Legacies of light

-Break-

I still remember, how my friend smiled, how she talked, how she laughed, the memories haven’t faded in the slightest but in the same vain I still remember how it felt when the aliens took her away, how she cried, “PLEASE SAY ME, BIG SISTER.”

While all I could do was scream, “LET GO OF US,” to the beasts who were trying to kidnap us. I was unable to do anything for her even though she was right in front of me, It is as clear as day to me.

But the thing that is always at the forefront of my mind, is the haunting image of her being carried away towards the castle that always hung above us, “PLEASE SAVE ME, I DON’T WANT TO DIE, SISTER, SISTER!” As I looked up at my sister being taken away, her tears and her screams were etched into my very soul.

Springing up from my bed I start to scream uncontrollably, which wakes my husband up. As Avaram gives me a hug, he says, “It is alright, it is alright honey,” while tears fall from my eyes.

After I stop screaming and shaking, he takes me to the kitchen where I go get water and he says, “That nightmare again.”

“Yes, the same one as always. Pathetic isn’t it, even after all these years I still can't shake the fear from that day.”

Holding me tight he says, “There is nothing pathetic about it, anyone would be scarred if they almost got kidnapped, if anything the way you have been dealing with it makes you superhuman.”

“So you agree I am superhuman?”

“I won’t be letting you come tomorrow so don’t ask.”

“You’re no fun.” Getting up and walking over to the window I ask Avaram, “Do you ever think about the people who have been kidnapped, I think about it every day. Are they being tortured? Are any of them even still alive.”

“You shouldn’t think about such things it will only make you sick.”

“But I can’t stop, I just can’t forget about them. Whenever we have a rescue mission, I am reminded that there are those who we don’t save, that there are those who are stuck up there, and so many of them are children just like our boy. Even though I worked so hard to become an officer, I still can’t do anything for them.

Holding me by my hand Avaram says, “That was insensitive of me, I know because how your past with your sister you can’t stop worrying about them, but I do need you to know that there is nothing you can do about that for now.”

“I know, but it is just hard to give up.”

“Who said anything about giving up.”

“What do you mean?” I say shocked.

“Magnolia and the rest of Celestial vision left a bunch of unfinished papers about possible ways to take the barrier down, though to understand it we will have to understand the rest of their technology first.”

“Wait, is that why you have been working so hard to understand their work.”

“That is 40% the reason.”

“What is the remaining Sixty.”

“Obviously, it is to fulfil my dream of building a giant robot.”

“You never change.”

“I definitely don’t want to hear that from someone like you.”

“Don’t worry that is why I fell in love with you idiot, and I am sure that is why your Iancu role model.”

“Iancu is definitely a momma's boy, so I am sure you’re his role model.”

“You say that, but all he does is talk about how he wants to build things with his father.”

Suddenly he gives me a kiss. “Hey what was that for.”

“Nothing, I just thought my wife was looking very cute.”

“You can’t go doing that, it is unfair.”

“Sorry I can’t help myself,” he says as he holds me close. “You know thinking about it again, I might need to change both of those percentages around.”

“You want to help me more than you want a giant robot, how romantic.”

“Then maybe you need to give me some kind of reward, though it is late a night so we have very few options.”

“Oh, I thought I was too sick for any strenuous kind of activities.”

“Who said such a thing, that person needs to be kicked in the mouth.”

“I agree,” I say giving my husband a deep kiss.

“It has been a long-time, work has been keeping you busy.”

“Well, I will make all that up to you tonight.”

Suddenly we hear, “Mommy are you ok?” Looking behind us we see that Iancu has come to find us.

“It is way past your bedtime, what are you doing awake,” Avaram says with anger in his voice. I am sure he isn’t really this mad at Iancu being awake but because of something else.

“I heard mommy screaming and I wanted to make sure she was ok,” Iancu says while frowning.

“Don’t worry about me honey I just had a little incident, but it is all right now.”

“Ok, then what are you two doing?”

“We were just going to put a cake in the oven.”

“We have cake.”

Avaram says, “Iancu go to bed now!”

As Iancu starts to cry, he holds me and says, “Daddy is being mean.”

“Behave, daddy,” I say while giving him a glare.

Letting out a sigh Avaram says, “Sorry Iancu, what do I have to do to make it up to you.”

“I want to sleep with you two today.”

Instantly Avaram says, “Anything else, literally anything else.”

“No, I want to sleep with you.”

“I will give you -Censor- lupas.”

With his cheeks puffed out Iancu says, “No I want to sleep with you both.”

“Looks like our son has a strong will, it seems we have to postpone the baking of the cake till tomorrow.”

Clenching his fist so hard that blood comes out Avaram says, “Ok.” And with that, we all went to bed, and for some reason, I had the best sleep of my life that night.

-Break-

Φ Getting up from my bed, I notice that only me and Iancu are in it. Looking for my wife I see she is missing. After panicking for a second, I look around and find a note, it says, “Sorry hubby, I will be going out for a while to get some work done, but don’t worry I will meet you at your award ceremony.”

Why I ought to. After calming down, I let out a sigh and say, “What else did I really expect.”

