Chapter Text
He has no plans for the future, no comfort in memories. Forsaken by the past and detached from the future, he aimlessly wanders in the present, struggling to no avail.
He has no tomorrow and no home to return to.
This muddied world is a haze of uncertainty, where death is the only absolute.
That is reality.
Is a hollow death the one truth that awaits him?
Before the First Neighbor Invasion, six years ago...
In the comfort of the shadows, there stood a small figure, cloaked in a dark alleyway, and detached from the ebbing lights that crept into its mouth.
Weary, a shallow, jagged breath escaped his throat as his head rested against the wall; however, the sound of his breathing would only be swallowed into the air and the accompanying overpowering sound.
A sweet bitterness lingered at the tip of his tongue as his back turned to the sensation of the cold wall, his ears ringing from the sounds of the distant sirens to the East.
Just beyond the breadth of the outstretched darkness, the young boy bore witness to a light almost too strong to bear.
Squinting his eyes, his vision, though still barely distinguishable, would take a few seconds to adjust through the blinding light.
Blind as the youth was, he was beginning to sense the presence of the contemporaneous reality unravelling before him...
With his eyes...
His ears...
His tongue...
His hair...
His skin...
The thunderous rumblings of the Heavens...
Dense clouds enshrouding the gibbous moon...
The wailing of police sirens ringing to the East...
The incessant, relentless pouring of the rain...
The howling of the tempestuous wind slicing through him...
The passing shadows that seemed to glide in a shimmering frenzy...
Inexplicably, the young boy found himself unconsciously drawn to the distant glare and dived brazenly into the light, tearing himself away from the veiling shadows.
This would mark the beginning of a long, tumultuous night that would be remembered for the years to come, rippling outward and changing the tide of destiny forever, one that could realise his will or wager his own demise...