Smoke ||Book Two||

Prologue

Light poured into the room that hadn't been cleaned in weeks. It wasn't that the man couldn't clean it, more that he simply didn't want to. He felt comfortable in his mess, knowing he could find things better this way. If things were clean, he could still find things quite well but it would require more use of his abilities. This way, he was able to find things on his own.

At the top of his head, he could recall everything that littered the tables. Books that had been recommended to him lay open to the last page he had read on one of the counters, mostly empty bottles were scattered across the floor and tables with drops of liquid still left inside of them. There was a heavy smell of citrus, given that the man had taken to eating the fruits more often than not nowadays. The peels had almost made it to the waste basket, only feet away from it. The door to his bedroom was propped open, revealing the secondary mess on that floor as well. It was everywhere.

The man hadn't bothered with the mess. Things were perfectly fine the way they were. Besides, the world was much too worrisome to care about how messy a room was or not. In fact, he hadn't even given it a second thought.

That was the case, at least, until a glimpse of the near future filled his head. He could see the King of Luxtene ascending the stairs into his tower within minutes. The man took the stairs slowly, something heavy weighing on his mind.

It wasn't unusual for the man to visit him, but it did strike worry into the older man's chest. He who had been sitting at a table with his teal eyes lost in the journals he had written long ago suddenly was looking at the room around him. He couldn't let the King visit him in such a state.

He was quick to stand and close the journal he had been rereading, shutting his mind off from the past. He walked away from the table, his eyes gaining a brief purple rim while his hands hovered over the dirty floors and tables. One by one, each object began flying through the empty hair and returned themselves to their proper home. Only minutes later, both rooms looked as though someone had spent hours upon hours cleaning.

The timing had been perfect as well. He glanced into the nearest future, satisfied to see his dear friend was only halfway up the stairs. Even with the distance between them, the sounds of the other man coughing echoed to his ears. It stung his heart, forcing his mind back to reality.

He had been thinking about it too much recently. He was becoming all too aware of the King's mortality and his own immortality. Wanting to disappear from the pain that was beginning to rise in his chest, the man let his eyes close and inhaled a deep breath.

Things would be okay. Somehow, someway, they always worked out.

"Deletrear?" The familiar voice called, followed by several knocks on the shut door. David's voice brought peace to Deletrear's racing heart and he found himself reminding his body to breathe.

"Come in! It's unlocked." The wizard leaned up against his nearest table, messing with an empty vile to appear as though David's sudden visit had been a surprise. Both men knew it was practically impossible to do such a thing to him, but Deletrear liked to pretend regardless.

The King of Luxtene entered, his face worn and tired from the years. As though the coughing hadn't been enough to cause Deletrear to panic, his appearance certainly did. It got worse each time they saw each other, which was more often than not. Hair that had once been filled with youth, life, and color was now dull and grey. His hairline had begun receding, exposing the man's older age. His beard was unkempt, something that had become usual for the man nowadays. New wrinkles that had just appeared within the last several years had already settled in, specifically around his eyes and his mouth. Though he rarely smiled, the time he spent in the past doing so certainly showed.