Cerulean Cape you'll love her til it all goes dark; you'll love her even after that

Something broke through the beautiful fantasy in his mind. For a moment, it rattled him. The winds that carried the warm air through his dark cloak and wrapped his frame in a comforting embrace had suddenly turned chilly. The sound of the weather through the trees carried the hint of his name with it, but when he turned his head... there was nothing. The sun still shone down on him and the birds still sang their joyous songs in the leafy boughs of the wood. In spite of the pleasantries of his imagination, there was something that had shattered it.

'Please, wake up...'

The voice was not familiar to him, at first. It took several long moments before he found himself recalling the singsong sound of his mother's tone of voice. It wasn't hers, he knew this. Instead, his mind slipped away from the lean figure of his closest parent to the deep russet hues of another. There – in the sunshine and the summer winds – was Indra. Tadec smiled in the familiar thin-lipped way that he always did. The lantern glow of his gaze was latched to her figure with joy.

It did not take long for him to recall what he had done. It took little time at all for the dark crow to remember that he had lost Piper and he had failed in his promise to her. The smile faded from his features as dark clouds began to fill the blue skies. Almost at once, the world shifted away from the sweet smells of summer to a tumultuous and wicked storm. He felt fear strike him as Indra began to fade away from his field of vision. Tadec tried to chase her, but his limbs could not move the way he needed them to. Before long, the darkness had swallowed her up and left him alone.

Eyelids fluttered open to the sound of crashing waves and the scent of someone familiar but changed. The ravaged little figure of the man seemed to quiver against the touch of the cold air on his soaked frame. Tadec inhaled quickly and found that water had drowned his lungs. Without warning, he hacked the remains of the sea onto the shore and closed his eyes so firmly that he felt pain erupt in his skull.