This round is ending later on today guys

This round is ending tomorrow guys

This is the ending of round one...

if you aren't familiar with the set rules, if you are pinged, you have passed , if you are NOT pinged, you haven't passed.

With that being said, this contest ends when there is only ONE winner left.

I will be pinging you guys with the prompt for the next round after.

Genre: Tragedy
Trait: Loyal
Time: Future
Species: Wraith

"Lets go see the stars," said the bear to the bird. "and they'll sing us a tune that no ones ever heard."

In the Beginning

So many things can happen in one instant.
Everyone always speculated about the end of the world. They seemed to either fear it or love it. But most of them were proved wrong when it actually happened.
There were no zombies. No big explosions, none of that fancy stuff. The end of the world came so quickly, no one actually knew what happened. That's what made it so hard to oppose.
The end came through shadows. Millions poured into cities overnight, and blocked out the sky. Those infected cities were called the Ravaged. Going into one was like walking through a smoke barrier. People who breathed in that air quickly became disoriented and had a difficult time breathing. The air was being poisoned along with the sky.
Of course, in these times theories started popping up. How did these appear? Why? They were brushed off quickly. Just because one place was taken over, it wasn't nearly enough to make the whole world notice. They always needed more, until that was too much to handle.
When people finally started caring enough to do something, it was too late. The shadows spread quickly and quietly, until most countries had been infected. Those that didn't make it out in time died a quick death. Which was a better fate than that of the survivors of the first breakout.
I was from one of the first cities to be infected. It was just me and my mother. We quickly moved out to a city far away from that place. It was still too late.
The sickness caused by the shadows was called HAZE. They described the symptoms that the infected people had. The symptoms that I would have never discovered, if it weren't for that shattered glass.
It seems that the people I loved were always the ones to keep the most secrets from me. I never knew about the sickness until it was already too late to do anything. Maybe mom had kept it from me because she knew I would try anything to help her. Maybe it was because she was already resigned to her fate.
Maybe it was better that way.

Day 21 A.R. (After Ravage)

I walk through the halls of our new house, and I can't sleep. It's too strange, almost surreal. I always liked reading those apocalyptic novels, but living one is different. It's frightening to see how willing people are to ignore the obvious. As long as the rest of the world is happy, that small percentage that's affected fades into the background.
I despise the thought of being invisible.
When I hear the sound of glass shattering on tiles, I walk to the source of the noise, in the kitchen. Moms back faces towards me, and the remnants of a vase lies beside her. I go to ask her what's wrong, but she won't answer. Finally, she turns around.
I scream-

The sky I woke up to was blood red, like the lifeblood that dribbled down her chin. Blood that stained the sink. Blood, blood, blood. It looked like a murder scene.
It was to me.
I kept having that dream, over and over like a tape that never ended. I always woke up before I saw her face, like my mind was protecting me from the memory. I know how it ends, though.
I found that for me, once I lost someone, instead of having them become more clear, their face blurred even while the pain got sharper and more agonizing. It hurt to let go. It hurt to let them go. But their faces and features, memories I had of them, shared with them - they slipped through my hands, reflective and beautiful like liquid silver.
Cold as the ground in which a body was buried. Cold as the days that came after, numbing emotions. Cold as acceptance.
I always thought I wanted warmth. Do I really?
Or do I need it?
Instinctively, I looked beside me, but no one was there. I kept doing that, maybe because I had to know that I wasn't alone. I wanted companionship, or else it would drive me insane. If I could just find someone, anyone, to stop the loneliness, I would stay with them forever and a day.
I just needed that. Was it too much to ask for?
Maybe I was just selfish.

Day 42 A.R. (After Ravage)

"Catch!" I threw the arrows to Vin, before turning quickly and stabbing the weak point of the Wraith. It evaporated like water on a hot sidewalk. He took care of the other one quickly, before we both lay down to rest.
The final test began when the shadows began to attack in a semi-corporeal form. Several reports of the victims said that the Wraith resembled a dead person. Our modern ghosts.
It took a while before someone could figure out how to kill it. In that time, the population dwindled down even more.
I had met Vin on a scavenging trip in the city. We were bound by a sense of fellowship with other survivors. I think he was in need of company too. We kept each other sane.
One night, I was on watch while he rested. The question he asked next would haunt me.
"What are you living for?"
My mind flashed back to the last day of my mother's life.

"Adri." She holds my hands between her's. "Promise me. Promise me you'll find the people who did this to me, and stop them. Promise me you'll remember me. Promise me that you'll avenge me."

I told him this. The words poured out, a torrent of relief in being able to tell the truth.
Revenge was a sweet word on my tongue.
Vin was quiet for a while. His response later shocked me. I had thought, for all the time we spent together, that he would understand. I had told him almost everything about my old life, each precious moment spent with my mom. I told myself that he would be able to relate.
I guess I was wrong.
We didn't talk for the rest of the night.

Day 100 A.R. (After Ravage)

Finally. Finally. Finally.
I had found them. They were responsible, I just knew it. They had to be.
The cure was right in front of me. I could get it. The rest of the world faded as gas poured into the room. It was meant to knock me out.
Somehow, that didn't mean anything to me.
Can you see me, mom? I've done it.
It was in that moment that Vin's words came back to me, right when I was about to have my victory.
"I think, for all her good intentions, your mother was a very selfish person."
I've almost done it, I'm almost there.
"Why are you throwing away your life for someone who's already dead?"
My vision's fading, but the glass is right in front of me. It's right there, it's right there, it's right there-
"What are you doing? Adri, put that gun down, put that DOWN-"
Bang
My vision goes red and black. Vins brown eyes burn into mine, betrayed and hurt.
So many things can happen in that instance.
The world could change. That didn't mean anyone would notice.
My fingers touched the glass, so smooth and cold.
My body betrays me, and I fall, down, down, onto the floors, into darkness. Something is burning in me, burning up, someone's talking.
"Another intruder, what is that, the third time? I'm so-"
Tired.

My mom used to love telling me this story, about a bear and his bird friend searching for the stars. The bird reached the stars, but the bear couldn't fly and stayed on the ground, always looking for a way to find the bird.

I'm the bear, but mom isn't the bird. The bird is myself.

I just never realized that was an option.

alright, hope you don't mind i'm not using the usual overused species batch lol

Nuu, I love it!

ok great, have fun lol *sends people on a researching mission*

ohh wraith, what were your other selections that you got?

I personally think that I got some pretty great choices! It gives me room to work :p