A dream woke up from the depths of my soul, a dream from where I didn't want to wake up no matter what in the world. It was not a simple dream. Memories of a distant past seeped from the depths of my subconscious.
Everything around me was hidden behind a sinister layer of dense shadows that barely let me see, making me doubt if all around me was real or not. Still, I couldn't help but yearn to lose myself in those murky memories.
I was born into a happy family, composed of a father, a mother, and an older sister. We had no problems, or so I thought until I began to notice that I was the problem myself. It didn't take me long to realize that there was something wrong with me. I could be considered a piece of a puzzle that didn't fit anywhere.
My parents also did not take long to notice the anomaly in me. My interests did not match those of most of my age and few things managed to capture my interest, causing me to spend the day with a bored and annoyed expression on my face… No one understood me...
They tried many different things to make me change, but they never achieved any results, or rather, they achieved the opposite that they expected. Everything and everyone began to seem like a nuisance and I did not hesitate to show it in bad ways, to the point of easily hurting the feelings of others.
As I grew, the situation did not improve much. I still didn't fit, despite desperately searching for a way to integrate with my surroundings. I showed a great facility for retaining information and learning new things, but nothing succeeded in completely satisfying me. The frustration was increasing day by day, reaching a point where I became irritated by anything and released this irritation on anyone who approached me. People began to distance themselves little by little from me.
At the age of six, there was nothing left that interested me in the least. After all, I did not fit into this world, I was not like the others, and one day a group of children decided to remind me of it in a bad way. I finally broke out and decided to unleash all my anger on them. I wanted to beat them up, leave them lying on the ground crying and screaming in pain. Thinking about it, a smile formed on my face, not a pleasant smile, but a macabre smile full of murderous intentions.
"Hey you, what do you think you're doing?"
But just before the madness finished swallowing me, she appeared. She… who was she? I could not see anything of that silhouette hidden in the shadows. I didn't remember her face, her voice, her age, nothing about her... The only thing I could remember was… her bright smile that looked like the same sun…
"You can't go hitting people like that, it's evil."
…
"You are annoying, mind your own business."
…
"Why did you fight with them?"
…
"They wanted it that way. They are annoying and infuriate me."
…
"Is not true!"
"It is."
"It isn't, you moron!"
…
No matter what we talked about, I couldn't quite remember it, but even through those cloudy memories, I could clearly see the starry sky above me.
"Tell me, what do you think about the sky?"
"The sky? A shit…"
"Come on, don't be like that! You seem bitter, learn to enjoy life a little more. Smile a bit!"
I wanted to leave from there immediately, but something in her aroused my curiosity and tied me next to her. For the first time, I was feeling interested in something…
"Well, I'm going."
"Wait…"
"What happens?"
"... Will we see each other again?"
What happened to that girl? I don't know and probably never will. Also, the only thing that allowed me to remember those events was this dream, but dreams are dreams and they tend to be forgotten. When I woke up the memory would have vanished as if it had never happened…
***
When I opened my eyes I couldn't see anything, but I quickly noticed that it wasn't because it was dark. My face was resting on something soft.
'How did I end up like this?' I wondered, realizing where I was leaning. 'Well, now let's see what I can do…'
"Wake up!"
I didn't have enough time to think about what to do before Raidha herself pulled me aside and began to shake me trying to wake me up. Slowly, I pretended to awake, trying to make her think that it was she who woke me up.
"Ahm, good morning Raidha, how are you?"
'What the hell I'm saying? I look like an idiot saying this…'
It could be clearly seen that not long ago she was crying, as the tears had not yet dried and fear was present on her face. Anyway, we were not safe. Some Katrydes were still present making trouble to the civilians, so I could not waste time trying to figure out what was wrong or trying to comfort her.
"We have to leave before more people arrive," I told her as I awkwardly lifted myself up.
"Yes…. Let's go!" She wiped her eyes and stood up next to me.
We ran away but after three steps I fell to my knees. My whole body started to ache like never before. My bones were creaking, my breathing was heavy, and I even spat blood a couple of times.
"Are you okay?" Raidha approached me concerned.
'Sure I am… Isn't it obvious?' I cursed in my head as I tried to overcome the pain.
Then I realized, my hands, my feet, my clothes, there were red spots everywhere.
'Blood?'
My body shook. A bad feeling came over me. I didn't want to look back, but I forced myself to turn my head… The whole street was painted red. Nausea washed over me and I almost puked out all my stomach content.
'Did I… he did… that?'
I looked away in panic. The shock made me forget the pain for a moment. I got up hastily and walked toward Raidha a few moments before my legs inadvertently sped up. I didn't want to think about what I had just seen, I just wanted to run away.
"I notice it, the fissure is less than five hundred meters away!" Raidha yelled.
Unconsciously, we both accelerated, but before we could advance a few meters, a flash of light appeared in front of us. It was another Katryde who, unlike the soldiers we had encountered, wore no armor. His clothes were quite normal, although some medals hanging from his chest stood out.
"Looks like I'm late," he muttered reluctantly.
He appeared to be in his late thirties or early forties. His appearance was similar to the other Katrydes. He had shoulder-length golden hair and a beard of the same color that seemed to have been neglected for a few days. The color of his eyes was still the same silver, but there was something different about them. I could see that they gave off a shine that the other Katrydes did not have. Only with that, I could deduce that he could not be compared with the others.
'Shit, what should we do now?'
I barely blinked for a second and found him right in front of me. A strong punch hit me in the face without me being able to do anything. I fell foolishly to the ground. All around me was spinning non-stop.
"I can't believe what you did to my men, what a monster you are."
Raidha came running toward me, worried, but as soon as she came close enough, she was pushed away by a hard blow with the back of the hand of that guy.
"Who are you?!" Raidha asked as she stood up with her hand on her face.
"My name is Theralox, a general of the Katryde army. You were unlucky that I was in this area."
The Katryde started walking towards Raidha. I was not in a position to do much. I didn't have the strength to get up all the way and could barely move well, yet I drew the pistol and pointed at him from the ground.
"Stay away from Raidha!"
My pulse was not steady. My hand was shaking like jelly and my vision was also failing. I doubted I could hit him no matter how close I was to him.
'I'm sure I won't get out of this alive… Why am I doing this?'
Theralox completely ignored me and continued to approach Raidha. I pulled the trigger several times but didn't really hit with any single shot. The few that could have reached him were avoided with him only moving a bit to the side. I finally understood what Raidha meant when she told me that firearms weren't worth it.
"You are really annoying, boy." He turned to me.
"Raidha, run… I'll keep him here somehow..."
Even I didn't believe what I had said, but those words stupidly came out of my mouth…
"Wait, Raidha you said?"
… and apparently, this time caught his attention enough.