Star fireflies

"The trees and houses were burning.

All around me were screams and shouts.

Then the blood bathed my beloved land.

Everyone fled in search of safety, in terror.

The obscurity had resurfaced from the darkness, sowing destruction and despair.

I saw lifeless bodies slumped to the ground, full of that red liquid.

I was running away in terror and anxiety.

And then, all of a sudden, it was dark.

A distant but familiar voice called my name.

Aisaka."

I woke up with a start in the middle of the night, drops of sweat were wetting my small body. The long, tousled red locks veiled my purple eyes, which hid a small dense, dark chaos of freckles beneath them. My breathing was faster, I tried to calm down but in vain. Lately, the usual nightmare haunted me. I was sitting on my bed. I looked around, my room was very large furnished with simple white wooden furniture including a desk with a chair and a huge wardrobe a light blue sofa, two queen size beds covered in fine white silk sheets. My twin sister slept peacefully next to my bed, her long blue hair covering her soft white pillow almost like a painting. I decided to get up to calm down a bit, it was a beautiful and peaceful summer night. The large window that overlooked the balcony was open, I went towards it and pulled back the long transparent white curtains and looked out onto the balcony, also in white wood. I looked at the view around me, everything was quiet. The sky was full of stars, you could feel the light breeze of the summer. I could hear the song of crickets and the croaking of frogs. I watched the green blades of grass move in that light, faint wind. I wore light purple pyjamas with short sleeves and thigh-length pants. The garden of my house was full of fireflies and every now and then they came to visit me inside the room and on the balcony. In fact, one landed on my hand, it was beautiful. The light it emanated was so fascinating and pure that it managed to calm me down at least a little. I did not realize that someone was watching me hidden behind a lilac tree.

"Hey, redhead! What is it? Can't sleep?" I was told by an elven boy with long brown hair, who looked like a braggart.

I smiled, I knew him very well. He was my best friend, he was a few years older than me. He really liked to make fun of me. He knew everything about me, we could count on each other, to the point, that we confided in each other.

"Hi, Amdir. No, the usual nightmare doesn't make me sleep." I replied smiling.

"How about coming down? If you want we can talk about it." He proposed to me.

I nodded.

I went back into the room, walked on tiptoe quietly, being careful not to wake my sister, and went down the hall, towards the stairs, going down into the garden. Amdir was sitting on the grass waiting for me, I could see his beautiful hazel eyes, as he was looking up at the starry sky. His skin was pale, he almost glowed too. He wore a white tunic and jacket. I walked over to him and sat down beside him. Around us, there were many beautiful fireflies, with their lights that illuminated us.

"So tell me is it always the same dream or, has something changed this time?" He said kindly and smiling at me.

"No, it's always the same." I replied sadly.

"You know, your little head thinks a little too much. You don't have to be afraid, it was just an insignificant bad dream. When you do it again, remember to think about me dressed in pink, but above all remember that what you see is not real." He smiled at me with that braggart look he had, put his index finger and thumb together and hit my forehead.

"Ouch!" I exclaimed, touching my forehead.

He laughed cheerfully, touching his belly in pain.

"Hey, why did you do that ??" I scolded him.

"Because you had a too thoughtful expression. I just wanted to make fun of you. You are really funny." He continued laughing.

"Speaking of the clothes, I still remember that day when the master asked us to perform a simple clothes transformation spell. You spelt it wrong, so you coloured them pink. But all in all, they fit you really well, you know? Maleficent rose dwarf! ". I was laughing out loud and tapped his shoulder several times with my hand. I couldn't take it anymore, since my stomach hurt and I also had tears in my eyes.

"Ah, ah, ah, you are very witty, you know?" He pouted and I became serious again, but it only took a moment that our eyes met and we started laughing with joy.

Amdir was not a light elf like the others he was a half-breed. He was the son of the king of the light elves. His father fell madly in love with a beautiful princess of the brown elf race. The latter were distinguished by their brown hair and eyes, moreover, it was said that they were very wise, great readers of ancient and runic texts. I too had strange appearances; for this reason, I was very attached to him. He was the only one who could truly understand me. All the other kids made fun of us and never wanted to play with us. I have never met anyone who had the same characteristics as me and so was my sister, who had beautiful long straight hair with blue coloured bangs and purple eyes. Several times, I wondered why we were the only weird ones. They had never seen blue-haired or red-haired elves with purple eyes, but it was also rare to see elves with green hair and eyes, they were considered gifts from nature spirits. This is why I talked about it many times with Amdir, but every time I tried he always misled the subject by saying even stupid phrases like:

"It's better this way, you're the only special one, aren't you? The world is beautiful because there are a thousand facets. It would be boring if we are all the same, don't you think? Besides, I really like your long wavy red hair. Especially when you are angry, you look just like a bloodthirsty tiger Groarrr !!.

Your eyes are beautiful too, they have a beautiful shade of purple, like the flowers of the lilac plants and not to mention your freckles on your nose. "He would say teasing me.

I couldn't bear that he told me that. I was not at all beautiful and because of my oddities almost everyone was afraid of me and as soon as they saw me they ran away. Several times some kids provoked me by saying that I was an ugly monster. Anyone who dared to call me that had suffered my anger. My character was quite violent and I knew how to defend myself very well.