Chapter Text
To be alone
"It's good to be alone," Fero thought to himself. He was walking through the forest, just a bit deeper into it than the day before. The only reminders of what was happening in the rest of the world were the occasional patches of nothingness and the starstuff shining among the treetops. But, in essence, he was alone. No one to ask more and more of him, no one to tell him how inadequate he was, how he never measured up no matter how much he tried. And he had tried. It just hadn't worked out.
Fero moved on, the faster he walked the farther he got from the memories, the thoughts. He just wanted to be alone and there was no place lonelier than the Mark of the Erasure. He could walk for days on end and not meet another person, not have to worry about where he was or where he was going.
Suddenly, he walked out of the trees. Fero looked around, confused; he was sure there was still forest to walk for days before hitting another pocket of the Heat and the Dark. Instead, he could see in the distance the ruins of the Tower. Somehow, he must have turned around at some point and gone back the way he had come. He shrugged; it wasn't like he cared where he went.
As he got closer, he saw the big, purple dragon resting by the sideways entrance. "He looks tired even in his sleep," Fero thought, feeling a pang in his heart. His first instinct was to turn into a bird, fly to Samol and peck him behind his horns, just to bother him. His smile faltered. No, Fero didn't do that anymore. Instead, he ran to him, calling at Samol as soon as he was close enough.
"Boy, I've been waiting for you," Samol said in his gravelly dragon voice, but a second later he was in his human form, walking towards Fero.
"I think I got lost," Fero said, rushing to walk towards him. Had it already been a week? Had it been more? But then Samol smiled at him and it didn't matter.
"Come, what do you want to eat today?" Samol put a hand on Fero's shoulder and guided him inside the Tower.
"I don't know, something sweet?"
"I know just the thing, do you know juice?"
"Of course I know juice!"
"Now, imagine it was solid, but not too solid..."
And Fero was laughing. It was good to be alone, but it was better to have somewhere to go back to sometimes. Someone.