With my friends back and my hope restored, I was at an all time high. Years went by and my happiness soared through the skies while my past remained buried in its earthly tomb. Nothing could go wrong, anything was possible thanks to the Hikari that stayed with me through the dilemmas I've endured after that fate-deciding day. Wintertime arrived where my past resided. My Hikari illuminated the snow packed floor of the hill as I trudged through the snow pileup. I arrived at my burial grounds in time for my yearly reflection, eyeing the tombstone that noted my past endeavor. I took a knee in a spot I cleared away of snow and closed my eyes. "This year and the years before me have been nothing short of easy. I thank you for giving me the opportunity to see beyond the past and the chance to improve myself day by day." I looked towards the distance with a sigh. "Between me and you, I've felt an odd pull to the past the last couple of days. It's eating at my mind, forcing me to rely on my heart and gut instead of the latter." I recalled a dream I had many nights ago. I stood before a bridge, the wind whispering hymns too dark for me to accept. I saw myself in a new light, a light filled with power and fear that changed the look in my eyes. Figures in the distance pleaded for me to stop as I approached them with a hands covered in turmoil and corruption. A great flame ensued after that, causing me to awake from my sleep with rattling pupils. "Excuse me! You there! I need help with directions to town!" My Hikari vanished, hiding within the confines of my soul. I came back to the present and saw a man dressed in all white, with the most elegant smile I've ever encountered. His aura was warm and inviting, intoxicating almost. "Who are you?" "I'm called many names, but you of all people can call me Des." "Take caution." Hope said to me. I looked at Des as he stepped closer and closer to me, revealing a face of innocence and joy. "Don't come closer!" I shouted. Des stood stationary, looking at me with a nod. "I'll respect that. I just really need to get to town. There's a bridge that'll take me on the right path. I can find someone else to take me, but you were closest I hope you wouldn't mind." "Alright, I'll take you to the bridge, just stay behind me and don't try anything funny." With a confirming nod, I lead the way towards the bridge with hope's words in mind. As we reached closer to the outskirts of the forest, Des inquired about my whereabouts. "What?" I stupidly asked. "Why were you in the remote part of the forest so far from the city?" "I buried something there long ago." "Like a dead animal or a loved one?" "Not exactly." "Something inorganic, like a toy or piece of jewelry?" "Why do you care so much?" I snapped. "Sorry!" Des said with a genuine tone. "I was curious was all." I sighed from my harsh reaction. "Sorry about that Des, but it's truly nothing important." With the end of the conversation, we reached the beginning of the bridge, a long stone and wood contraption that connected two pieces of land together. Des and I walked across with no words said to one another, mostly out of my fear of heights and such. Once I stepped foot over to the other side, I began to catch my breath while Des chuckled. "I love bridges! Don't you?" He asked. "I don't know what I'm walking under so no, I don't." I said once my breathing regulated. Des stuck his hand out and smiled. "I believe a thanks are in order." "Don't shake his hand." Hope said to me. "It's the polite thing to do." I reminded it. "There's more behind the shake, I can feel it." "It's totally okay!" I said as I reached my hand out to meet his open palm. Des slammed his hand into mine and locked eyes with me. I gasped with the amount of cold I felt running throughout my body. My warmth evaporated and the numbing cold pierced the sides of my head. "Good, you fell for it." Des said. His white clothes fell to the ground and turned into fine ash. Black smoke formed the new clothes Des wore as his eyes pulsated with vermillion waves. "It took me years to find you, hope." Des said as he circled my body. "You hid yourself in this man's vessel for years, and I'm here to bring him home." My friends ran towards me from town, looking upon me with horror and dissatisfaction. "What is this?" I shouted with irritation. "They're here to see who you truly are. You hid your true form from the ones that love you and now they have front row seats to your downfall." "I thought you changed." One friend said with teary eyes. "You never learned from your mistakes." Another said. "I HAVE CHANGED!" I bellowed out to them. My Hikari illuminated before me, blocking my vision. I fell back onto the bridge to escape the light that prohibited my sight. I looked down and noticed sparks of white embers splashing against the surface of the bridge. Des laughed as I groaned from the painful radiance before me. I heard the menacing words of my friends, who once wished me the best throughout my life, now telling me to leave their lives forever. Their words combined, with the laughter from my newfound enemy excavated a source of hatred I held in. Hatred boiled on my tongue as I absorbed the betrayal they bestowed upon me. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?!!" I shouted towards my friends as they looked on with no emotion. "I KNEW I WAS ALONE FROM THE START!" "You forced us away!" They all screamed to me. "I HATE YOU ALL!" My Hikari burst into flames of marble white, attacking the bridge with scorching heat and wind that tore pillars off and left me staring at the flames with fear. "Help me!" I shouted out as the flames danced around my feet. "They won't help you, you've burnt this bridge all by yourself." Des said. Without warning, the bridge fell with a single crack, sending me and the fire surrounding me into the depths below. Light slowly faded from view, the shadowy figures of my former friends walking away from the crash site becoming a thing of the past. The ground I fell on was light and absorbent as if it was created just for heavy falls. "Where am I?" I said to myself. As I said that, a pile of dirt flew onto my chest, causing me to become confused. Whistling ensued the pile of dirt, creating confusion as I looked around for a sign. "I can't move." I said out loud. "You're dead, why would you be able to move?" "What?" Des appeared above me with a light, glaring down at my body. On the sides of my body were two walls of dirt six feet high. Des smirked as I frantically looked for an exit. "It's over." He confirmed. "Your hope has fled and your hikari has burned to nothing." "Who are you?" I hoarsely spoke to him. "I hold many names but to you I'm despair." "Despair." I repeated. "You've been awake for too long, it's time to go to sleep in the grave you left vacant." "I prevailed from hopelessness." Despair eyed me with no emotion. He snapped his fingers, creating a waterfall effect of soil to cover my body. The soil stuck to my arms and legs, forcing me to lay down and see my final moments. "Where did I go wrong?" "You betrayed yourself and your heart when you took my hand. Despite the caution you heard countless times, you failed to listen to your heart, taking your mind's opinion before your gut feeling. I was sent here to test you. If you passed, you would've been free to go. You chose to take the hand of despair, you haven't learned your lesson." As the dirt went past my shoulders and crushed my organs, I damned him for tricking me into this hole of eternity. "I'm still alive, you can't do this!" "You've been dead for years, this is all a test to see if you deserved to enjoy your life after death." As the last of the dirt was filled in, and I was no more than the earth around me, I closed my eyes and felt the last heartbeat vibrate the soil before I was no more. A single phrase was spoken to me before it all faded to black. "Don't take your blessings for granted, for your biggest blessing can be your biggest curse."
YOU ARE READING
Hikari
General FictionYour biggest adversary lies between your eyes, but your greatest inspiration can come from the darkest of times.
