�Edgar! What in the name of the gods is going on?� the youth shouted.
�Be at peace, brother, there is no need for such emotion,� Edgar replied, hiding his own feelings with much difficulty. �Why have you come to me this hour? Should you not be in bed, young princeling?� He smiled now, forcing the muscles of his face to stay in position. He knew that his younger brother relied heavily on him for moral support and once he could keep this false air of surety about him, the younger boy would feel secure and at ease.
Tonight, it seemed, would be a different matter altogether.
�Edgar, do not play games with me now! Not now, brother, I beg of you! What is wrong with father and what is all this talk of successor? The Chancellor has been passing to and fro outside my chamber doors with those words upon his lips.� The blond haired boy shook with open emotional turmoil, his speech becoming more frantic as he continued. �How can this be, Edgar? Father is such a young man and has so many years yet to rule.�
�Can you not see his face, brother!� Edgar suddenly shouted into the depths of the library, his own anger bursting forth with renewed vigor, spewing out of his soul like sickness from a freshly opened boil. He recoiled in surprise at the intensity of his own response and was unable to curb the passionate tidal wave that had broken. �Can you not see how ill he has become? Open your young eyes, little brother, and see the world about you as it truly is.�
He regretted those words as they came from his mouth, just as much as he regretted them even now and Edgar fought the dream that wrapped his consciousness tightly in its grasp, willing himself to awaken, and yet knowing that there was much more to come.
�Brother?� the youth replied in confusion, the soft echo of his baritone playing over and over in Edgar�s mind now, harping upon the many lost years of friendship that could no longer be regained. Edgar looked into the solid blue eyes of his younger brother, calling to him from his sleep, begging him to stay with him in Figaro, crying out loudly in despair at what he knew was about to take place and completely helpless to stop the dream�s progression.
Edgar�s dream self stood up, pushing the sequined chair behind him along the library carpet as he did so, and turned to his brother. He opened his mouth in an attempt to vocalize his internal struggle, wanting to explain himself to the youth, yet the words remained unsaid. He closed his mouth, turned around and strode out of the library. He reached the staircase that led to the desert outside, not caring that the night�s cold wind would chill him to the bone in the short time it took him to reach the guards� living tower. He could still hear the voice of his brother calling for him in the distance and, in his dream, as he ran away from the beseeching call of his only brother, tears spilling openly from his eyes, he suddenly fell to the ground landing loudly onto the stone floor.
THUMP!
He fell suddenly to the ground as he ran�
THUMP!
He fell�
THUMP!
