Wish (OLD DRAFT)

Chapter 2 || Kai

Talo suddenly awoke from his sleep, his breathing a panic. "What the hell?! What was that?! How did I feel pain in a dream?!" As he said it, he noticed red spots on top of his bed sheets. He looked at his nose. It was bleeding like hell broke loose, and all of its demons punched him.

"Wha- come on, why now?!" He fell off his bed, well, as much as he could when it was that close to the floor. The loss of blood started to make him feel lightheaded. "Great, now there's blood on the floor!" he complained. He kept slinking and crawling along his now spotted floors over to a cabinet attached to the roof. He opened it, took out a tissue, and held it tightly against his nose.

Talo sat down on the sturdy, slightly decorated wooden chair next to his also wooden table. He breathed in and out, in and out, drank a bit of water and eventually his lightheadedness came to pass, even when his neck was strangely sore. Oh.

Regardless, he calmed. Trying to process what had happened in his strange dream, he looked around his house, which was admittedly more of a hut. His bed was messy and covered in red, so Talo would have to clean them later. How could a simple nose bleed cause that much of a mess?!

Next to his low bed laid his journal of things he learnt, events he experienced and feelings he had about all of them. His bedside table, wooden, like almost everything there, held many mementos, stationary, and other miscellaneous items. On top of it were a few of his most successful 'attempts' of him learning and trying to draw. Even his best 'works' were still quite poor.

There were also papers filled with many, perhaps hundreds of thousands of words of the multiple stories he created. He didn't know if they were any good, or if anyone except him would like it. But he liked them. He did really need to clean the table though. On the other side was a small bookshelf. Talo read more than anybody he knew, he loved books, if he got to choose what books he read. His favourites were fantasy adventure, even if his world was fantastical itself. But he also had some other books, some about the landscape of Levonia, a guide for growing your magical potential, and a book called 'Those Born of Shadow'.

It was a book that explained most of the evils plaguing the kingdom, vile things called 'Darkborns'. As implied, they were beings made of pure darkness. Talo had never seen one in real life before, but they were said to be created just to cause destruction and pain. His bigger table held piles of paper, pens, pencils and a few books open on the page he was on. Pinned on the wall was actually good art based on his favourite media and real life, drawn and gifted to him by his best (and only) friend, Kai. Kai...

"Crap!" Talo fell out of his chair, yet quickly stood back up. "Kai! I'm gonna be late!" He ran and quickly grabbed a few biscuits from his small pantry and swiftly ate them. He pulled a deep blue tunic over his head and ran out the door, not bothering to lock. Any creatures in the forest surrounding his hut couldn't open doors (probably), and who in the village would try to break in?

The path to he and Kai's spot wasn't without obstacles, and sometimes could even be quite dangerous. Vines covered in spikes poked and prodded at Talo, and large roots kept nearly tripping him. Sometimes natural animals with flesh (unlike the Darkborns) attacked or at least attempted to, such as strangely aggressive bugs and arachnids, blood thirsty wolves with teeth like knives and an eerie dark grey coat, and sometimes, even the flora. There were strange lilies that could cause severe bleeding, therefore titled 'Bleeder Lilies', and seemingly normal flowers that extended and tried to grip, trap and bite you.

But thankfully, Talo had grown very used to this path, and nothing got in his way. Not to mention he paid no attention to his own well being and focused on not being later than he already was. The natural, normal greenery calmed his mind from the eerie purple trees still haunting his mind, but he kept running until he pushed past the shrubbery into the serene space he and Kai claimed as their own.