Excerpt: The Crimson Autumn

For two long centuries I languished in a scorching summer. Unending. Unchanging.Too bright and too hot, all color and feeling leached away. The monotony of dry heat left me parched and apathetic.

Jasey was my crimson autumn.

She was brisk breezes, fiery color, and fierce beauty. But as with any autumn, that beauty was born of death. The leaves turn to fire because they are preparing to fall. Already the winter's frost is biting us.

I hold her in my arms, and know that she is dying, know that she won't last the night. When that last leaf falls, and her last heartbeat sounds, the beauty and color of my world will die along with her.

I cannot keep this autumn. I can't even return to the colorless summer. My apathy is gone, she has made me feel and care again. When Jasey dies, there will be nothing left for me but the winter, colder and crueler than anything that came before.

The pain is already unbearable, but I'll endure it gladly. Loving her was worth it.