Old gates hand ragged over the narrow path twisting into the village center. The stone is cold to the touch. Flashes of memories years ago, race through his mind. Falling. Pain searing into his chest and back. His hand gently clutches the loss fitting fabric around his heart. His eyes shut tight, wincing from the thoughts. "How long has it been now Orianna." His fingers leave the stone archway, as dust crumbles onto the ground.
His throat runs dry and chills climb up his back. The moment more difficult than he thought. The grand tower stands in the center of the town. The windows all cracked and jagged glass liters the ground. It was not been that long since the place was inhabited, but already it has become a heap of ruin.
The tower looms over the small village. No ceiling hides the top level. An open-air terrace to always feel the wind against your face. Kaz's vision trails down the side of the tower. A vague image of himself holding someone in his arms, flutters to the ground and vanishes. The smell of his own blood clings to the thoughts of his past.
A deep gulp forces down his imaginings and hesitations. His foot lifts but hangs in the air. A small twitch preludes a deep breath before the mage crosses the threshold back into one of his homes from his youth, sitting on the border of Stella and Joya.
"Finally. I've made my way back," he steps into his future and his past converging at once. The village is silent. Crinkled leaves tumble along the ground. He walks by an old sakura tree barely blooming in the courtyard and sees himself as a child running in circles around it and then as a man standing alongside the people that meant the world to him. Both the clans standing united.
WC 350