Ano, you like so far? I have all of Anesthesia written, but I'm going to update every other day or so . . . maybe a little less often, it depends on how often I can steal time online. Review, please?

Endetheme: Anesthesia

Act II: Cross

The sky was chilly and overcast, and the clouds that rumbled across were a rich, heavy purple. It wasn't a promise of spring rain, for such had been reft from the world, but a promise of a cold, murderous night and violent winds. There was ice in the air, ice that stole the breath and froze the heart, cold and unforgiving. The cold seeped into the earth, the stone, the foliage, until a thin layer of frost came into almost-being.

But the grass was bright, beneath the cold; it glowed like cold emeralds against the gray of the sky. It was a cutting beauty, the kind of beauty found in wild cats and thorned roses and the icy glaciers of North, but it was also an angry beauty. Such was the loss of the Lord of Light, that while the world slowly turned, it screamed and thrashed against existing without him.

A blanket of blurring trunks was in the distance, washed out brown fuzzing together to create a smudge of gray on the horizon, a paler shade than the heavy purple clouds. The leaves had fallen, but already crumbled to dust, as the forest cried for its loss.

For the fair folk had fallen, and the Lord of Light had left, and a disease was spreading through the once peaceful lands. . . .

But the earth beneath the cold emerald grass and the icy purple sky was recently loosened, and above each plot of soil there was a cross. And the crosses were organized into rows, and columns, and continued until they met the forest on all sides. Lonely white crosses that continued on for an eternity, inscribed with few letters and no dates.

-Rune, Water Dragon Knight and White Dragon Officer-

- Thats, Earth Dragon Knight-

- Alfeage, White Dragon Officer-

- Zoma-

- Raseleane, Queen of the Dragons-

- Lykouleon, Dragon Knight of Light, Lord of Light, Lord of the Dragon Clan-

- Rath, Dragon Knight of Fire, Dragon Knight of Light, Heir of the Dragon Clan, Beloved-

And they continued on, the lonely white crosses, all identical in shape and size. There was no rank save the names, no way to say, 'this person was more important than this person' by looking at the graves. There was just row after row of the same white cross.

From the forest came the shadow and the man.

The shadow cradled the man in his arms, and the man was staring blankly before him. The man's gaze was as empty and agonized as it had been in the garden.

To lose so many.

Incomplete, a fragment, in more than one way. To be saved, only to be damned. The cruelty of fate, as she conspired against the people. To have a loved one safe, only to have them flee in their mind, what world is this?

-Kharl, how much do you love me?-

- Do you love me enough to let me die?-

Row upon row of white crosses rose from the ground, like a thousand silent tears.

"Kaistern, it's been weeks," the shadow spoke quietly, standing before the grave of the Lord of Light. "Wake up. They have all been put to rest, wake up. I need you by my side."

Just as in the former days, the man did not move, only lay limply watching whatever he was turned to see - or, perhaps, whatever trapped his mind.

"At least say farewell to them?" the shadow pleaded. "You have an obligation, as the Last Dragon, to at least say farewell."

Again, the man was silent.

"You could rebuild the clan. . . ." the shadow begged.

But the man did not move, and the shadow's face turned to despair. The pale violet of his eyes stared at the man in his arms, a silent plea within them.

The shadow dropped one arm, forcing the man to stand slumped against him, but there was no change in the man. White on white eyes stared blankly through the sky, and his body leaned heavily on the shadow. The palest shade, a white so pure it was almost sacrilege.

To live while others die, trapped within your mind. . . .

-No; I love you beyond that point. I love you to the point where your survival is mine.-

-I will never let you die again, Kaistern. I will keep you by my side, always.-

"Kaistern. . . ."

And it began to pour, the violent, heavy droplets that were all that was left from the fall of the fair folk, the fall of the Dragon Lord. It would take only minutes to be soaked in the rain, minutes to thoroughly drench layers of clothing, hair, skin; it only needed to rain minutes for the world to begin to drown.

The shadow stared at the open eyes of the man.

The man did not flinch from the rain that pounded his eyes, did not wince from the pain of the drops striking his face. He continued his empty stare.

The shadow reached up with one hand, and Kharl closed Kaistern's eyes.

He held Kaistern in his arms, and his own violet eyes may have cried - but it may have just been the rain. And the rows and rows of crosses cried with him.

Endetheme: Anesthesia

Act II: End