As the drab, blue curtain was pushed aside, I knew in an instant my life was forever changed. It seemed like an eternity, but it was less than an hour ago that I heard the messenger. The message was simple, and straight to the point. Nier guild was defeated and everyone had perished. I stood there waiting, listening in to the gruesome details, waiting for a - but; then; actually; miracle - anything that would change the story around to a bright side. A side where I would be smiling out in the sun instead of locked in the dark in my room, curled up in a ball on my bed, afraid to look at the light.

The wind blew into my room, blowing my curtains wildly. My mind was at a hopeless replay, and I rose from the bed, reaching out to the curtains as I neared it. Pulling them back, my face scrunched up. Tears began to flow down my cheeks and I pulled my head back as I sobbed, rubbing the corners of my eyes with balled fists.

I sniffled lightly, sulking back into my bed and curling up once again. I inhaled, holding it there in my lungs, as I began to count the seconds. The world was quiet, not a sound in the breeze. The air was still, and the smell of the bakery shop at the edge of the palace grounds had faded. The taste of their homemade caramel swirl brownies were something of a distant memory to the world around me.

I listened to the faint sound of two maids whispering on the outside of my door. I closed my eyes, taking in their voices, desperate for proof that there was still living beyond my doors.

"It's a tragic thing." She said, rustling with her dress, "To think the strongests and oldest members of the guild are the ones who finished them off."

The other maide smacked her lips after a moment of silence, "The King has indulged himself in the library. I believe he's looking for a lost magic."

"Lost magic?" She questioned.

"Yes. A kind that can ressurect ones from the dead."

"I heard of someone like that before," She said, a slight louder, "A woman from a dark guild, she supposedly knows of a dark magic that controls time."

"Really? What's her name?"

The woman's close rusteled as she shrugged her shoulders, "I don't think the Magic council knows either."

"I just hope the King doesn't get himself into trouble. The Vermillion's are a family of dark magic you know, wouldn't it be sad if it wasn't only his daughter who falls into the darkness, but her father as well."

I exhaled and lifted myself off my bed. I krept around my room, picking up a large bag and stuffing in clothes and under garments into it. I wrapped up a photo of Triston and I then tucked it into the bag before quietly pulling it shut and strapping it onto my back.

I pulled on a pair of running shoes and closed my eyes focusing on the library. I took in a deep breath and felt myself be in, I reopened my eyes and blinked around the room.

"What are you doing?"

I looked down to see my father sitting on his chair. I raised my foot off his book and smiled apologetically before jumping off his desk. I stood there for moment, itching my eyebrow as I thought about what to say. Wrapping my arms around my dads neck I gently pecked him on the cheek.

"Dad. I'm going to miss them too." I whispered softly, tightening my grip around him. His warm hands ran around my waist, as soft sobs echoed through out the library. I felt his tears soak up my shirt, but I didn't loosen my grip. I the back of his head, bitting down on my lip as I held back my tears, "I'm going to miss them too."

The first thing I noticed was the rain. I could hear the steady pat-pat-patter as raindrops gently the earth around me when I closed my eyes. When I opened them, I could see the water hanging on to the edge of a building gutter, inching ever closer to succumbing to gravity but moving with a seeming reluctance, as if hanging on for dear life. It, much like myself, was also holding on to strings of life - things that were certain, tangible, because I'm afraid of confronting the unknown without first being reassured, immediately before striking the ground and erasing my existence. The only proof I had that I was ever here was from the small, unremarkable crater I make, with each scattered droplet a memory, dream or hope that could be easily smudged by a careless hand or pitiless breeze.

I noticed for the first time how long it seemed to take a raindrop to finally reach the ground from where it started - from a point in the sky that I could no longer see. I could feel it as it got closer to my face, moving in a steady slow motion, closer to my body where I walked on the ground; battered and broken.

It felt refreshing as the rain finally met my face and mercifully took some of the grime with it - though the amount of dirt it took with it was infinitesimal compared to the carnage that took place earlier this week. I remember laying down a few nights ago simply because my body would no longer listen to my commands - it had lost the will to continue.

I opened my eyes again. I felt another raindrop hit my forehead and trail its way down my brow, and over my eyes, pausing on my eyelashes only to continue lazily down my cheek. I felt slightly embarrassed as the trail it left behind looked suspiciously like tears, and I told myself I would never cry again.

I paused in front of a large wooden building. Shingles shaking as the storm raged over it. I pulled my black hood over my head, debating if I was making the right choices. I look up to the small old man who stood waiting by the guild entrance. Next to him was the man named Gildarts, the one who was exiled from Crocus after bringing me to the Dragon of Light.

His face was full of guilt when he watched me. I could understand, he was the one who left me at the top of a snowy mountain - to a dragon he wasn't sure would care for me right. I was a ghost to a past he never wanted to see again. It was a pain that I had known well of, which was why I stepped forward, promising myself, I would never go back.