Cyan was dead silent or at least he was trying to be. The ache in his lungs begged for him to breathe but his hands were clamped over his own mouth and nose preventing him to. His back was tightly pressed against a tree, its bark digging into him as he huddled his knees to his chest.
Darkness limited his vision and his surroundings were cloaked in shadows. Yet, the presence of someone else was unmistakable to him.
A beast was standing in front of Cyan. It was a tall one and it reeked of blood and grime. Matted fur lined its body, grey in color, and a skinny tail hung low and close to the beast. It was a wolf, a skinny one, the outline of its ribs was clear for anyone to see it.
It was sniffing the ground beneath it, Although its bright yellow eyes were staring right at the place where Cyan was. However, the beast shouldn't—couldn't see him, Cyan made it so.
He hid his body away from the creature's stalking eyes but still, the beast was actively sniffing for him.
Cyan didn't know how to hide his scent or any kind of smell for that matter, he hadn't been taught yet. Shoo, go away. He wanted to scream at the wolf. Yet the wolf never stopped sniffing and staring deeply at the spot he was supposed to be in.
Time passed for who knows how long. It felt like hours to him and he was left slouching and gasping for air when the wolf finally did leave, huffing and walking to find prey to sate its hunger rather than figure out the mystery of Cyan's trick of the eyes.
Sleep. Rest.
Cyan clutched his head, tears waiting to spill out of his eyes. Visions of a nice warm bed clouded his head and whispers of sleep was happening in the back of his mind.
Not yet, he had to find—
Shelter.
Yes, he needed to find a safe place to sleep tonight. Cyan clutched his head tighter and with tremendous effort, he slowly got up, using the tree for support.
It would be nice to find an empty cabin just a few steps away. Cyan would even take an empty cave. He just somewhere to sleep. He walked and kept doing so for a long amount of time, passing several trees and greenery on the way.
The cold bit his bare skin, his clothes—a silk shirt and brown pants did nothing to help reduce the freezing wind. He was slow on his feet, careful not to alert any predator that might still be lurking. Although, he could afford to be less cautious, he felt no minds bigger than insects and small critters near his range.
Still, he didn't think he had it in him to move quicker. He was drained out of his energy and had been running all day without rest and hiding from animals and humans alike.
Narrowing his eyes beyond the path ahead of him afforded him no clues to what might lie ahead. Even if it wasn't dark, tall trees and the creeping undergrowth surrounded his vision.
Do I have to sleep on the trees? Cyan looked up at one of those ancient plants that had plagued the forest for how many years. They were wide and towered over him completely. It would be a hard climb, but Cyan didn't think he'd be lucky in finding shelter anytime soon.
Rest.
Yes. Yes. He said to the voice within his mind. Cyan sighed and rolled his shoulders, picking a tree and grasping at its bark, beginning to climb.
Though he had not much experience climbing trees, he managed to gain height, reaching for the branches near him and hugging the tree tightly for dear life. Numb was his fingers, shaking uncontrollably every time he exerted forced on them. One slip and that'd be it for him. He didn't think he would have the energy to get up again if he fell.
Hefting himself up a big branch, Cyan looked down, judging he'd climbed far enough. He lied on the wide branch, twisting and turning until he felt comfortable.
What to do if I rolled around in my sleep? Cyan observed around him. He needed some sort of rope.
His eyes landed upon the vines that crawled on the tree's surface, they looked thick and didn't seem easily snappable. Grabbing for the vines, he adjusted his position to yank the vines better.
One. Two. Pull. He counted in his head, one of his hands on the vine and the other clenching a branch. He pulled hard and the vine came loose,
Cyan was blown backwards, almost falling down to the ground but the grip he had on the branch kept him steady.
Okay, he exhaled, waiting for his heart to calm down. He pulled more of the vine and kept yanking at it till it broke apart but it never did. The vine was too strong and resisted his attempts for it to split off from the rest of its body.
It wasn't ideal but he ended up just tying his body to the tree with only one end of the vine. He knew some basic knots so it wasn't that hard to secure himself, he just had to deal with moving the vine around and making sure he won't fall off in the process.
Finally he was satisfied with his work. He rested his head against the palm of his hands, staring above. He saw no stars for leaves covered in the sky.
Cyan closed his eyes, thinking of those swirling lights and glittering dots. When he opened his eyes, they were there, swarming the space above him.
He smiled. It was a small thing, but with the day he had. It was everything. Cyan let exhaustion take him and sleep upon the fake stars.
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Screams echoed outside. Cyan didn't know what was happening or what was going on. He was deep in his sleep when he was awoken by his mother, her eyes looking over him in a frenzy, touching his cheek and patting him everywhere.
He'd asked her what was wrong but she didn't answer and only told him to hide. Cyan was then forced into a closet and was told to wait by his mother to wait for her.
The closet was dark and cramped, he couldn't stretch out and clothes suffocated his face. Cyan tried getting out but the closet was locked. He couldn't even manage to budge the closest to get even the tiniest of peeks.
He was forced to listen to the screams. The sound of ongoing fights. There was the clashing of swords and the casting of spells as explosions went off every second or so.
Cyan spent a long time in the closet. His time only ended as someone else opened the closet. Not his mother, but his grandmother.
