Before the Dawn: Ezra Talon RO POV
Ezra sat in a quiet tavern in the late night. He was nursing his second mug of mead. He could hold his drink fine due to his size. Ezra stared down into his nearly full mug as if the answers would somehow be at the bottom of his drink. He pushed his drink aside, he was tired of posturing. It was part of his job.
He had received a tip from an anonymous informant that his next mark would be here at this tavern. He had been here at the time he was given. But no one even remotely close to his mark ever showed.
Ezra leaned back into his chair as his blue sleeves on his simple tunic were pushed up. He had discarded his cloak and leaned back in his chair. He closed his eyes and let his mind wander something he rarely every does.
As an assassin and one of the higher ranking Red Scales, an elite assasin's guild in Solara. He rarely let his guard down. But tonight, without his mark in his sight he just decided to let go for just a moment.
Of course he never had his back to the door, always swept the perimeter of the room out of habit. He rarely slept. He did not like to sleep. With sleep came the dreams...the face...the voice...the laughter.
Your face.Your voice. Your laughter. Everything Ezra ever loved about you...but just as soon as the dream was there...it was gone. Ezra sat up in his chair quickly as the wooden legs of the tavern chair hit the wood floor with a hard bang. He had let himself become too relaxed.
Luckily the tavern was mostly deserted save for Gev the tavern owner. Gev Gevshin was a middle aged balding dwarf with a red long beard and a proud demeanor as all dwarves tend to exude. He and his elven wife Evira had moved with their three boys and another on the way.
Ezra knew all about the Coals district. Most dwarves resided there in the undergrounds of Solara. It was cooler but it was becoming derelict and most dwarves were moving their families out of the Coals for fear of collapse.
Gev being one of them had moved him,Evira his heavily pregnant elven wife and three young boys to the surface. He had saved enough coin to be able to afford to get out of the Coals. Now mostly it was just penchants and dwarves holding onto their old traditions who still resided there.
Rumors had flown like wild fire across Solara to every district. The Blood Red Dawn was coming. Some doomsayers were saying. Some believed it but others did not. But Solara was not the same as it had been when Ezra was growing up with you...
Ezra still brooding as you would call it if you were here, was pulled back into his thoughts. Despite the chair incident, he had not even heard Gev approaching, which was very rare for someone to sneak up upon the second in command of the Red Scales Assassin's Guild. One of the top assassin's guilds in Solara.
Ezra had worked hard for years from the bottom up to become Anders, the Golden Scale and guild master of the Red Scales, Silver Scale. Second in command of the Red Scales. Anders was the guild master of the Red Scales but not even Ezra knew much of what his superior's life was like before establishing the guild. And as the Silver Scale (second in command,) he knew better than to ask.
Gev knew Ezra as a long time patron and friend. Ezra had not outright told him what he did but Gev was not stupid. He had been around the Hell's Rise district long enough to know the shady and sketchier parts of what people did to survive in Solara. He knew what Ezra did was not good. But he liked Ezra well enough and did not mind Ezra spending his off days at the Boot and Shine.
Ezra still was unsure of how the tavern received its name sake. He suspects it had something to do with Gev’s wife,Evira, who influenced the name. She always wanted everyone's “boots to shine" before they step into her tavern.
“Gah! Gev! By the name of Sul, I insist you do not sneak up on me as such. Unless you want a blade to the throat. " Ezra says, his heart pounding in his ears. Of course Ezra would never hurt let alone kill Gev. Despite the older dwarf initially heckling him he enjoyed his company. And Gev was one of the few people that had broken through Ezra’s stony exterior.
Gev just laughs a hearty laugh as he takes a sit across from Ezra. He looks at the young man with a twinkle in his warm brown eyes.
“Looks like the mighty Silver Scale is not as good at his job as his reputation would make him seem." Gev chuckles
Ezra’s deep blue eyes stare up at Gev as he studies the older dwarf carefully.
“How did you find out?" Ezra’s deep voice rumbles quietly echoing only in the silence of the empty tavern. Ezra is very alert now jolted out of his reverie as his fingers twitch for his spear.
“ Easy there Ez. No need to get feisty. It does not take a clouding to figure it out. “ Gev chuckles (clouding is a nickname for a young upset child. Solarans use clouding because it never rains on Solara or has not for ages.It became a slang term in Solara.)
