Black is the only way Elias could describe the world. The streets were washed out, and the people were hollow. Everything was the same. The stars were the only thing he could dream about. So close yet so far, beautiful but so simple, everlasting in the sky until life fades. He understood why the people of old gazed upon them and dreamt of gods of beauty, creation, and destruction. Elias knew in his heart that nobody would ever know the real truth about the stars. Not even the Great Cain, who tore down the Veil protecting the Earth. Even Cain, the one who brought beasts and magic to the world, couldn’t understand the cosmos. The true nature of humanity has always been to be curious. To wonder why they exist when they truly don't on the grand scale of the universe. Elias knew that there was more to find, that there was more to this bleak reality, to his small city surrounded by wasteland.

  “Elias, hello? Are you still here?” Sofia, the brunette barista with the soft, glistening brown eyes, asked, trying to make sense of Elias' blank stare.

  After school he usually stopped at a small cafe tucked in between rough-looking stores. Low music hummed from old speakers just enough to be acknowledged. This was the only place in Greyharbor that he could enjoy peace and quiet.

  “Yeah, uh… I'll get my usual, thanks,” Elias said, snapping back to reality.

  "Okay, Eli. I'll come sit with you; I'm about to go on break, so hold on," she coaxes, calling Elias by his nickname, making his face warm up in that dumb prickling way he hated.

  Elias sat down at his usual seat, laying his head back to get a view of the window. The smell of coffee flooded his nose like a broken dam. He wished, with all his heart, he could want to use magic, but it was so ingrained in him that he couldn't. He looked at the kids creating red, green, and blue sparks and wished his brain could imagine those same colors. Maybe if he were born in a different time, a time without all this magic, he could've really made it somewhere. His fingers tapped on the linoleum table, but still no color. Rarely was it his fault that things went wrong; in his mind, it was all magic's fault. If the damned Cain hadn't broken the Veil, he could've enjoyed his life to the fullest. Even from the window of the cafe,

  Damn you, damn you, damn you.

  He didn't hate Cain; he probably had his reasons for what he did. Elias certainly wouldn't wish death upon him either. It was everyone else who bothered him. Specifically, his parents never introduced him to this world. They kept him stuck in the old one. His eyes began to flutter and water, not because of the flashing lights outside. He glanced back at the children playing; they didn't know anything of the pain he endured. Why could they be happy and he not? He drew a shaky breath but stopped midway.

  Why me? Why is it—

  “You really are the weirdest person ever,” Sofia mocks, walking over to his table with her coffee and his blueberry juice. “You know we have a place just down the street that literally just does juice, right?” Sofia says once again, peering right through his soul.

  Elias hated coffee.

  “This place does it better, I think, or maybe it's just you who knows?” Elias flirts and avoids her eyes, knowing he can't commit to anything more than a small-sized drink.

  “Hm, you just keep drinking,” Sofia scoffs and smiles, leaning back and sinking into her seat.

  Elias does as he was told and finishes his entire drink, not wasting a single drop.

  “So, Eli, how are those knuckles of yours so bruised?” Sofia eyed Elias's slightly swollen red knuckles.

  “Mind your damn business, Sofi,” Elias says, locking right onto her eyes.

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  “You know, for how soft and squishy you are, you sure do get into a lot of fights. People think you're some kind of tough guy; they're lowkey scared of you and the gang of delinquents you hang with,” Sofia says, half laughing, half being serious

  “It’s self-defense, dummy; I'm not fighting for my own good.”

  “Do you like fighting or something? Are you a masochist? Don't worry, I won't judge,” Sofia says, smirking, knowing that judging would be the first thing she'd do

  “Well, no, I am just defending myself, but you know…” Elias snaps back. He rubs his knuckles, remembering what happened yesterday.

  “I still have time; I can walk you home if you want.” Sofia says, now avoiding his gaze

  “Yeah, sure, why not?” Elias says, patting his thighs and standing to throw his drink away

  Leaving the warm and coffee-scented cafe, they walked onto the barren streets of a town in Georgia called Greyharbor. It was never cold and never warm here, and Elias never knew why. The streets were wide, almost too wide, as if they were meant to have lanes. People walked to and fro, all with their own purpose. The buildings never went up to 5 stories; they ranged from offices to apartments with the occasional shop under them. Despite having only been built a dozen years after the incident, the walls were still decaying and patched with metal scraps. You couldn't see past 30 yards ahead of you. The town was never not foggy, and the churches used this to testify against magic. Elias never trusted religion, but maybe there could’ve been truth to it. The streets made of some type of gravel never ceased to give in to the boring reality that was this town.

  “I never asked you about it, but what is up with that red streak in your hair? It's so random?” Sofia asks, eying Elias's dark brown hair and the red streak that lies in front of his face.

  “It's not your hair, and what's up with yours anyway?” Elias says, feeling around his hair

  “Mine's perfect; don't try that again,” Sofia replies with full confidence, “and I'm the same height as you, so pipe down.” She loses her confidence and changes the subject

  “I’m way taller than you are,” Elias says, side-eyeing Sofia at eye level.

  Sofia stares into Elias’ half-closed black eyes. She quickly glanced back before he could notice. There was an odd silence in the air, broken up by the footsteps of people around them.

  “Do you think you’ll ever leave this place?” Sofia asks, forgetting the previous banter. There was a sense of hope and grief in her voice, like she expected something out of nothing.

  “The second I turn 18, or I get a chance, honestly, like, I can’t stay here forever, and I sure as hell can’t deal with the people here forever.

  There's probably so much more out there beyond the wastelands and stuff. I want to see what the world is really about, what people are out there, and hell, even the magic. I want to know everything this world has to offer, and this shitty town isn’t going to do it for me.

  I’ll miss you for sure, though you’ve been the only real friend I've had here. I'll miss you wherever in the world I'll be. Once I see everything, then I'll come back. Only then.”

  Sofia looked at Elias with sheer disbelief. There seemed to be a glimmer of hope and even excitement in her eyes. “That has got to be the most you’ve ever said to me.”

  “So yeah, that's that out of the way,” Elias said as if the world had been lifted off his chest.

  “That's how you really feel, huh? Interesting,” Sofia says, still in shock. “I guess I’ll see you later.”

  Elias hadn’t realized through his monologue that they had arrived at his house.

  “I’ll see you soon, Sofi. Bye!” He waved to her as he headed towards his door.

  Sofia studied Elias as he walked up the steps to his home. This time, not with hope but with a glint of sadness. As if he had already departed.

  As he stepped past the unwelcoming welcome mat, his heart tightened, and his stomach began to weigh him down. Before he could open the door, he heard the tongues his mother spoke upstairs. The incoherent sounds were meant to banish all forms of magic. He sank into his couch, letting his phone rest on the counter.

  He sat and stared at the wall before the tiredness could hit him. Aside from his mother, the house was completely silent. Did he even mean what he said? Would he actually throw away everything just for a chance to see the world? Although Elias thought he wouldn't miss his parents, maybe he would. They could have been right about the world and how it was filled with demons and magic-corrupted beasts. But who cares, right? That's the whole point of it all. Nothing is evil if that's how they just are; it goes the same both ways.

  Slowly, Elias drifted away. His eyes became a muscle that had to be flexed to stay open. He floated far away from his life. Far away from magic