacks. Occasionally, bookstores would donate some books to the orphanage, and it is here where Erebus spent most of his time. Sitting down on the floor, he could hear the noise that the other orphans were making as they were eating. Staring out of the curtain-covered window, he thought to himself,
"It's better this way. Hellos always have goodbyes. I never want to say goodbye again. Doing that is quite simple," he solemnly chuckled to himself. "I just never have to say hello. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I simply don't have to make the same mistake as before, and I won't feel any pain."
Laughing quietly to himself, Erebus turned his gaze to a stack of books.