In the town of Old Way, a wrinkling half-elf woman who rocks back and forth in her chair. In a house where cobwebs have infested every corner she receives an unexpected, yet unsurprising guest who grabs her shoulder.

“Oh Ruman, I knew you’d be back.” She smiles softly as the middle aged half-elf man takes a knee. He has kept the three braided strands of his hair, remarkable that it has survived since childhood. Even more remarkable was that she remembers him.

“Oh Mother! Ruman’s back.” She gleamed, turning her head towards the dishevelled kitchen.

Her mother’s ashes had been on the mantle for 10 years, or so.

Ruman shakes his head but smiles through the reminder. “I’ll get my friends to make us something to eat.”

His friends, with shadowy-black eyes and hunched shoulders filled the request promptly and were meticulous in following his commands.

As the days went by, every night Ruman Talhini would come back to talk to his sister. Each day, he would have a new friend, including members of the royal court. And each day, there was something more distant from his sister. She had the inability to grasp certain objects, to move without Ruman by her side. And each day she would repeat, “Oh Ruman, I’ll tell mother you’ve returned!”

One night that was months after the original visit, he found her on the porch sitting alone and staring into the distance. Oldian Fireflies blossomed in the distance, creating trees of light by the woods butting the mountains.

“Fireflies…” she murmurs softly as Talhini sits next to her and rocks back. Perhaps this was his life now. Built up from humble yet noble beginnings, to the seat of the biggest city in the world, to inadvertently signing a shadowy deal with a devil, to this seat right here that rocks back and forth. Talhini examines the fireflies briefly and their dazzling pink light, named after Oldian the Conquerer. He looks to her, eyes cerulean and mind lost in the distance.

There was something so precarious about nothingness.

 “I’ve done some things Talihya. That’s why I am here. That’s why I came to join you. These things, you wouldn’t think are acceptable, if you could understand. I lost everything because I was selfish. I used people, because I thought the histories would know me. I was, too consumed by my lust for legacy. I know that now. But I can’t go back.” Ruman admits while clasping her hand and smiling gently.

“That’s… nice and all.” The woman retracts her hand away, squinting her eyes and forcing a smile, as if there was a horizon between them “But, who are you? What are you doing in my house?!” She attempts to get up but finds herself weak and calls as loud as she can for someone else. “Guards! Gua…”

Before she can cause futher commotion, Ruman takes his hand to her shoulder. Her breathing starts to relax as shadows stem from Ruman’s hand, convene over her eyes, and encase her body before injecting into her.

“I am your brother, Ruman Talhini. You will treat me as such. You shall remember me and keep on remembering me as your brother, and closest confidant.”

The woman’s eyes perk up, under this shadowy domination and a second goes by before she starts again. “Oh Ruman. I knew you’d be back!” She exclaims.

Ruman breaks a fleeting smile, a smile she won’t be able to remember.