Jaegryn stopped, watching the two lovers walking hand in hand back towards the town, their soft worlds drifting through the cool morning air. Above him the sky was severed, the darkness retreated with the coming sun that brought with it the colors of dawn. The blankness, the shield of the Sater's Eye, fled as it was consumed.
He closed his eyes and turned away from them. He leaned heavy against the tree. When he opened them he stared out into the town. A few people were up and about, performing their morning chores. He remembered what that was like. Back when we had a home.
He pushed the thought aside trying to rebury it within the cold anger that sustained him but it was gone. Burned out and used up. All that was left was the aching loneliness that seemed to linger in the pit of his being.
Those who saw the couple rejoiced, their voices merging into a rejoicing chorus. He watched from afar as people embraced and clapped each other on the backs.
He turned away, gazing at the tavern. It was so close, only a dozen yards or so away yet it might as well have been half way across the galaxy as far as Jaegryn was concerned. He thought back to the boulder. He shook his head. There was no place on this world for Jaegryn the hunter of monsters.
What terrified him more was the thought that there might not be any place in this universe for something like him.
