Seafra.

Roan

Roan Northorn couldn't sleep. again. he hadn't slept properly in weeks now. The tea one of his servants made wasn't working and, of course, he didn't expect it would. Roan knew laying there wasn't going to help him fall asleep so he picked up a book and began reading, he always got tired from reading.
It didn't work.
"Guess it's just another day of power naps for me", he mumbled to himself. The only reason he wasn't already dead from sleep deprivation was because of the short naps he took during the day. He got up to get a glass of water. Normally he would have one of his servants bring it to him, but because he couldn't sleep and the fact that it was three o'clock in the morning, he thought he would get it himself. He could use the walk, after all, it was a long walk from his chambers to the kitchen. He had to go to the end of a very long hallway, then go down two flights of stairs to get to the foyer. The kitchen was just through the main sitting room and the giant dinning room. He had a gigantic house, which was ashame because there were only two people living in it. Somewhere beyond the massive garden he also had a house for the servants. Roan had lived in this house his entire life and he had never seen the servants house from up close. He didn't care. Why should he? After his parents died when he was 16 he didn't care much for anything or anyone. With the exception of Tearnan...Maybe.

He almost never went to the kitchen, he didn't need to. He had servants cooking for him and doing his bidding. He was in need of a glass. Where could they be? The kitchen existed of 3 rooms, a serving room, a storage room and the actual kitchen. The serving room was used to prepare the plates and glasses. It was an easy way for the servers to bring the plates without bothering the cooks. Roan didn't know where they kept his favorite glass so he opened every cupboard until he found it. The glass was stained red with gold detailing. He used to have 6 of these beauties but Tearnan broke them all except for one. After that incident he banned Tearnan from ever entering the kitchen. Roan remembered that this was his mother's favorite glass. He wasn't thirsty anymore. He put the glass back carefully and slowly made his way to the main sitting room. The room was way to big for only two people, and it's not like they had company over often. In the center of the room there were two red sofas facing each other, in between them an antique wooden coffee table. The fireplace was still burning. That's a serious fire hazard, he thought. He flung himself on one of the sofas. He was so tired. Maybe he could fall asleep in front of the fireplace. He closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.

A couple of minutes passed -it felt like hours- when he heard a familiar voice.
"still can't sleep, huh?"
It was Tearnan. He stood in the door opening wearing a white T-shirt and and black boxers. His brown hair lay very messy. Probably because of his pillow, but Roan couldn't tell, Tearnan's hair was always messy.
Roan looked up at him as he strode to the sofa opposite his.
"It's been weeks now. Maybe you should see a healer", Tearnan said as he propped his feet on the edge of the coffee table.
"Healers aren't going to fix this."
Roan looked at his friend. Tearnan has been living with him for a year now, they had been friends for much longer though.
It's tragic, the reason why Tearnan ended up living with Roan. His father was a powerful warlock. In a land where fea, creatures of the night, dwelled, people that possessed magic where very well respected but very rare. In fact Tearnan's father was the only warlock that had lived in centuries. Tearnan's mother had been sick for a long time. She had hallucinations and heard voices and claimed she had visions. One day the hallucinations were especially vivid. She thought her husband was the "bad man" who's voice always told her to kill her family or he would never leave her alone. That night she killed the warlock and when she had realized what she had done, killed herself too. The next morning the whole kingdom had heard that the only warlock in the whole of Efrilia was murdered by his wife. Ever since that day the kingdom of Efrilia felt weak and vulnerable. Roan never would have thought one person could mean so much to a kingdom. But apparently witches and warlock were very powerful. They can even grant humans temporary powers, which was useful if there would ever be a war. They had extraordinary abilities one could only dream of. Of course, humans still practiced magic, they call them magic users. But even an army full of magic users would never be as powerful as a real witch or warlock, who where born with their powers. You could tell the magic users apart from the real deal, they need props for their magic, like staff's, enchanted swords, potions,...
Warlocks and witches only needed their souls and minds.

"we could go to a magic user instead, if you'd like?", Tearnan said, "they'll fix you up a batch of sleeping potions and we'll be on our way."
Roan positioned himself so that he was now laying facing Tearnan.
"I don't trust them."
Tearnan rolled his eyes.
"You don't trust anyone."
That was true. Roan pulled himself up so he was now sitting.
"Yes, but they could do some serious damage."
"Like what?"
"Uhm, I don't know, they could poison me!"
He said it as if it where the most logic thing in the world. Before Tearnan could anwser there was a loud banging on the door.
The pair looked at each other as if they both wanted to say i'm not going, you're going.
"Fine, i'll go." Roan stood up and walked to the massive wooden door. The banging continued. Who could it be? And why would they come at this hour? He opened the door and couldn't believe what he saw. It was a girl. Covered in blood.