Erend stayed seated in his room, unmoving, his gaze fixed on the bare ceiling above him.
The light panels hummed softly, steady and indifferent to the turmoil inside his mind.
Minutes passed without him realizing it. His body rested, but his thoughts spiraled.
Another problem. Another threat with the potential to end worlds would come out.
He felt a tightness settle in his chest at the realization. He had just begun to breathe again. Just begun to live without constantly bracing himself for catastrophe. The idea of stepping back into something on a world-ending scale made a deep, weary reluctance rise within him.
"I don't want this again. ugh…"
The thought came honestly without shame. He was tired. Not physically tired, but he felt tiredness that sank into his bones and lingered there.
Tired of being the one thing that happened to. Tired of being the answer every time something went wrong on a cosmic level.
