In his dreams, Ethan remembers not things he experienced while growing up, but distant memories whose meanings he doesn't even know.
Most of the time, an intense heat enveloped his body. Something so strong it made him cry for hours, even though he was only wrapped in a light blue blanket.
The golden strands swaying in his line of sight. Eyes of the same color shining under the radiant light. He remembers for several nights, like a distant and confusing dream. Just like the spacious and luxurious environments that, before he was summoned as a hero by demons, seemed strange and fanciful to him.
The face of this person is a mystery, but their warm smile marked his memories. Their mouth moving cheerfully, usually the last happy scene in Ethan's dreams, because soon after, what he actually experienced and remembers in detail begins to repeat like an endless movie where he himself is the main actor.
What happened during that time, at the beginning of everything, he never could understand. As if the lights of the universe were gathering around him, the stars fit in the palms of his small hands and served, for a short period of time, as his first toys. However, after such an unforgettable vision, an apparent fall occurs, leaving him at the mercy of animals and the cold rains in a mere alley.
After the stars disappeared, the intense heat had considerably diminished, making his warning cry no longer necessary. It was as if, finally, the temperature around him was close to equilibrium.
Strange animals emerged. Their soft fur and eyes with distinct colors were beautiful, but the claws, although unable to inflict any real physical harm on him, caused extreme pain.
Amidst the comings and goings of the animals living in that dark alley, at some point, the temperature balance tipped to one side. The incessant drops, each carrying a cold that seemed to penetrate the blanket wrapping him and directly hit his skin, brought back the uncomfortable sensation he hadn't felt in a long time.
His cry echoed again as the rain continued to fall on his body and flood his surroundings. However, there was no one to rescue him.
The animals scattered when the first drop fell. In the distance, although he couldn't tell what they were, he could easily hear the sounds of cars passing by the streets. Hard objects hitting the ground from various directions, while strange and incomprehensible voices surrounded his ears. From all sides, noises reached him, but his screams weren't loud enough to escape that narrow alley and do the same.
At some point, the noises and strange voices around him ceased, and the raindrops stopped hitting him, but the cold still persisted. Cold water may no longer be hitting him, but it remained pooled around him, and his blanket was completely soaked, clinging to his body and restricting his movements even more, making the situation much more uncomfortable than it already was.
With the return of the distant light that entered over the high walls, illuminating the surroundings a bit but not the whole environment, the noise around him returned, muffling his uninterrupted crying. Different, smaller, and far less adorable animals emerged during the dawn. Their dirty fur and repulsive smell didn't generate any desire in him to touch them.
And so, abandoned in the midst of a small puddle of water, another day passed.
"But what..."
As night fell, a noise different from the usual ones emerged. A noise that invaded his ears and shook his mind, causing a scream of pain to emit from his mouth instinctively.
Opening his eyes, Ethan couldn't see anything less familiar. Worn-out clothes, carrying various holes, certainly nothing he had seen before. His eyes and hair were different, dark like the environment they were in. Even stranger was the amount of white hair scattered across his face. Raising his hands, Ethan touched for the first time a dirty and unkempt beard.
"Who could do something so cruel...? Such a small baby..."
Although he had been removed from that puddle that had been gradually decreasing for some time, his blanket remained, so the cold didn't leave.
"Oh, little one, you really like my beard, don't you?"
That smile wasn't like the first, nor could it be remotely as beautiful, but the conveyed feeling certainly was the same. Playing with the beard of that initially unknown man, for the first time, Ethan found himself heading out of that dark and narrow alley.
The sounds approaching, the beats on the ground surrounding him, and, looking around, for the first time in a while, he was seeing the world outside of darkness.
Lights in all directions, bright and of distinct colors, just like in one of his oldest and most confusing memories. However, not as small or close, and not even as beautiful. Now, for some reason, he couldn't touch them anymore.
Buildings rising everywhere, and beside him, strange structures passing by, at a high speed for some, but slowly to his eyes.
"That's it, smile, little boy, soon you'll have a place to call home."