1 CH. 1 - Prelude - Beginning Or The End?

The sensation of raindrops falling upon my face and body was something that I had never enjoyed, in fact, I detested it. Just the sight of those dark, ominous clouds spread across the sky-scape with their rolling echoes of thunder was enough to put me in a bad mood.

Although for today, I was glad for it. Glad for those hateful drops which mixed with the tears that ran their own seemingly endless rivers down my face.

Soaked through my clothes to my skin, I wasn't aware of how long I had been kneeling in the muddy puddle beneath me. Had it been minutes? Hours? Time stands still when we're faced with moments that shock us to our very soul.

"…"

Even without being able to make a sound, my throat was hoarse. Grief has a way of affecting us in tremendous ways. For some, screaming their pain to the world is their release. But for me, I just felt broken.

Sorry… How much weight does that word carry when the emotions behind it are already too heavy? So much had happened, continued to happen…

Thank you… Sounds too hollow when the person it's meant for is unable to hear the heartfelt expression. I had so much to be thankful for, not just because of you.

Goodbye… Is finite, it means the end… And I'm not ready to face that… I've already had to say goodbye to so many people.

Ever since I had arrived here in this world, the experiences I had endured varied from joy to outright torment. The ultimate culmination of that pain had climaxed to a point where I had never expected to be anything but a shell.

Blank… Empty… Resigned…

Waiting for death, resigned to it, even wishing for it. I believed that death was the only release from my suffering that would invariably save me.

Never had I considered that in this cruel world would there be any kindness handed out to someone who had been in my position. Especially from someone who was a symbol of the ultimate evil against humans.

But she rescued me. The most unlikely, unsuspecting, most unbelievable person that could be imagined, turned out to be my savior.

I never could understand why it was that she, of all people, would be the one to extend their hand and save someone like me. Whenever I asked her why, she would simply return the question with a sad smile and say-

"Because you're like me."

As far as I was concerned, the difference between us was like the sun and the moon. The cold dead moon, which bathed in the radiant warming light of the sun, but never able to reach each other. Forced to dance at opposite ends of the spectrum against one another for eternity.

Which was why, that for someone who was so blindingly bright to declare such a thing to someone who was broken and empty, I could never understand.

Maybe I just simply didn't want to understand.

The broken husk of the former castle reared skyward, towering above me. An imposing figure against the surrounding landscape even still. Smoke rose from the fires set within which refused to yield and fade away, even against the heavy downpour assaulting it. The crumbling walls and broken buildings within the city were a testament to the great battle which had taken place.

Bodies in their twisted, battered armor lay strewn about, blood still oozing and mixing with the surrounding muddied water. Ally and foe alike, their glazed over eyes were unable to see anything ever again.

The northern tower of the castle finally gave way and began to crumble and collapse to the earth. The tremors it sent as it struck the ground rocked the earth beneath me.

"That's right… Even that day it was raining… How I hate it..."