Shaking Iancu I tell him, “Get up we are going to need to get ready.”

“One minute papa.”

-Break-

Φ “Ok that should do it.”

“Thank you so much, officer.”

“All in a day’s work.” Today me and a few other officers have decided to plant a few giamore trees since some were recently destroyed. Giamore trees are the special flora that allows us to create oxygen even all the way up here.

As we all walk away and move to our next location, “Are you sure you can be at work, won’t your husband be pissed?”

“He will understand, and it is not like I am doing anything dangerous.”

“But you know we really could have handled this ourselves, you didn’t have to come.”

“Nonsense, me being here makes us move twice as fast as usual and I refuse to stay in a bed when I could be helping people.”

“You really are just a ball of sunshine aren’t you. I am glad you’re going to be the next commissioner.”

“For that comment, I will make you my deputy commissioner.”

“I refuse.”

“Why is that?”

“Picking up after you sounds like literal hell.”

“Well then, I guess the Gpd will all be under my control, I wonder what sort of messes I will get myself into without someone to watch my back, I might even destroy a platform.”

“You might be kidding right now, but I actually believe you would do that.”

“So is that a yes.”

“I guess it is.”

Moments after Arthur says this, we hear a giant explosion in the distance. “What the hell was that.?

But as screams fill the area I say, “Lets us go see what happened.” Running over to where we hear all the noise from, I see that a bunch of buildings have caught on fire while explosions are going off inside.

Taking action almost immediately, I tell Arthur too, “Call for help, immediately.”

“What the hell are you doing?”

“I am going go in and start rescues.”

Φ As Gloria runs off I freeze for a second, I then gather my will and say, “Go notify all offices and call for help I am going in after her.”

-Break-

Φ “Avaram good to see you.”

“Hi Tetra, still as energetic as ever.”

“You don’t seem to be in high spirits.”

“Well, I don’t really feel like I accomplished a lot. We are still centuries away from fully breaking down all the technology here on Elpída, so I feel like all of this is just a bit over the top.”

“You are being too humble what you have done has brought us closer to a future for humanity, and if that doesn’t make you happy I am sure all the prize money will.”

“They didn’t give me any.”

“What!”

“Instead, they gave me the right to one of the oldest pieces of technology on Elpída.”

“What is it?”

“Here have a look,” I say giving him a photo.

After he takes a while to stare at it Tetra says to me, “What use could you possibly have for this? Do you want me to talk to them for you?”

“Don’t waste your breath, do you think those money grubbers have anything to give me.”

“But.”

“Never mind, I feel like I already have my reward,” I say pointing over at Iancu.

Running over to me he says, “Papa the food here is so yummy.”

“Eat your fill, because I can’t afford that stuff.”

“I gotcha,” he says giving me a salute.

Suddenly someone bursts in and runs over to Tetra. Then he says, “Sir a series of buildings have all caught on fire over at Aeia.”

“What happened.”

“It seems a series of explosions took place there which caused all the buildings to catch fire.”

“Then we need to act quickly.”

“The officer on sight has already started evacuating the buildings.”

“Who are those officers?”

“Deputy commissioner Gloria, and superintendent Arthur.”

“Wait, did you say Gloria ran into a fiery building,” I say holding the man by the shoulders.”

“Yes.”

Letting go of him I say to Tetra, “Take care of Iancu, I am heading over there.” Please be ok.

-Break-

Φ I run through all the buildings and look for any survivors, but all I see are bodies that have either been crushed or blown to pieces. No, no, no this isn’t right. I became an officer of the law and yet I am still powerless to help any of these people.

But I suddenly hear a large sound, listening in, I hear someone say, “Please help us.”

As fast as I can I head over to the origin of the sound, where I see two kids with burns all over them, and to the left of them I see what is the body of an adult burnt to a crisp.

Seeing me they scream, “Help us.”

“Don’t worry little ones, I will get you out in no time.”

Grabbing both of them I retrace my steps into the house. The heat is unbearable and the smoke is destroying my lungs, but no matter how bad it is for me it is worse for everyone the kids on my back.

As I continue to walk, I eventually come across Arthur who has an adult on his back. “Hey idiot, what are you doing here.”

“I never want to hear that from you, but right now we need to go.”

So I go with Arthur, but as we leave I see the building start to fall apart around us, so we pick up the pace and eventually escape.

As we lay the people on the ground a medical team near us start to work on them, but the man Arthur brought with him mumbles something.

“What is that?”

“My daughter is still inside,” he says with tears falling down his face.

“Don’t worry, I will go get her, what is your building number?”

“82.”

As I try to move away, I am stopped by Arthur who says, “Are you insane? We saw how those buildings are, they could collapse any second now.”

“Sorry I have to go.”

Φ “GLORIA! You have a husband and a child; you need to think before you act sometimes and right now the most logical thing you could do is stay here.”

Stopping for a second she says to me, “Arthur I am sorry,” Then knocks me out.

Φ I take off into the buildings at my top speed. I run around and try to find the way Arthur came from. Moving through the building, I eventually come across numbered doors. So, I keep going but I see the building collapse in front of me.