fireflies {open}

[Vellidyr]

^{It's hard to say that I'd stay awake when I'm alseep...}

Verrance Drike.

Soaring high over a land devoid of suffering it seemed, all was well in the world and the salty taste of the ocean clung to the demigod's tongue when he opened his jaws. The air was crisp with a fishy underscent, but Verrance wasn't hungry. The time had come to remember Mipo and Terena. And there was no better place than the cliff near the ocean. Sure, one would expect the ocean divinity to linger here, but air was found as well and he needed the feeling of open space to be truely happy, it was clear. Oh no, not in the forests. Where trees closed the sun out and made for tough flying, where wind was blocked by huge tree trunks and leaves. Snowy wings spread wide, the little blue bullet sped towards the very egde, threatening to soar over the egde and into the aquatic torrents below.

What a beautiful day, thought the feminine tomcat as he landed, bracing his front limbs against the rock to stop himself from sliding forward (and to prevent making himself look like a fool for falling in the ocean), then stepping forward. One dainty paw would hang above the sea, ivory and claws unsheathed from the landing. Granite-gray eyes peered over the egde, wind sleeking his short, well-kept coat back against his lithe body as broad wings were folden to his sides. White-tipped tail flicked against a stone and he looked back at it, before kicking it with his back paw. The small stone was sent flying, then skittered to a stop ten or so feet away. Verrance hummed boredly and flicked his tail again, drawing his paw back and looking over as a scarlet sunset began, painting the sky in pinks, oranges, and reds. It made him remember all of the times he had spent beside his two friends, laying on their backs without a care in the world. Before the war, before the stream, before Verrance's life changed forever.

You never expect these things to happen, he told himself soberly, sitting down. You don't expect to be hated. He thought of his massive and now deceased half-brother. Loved... 'His darling' Rosettalynn, whom he had only known for three days yet in those three days it was obvious she took a strong liking to him. Pity he had never taken an interrest in her, or anyone else in his life for that matter. Verrance couldn't see that ever changing, especially with his being immortal-and-all. Missed... Surely Mipo and Terena missed him before they died. He wished he could have been there for that. He wished, at times like this, that he had never fought in that blasted war so long ago. But then again, life was a wonderful thing that Verrance wasn't keen on leaving. Tortured. Yet at the same time, it was awful to stay young while those around him grew old and died. What good was life itself when death can't end it? No judgement, no 'now or never' concept, no aging. He could take all of forever and then some to do something and never take a blow for it. But would Verrance honestly sit and mope about it?

Of course not. Reguardless of what he had been faced with before, and what surely lie ahead for him, he would do it all over again without hesitation.

_{'Cause everything is never as it seems.}