The Weight of Exhaustion

Chapter Three: The Search

Alright! So here's the upload schedule! I'm going to upload at least once a week . It should be a week after the last posted chapter. You might get one sooner than a week. Why? Well, I want at least two prewritten chapters, so if I finish one and have three, I'll just upload the next chapter even if a week hasn't past.

Obviously, since this chapter got post, I just finished chapter five! Woo! Go hyperfixation! No joke, I sat down around five pm and came out at twelve am with nearly a five thousand word chapter edited and everything.

Anyways, I present you a new chapter, and...oh? Lore?

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Lucas woke up to a blaring alarm clock and the sound of rain splattering against his bedroom window. He laid there, covers pressing down against him as he debated whether or not he was actually going to do this. He knew the answer, but didn't enjoy it.

Lighting up his room for a second, revealing his room, only for it to be smothered in darkness once more.

He groaned as he sat up, reaching over to turn off his alarm that was still blaring. The clock read 3:45 am. Thunder rattled the house. Already today was off to a terrible start and Lucas had a feeling it was going to get worse.

He scoffed. Not that it wasn't anything new as of lately.

If Lucas had to pinpoint a day where his life started to go downhill, it would be exactly two years ago. Two years ago, Sabre called and asked Lucas if he wanted to go explore the forests in the morning near their town for fun again.

The town was small, not even reaching one hundred people, and they've done everything the town had to offer in terms of entertainment. Thus began their trips into the forests when they weren't busy with their apprenticeship. The townspeople weren't happy at first hand tried to force them to play with the others, but Lucas and Sabre never got along well with the others their age. Something just didn't click like it did between the Sabre and him.

Lucas wishes his comm would buzz and he could answer to hear Sabre asking the same question he always did.

"Lu! Wanna go exploring today?"

Lucas would give anything to be able to go back and say yes one last time, since then at least he would know what happened to Sabre. Alas, Lucas declined due to his apprenticeship and Sabre went off by himself.

No one knew that conversation would be the last time anyone had contact with Sabre.

Sabre was quickly marked missing after the day went by and no one could find or contact him. Any calls or messages to his comm couldn't be sent due to their comms not being able to find Sabre's.

Any attempt at tracking Sabre's comm showed nothing; As if Sabre dropped off the face of the world. Old fashioned search parties were sent out yet came back empty handed.

Lucas could remember spending the next several days leading the search parties, since he was the only one to know the forests past where the Gatherers go. When the parties gave up, he still went out there because Lucas felt, no, he knew that Sabre was still alive somewhere.

Two weeks later, a funeral was held. Lucas could remember just standing there, not believing what was happening. His gut still told him Sabre was alive, wherever he was. Most people chalked it up to grief. Afterall, Lucas just lost his best friend, his brother from another mother. Of course he was grieving.

He learned to stop telling others he had a feeling Sabre was alive. After a while people stopped giving him pitying looks and told him that he had to accept that Sabre wasn't coming back. The only two that accepted it was his and Sabre's mother, Ms. Kukri. Maybe the fact both of them were close friends helped that fact.