Essetia & Romul

And although I wasn't losing my mind, It was a chorus so sublime

Like ghosts in the night we trailed effortlessly again into the realm of unknown faces. There were so many, some new and some old, that wandered back into Helovia looking to remember the security and the faith only this land offered in such abundance. We’d been coaxed somehow into believing that this was where we belonged, where we thrived. No matter how many times I tried to run from my evils, my travels always knew the direction of home…

Childhood was indeed far behind us, of that I was certain, and I’d managed to accept the responsibility that came with simply growing up. Past hurts, past loves, and past doubts were meant to be the past. Of course, there were definitely times in which those haunts still shaped me, or bent me. My flesh was not armor and my heart was just glass- as much as it pained me to admit, I was not immortal. I was just as easily broken as everyone else.

The faint hints of moonlight that drifted through the sullen branches of the autumn trees bathed the path ahead in a sheer, white light. Darkness touched everything in between like the greed that so often purged even the purest of hearts. Romul and I were in no hurry as we roamed the quiet wood in silence. We didn’t need words to express our desire for thought and our consequent need for distraction. It was like a well that quickly became too deep to escape, and one that had recently sent me away from everything I’d built after the invasion of the Hidden Falls.

I was weak, but not without the strength to counter it. I was growing, blossoming, and one day I would pull myself from the well I’d fallen into.

From behind, I watched as Romul drifted across the moonlit path in a haphazard pattern that led me to believe he had yet to find anything of interest. However, when he caught the traces of a vaguely recognizable scent, he paused to turn his golden eyes back at me in question. Indeed, whatever he’d found felt somewhat familiar, but too distant and foreign to quickly recall. I nodded once out of mere curiosity and sent the wolf onward as my guide.

It wasn’t long before my bonded encountered the specimen from whence the fragrance had ultimately originated, but without the intermingling of past vagabonds to mask his identity, I realized that I’d seen his face before. Yet, I couldn’t readily bring his name to mind, for our meeting had been so brief… so very fleeting. However, I remembered those icy, blue eyes- they were somehow burned into my memory, if nothing else.

For a time I simply followed him in his wandering before finally breaking free of my tendency to hide. Romul was the first to greet him as we approached the stallion from behind and the wolf was quite vocal as he yipped and purred like an inexperienced pup. I on the other hand preferred to engage him from afar- life alone had taught me a few handy tricks. “Are you heading to some place in particular?” I questioned uncertainly. If there were gaps to be filled about who the boy was, then surely he’d fill them. If not, then I’d clearly been mistaken… Maybe I didn’t know him at all.