Haru: Legends & memories.

26/04/2052

4:34 Am.

Tokyo, 8th district.

Haru was standing on a cloud, looking down on a silver skyscraper city built atop a mountain, probably hundreds of times taller than Everest.

There was a crack, followed by a roar only comparable to the explosion of a supernova. Cries from children and adults alike. People in eccentric costumes accompanied by bright colours that Haru swore he had never seen before. They all ran through the streets of the silver city in terror and vanished in a fog of sinister aura. Out of the mist a sort of humanoid figure slowly took shape, slowly advancing through the fog, leaving behind it a halo of death. Before he lost his vision he could see the creature's crimson eyes staring back at him. They resembled the predatory eyes of the dark elves of his people's legends.

In the confusion he lost track of time and space. He felt his body float lightly through the fog of war and ash that now made up the landscape in which the silver city stood moments ago. Suddenly he heard the voice of his sister, Akira, recite like a poem.

"-When darkness comes choose your path brother, crush the stars. Pull the devil's trigger and light the world," she continued, "When angels dance in purgatory, find yourself in heaven. Before oblivion imprints its scars on you, hold on, live in prayer, shine.

He woke up shaken and drenched in sweat. That dream again, no, recurring nightmare, Haru thought. His sister's words echoed in his head like an ancient mantra imprinted on his own consciousness. Is it some kind of prayer she's never told me about? he wondered.

It was a warm spring night, and Haru could not sleep well. This nightmare had thrown him off balance.

There was something strange about the atmosphere, or so he felt. The lights in Tokyo normally didn't let you see a single star in the sky, and yet if you looked up, that night you could see the Orion belt and each of its droplets dazzling clearly in the night sky. Haru noticed this as he looked out of the window on his mantelpiece while lying in bed.

"-They used to say it was a bad omen, I never believed it." -he said to himself. Then he took a picture of his parents from his bedside table. He was still a bit agitated and thought maybe this would calm him down a bit.

Haru and his sister Akira lived on the outskirts of District 8, with their maternal aunt and uncle and their grandmother. They had never met their parents, and whenever they were about to ask about their fate, their family insisted on changing the subject, as if it were some kind of taboo.

They would never tell him what became of them, though, and they were not in the mood to do so until both brothers came of age, or so they said. His aunt and uncle always told him about their parents' adventures and ways. Haru had been told several times that he inherited his adventurous nature from his father, as well as his eyes, sometimes dull vinotintos, when excited, a fiery red.

Haru detailed the picture of his father. A thin man, very tall and jovial in appearance. Straight, grey hair, reaching down to his neck. He wore a black suit that contrasted nicely with his eyes and hair. He had a smile from ear to ear. It was her wedding day.

When he looked at his mother, he remembered his sister Aki, who, they said, inherited her eyes, porcelain skin and natural beauty.

It was no wonder. Akira was the spitting image of her mother, both porcelain dolls as white as snow and with the bluest eyes Haru had ever seen. They glowed even at night, with all the lights in the house turned off.

If eyes really were the reflections of the soul, as people said in the Middle Ages, then his mother and sister Akira were probably noble spirits or Western angels in disguise, Haru thought.

Of course, by the same logic, he must be some kind of demon like the one he saw in his dreams. To him there was no way it was possible, his father looked like an angel fallen from the sky, even with those flames for eyes.

After a while of admiring the picture and remembering his family's stories he finally calmed down. That night he felt strangely close to his parents.

Haru then smiled sweetly just before falling asleep.

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