A Heart of Cold – Short Story

And the mysterious meddler, dressed in silver and coal, dropped his weapon of creation and ruin. It faded away before his snowy eyes..and they sank.

The darkness descending around him, embracing him warmly as he fell to one knee. The shaggy brown and blood covered hair sagged over his eyes..and the gripping cold slowly faded.

All around him, the sky began to light up brilliantly. Not with fire, but with stars. It was then that the meddler fell..further than he ever had, his body collapsing onto the hardwood floor, breathless and nearly gone.

"It’s..so cold.." he whispered, as a golden light enveloped him. It was starting.

The girl stood before him. She didn’t quite understand, and never would – but knew this is how it must be. Her soft voice flew gently along the midnight breeze, sparing nothing as it reached its destination. "Still don’t believe me..huh?"

She reached down and stroked his hair away. The eyes she’d known for so long were now a pale gray, and quickly fading. "It’s okay.." she said to him softly. "You can finally sleep.."

He had always been a shadow. An echo. A ghost..always there, but never visible. It was one of the worst kinds of loneliness. It was such a strong loneliness in fact, it tethered him still to the plain existence in which he knew..but it was quickly coming undone.

Finally, after such a long time..after unimaginable darkness eating away at him..a light finally took hold. His eyes closed, and the ghost, the one who wandered not because he was lost, began drifting away.

Particles of his being fell off of him like shredded paper, off in the the night wind and further until they breached the walls of reality itself. soon..all that was left was those eyes that the girl had come to love so very much..and she found time for three last words:

"You’ve done well…"