Solera

Chapter 0: To you that day

A beautiful existence. The world had truly blessed this person standing right before my eyes. It was as if the universe had made a mistake, allowing such a breathtaking, unearthly soul to be bound to a place so filled with flaws, limitations, and suffering. Their very presence seemed to mock the ordinariness of human life.

My heart kept beating rapidly, and my eyes were mysteriously unable to avert their gaze from this singular entity, whose existence was not dimmed by the dark, barren cave we resided in.

Was this a person? Or was it sent to lure pitiful beings with its charm that knew no end? The hair flowed like snowdrifts, its pale strands catching the light with an ethereal glow. It was stark white, almost silver, cascading down in soft waves that seemed to shimmer with a life of their own. Their piercing amber eyes seemed to hold all of the knowledge in the world. It felt like I was born into this world to meet this person. 

I grabbed onto the rags that covered my chest and felt my heart racing wildly. 

'Should I interact with them? If I were to touch them, would I simply be coming into contact with nothingness or a person?'

It all felt too surreal to process. The boy was draped in tattered rags, the fabric threadbare and clinging to his frail frame as if it could no longer shield him from the harsh world around him. His raven-black hair, once wild and untamed, now fell in messy, uneven strands that reached just below his neck, dark as midnight but dulled by neglect. His dark-brown eyes, dull and lifeless in the past, now held a fleeting spark glimmering with a hint of vitality that had long been absent. It was as if, for a brief moment, the storm within him had stilled, and the boy was someone else entirely, full of hope and purpose but only for a moment before the exhaustion of his body and soul pulled him back into shadow.

Water droplets echoed through the hollow depths of the cave, each drop falling with a rhythmic precision, punctuating the heavy silence. The air was thick with moisture, and the shadows, long and sinuous, stretched and twisted into grotesque, unnatural shapes, like dark creatures shifting in the periphery of one's vision. They crept along the jagged stone walls, swallowing every glimmer of light, choking out the faintest traces of hope until nothing but the suffocating dark remained. Every inch of the cave seemed to bend inwards, drawn toward the depths. Yet, amidst the consuming blackness, one defiant light held firm. Hers. A soft, trembling glow that resisted the abyss, its warmth flickering like a heartbeat in the cold. The shadows recoiled from it, but they couldn't extinguish it—her light was a fragile sanctuary, suspended in the oppressive gloom, a fragile promise of something that still fought against the overwhelming darkness.

The girl turned slowly as she met the boy's eyes. Her amber eyes were unreadable yet showed all signs of emotion with just a look. Time seemed to pause for these two individuals as they both showed silent recognition of the figure standing opposite them.

His gaze peered down as he drooped his shoulders in uncertainty and walked towards her with purposeful strides. He moved his thin frame tentatively so did his eyes. They were filled with quiet sadness, a heaviness that seemed beyond his years seemingly as if he was just weary from just existing.

The more he walked, the more pungent the scent of wet earth was. 

Step. Step.

These deciding steps echoed throughout the cave as the boy walked towards the girl.

Up close she was short. Yet her beauty remained. 

Her eyes followed his features as she tilted her head with her lips pursed.

Extending his arm in the form of a handshake, the silence had stretched on for what felt like an eternity, thick and suffocating, wrapping the cave in an almost oppressive stillness. Every sound, every breath seemed drowned by the weight of it. But then, from the corner of the shadowed space, the one to shatter the silence was the pale and frail boy. His voice, fragile and unsteady, broke through the quiet like a faint crack in glass soft but sharp enough to disrupt the tension. His body trembled, thin and worn, the rags draped over him hanging loosely from his frail frame. His skin was nearly translucent, and yet, his eyes dark and clouded with weariness held a fire that burned through the darkness, unyielding. Despite the exhaustion that clung to him like a second skin, despite the fragility of his form, he spoke words trembling in the air as though they carried the weight of something far greater than his small, fragile body could bear.

"My name is Aisling but you can call me Ais. What's yours?"

Responding to the frail hand extended towards her, the girl revealed a faint smile causing the boy's heart to skip another beat as she uttered those fateful words. 

"Sinclaire."

Neither of them had known that this meeting would shake the entire world.