02-28-2018, 11:23 PM
Quote:This is the tale of a child who has yet to realize his true existence.
Simon and Kamina, a digger and his brother, have long since abandoned the subdued life of Giha Village. Hoping to live life as the wealthy Beastmen do, Kamina spurred the two of them to become jewel thieves, stealing treasure from stores and reaping the rewards. However, they did not not live long like this before the authorities caught on, driving the brothers to the end of their rope.
Eventually, this child shall find a new purpose...
Simon blinked. A sheet of what burned like pure light invaded his vision, and his eyelids squeezed to a near-shut state. Yet, while the digger feared becoming blind, he too felt deeply curious about the circumstances.
"...Kamina?" Silence. For all he tried to see and hear, Simon could not find a single trace of the spot he had just been in. The cold earth under his shoes, the wispy black atmosphere of the canyon, the sight of his brother begging for his life at the feet of Beastmen officers..
"Big bro?" Simon asked, as if he might suddenly leap to the call with a yell of defiance and some inspirational words. Neither came, and the spiritual little brother was left wanting. What happened to Kamina, the policemen, the trap- everything? Why was he here?
Why did he have to be alone again?
The young digger looked around, hoping to find something else- anything else besides himself in this endless white expanse. Simon's hands came into his vision, a feeling of self-awareness that didn't prove to be very reassuring. Simon was more than simply alarmed; he was so afraid, so shocked at at this transition that it felt like a struggle to move at all. But move he did, pivoting his feet, craning his head in searching of anything at all.
He found someone quickly, immediately behind him. Any other time, he might've jumped back in surprise at the new-found knowledge that there was a figure behind him, but these circumstances were unusual. As the young digger turned around to fully face this challenger, Simon became aware that this person wasn't alive at all. Because it was a statue.
A three-meter monument, etched flawlessly from a dark stone like granite, depicted a man. Perhaps a man of men, as the shawl of stone he wore hung like a cape over his shoulders, coming down to the ankles even when standing firm. The roughness of the chiseled visage, with star-shaped shades and folded arms, rather reminded Simon of Kamina.
Of course, it was not at all the same. For this was only a statue, so tall that it dwarfed even his brother. A shrine to someone else, it seemed.
With nowhere else to go, nothing else to do, Simon approached the figure. Where the statue stood proud was a pedestal, trickling water into a circular- wait. The stuff coming from the stone was a tint of green. Was it even water, or something else entirely? Simon looked over the edge of the knee-high wall, finding it surrounded a pool of vibrant green substance, perpetually rippling from the flow of similar stuff from the pedestal. The young boy couldn't even see his reflection in the light.
"What... is all this?" Simon asked aloud, taking two steps backward to gaze over the whole sight before him. A mighty statue, a flow of stuff, a pool of similar glowing stuff... it didn't make any sense. What sort of purpose did this thing bear? And why was it here? The child looked around again, as if to find something else that would provide an answer. But no such thing existed- just an endless expanse of white, stretching unto the faintest of horizons. Where even was he? Why was he here?
Deep down, he knew the answer. But this was not the truth that Simon wanted.
"Kamina!? Bro-!" The young digger cried out, frantically swinging his head about. Nobody answered. Nobody else even existed, as far as he could tell. Simon gasped, took a big gulp of air, and nearly choked on it.
This couldn't be right. This couldn't be real. Any moment now, he would simply awaken. Just laying there, in his comfortable bed he and Kamina had rented at that hotel. His big bro would be smacking him over the head for sleeping in too much, when there was such other fortune and luxury in the world to indulge in...
...right?
All at once, Simon's legs gave out. He fell to his rear, his back hitting the edge of the fountain. Both were terribly lukewarm, smooth and hard against his body. Simon didn't care much, simply laying there, overwhelmed at the nothingness.
What was he meant to do? If only Kamina were here, he would know for certain. Not only that, the man would probably take Simon close and scream in his ear for ever thinking of being as down as he was right now. Because a real man didn't think about things like challenges, or consequences, or crap like inter-dimensional whatevers and omni-versing whatnots. A real man would charge forward boldly unto the horizon, rushing towards tomorrow, looking for the next obstacle to overcome! Kamina would say that Simon should never need to believe just in himself- just believe in the big brother that believes in him.
Yeah, he would say that, alright... if only he were here.
"Kamina..." Simon choked on air again. The motion shook a single tear past his cheek and into his lap.