Leo

Leo enjoyed the wind blowing through his hair, he felt weightless as he floated along, nothing felt more peaceful to him then this. His eyes fluttered open at the same time he went floating into a cloud, he flew out of it and looked down at the diamond seas beneath him. He couldn't help the grin that grew on his face as he flew down to the island he called home.

He landed gracefully and walked along the beach up the tiny house that sat just on the boundary of the jungle. Towards the center of the island the jungle got thicker and more dense, the trees grew taller but even so Leo could still see the temple of Heroes sitting directly in the middle, peeking out from the green of the trees. He walked over to his porch and sat down on one of the wooden chairs as a water spirit waved to him from the surface of the water. He waved back happily but the smile fell from his face. Don't get him wrong Leo loved the island but as he looked across the horizon, along all that sea he wondered why must he be stuck here? As if reading his mind his mother popped out of the house and sat on the chair beside him.

"Feeling bored with the island, again?"

Leo sighed, he felt bad, he had an peaceful life here surrounded by such beautiful scenery. He was always fed, gave the nicest clothes, his only downside was not leaving the island. But honestly what man in their right mind would want to leave this paradise? Well, him obviously. Something made him want to leave, something deep inside him was saying this wasn't where he was meant to stay for the rest of his life. This feeling made him antsier and antsier as the days passed.

"I know, I'm sorry Leonard but it's better this way. You and I are both here to defend the temple, it's a great honor. Thousands of people would kill for this job and it's benefits."

"But I never asked nor agreed to this job. It just got saddled on me the moment I was born."

"Because you're a son of Azure, it's not only safest for you here but it is also a place close to the Gods. A place where Azure can watch you and protect you."

"I wish I could just fly away, see something else for once. I don't even have to touch the ground."

"No Leonard, you know what'll happen if you fly too far out. You nearly drowned last time."

Leo huffed and muttered.

"It's Leo, Leonard makes me sound like an old man."

His mother giggled at this and pinched his cheek gently.

"Whatever you say, Leo. For now today is temple cleaning duty for you, young man."

"Yes mam."

Leo's drifted towards the horizon, towards freedom and he wondered if this was all his world was going to be. Just him, his mother, and the nature spirits. Well, time to get temple cleaning duty over with, he thought as he swung his legs and stood up and walked down to the temple. Climbing the old stone steps he went inside and grabbed a broom and started the boring activity of sweeping the entire temple.

There were multiple people sleeping away in tall display glasses, heroes waiting to be awoken by the Gods to do their bidding. Another honorary job from the Gods. Sitting in the middle of the temple was the hero of Sylvian, the soldier of light, Cordelia herself. She, as well as the others always looked so peaceful sleeping there with her arms crossed over her chest. He wondered what they dreamed about, if they even did dream. He couldn't imagine doing what they do, only being woken up when the Gods deemed it necessary. But then again he supposed they didn't mind too much considering they gladly woke up every time they were needed.

As he stared at her, day dreaming he blinked back to reality as he saw her shift. Furrowing his brows Leo approached her glass case and watched her. She lay still as a statue, the only sign of life being the small movement of her chest as she breathed shallowly. He waited a moment longer, wondering if she was starting to stir awake but when she made no other movements he shrugged and wrote it off as a trick of the mind.

He finished cleaning up and left the temple, going back down to the open space of the beach. The temple, even lit up via torchlight was always dark and cramped and he hated that feeling more than anything else. He laid down on the sand, his nerves floating away in the wind as he looked up at the endless sky. Before he knew it his eye lids grew heavy and he snoozed off lazily. He was still on the beach but now the always perfect sunny weather was replaced with a lightning storm. The rain rushed down, stabbing at anyone who dared to be under it. It was so harsh that Leo found it hard to stand up straight without getting a mouthful of water. The waves crashed against each other and then onto the sand all the way up to the edge of the jungle.

Lightning struck the temple and a part of it broke off and fell into the trees below as thunder rumbled so loudly Leo covered his ears instinctively. The grey clouds covered the sun more and more until it looked more like it was a moonless night than anything, then he saw it, off in the distant horizon.

The world was vanishing, the sea water flew up into the air and disappeared out of sight like it was steam coming off a pot. Leo stumbled away as the beach around him began to vanish as well. He nearly tripped and fell on his face as he charged towards the house, the beach completely gone by the time he opened and slammed the door shut. Leo sat there for a moment, scared that the house would begin disappearing as well. Instead it stayed and Leo let out a sigh of relief. He paused though once he saw movement going up his stairs, someone he knew wasn't his mother or a nature spirit.

"Who are you?"

The person paused, he was decked out in all black, he looked like what Leo figured the grim reaper looked like. Not a single bit of skin showing from the chin down, with a long sweeping trench coat on. He had long messy black hair that reached his chin and covered his eyes. Not that Leo could see him, whoever this was his face was shifting and changing, not allowing Leo to actually see who it was at all. The man rose a gloved hand and gestured for Leo to follow. Hesitantly Leo did, climbing up the stairs after him. Once they reached the top step the man led him to the very back room and the door opened to an entirely different place. Once he stepped onto the stone the door and his house were gone and replaced instead with a cold, dark dungeon.

Leo hugged himself, his heartrate speeding up. He hated this, he couldn't see anything, he couldn't move around. It was just barely tall enough for him to walk straight. It felt like these walls would close in on him any minute, all he wanted to do was be out flying around in the sky. The man noticed his tension and placed a gloved hand on his shoulder. This, strangely made Leo relax a little. The man's hand moved down to Leo's own hand and he interlaced their fingers and led him along the dungeon.

Leo felt his ears go hot, he was holding some random person's hand, a person whose face he couldn't even see. But he didn't move away, in fact he found himself moving closer to the stranger, wanting to touch him more and not just through a glove.

"Why are you dressed like that? Where are we? And once again, who are you?"

The man remained silent as they descended deeper into the dungeon until eventually they were at the very bottom, deep within the Earth. They entered a room and in there was a silver coffin, which was barely visible to Leo.

"Who is this?"

The man let go of Leo's hand, much to his dismay to grab a torch from the hallway and moved the torch closer to the coffin. Engraved on the lid was the name, Valyrian. The lid began to shake causing Leo to jump back into the stranger's chest. The stranger, rather than moving out of the way pulled him closer to his chest as whatever was in the coffin forced it's lid off. Leo saw a hand and was grateful to feel the warmth behind him as Valyrian knocked the lid completely off and rose from his coffin. He was deathly pale and when he got out of the coffin he immediately dropped to the ground like he had forgotten how to walk. Eventually though he stumbled to his feet and out of the door.

When Leo went to follow after the stranger stopped him, grabbing his wrist. Leo turned around to look at his shifting face. The stranger then released his grip to take off his right glove, his now gloveless hand moved to Leo's chest. He pushed the robes Leo always wore away to reveal a section of the boy's bare chest and pressed his palm flat. When the stranger removed his hand a dark pink mark in the shape of his hand appeared on Leo's skin. Before Leo could ask a question he was sure wasn't going to have an answer he was shook awake, back to his sunny beach. He blinked, looking around for the man in black but alas it was all simply a dream. His mother sat beside him, shaking his shoulder.

"Is everything alright, Leonard?"

"Uh... Yeah, yeah everything's fine mother. Also, it's Leo."

His mother pursed her lips and raised to her feet.

"Lunch's ready."

"Alright."

Leo followed swiftly after, remembering a certain detail from his dream. He felt oddly compelled to check for the mark the stranger left on his chest and when he did so he nearly jumped out of his own skin. Right there on his chest over his heart was a dark pink mark in the shape of a hand.