lostwisdom | Drabble: Revisiting Thedas

"The weight of all has grown on you. World upon world, endless cycle, searching for the summoner." Cole blinked, looking to the woman leading the way with him. "World shatters around me, friends fading, companions leaving. Lost, alone, drifting. 'The Crystal calls in the dark, just like his voice--'"

"Cole, please." Ellana held up a hand subconsciously, serene mask wavering as she felt the other reading her like an open book. He had normally kept himself out of her mind, tried to heal the hurts of those in her inner circle. Yet now...

"I'm sorry, I only mean to help! Things haven't been the same since..." The boy looked sullen, almost drooping. "You've been thinking of him often... Your crystal reminds you of him?"

"Yes, it does." She admitted, her breath almost caught within her throat. Her heart ached, knowing now that what little time remained...

"Your hand aches, a heartbeat. Not yours. You fear its final verse while trying to offer guidance to others. Always watching, always accepting. 'I walk the din'anshiral, alone amongst the crowd.' Ellana, what's 'din'anshiral'?"

Ellana hesitated for an instant, and for once in her life, is stunned. She knew to expect this sooner or later once she saw him approach, and yet... Yet she had hoped he would have remained quiet, the Anchor disguising his ability like it normally had.

"...It means a 'journey of death' in the Elven tongue," she replied at last, only having just realized she had stopped in her tracks. "Whether it be ours, or the entity that threatens all worlds."

"But that's just it," he replied quietly, almost as if (and he probably was) he were sensing her distress. "You aren't alone. Look to the other called. To the sad wolf's side."

And like that, Cole disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Cole...? Cole!"

Yet no matter how much she called, he didn't respond.