When All You Have are Embers

Prologue

For Lucas Davidson Wiens - My best friend since childhood, and fantasy lover

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     Running as fast as I can isn't keeping the images at bay anymore. I'm not even sure the memories are mine, but they won't leave me alone. I can try but they find me in the end. My name rings empty now.

Soon it would lose all meaning.

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Before the beggars on the street, the torn down houses, and the blood stains that had been there so long it stained the wood that made up nearly every building in the city, I enjoyed walking around here.

Children were running down the stone laced roads. The breeze had a chill to it, and the buildings that lined the narrow path on either side, were glowing with the colour of golden hour.
The previous rainfall still lingered on the ground and its scent was still fresh in the air.
Different voices rang through the marketplace when it was at its busiest. Water coated the old signs that swung in front of the shops, and drops formed puddles underneath.

It was days like this Lilith was glad she sold her armour a long time ago. She had to, in order to enter certain countries who didn't take kindly to housing soldiers. Although her kind had been seen as bad omens since the first war. 

Picking up the pace a little, Lilith tried to slither in between crowds, but the force of all the people funnelled her through the crowd on the uneven street.

Her sword bounced into her bow and the bag that carried her daggers as she walked. Once she made it to the other side, and had a moment to catch her breath she looked back to see her partner buying from a vendor, probably selling illegally priced scrolls and spells. 

Lilith rolled her eyes as she stormed over, annoyed that even though they had been travelling together for years she still had to put up with his naivety. 
She took the item out of his hand and handed it back to the vendor before swiping the handful of coins that he placed down on the table to pay for whatever spell that was. 

She pulled him away from the shop and grunted at him. 
       "Seriously? Can I not leave you alone for five seconds?" Her tone fired arrows into his ears.

       "His family is starving, I wanted to give him something." He responded, looking back at the man wondering if he should go back. 

       "The people here hate us, Ric, if you took your hood off he probably wouldn't even take your money." Lilith huffed, "He'd think it was... dirty, or something." She mumbled.

       "Doesn't mean I can't be the bigger person and help." Ric fixed the leather cuffs on his arms that had become almost slippery from the sweat pooling underneath.

       "You're naive sometimes, you know that?" She commented, wiping a smudge of dirt off of his cheek with her thumb. 

"No, you just don't know what naive means." He said, plainly.

"Oh? Really?" She laughed. 

"Yes." He said with a slight smile. 

They continued walking along the road as they passed by people, hounds, shops, and every other mediocre thing this city had to offer. 

"Been a while since we've seen the sun, huh?" Ric said. "It's nice right?"

       "It is." She replied, "It's warm for a change." 
This city was small, smaller than the last one they visited. Times of change had been long overdue for the small Country of Scattan. But unfortunately it came at the price of war. Where men and Casters once lived, there were now Gold elves.
But Lilith still recognised some shop owners.