"We are all barely more than a single moment within a sky of a million stars." - Ashton J. Smith
He felt the cold hand caress his cheek, a sign that it was time to attend the funeral. Recently, his dearest friend Davin (Dah-Vin) recently fell into eternal sleep. He died of natural causes, but because of his defective DNA, it caused his lifespan to be terribly short; only 17 years. After his mother left the room after waking him up, he laid in bed, deep in thought. After many minutes he finally got up and found his way to a mirror. He finally saw how much his friend's death had affected him. Looking up at his reflection, he saw his own disheveled hair, a bright white color with golden, partially shiny streaks. His right eye was a deep blue color with gold streaks within them, and his left a bright pink with red dots sprinkled in. Dark circles were prominent under his eyes. Cordwyn. (Cord-Wine) He thought of his name. Cordwyn. A name that in his ancestors' old language, meant Pursuer of Goals. He looked at his disheveled appearance, a mess of looks. Afterward, Cordwyn made himself look presentable, and dressed in his long dark coat. The ends of the coat reached his ankles, most of the coat obscured his figure. He didn't want to be seen, he wanted to be invisible. He pulled his tricorn hat down, partially obscuring his eyes, and pulled up a small, black cloth mask that was around his neck. Him and his mother made their way to the funeral via carriage. As he looks out the window he sees children and young adults showing off small magic spells such as making sparks, or making small puffs of smoke. He rested back on the small chair he sat on, and fell into a slumber.
When the carriage finally arrived in the small forest scape, a relatively small group of people gathered under a cherry blossom tree. After the priest gave his speech of life and death, they finally allowed people to say their final goodbyes. When it was Cordwyn's turn, he stepped up to the open casket, gently took one of his hands, and snapped his fingers with the other. Their old oath symbol. He let go of his hand, and walked away. His mother caught up to him, and grabbed his sleeve to pull him into a hug. She wept and wept for her child, knowing how much they meant to each other. "Where are you going, Cord?", she asks. Her voice is soft and smooth, able to lull a child to sleep. "I'm going on a trip of my own, mother. I won't be back for a while. I am sorry, but I will be back before you know it!". He hugs her, exchanges goodbyes, and I love you. He lets go, turns around, and walks into the horizon. He didn't know that this was the start of his story, the start of a hero.
Days Later
His eyes lazily opened to a bright light, it scared him, but it was warm, inviting, almost begging him to accept it. He snapped out of this trance and realized that he wasn't where he fell asleep at, he was in the desert, alone, and with only his clothes. He looked around and saw skeletons, old, but very weird that they are right where he is. He tried moving, only to realize that his hands were bound, tied to his feet behind his back. He struggled to get them off, and failed to do so. Just then he heard footsteps, light, but close. They were human footsteps. A human? Out here? he thought. Just in case it was someone who'd hurt him, he played dead. slowed his breathing, closed his eyes and sat there. The footsteps approached him and stopped. He could feel their eyes stabbing into him, after a few moments, the staring started to hurt- it felt like a sharp stone being pressed into his back, and it started to hurt more until he couldn't stand it anymore, he opened his eyes and said firmly, "Who are you?". He didn't notice it at first but now he was in a different place, a high-tech facility. He was laying on a metal bed of sorts, maybe a surgical cot? He was unrestrained, so he tried to get up, when he did he had no feeling in any of his limbs, and he fell down immediately. He also saw he was skinny, with almost no muscle in his arms… Or arm. He was missing his left arm. Panic struck the poor boy, his heart beat fast, he tried to scream, but he couldn't, for he had no mouth. He started clawing at his throat, trying to scream, trying to say something, but to no avail. He passed out from hyperventilating, and woke up back as he normally was, but now back in a small tavern room. He looked at his left arm, the past dream was not wrong, he did lose his left arm in a battle that he barely scraped by. A small drone flew up to him. "Please insert currency to pay for your night here." the robotic voice said. He inserted a few gold coins. The World was still reeling from what happened with the old emperor, Gianno. Cordwyn was Gianno's illegitimate child, and Gianno still had followers, even after his grip on this world had ended. And they still pursued Cordwyn, but to no avail so far. Cordwyn was ashamed to be related to Gianno, disgusted by his blood that flowed through him. He never knew his other family, like grandmother, great-grandfather, et cetera. But that wouldn't matter. He is snapped out of his trance by a loud thud outside his door. He opened the door and saw that everyone was gone. There was a pleasant aroma in the common area, almost a very sweet vanilla taste. He walks around the tavern looking for anybody and decides to leave before whatever happened to them happens to him. As he reaches for the door handle, a voice calls out from behind him. "You are leaving already? I just brought the tea!" He hears the woman chuckle behind him. He turns around and he isn't in the tavern anymore, the room looks like a small, cozy home. There are no windows and there's just a woman sitting in the middle. She has bright, almost glowing pink hair, and she has two different colored eyes, her right being a deep blue color with gold streaks within them, and her left being bright pink with red dots sprinkled around them. Her clothes looked weirdly normal, especially for what she is currently doing. Her smile fades, her gaze turning cold and serious. "Sit. We have more than enough to talk about." Cordwyn wearily walks to the chair and sits. "Who are you?" asked Cordwyn, almost scared. "I am Eowyn All-Bright. And to clear any confusion, I am everything. Everything that was, everything that is, and everything that will be. I am the beginning, and the middle, and the reason we are here is for you to become the end." This hit him like a hammer, what is she? Why is she telling him he will become the end? it all scared him, but his biggest question wasn't all that outlandish; "What do you mean 'become the end'?". The words echoed through the room. "You will know soon. Give me your hand." She says, her voice almost demanding. Cordwyn blinks and then before him is a stone with engravings, and an indent with the shape of a hand. "Place your hand on the indent." He does slowly, and when he places his hand on the altar, Eowyn smirks slightly. "A quick warning, this might hurt a little bit." She smiles as the worst pain shoots through his arm, burning and branding his arm. This pain goes on for a few minutes, his yells and screams fill the room, begging it to stop, but with the last of his consciousness, he looks forward and sees that the only person that would've heard him was gone, he mutters a curse under his breath and falls unconscious. The pain had gotten to him as the process finished and his hand and arm were smoking, sizzling too. His mind drifted to a vision, a terrible one. He was in Gianno's body, it was his final moments. It was a woman who ended him, bright pink hair once again, and the eyes… Before he could think anymore about it, the woman started crying as she stood over Gianno. He was badly hurt, but not out yet. Cordwyn then felt something change in the world, these memories hold power, they hold secrets unknown to the normal person. Then, a malicious smile crossed the woman's face, as her hand slightly uncovered her face. The woman seemed to be mid-to -late 20's, but the weirdest part is that she looked like Cordwyn, face shape, nose curve- all almost identical. Before anything else could be noticed or said, he was ripped away from this bittersweet dream.