The Forgotten Light

1. Fairlight

9 years later...

Fairlight was sitting on the flat roof of their building in Florence, watching the quiet surroundings. As always - she waited for the sunset. With her eyes closed, she enjoyed its last rays, which pleasantly brushed her face. She tried to cut herself off from reality, to focus her thoughts only on this one simple moment. Nothing else. The warmth of the sun, a light breeze, a quiet hum. The warmth of the sun, the light breeze, the quiet...

Unfortunately, one loud, painful heartbeat was enough to jolt her out of the comfort of her own thoughts. The heart never forgets the blows it has been dealt. She was overwhelmed anew by horror, as if all the peace she had found had been swept away by the wind.

She lifted her eyelids and the golden rays of the sun reflected on her blue eyes.

Twenty years had passed since the Invicta Beings invaded Earth.

Twenty years of wreaking havoc wherever even one individual of this alien species appeared.

Twenty years of exterminating humanity.

Two decades. That was all it took for the cities, always vibrant, lit and loud, to turn to nothingness. No lights, no voices, no sounds. Just a handful of people. They were now called the Silent Cities. The others either no longer existed or served as mass graves or labor camps, where factories continued to operate under harsh regime. These were called the Death Cities.

The largest agglomerations were taken over by Invicta. After the massive destruction that resulted from the conquest of the cities, the Beings rebuilt them or raised new towers of their own on the debris.

Fairlight stared at the colorful sky. It was probably the only thing in this world that the Beings couldn't take away from them, tear it to pieces and rebuild it according to their own ideas.

Watching the desert surroundings, which were dotted with dilapidated houses similar to their base, she looked out for her parents every evening. Her father never said when they would meet again, he only promised to find her, and he never broke the promises given. However, so much time had passed... At the age of eight, she fled south for several days until she finally stumbled across one of the Silent Cities - Florence, the unlit city her father had mentioned. Her friends told her she was in the right place. She wouldn't be able to find anything further, unless she wanted to meet death.

So she was there. She had been waiting for her parents for nine years...

"Is this what you're looking for?" she asked, lifting the key ring hanging on her finger.

Surprised, Harlyn stopped. Fairlight turned her gaze on him with a sly smile.

"Nine years, and you still haven't learned that I can't be sneaked up on?"

"All right, all right. No fancy airs."

Fairlight looked back at the setting sun, the golden rays reflected in the blue glow of her eyes. She fiddled with a broken key ring that once fully presented the shape of the state of Arizona. With her fingers she studied its shape, the sharpness of its edges, its imperfections.

"Everyone's ready?"  she asked.

"Usain is about to pack the last boxes into the trunk of the Jeep. The RAM truck is bending all the way under the weight of the loaded junk. Besides, Rit says that someone snatched the keys to the Jeep, but as I see it, the lost has been found"

"And what did you expect?"

Harlyn stood with his legs wide apart and his arms folded, looking down at her.