The Bird and the Wyrm

That night, no matter what I did, I just couldn’t get to sleep. You seemed tired enough, so I didn’t want to wake you up with all my tossing and turning, so I got up and went to the living room.

During the day we usually had the aircon running in the living room with the doors to the other rooms closed off to save electricity. Then at night, we reverse this, so it was hot and stuffy enough that I opened the window.

The air outside was still warm but there was a breeze that at least made it bearable.

Pearl City, was it like how I’d imagined? Hardly. Of course, there was all the drama with my father and being a dragon but even the city itself was far different than I’d expected. I strained my mind, trying to recall my most recent memory of the place but I failed. Things were too murky in my mind.

But that wasn’t what was really keeping me awake.

I turned back from the window and let my gaze drop to the hard, black instrument case sitting inconspicuously against the opposite wall. All the lights in the flat were off but there was still a strong enough glow bouncing through the window from neighbouring neon signs that I could see the case clearly with its glinting metal clasps.

I walked to the case and sat down, cross-legged in front of it.

I didn’t trust Amethyst, at least, not as much as I trusted you, but I couldn’t stop her words rolling around in my mind about your sword being a demon blade. What did it mean for a sword to be a demon blade, I had no idea, but it couldn’t be anything good, not when you’d purposefully made sure I hadn’t even held the case when the sword was in it.

I’m not a nosy person, I like to think that makes me a good friend, but right then, in the dead of night, it was hard for me to quieten my suspicions.

I sat there for a time, not long, just a few minutes, listening to the world outside. There was the creak of old air ducts and the low hum of television sets and...

Open it up if you’re so curious.