Sanctuary of Tears

3 - Aurora in the Night

   The moon shone down on the glade, as everyone was asleep. Everyone except for Xero, the little boy who had found his way there earlier that day. He sat under a tree, partially in the shadows with a book in his hands, studying the pages intently despite the lack of light. The book he was reading told about spells... He had no intention to go to sleep, any time soon at all.

Suddenly. A bright light that had a soft hue immersed itself through the canopies of the trees and shone near him. Giving off a warm sensation before disappearing. A grunt resounded through the silence, mingling with the crackling flame of the fire that sat in the middle of the glade. Before silence once again became at unity with the nature there.

   Xero stopped reading at that, holding his breath and not moving for several seconds. He closed the book, standing hesitantly and staring. Clutching it to his chest, he faced the place the noise and ray of light was before. Questioning if anything was there at all, or if he was imagining things partially at a lack of sleep. Instead of calling out he slowly paced towards it, his eyes wide to watch.

He spotted a shadow in the midst, one that melded with the darkness and bright grey eyes could be seen glowing out of the depths of it. The woods and shrubbery seemed to lose it's image and waver becoming distorted around the figure . They watched cautiously, their eyes showing pain as they limped out of the darkness, wearing a torn black robe with the hood shadowing their face in mystery, looking down below confirmed that the person was injured. The stranger grunted again as blood dripped between their fingers and onto the grass. their eyes fluttering as they swayed towards the ground.

   He dropped his book onto the grass, holding his head and narrowing his eyes at the image in front of him in an attempt to make sense of them. Instead of running up to catch them, he stayed where he stood.

"You're a clumsy fool." He chuckled near silently, his voice obviously one of a child's, though not fearful as he should have been.

   The figure had laughed at that but only weakly, it was then that it was obvious it was a girl. A young woman who appeared to be around the age of twenty stumbled and leaned against a tree, a small smile quirking onto her lips almost shyly as her cheeks flushed.

"I guess.... I guess I am." She stuttered slightly and slumped to the ground while her blood continued to pour. Her hood slipped off her head and revealed her face. She was delicate on the skin, as if one mistake made by the craftsman who designed her features would have destroyed it if he had even slipped on her features. Her eyes were large and innocent, like a doe's and her lips were soft and pink. Her brown hair fell down in soft curls around her face, falling and stopping just shy of her breasts. The wound was at her stomach where she kept a black gloved hand covering it and keeping pressure at all times. She blinked and closed her eyes sleepily. 

"W-what's-" She seemed to struggle with her words.

"What's your name?" The question was more to distract herself than for knowledge.

   He stared down at her, barely tilting his head to the side. She didn't look threatening to him, really. She looked like she was dying anyways.

".. Xero." He had his knife in his pocket and looked where it was hidden in his clothes.

"I could stab you. But you're already bleeding." He nudged her with his foot.

"What're you called?"

   Her lips lifted Into a simple smile, one that held many secrets.

"My name... My name's Aurora, Aurora Corvus." She spoke slowly before moving her hand and wincing terribly. It was a large scratch mark that had been dragged down from her stomach to the top of her thigh. She closed her eyes and tensed.