SkyFall : Eulogy of The Void

Mother, Father, Sister

     The subdued light tiptoed into the room, sneaking past the small window and scarce ventilation, impeding the sun's attempt to greet the two occupants. They call it an apartment here, though the true essence of such a dwelling differs vastly from the shelter behind the protective city walls. Yet, it was the only semblance of habitation deemed acceptable for those outside—the countless individuals with nowhere to seek shelter. A solitary room served as their gathering space, where they ate, slept, and found moments of joy. No additional rooms, not even for the simplest tasks like washing dishes. 

   They lack the luxury of a personal bathroom, everything from bathing, relieving, to cleaning dishes and clothes occurs in the communal bathrooms on each floor. Only government officials possess apartments with more than one room, and among the populace, only the Draven have private baths in their abodes. 

Beyond the walls, no outsider owns a home; that privilege is reserved solely for noble clans, all nestled within the city walls. The noble clans comprise families with multiple Draven members, predominantly descendants of Sovereigns—those powerful Dravens capable of shielding or laying waste to a city. Beyond the walls, the air teems with miasma, smoke, dust, pollution, and radioactive elements. Despite the radiant sun outside, only a faint, feeble light manages to penetrate the concrete forest enveloping the City Wall. Dense, damp, dreary, and dark—this encapsulates the daily ambiance of the Gantz area, the birthplace and upbringing of Xinadra Scotia.

His uncommon last name did little to alter his fate, as his mother had foretold. He shared a destiny scarcely different from the other slum dwellers.

Life expectancy barely reached 40 years here, and the oldest resident, known as "Grandpa," was a mere 49 years old. Xin's mother married his father at 12, while his father, just 18, passed away at 29, a year after the birth of Rinia, Xin's younger sibling.

Xin took up various odd jobs—scrap collecting, repairs, laborer—anything to sustain their family, echoing the survival ethos ingrained in many Gantz district denizens.

Xin's father fell during an unforeseen Scourge attack one fateful, pitch-black night. The guards stationed on the wall, indifferent to Gantz's plight, only sounded the alarm for those within the walls. Its shrill cry never reached the ears of the outsiders. Thankfully, its roar, akin to attacking beasts, inadvertently offered a shred of warning to those beyond, albeit by pure chance. When their family awoke amidst the night's chaos, seeking refuge and clemency from their fellow Gantz inhabitants, Xin's father felt compelled to return to Gantz's farthest reaches, joining the ranks of volunteer fighters. An organization birthed from Gantz's locals, driven by the will to survive, as they know the city authorities, viewing the outcasts as expendable, wouldn't deign to lend a hand—a dismissed faction relegated to nothing but livestock and expendable fodder.

As dawn approached and the volunteer fighters returned, celebrating their survival amid the dying, Xin's father remained conspicuously absent. A comrade of his father and a neighbor from the same apartment floor returned, clutching a bloodied mass of fingers—its index and thumb missing—adorned with a ring. A ring, engraved akin to their mother's pendant, SCOTIA —stained with fresh blood but still bearing the unmistakable mark, the same as the one their father cherished.

"Ahem, ahem... Xin, come here, my son. I need to entrust something to you." Amidst a worsening cough, the air seemed to strangle everyone slowly. Xin approached his mother, pale and frail. Though her hair hadn't turned gray, wrinkles adorned the warmest face he'd known. His mother had long endured chronic coughs, only eased by drinking warm leftover wheat water. 

Not a single doctor or pharmacy existed in the Gantz district. Xin knew his mother would suffer the same fate as the common folk beyond the walls, awaiting the time until these Gantz folks, these commoners, expired and were claimed by fate.