"Hurry, you have to escape!" She grabbed him out of the closet and hugged him close.
"What's happening! Where's mom!?" He screamed as he was being dragged off outside.
The two went out of his room and the sound of battle intensified but only for a moment, as a second later it was muffled and the scope of his vision reduced as he could only see a few meters in front of him, any more and there was only black.
Cyan blinked repeatedly. It wasn't like he'd gone blind to sights far away from him. It was an illusion. He stared at his grandmother, she hadn't given any response yet and he was still being dragged off somewhere.
"Are we being attacked?" He asked, this time making her pause.
There was hesitation in her eyes but she answered. "Yes."
"By whom?"
"People, from rivaling families, people we made enemies with and those fearful and envious of our power." She said and then they both entered a room.
Cyan was just not aware which room, he had only seen the door they went into and couldn't see the details of his surroundings, still total black.
"Can you stop messing with my sight?" He requested and thankfully his grandmother did.
The darkness retreated and he could now see where he was, the room wasn't something he'd been in often. Shelves filled with books stood at every wall and neatly stacked papers and things were placed on top of a desk near a window. It was the office of his father, the patriarch of his family.
However he wasn't here, the room contained only them. Cyan's grandmother, left his side and was trying to move one of the shelves away from the wall.
"Cyan, can you help your grandmother?" His grandmother called for him. Cyan stood for a few seconds, taking a breather and he eventually did walk up to her and helped her push the bookshelf
As they slowly pushed the bookshelf away from the wall. It was hiding a huge tunnel leading to somewhere, Cyan just didn't know where to.
"Alright Cyan, I need you to listen to me." Cyan's grandmother put her hands on his shoulder and he nodded at her gaze.
"You will go down this tunnel, it will lead you outside and there many horses wait for you. Pick one and ride them out into the forest near our home. You know the forest far more than our enemies, you should be able to navigate it better than them."
"From there, you must head into the nearest town, Kobent. And go to the adventurer's guild and ask for protection. I know the guild leader there and he will keep you safe. I promise."
"But what about you? What about Mother and father? My siblings? Cousins?" Cyan didn't want to go, not when his family isn't safe, not when they aren't complete.
His grandmother's grip on him became tighter. "I will go and rescue your siblings too, don't you worry, you will meet them again in town."
"Can't I wait for them here?"
"They're... They're still out there fighting. It will take them awhile to get out of the battle and the enemies are clear on their objectives about killing us all. They will find you and kill you if you don't escape soon."
"Why am I the first one to escape, why am I not fighting like the rest of them?" Cyan insisted on staying. If his family is in danger, he couldn't just leave them alone.
His grandmother's smile was strained when Cyan looked at her. She was breathing quickly and she seemed to exert great effort in holding herself up.
"Cyan, you're far too young to experience bloodshed. I'm so sorry but I don't want you to experience something like this. You have to run."
"But—"
"I'm serious." Her grandmother cut him off before he could speak his mind.
Then she looked deeply at him. "I want you to survive. I'm afraid the rest of us won't have the chance to do so." She touched his cheek and slowly trailed the side of his face until she touched his forehead.
Cyan fell silent. He was the youngest out of all his family, his siblings were far older than him and his cousins were even more. Even if he wanted to stay, there would be nothing he could do.
Sure he knows some magic. He can sense minds and do some illusions like his family but he was inexperienced and the magic he knows were the absolute basic just like his illusions.
Even if it was the most logical thing for him to run. It didn't felt right to him to leave his family alone. Cyan clenched his fists and looked his grandmother deeply in the eyes.
She stared back at him and did her best to smile genuinely. "I want you to know we'll still be within you even if.... we are gone." She hugged him.
"In my heart?" Cyan murmured.
She shook her head. "No, in your head. Please Cyan, run."
RUN. ESCAPE. SURVIVE.
Overwhelmed with a deep compulsion to run and move his legs, Cyan broke off from his grandmother's hug. Fear and anxiety flooded his mind and that became his motivation to move, drowning out other emotions he might have felt.
And so Cyan did run, he ran the entire scope of the tunnel and it brought him outside. He saw one the herd of horses waiting outside the tunnel and he took one and escaped.
Turns out, enemies surrounded his family's entire estate and when they saw him riding on horseback, they went after him and launched arrows and spells in my efforts to get him.
He survived it all and outmaneuvered them in the dense forest like his grandmother had said. Although, It had taken him many hours to shake them off his trail. While they weren't as experienced to the woods near his home, they clearly researched it and kept up with him for long.
Cyan had lost his horse in the middle of it all, overtaken by exhaustion and punctured by numerous arrows and endured many spells. The horse did so well and Cyan was sorry for letting it die in order for him to live. But he couldn't afford to be compassionate, he had to live, escape, and survive.
He used the little bit of experience he had with illusion magic, using it to hide from his enemies and from beasts that went close.
It wasn't when he was sure that he managed to run away from them, that he finally allowed himself to slow down and rest.
Cyan was exhausted and his drive to move was weakening, but something in his heart was burning and now that the emotions of overwhelming fear and anxiety had eased. He could feel the true emotions welling up inside him and Cyan was not happy at all.