The Tower

There it was again.

The old tower. That last crumbling remnant of once mighty outpost. Still magnificent though, standing tall, keeping quiet watch over the unruly forest expanse.

Now we know it all.
As it was.

As it will be.

Those who remained. Those still standing tall, keeping watch, remembering times of hope.

The tower was there then. The tower will be. Watching. Generations of stories sealed in its dusty stone cracks.

Climbing the old staircase.

Jumping over the broken step.

It feels like back then. It feels like its now. Holding your hand tightly. Pulling you higher and higher. To the top platform. To the sky. To our sky. I pull you in. I feel your heart pumping. Or is it my heart racing toward yours, beating wildly, feeling every inch of your body. I kiss your neck gently. You giggle. You always do. I love watching you shivering with excitement. I love feeling your warmth. But today is different. Today I sense something else.

Fear.

I see it in your eyes. Those eyes of my dreams. The eyes of my life.

-Don't be afraid, I whisper.

Or was that just a thought. A desire to make you safe. To protect you. To make you believe. Like I do. Or like I did back then.

-They say Book of Fates was uncovered, pages torn, rewritten.

- And so they say…

I felt something too. Maybe others did as well. Threads breaking. Something foreign, unknown seeded deep within my soul. Something crystal sharp on the edge of my conscience tearing my heart from within.

Fear.

That must be the fear you felt too! I hold you even tighter. Touching your lips. Combing through your hair. Caressing your neck. That tension of fear. I can sense it now. Tearing you away from my reach more and more each passing instant.

-People are leaving the outposts. They say those staying behind will die.

-We will. Each of us one day. But not today. Today I choose to live - for both of us!

I hold your face in my hands. Bringing you closer. So close. The little golden key on your neck catching the bright glimpses of the sun. The key to your heart, as I liked calling it. Your key to my soul, you smiled back. Your eyes are as endless sky above - pulling me in, drowning me. The sky so crisp, so clear, like a song of spring trailing away, across the open fields, through the Forgorn forest, beyond the Crooked creek and Old Olaf hut, to the outer reaches of the Razor mountains, and further, even further away, to the very edges of the foggy Bear Tooth cliffs, before finally disappearing into the wall of lifeless, shapeless shadows, growing, twisting its crooked limbs, spreading around in icy spikes of desolation and despair, spewing out hordes of its shady warriors under the dark banters of Fear itself…

-They say darkness is coming...