Ezra eases slightly. He should have figured that Gev of all people would know. Gev is established in Hell's Rise, a more prominent and upper societal part of Solara. The Boot and Shine was a regular watering hole right in the middle of the inner district. Ezra had started frequenting there for his more lucrative contracts.
“Would you like to talk to your old friend Gev about what's on your mind Ez?" The dwarf prods gently.
Ezra stares into the still full second mug of mead to take a moment to compose himself. He is not used to being this way. This open, this vulnerable. He spins the mug in his hands as he continues to see his deep blue eyes staring back at him. A boy no longer. An assassin. Someone whom had no heart. Someone who he lost his heart to10 years ago…
“ It's (MC) again isn't it?" Gev asks more gently than his normal boisterous self.
Ezra nods solemnly as he takes a sip of his mead before pushing his mug away.
“I cannot help it Gev… (MC) was my best friend, my partner in crime, and I fell harder and harder for (MC) each day. Today marks 10 years since (MC’s) disappearance…” Ezra says his voice strained which was unusual for the usually stoic assassin.
Gev sighs. He looks at the young man sympathetically understanding of his plight.
“Listen Ez, it's been 10 years son. 10 years without a trace of (MC.) Do you not think it might be time to move on? You're a good looking, kind, young man. Apart from the fact that you kill people for a living.” Gev mutters under his breath.
This warrants a small smile from Ezra. He takes a moment to think over Gev’s words. He knows Gev is right…but for 10 years …he has not stopped looking for you. He cannot. He will not stop searching for you. What happened to you? Where did you go? Why? These words haunt Ezra day in and day out. He has not given up hope. That somewhere out there, in Solara, in the universe you still exist.
He has to believe you would not just vanish without a trace. Without a word to him. Your best friend since you were kids. He has never stopped looking for you. The night you disappeared….the night of your birthday… Ezra had made his way to the usual spot you and he would spend on that same hill. Every birthday at midnight. Just you and him alone watching the stars. Dreaming of something else out there in this world.
Dreaming of traveling together, making plans together, hopefully becoming something more than just friends. That's when the memories come flooding back. Memories that Ezra had tried to bury deep inside the darkness that looms inside him. But in that moment the tavern disappears, Gev is no longer there. Ezra is transported back into a memory he thought he had long burned….but in that moment he is taken back to that fateful night. The night that changed everything for Ezra…
That night Ezra had made up his mind. He was going to tell you how he truly felt…that he was in love with you. As he made his way towards the hill the air was cool for once on Solara. The night was clear and beautiful. The night air was still and quiet. Ezra had paced nervously back and forth in his small village hut…he had rehearsed for hours on end what he was going to say to you. How he was going to say it.
The hours ticked by slowly till it was time to go. He had quietly left his house as he kept rehearsing in his head the words he was about to say to you. The words that could change everything. You and he had been dancing around the feelings you both felt for months now…now Ezra was going to finally do something about it.
He had picked a sunrisa ( a beautiful glowing yellow flower that was so exquisite that at night it would bloom and glow like the sun. It was your favorite flower.) Ezra began to make the climb towards your usual meeting spot. His heart was pounding in his ears, his palms sweaty as he tried not to grip the flower too tightly. As he reached the top of the hill he took in a deep breath as he made his way towards the spot you usually already were there waiting for him.. He expected to hear your voice, your laugh like music in his ears, your smile as if Sul were blessing you himself.
But he stopped and paused. He did not see you anywhere. That was odd considering you always were the first to show up. Ezra had an uneasy feeling in his gut…something did not feel right. He spun around on his heels still gripping the sunrisa, as he looked in every direction calling your name only to hear his own voice echoing back at him. As if some kind of sick joke. His stomach dropped, chills ran down his spine as he sprinted down the hill as fast as his long legs would carry him.
He ran up and down the street of your small village. He ran into the neighboring aristocratic city. He ran and ran not caring about the pain in his ribs, his lungs aching for air, his voice hoarse from calling your name. He probably looked and sounded like a lunatic and probably woke some people up. It mattered not. He kept running and running each moment intensifying his desperation to find you.
