Legacies of light

30 Years ago

Sitting down in a corner with tears flowing down my eyes, I tuck my head in between my legs as I hide away from everything. How could I have just let her be taken right in front of my eyes?

“Hey little one, what’s your name,” I hear someone ask me.

“Leave me alone.”

“I am just worried, you have been through something traumatic, so I wanted to see if you are ok.”

“So now you guys care about us, not when we are starving half to death out here in Ichnaea. You people don’t give a shit about us so fuck off.”

“I am the officer who saved you, so you should at least answer my questions. Any information we have will help us with other incidents of this nature, but more than that I just really want to talk and make sure you’re ok.”

“You want to talk, ok then answer me this. Why was I born? Why have my parents abandoned me? Why were all the kids here also abandoned? Why do I have to struggle to find something to eat everyday? Why can’t I learn to read? Why do I have to wear raggedy clothes, Why the fuck was I saved and not my friend?

She was incredibly smart, she had lots of friends, she would share her toys with us, and despite living in Ichnaea she was always happy and smiling, despite all of her challenges she always wanted to keep living despite how horrible it was. I keep racking my idiot brain but I can’t seem to find the answer, and until I do I am never moving from this spot.”

Letting out a sigh the officer says, “You know my parents were killed right in front of me.”

“What?”

“By Some rich kids daughter. She and her friends were messing with a gravity gun and shot it right at my house; my parents were squished by gravity and turned to mush.

But the funny part is that the kids took no responsibility for it, their parents were close with the current commissioner of the Gpd, so they got off scot-free.”

“So why are you wearing that uniform?”

“Well I racked my brain for years thinking how I was going to avenge my parents, maybe I would join a gang and kill those bastards, but then I thought that won’t stop the next kids' house from being crushed or the one after that, so I decided to join the only form of law enforcement and become some sort of hero of justice. At least that way my parents would be proud, and maybe I could become some sort of revolution.

But it wasn’t that simple. Since joining the Gpd I realized how loose with the law they are. Taking bribes, and colluding with criminals are just a few of their crimes. There were countless days I woke up and asked myself the same question as you; why I am doing this, why am I letting them get away with this, why should I even have to do this, why the hell did my life turn into this? Though eventually, I came to answer.”

“What was it?”

“Suicide.”

Shocked I look up and say, “WHAT!”

“So, you’re finally looking at me.”

I hide my head and say, “You fucking liar.”

“I am not lying, I was really going to do it, but while walking to the edge of the platform, I saw a bunch of hoodlums assaulting a gaudily dressed foreigner. They were really kicking the crap out of him, so I went to go stop them by force and when I did the man got up and said to me.”

Φ “Thanks for that, those guys were really going into me.”

“That is because the way you’re dressed is attracting attention. You should buy something that doesn’t make you look so foreign.”

“I refuse. Living every moment is exactly what I have to do to get the best out of life.”

“Who cares then, this is none of my business,” I say trying to walk away.

Grabbing me the man says, “Where are you going with such a desolate look.”

Ripping my hand out of his grip I say, “You know nothing about me so leave me alone.”

“I happen to be an author so reading people is what I do best,” the man says as he grips my hand again.

“LET GO OF ME!” I shout trying to break his grip.

But I am unable to do that; this man is strong. What the hell, if he was this strong he shouldn’t of had a hard time beating those guys. He grabs my face and stares me dead in the eye with and intense look. “Since you look like you have lost your spark in life, let me at least tell you this, if you had it once it can definitely be acquired again. And when you find it again it is like you have just been reborn.”

“Capti where are you?” I hear a woman yell.

“Coming, sorry about that I need to go but it was great meeting you,” he says as he runs away with a giant smile on his face.

Φ “After that, I bought a cat and went home. Don’t know if it was his words or just his pure happiness, but that man gave me hope. So what I am getting at is that I have no idea why anything is the way it is, but at the very least I can try my best to change the things I don’t like. So, I plan to become the Gpd commissioner and change things for the better.”

“That man really changed your life.”

“Too early to say, especially since it was last week.”

Annoyed I say, “THEN DON’T PHASE YOUR STORY LIKE THAT.”

“You’re a fun one little girl.”

Noticing I am smiling, I say, “Leave me alone.” After calming down I say, “Do you really think it is possible to achieve your dream?”

