Lanling shot awake.
Shoving the blanket forward, his breath came short and ragged. His eyes darted over the familiar thick fabric to the layout of his room, his mind sluggishly catching up with reality. He held his throbbing forehead, fingers pressing into his temple as if that could steady the storm inside him.
The last thing he remembered was the spell erasing all traces of Haruki. A shadowed feeling told him his life had dangled on a thread, yet he couldn't grasp what had truly happened.
But that wasn't important.
He closed his eyes.
Searching for that blinding, cheerful smile.
The sunbathed glade that never failed to wrap him in warmth.
Home, waiting for their return.
Tears squeezed through his shut eyelids.
Relief crashed over him in waves, drowning him in emotion as he found them.
Memories of Haruki.