Finally as dawn began to rise, he finally ran to your house hoping against all hope you would be there….hoping that you would open the door like you always did and greet him with that smile that even Sul himself would think was the most beautiful smile in all of Solara. He knocked and waited. He knocked and eventually began pounding on your small hut’s door. He was calling your name desperate. But when no one answered. Not your parents, not you. He finally got up the nerve to peek through a small window of your hut to see if anyone was inside.
Gone. Nothing. No one or anything was in your now empty hut. Ezra ran around the small hut looking for any clue but finding none, he decided to take drastic measures. He easily kicked open the wood door as it splintered and went flying across the room. He could hear nothing but the heavy breathing coming from his chest, the blood roaring in his ears. As his adrenaline came in waves pumping throughout his veins.
The exhaustive state he had felt dissipated as he began to search for any sign of you or your family. There was none. Not a trace. You were gone….the sunrisa flower fell to the ground as the sobs came in waves. Ezra dropped to his knees as the tears fell from his eyes like a dam breaking. The sobs racked his whole body as he shook and the aching pain was too much as his voice hoarse from hours of calling your name, the heart wrenching wails echoing through the now empty hut…. With the realization that you were gone.
What was worse was that Ezra had no idea where you had gone too. No note. No secret messages you used to write to each other. Nothing. Gone. As if you vanished out of thin air….
As the memories faded back into the recesses of Ezra’s mind and he was brought back to the present. Back to the empty tavern with him clutching his fists as he felt the tears pricking the corners of his eyes. Fuck. He thought to himself. Assassins do not fucking cry. Especially the Silver Scale of the Red Scales Assassin's Guild. He reprimanded himself.
“Kid, are you alright?" Asked a concerned voice. It took Ezra a moment to remember who he had been speaking with before he was…before he was pulled back into his unwanted memories. Ezra looked up out of his reverie to remember he had been speaking with Gev at the Boot and Shine tavern. His mind seemed to wander a lot these days. Which was unlike him to say the least. He could feel his mask slipping.
He could feel the vulnerability that he masked so well. The memories he made sure were locked behind doors never to escape. Buried along with memories of you. Memories he refused to relive, talk or even think about. But here he was once again for the third time that day slipping. Slipping into the abyss he refused never to go to.
“Yeah Gev, sorry I got lost somewhere in my memories. " Ezra replied putting back on his carefully masked stoicism.
“ I would say so. " Gev replies, looking Ezra up and down, not at all convinced he is fine. “ You were somewhere lost in Solara for a good 10 minutes. I could not seem to snap you out of whatever was holding you back. Are you sure you're ok kid?" Gev asks once more his protective fatherly instincts kicking in. “Because you look like shite and smell like it too." Gev says giving a small smirk. “You know you're always welcome to stay for the night in the inn. Why don't you stay Ez?" Gev suggests gently.
As expected Ezra shakes his nod no and politely declines as he stands up rising to his full height. He begins to put on his midnight blue cloak and wraps it around him as he straps his bow to his back and picks up his spear.
“Thank you for the offer Gev. " Ezra says as he finishes packing up his things “but I really need to find out more about this person or Anders will feed me to his hell hounds. Tell Evira and the boys hello. I'll be seeing you.” Ezra says as he makes his way to the wooden heavy doors of the tavern.
" Alright kid. Stop by whenever you can. You're always welcome here. But hey take care of yourself alright? “ Gev says as he walks Ezra to the door. Ezra simply nods and waves as Gev watches on in fear and concern. He cares for the young man. Like another son. He just hopes that whatever is stewing at the bottom of the pot won't consume Ezra.
As Ezra mounts his black stallion named Phantom, he pats his horse who is almost exactly like Ezra in personality. Except he is a horse. Ezra pats Phantom’s neck gently as he says to his horse soothingly in a deep rumble.
“ Let's go boy. Let's see what mischief we can cause today. " And for just a moment Ezra lets a small smile form on his face as he gently kicks Phantom's flanks and nudges him into a trot.
Before Phantom picks up speed to a steady gallop Ezra spots a beautiful sunrisa blooming that night. The same night on your birthday when you disappeared 10 years ago.
As Phantom gallops on at a steady pace, Ezra stares into the night sky as he silently vows to himself,
I will find you (MC.) You have my heart and I do not want it back until you're safely back in my arms. I will stop at nothing to bring you back home. To Solara. To me. Keep my heart safe. Everytime it beats, it beats for you.