“Don’t know till I try, but if you want to see how I turn out you can come with me.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Yeah, that was vague. I was asking if you want to be my daughter. I don’t really have much parenting experience but I can promise three straight meals and a warm bed.”

“Why choose me, there are a bunch of kids in Ichnaea.?

“I have no idea, but maybe if we live together we could figure it out, so would you like to stay with me?”

My hearts starts to beat incredible fast and I say, “Can I?”

“Definitely! Oh, and by the way my name is Tetra.”

“My Name is Gloria.”

Φ On that day I was saved by Tetra. My heart that I was about to close off was permanently opened. Tetra decided to fight for what he wanted against all the chaos life through at him and with many people who share the same dream as him he was able to rake up so many achievements that he became the commissioner of the Gpd. Though he became a lot more square-shaped.

Seeing him I decided to fight as well against all the whys and try to find a reason to live, and against all odds I found it. My job is to carry on Tetra's legacy, my family who I never thought I could ever have, and for the day that the barrier around that castle finally falls and I can save my sister Laura. So even in this burning building that feels like it could snuff at my life at any second, I perceiver.

Pushing the pieces of the building on me away, I get up and try to move. As I move forward I notice my right arm is broken and that my skin hurts all over; I probably sustained some burns. My body is at its limit, but seeing the building numbers getting closer and closer to eighty-two I persist.

I can’t stop here, I will not let anyone die anymore, I am giving everyone who cries in front of me a happy ending. I move through the building as fast as possible with the smoke ever increasing as I go. I really am going to need to rest after all of this, Avaram is probably going to be pissed but I am sure he will still take care of me regardless, with Iancu staying with me the entire time.

Thinking about my family gives me a little surge of energy to move forward just a bit faster and eventually I come towards it, door number Eighty-two. Kicking the door open I go in as fast as possible and see a little girl on the ground.

Running over to her I scream, “Are you ok,” but I get no response. So I try to pick her up, but behind me I see the building fall apart which causes me to look directly at it. When I do I see that there is a machine in all that rubble falling and when it hits this floor, I see it about to explode so I grab the girl and use my body as a shield, right as the explosion goes off.

Taking the brunt of the explosion I am sent flying across the room. After getting my senses back I look at the little girl and say, “I am sorry for the rocky ride.” But to my horror I see the front of the girl's body is completely burnt to a crisp, she has long been dead.

Hearing more explosions close to me I feel the building shake and then looking up I see large pieces of the building fall on top of me.

Φ “Gloria what the hell are you doing taking so long.”

Suddenly I hear someone tap me on the back and say, “ARTHUR!” Looking at the person I see it is Avaram, before I can speak he screams, “WHERE IS GLORIA.”

“She went inside the building a while ago.” Suddenly a series of explosions go off inside the building.

Avaram has a look of horror on his face as he runs directly at the building. “STOP YOU WILL DIE IF YOU GO IN THERE.”

“I AM GOING TO GO GET MY WIFE.”

Dammit, I can’t stop him, “FUUUUUCK! SHE IS IN ROOM EIGHTY-TWO,” He accelerates incredibly fast and heads into the building.

Φ I run into the flaming building and push all the debris out of my way. The flames burn my flesh, but it regenerates as I go. I told her to take a break, I told her to stop but she didn’t listen. Still, I have faith, she promised no matter what she will always come back.

I force my way through the building until I start to see numbered doors. She has fought countless gangs, dealt with countless dangers and for god sake, she survived a black hole, do you even know how few people could even do that. My wife is a hero a person who always wins, so I am sure she just needs some help today.

Eventually reaching room Eighty-two I see the entire floor of this building has been destroyed, so I jump into it and head down to the other floors. She probably has moved on from here, but it won’t hurt to check.

As I land on a floor with a lot of flaming debris, I clear it out rapidly and eventually I come across a burnt arm. It is probably someone who died on the bottom floor or has fallen from floors upstairs, so I shouldn’t mind this.

But I wasn’t able to move myself on, I wasn’t able to let go of the hand. So I decided to drink the blood in it and its taste is all too familiar. Dropping the hand I move all the debris out of the way and as I do I find burnt limbs and organs every wear, eventually I find two completely burnt and destroyed bodies.

I quickly take a moment to taste the bodies blood and out of disbelief, I fall to my knees as tears evaporate from my eyes.