Omar stared at the ceiling, wanting to either scream or cry in frustration. He was tired of being tired. Just once he would like to go to bed and fall asleep, instead of settling down only to suddenly be wide awake when only moments before he'd been yawning hard enough to water his eyes.
Heaving a sigh, he threw back the blankets and rolled out of bed, rising smoothly to his feet and padding silently over to his chests. Pulling on practice clothes, he took up his quarterstaff and sword and left the frustrating confines of his room.
The air was frigid, the world blanketed in that eerie silence that only existed in the dark hours of the morning when everything slept. He shivered and rubbed away the crawling sensation on the back of his neck. Normally that was a warning that something was amiss, but in the depths of the royal palace, when all was silent, and the bells had only recently struck the third hour of the morning, what could possibly be wrong?