[Tyr Zalo Hawk]: 712.Stories.AmidstWhatNeverWas.3.3

A flash of brilliantly dull orange shot out across the sky, tinging even the darkest of shadows with its ominous glow. The brightest star had been extinguished nearly four years before, but the others still shone their dull glows through the nearly impenetrable clouds every now and then.

Wait... it hadn't been four years. Only four months...

The figure below, standing atop the most ancient pine tree in the forest, looked out at this phenomenum with a faceless grin. A mask of opalescent blue covered its face, already hidden behind a tangled mess of black hair that seemed to cascade out of the void that eternity left when it passed by. Silence...

Silence? No no no. It was loud... very loud...

Having only seen this orange glow for the first time in all of its years of standing, the forest groaned and waned to try to escape, knowing the unavoidable fate of millions had already been decided. Yet even in this agonizing, deafening roar of hollow pines and firs, the figure stood, unphazed, unmoving.

Wait... that wasn't it...

All at once, the orange receded into the grey of daylight and the trees quieted, as if they had remained sleeping the entire time. Glistening now in the grey, the mask fell to the ground, hundreds of feet below where it shattered next to a pair of booted feet. The shards landed perfectly around each other, spelling out line after line of verse...

'When darkened sky is set aglow
And the light returns to grey
Look towards the black of day
To find that lost, from long ago.'