Necrotic Dawn

Prologue

I look at the sleeping girl laying curled up on her side under the blankets on her bed. She is completely unaware that a storm is raging outside or that I am watching her, much like every other time I have done so, sleeping or not. I reach down and move her long wavy blonde hair out of her face. Her face reflects her calm, peaceful nature. Her full cheeks are illuminated by a flash of lightning outside. I trace the freckles sprinkled across them like constellations and shudder at the feeling of touching her again after so long, causing me to let out a shaky breath.

"This. Is. Wrong," I bite out, my voice barely above a whisper to Edward.

Her father looks up at me from Aurora, the struggle plain in his every non movement. "I have to. You know I don't have a choice. I have put it off as long as I could. War is starting. You have seen the darkness. How long before it is on this doorstep and I am too weak to do anything?"

"So you are going to leave them!?" I hiss venomously.

His eyes drop to the floor, as his brows crease, but when lightning crashes just outside, illuminating the room again, the moment of weakness is gone, replaced with determination and understanding.

"What happens when it does come for Aurora and Ember?" I ask, trying and failing to keep my worry and anger out of my voice.

Edward doesn't miss it. He never misses anything. He reaches over to reassuringly squeeze my shoulder. "Then their mother will be here to protect them as long as she can and you will be here even after that."

I look away from him and back to Aurora. My insides are at war. Chaotic as the storms outside. Celestia is strong and I swore to protect the girls with my life. I have watched over them since they were very little. I used to openly be around them but that all ended last summer.

Perhaps since Edward is leaving I can chance letting them see me again sometimes. I can see her again. Touch her again. Love her again. Completely this time.

Unbidden images of Aurora's shy smiles. The softness of her lips against mine. Her fingers woven in my hair, tugging eagerly as she pressed her curves against me. The sound of her voice telling me she loved me.

The look of betrayal on Edwards face. The anger that followed.

Watching Aurora grieve me, thinking I had abandoned her as I sat beside her, unable to console her as she shattered on the forest floor, away from the eyes and ears of her family.

No. We aren't going down that path again.

I myself to drag my eyes away from my already broken heart and look over at her sister Ember sleeping in the bed on the other side of the room as my resolve hardens. Aurora survived me and this time she won't be alone. She and Ember will survive the loss of Edward together.

Ember's limbs are strewn about her almost as wildly as her wavy blood red hair, her hair perfect reflection of her and I can't help but smile. Nothing has ever been able to tame her. I doubt anything ever could. I have always admired and cherished that about her.

"They will be fine Ilios. I will be back as soon as I can. Safely. I won't risk drawing attention to them," Edward says. There is a sharp edge to his voice but I know it isn't directed at me.

Edward and I take one last look at the girls before retreating, quietly shutting the door behind us. We walk down the short hall into the living room. Celestia is standing in front of one of the large windows wrapped in a quilt. The lightning flashing illuminates her.

In this moment, she is a warrior goddess, her silhouette framed by the storm's electric fury, yet her eyes betray a tempest of their own. Thunder shakes the house deep within its core seconds later.

Edward walks over to her, wrapping his arms around her and burying his face in her hair. It is the same fire incarnate shade as Embers in contrast to the white blonde of Aurora and Edwards.

"You shouldn't go," Celestia whispers, her voice almost swallowed by the howling of the wind.

"You know I don't have a choice Cel," Edward says softly.

She turns around to face him and the pain on her face makes my chest hurt. Celestia is never anything but smiles ever since she and Edward ran away to hide here. She opens her mouth to say something and shuts it. This happens a few times before she gives up and turns back to the storm outside reflecting her internal war

Edward cups her cheeks in his hands, turning her face back to him, and kisses her forehead, nose, then lips. "I will return to you. Nothing can keep us apart."

Celestia visibly trembles and lets out a shaky breath before nodding. Edward pulls away from her and walks over to me.

"Protect them for me," he says as he claps my shoulder.

"Always," I reply tightly as he pulls me into a tight hug. When he pulls away his eyes have a sheen to them but he blinks it away quickly.

"What should we tell them?" I ask him.

Crash

"Tell them the truth. Tell them I received a summons to the castle and I could not refuse. Nothing more. Nothing less," he replies as he wraps his black cloak around his shoulders.

He walks back over to Celestia, grabs the back of her neck, and pulls her into a kiss so passionate that I look away.

"I love you more than the sun," he whispers to her and it almost seems like the room brightens slightly but when I blink it is gone.

"I love you more than the moon," she replies, the only indication of her pain being the rivers painted silver in the too close flashes lightning, her body practically vibrating with the barely contained agony.

I look up as another flash of white envelopes the room. Celestia drops to her knees and sobs so hard her body shakes.

Edward is gone.

I walk over and kneel beside her, wrapping my arms around her shaking body as I rock us to and fro, trying to soothe the pain that no balm can cure.

"He will be back. You know he will. Nothing could ever keep him from you or the girls," I tell her soothingly, as the storm outside impossibly rages even harder, lightning striking ground and trees alike, lighting fires that are put out just as suddenly as they are started by the torrential downpour being blasted across the forest by winds stronger than I have seen in my lifetime. "He will be back before you know it, Cel."

Little did I know just how wrong I was.

If you are enjoying this story, please don't forget to like/comment/share to show support <3