Black Flare

Chapter 1

Chapter I

People have different reasons why they fear the dark; some say it’s because of a traumatic experience. Some fear the creatures that lurk in the darkness, a predator hunting for its prey and anyone can end up being its dinner. We can never trust our eyes sometimes in the dark, it visualize a different word that an ordinary person can’t see. Thing are not what it seems, sometimes, we see different world, different dimensions undiscovered.

I don’t know for what reason why I fear darkness, maybe it’s because of ancestral instincts or what mysterious creatures’ creeps upon the shadows. Whatever it is, fear or not, no one ever steps into the darkness ever again

***

“In my world, people are separated into two: the Luminous; the softhearted, merciful, the one who fears everything. They are the ones who run for cover, the one who have the instinct to hide, run and never look back. These are my people, and this is what I am. We are the light to this dark world, the world of the Lurid. These are the ones opposite from our kind; they are savage, fierce, and cruel. They kill whoever comes in their path and show no mercy.

 “Many years ago, our specie was hunted by the Lurid, the darkness. Unlike our species, we barely live in the dark world; we are just a small speck inside this dark world. We though we can make it different, we thought we can influence this world, we thought wrong.

“The Lurid’s overlord decided to destroy every single of our ancestors. Thinking that we are pest to their world and in need of extermination in order to conquer every inch of this world. The attack without warning annihilated everyone they encounter. Some of us are lucky, managed to escape and built a new society, where no Lurid can hunt us down, and we can live in peace.

“Our society is patrolled by guards, the best of the best. Barriers protect our village from any intruders. And we are lucky enough for the Lurids for not discovering our town.

“One of our advantages is that the Lurids hunts alone, they never wanted a companion, making them selfish. This rate made our security better and easier. The only reason why they hunt us down is because we are their only weakness, and one way to overcome that is to destroy it.

“Every child who live without their parents are under the care of a guardian until they reach the age of 18. And as for me, an orphan who never heard of my parents since I was an infant is under the care of the bravest guard in our village. He look after me since I was a baby and he’s been a great father to me

“Being a guardian and a guard is a tough job, having two responsibilities in one; I never get to have fun like the other kids. I have to stay indoors for the sake of safety until Felix’s shift is over.

“Our people have everything, but there is just one word they will never use again: freedom. We live in solitude for years we never get the taste of freedom. That’s the change I’m looking forward to.”

***

One night, a young girl wondered off the backyard to play. Urging for a companion and her guardian on duty for the moment, she looked around for something to entertain her. For a 6 year old girl, her boundaries are limitless. “Freedom” whispered in her head, increasing her curiosity of what world lies beyond the dark barriers. She wanted to explore that world, but fear forces her to stay where she were.

Without the company of her guardian and a careless action of leaving the back door unlock, tempted her to grab the opportunity to be free, even if it’s just for a while.

The night is completely different from daytime. The symphony of birds turns to cries of crickets. The breeze that were once welcoming is now cold and cruel. But she doesn’t have no intension to go back inside and become a prisoner of her own house. Her whole life, she never had the chance to play outside at night. And this world makes her happy.