A civil war rages in Talestor. A boy from a forest chases after his friend, leaving the safety of the trees and thrusting himself into a world he can barely comprehend, happening upon a weary sword whose only wish is for peace. A group of slaves are...
Hallow woke up feeling a vague sense of panic, like he'd been having a bad dream, or his mind was trying to alert him to something he needed to pay attention to.
His eyes snapped open, searching his bed chambers. It was dark, but he could see, and there was nothing out of the ordinary that he could detect.
Bad dream, then. Well, at least he didn't remember it.
He rolled over and would've gone back to sleep, but for the soft voice that called his name.
His sister Cullie stood in the door, presumably just having got there.
"Hey ya, Cullie," said Hallow. "What do you need?"
His sister looked... Frightened. There was no other way to describe it. She was looking at him, eyes glowing, but not seeing him. It was like she was trapped in a dream. Hallow thought back to his own awakening with a frown. Perhaps he had become distressed because Cullie was having a nightmare.
"I dreamed," she said, voice choked, "I dreamed of..."
"It's all right," said Hallow. He rolled out of bed and went over to embrace her. "You don't have to say it."
"I have to," said Cullie. "I have to, or it'll clog up my throat and choke me."
They went to the edge of the bed and sat on it. Cullie spoke of her dream. Her brother listened, quietly offering comfort. Hallow wasn't used to his sister being like this. She was usually the strong, confident one, always steadfast and proud. But even she wasn't infallible, and Hallow would be there for her when she needed it.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Author's Note: Welcome back to Aer'denna, everybody!
Okay, I'm going to be honest again. Hallow is a clueless bb that needs to be protected. He wasn't even originally supposed to be in this book, but my imagination sort of picked me up and ran away with me.
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. If you did, please leave a vote or a comment! They are water to a parched man. I had more poetry to throw at you, but I'm kind of short on time, so thank you all for reading. See you in the next!
