Somewhere in Texas a young man with a strong jawline and shaggy hair stood on the balcony of a two story house. His glass was almost empty, swirling the rich brown liquid in the cup he contemplated going inside to retrieve the bottle from where he left it on the kitchen bench. He ultimately decided against it, he couldn't risk waking the others. The last thing he needed right now was their looks of sympathy.
The sky was ablaze with stars, it would take a life time to count just half of them. There was just enough light for him to see the outline of the small table next to him on the balcony he was standing on. He liked the dark, he couldn't see further than necessary, he couldn't see the evil that covered the surface of the Earth. He couldn't make out the demons that hid just beyond his vision. But he knew they where there, they always were.
His mind was hazy, but it didn't stop the memory he was fighting so hard to repress from coming to the surface.
Another wave of mogs ran in his direction, it was all he could do to not smile. They were losing, there was no denying that.
He easily struck down the first mog with a powerful blow to the head, the second took a knife to the stomach and instantly turned to ash. One after the other the mogs numbers decreased quickly. Soon enough, the few that remained where sent on a one way trip.
Smiling to himself he turned to his companions. A blond haired teen was lifting up his girlfriend in victory, her own blond hair going everywhere. Upon seeing the couple, he looked for his own girlfriend. He quickly spotted her, her hands were on her knees and even from here he could see her unsteady breathing. Taking one last glance around he made his way over, sensing something was off.
He called out to her, but no response came back to him.
He shouldn't have left her alone. He should have been by her side. It was his fault.
Looking down at his hands, he imagined that they were covered in her blood again. He scrunched up his face, willing himself not to cry.
He should've realised sooner. He should've tried harder to save her.
Just as he got to her, she collapsed. He quickly reached out, catching her, but stumbling back with the sudden weight. It only took him a second to see the blood on the front of her shirt.
"No, no, no." He roughly pressed his palms to the much too large gash that ran diagonally across her stomach. Her grey eyes were starting to flutter closed as he cried out to the others. It was already too late.
He wasn't quick enough. If only he was quicker. Laughing bitterly at his own stupidity he drained the remaining liquid from his glass.
He looked back at the stars, a happier memory coming to him.
He climbed up to the roof, seeking Lorien's greatest mystery. He smiled when he saw that his girlfriend was in fact here.
"What are doing?" He asked her, as he lay himself next to her.
"Looking at the stars." she answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Why? There just giant balls of gas and fire or something."
"Nice." She scolded, though he could see that the edges of her mouth were turned up. "I like them." he stayed quiet, waiting for a deeper explanation. Taking a breath she continued, "They're inevitable. We may not always be able to see them, but they're always there, and they'll always be there. Us? Well, we could die tomorrow, hell, we could die today. But in one hundred generations people will still be looking at the stars, still wondering what's beyond them..."
"What do you think is beyond them?" he asked.
"Lorien?" she replied sarcastically, they both laughed.
"Okay, seriously."
"Well, Lorien actually is out there. But... I don't know, that's the point though. No one knows what's out there, it makes it exciting, it means that anything could be out there."
"I guess. But there could be nothing."
"There could be, but I'm not going to believe that, it ruins the illusion."
Sobs racked his body as he let the memory fade into the empty abyss that his mind had become.
It wasn't fair. It should've been him. It should've been him.
In anger, he hurled the empty glass into the night. Every moment that he ever spent with her flashed through his head. The memories taunted him, she was there, she was real, but now... he was lost, he has nowhere to go, nowhere to be. She was his constant, his inevitable, his everything.
And now she's gone.