War in the Shadows

Chapter 1

I don't remember much of my childhood. Only a few fragments. I remember my name, Ruben Rose, a stone village called Nox, the Novalamari flowers that lit the streets and roof of the cavern, a library with the kind librarian who raised me, and a girl. Mostly, all of my memories have her in them. I can't remember her name or face, but the rest is still clear. She was a six-year-old with shoulder-length brown hair and was very fast. Her clothes would always end up getting torn and dirty somehow. Ether by climbing the town's buildings or exploring the cavern walls for little hiding places. I remember being the little troublemakers of our town. The six and eight-year-old thieves who would always find a way to slip through the hands of the Falkor membres on patrol and heroes to the people who were poor and received the things we stole. The soldiers of Falkor found us amusing and it became a game for them to try to see who would be the first to catch us. I can't remember if anyone succeeded or not. As I said before, I only have fragments of my past. The only clear memory is the one I wish I didn't remember and where I lost everything. This memory is when the Antumbra, creatures formed by the plague of Casimir, attacked and destroyed my home. I had fallen asleep waiting for the girl to return to our hideout in the library when I was awoken by the emergency evacuation sirens blaring. I didn't realize what was happening at the time; however, when I left the library where the girl, the librarian and I lived, I saw the black masses destroying buildings, the panicking people screaming in pain and terror and the shadow like creatures attacking them, I knew that I wasn't safe. I noticed the soldiers of falkor were barking out orders and evacuating people, avoiding those who had black mass surrounding them, even if they withered in pain. I followed them to the evacuation site, hoping the girl and the librarian were already there; revolted at the fact that I couldn't do anything for all these people who were being abandoned and left to die, especially since one of them could easily be some close to me. I immediately crushed that thought and picked up my pace. When I got there, I looked around more and more anxiously and asked people if they had seen either of them, but they all said no. I kept looking desperately, but I wasn't finding them; I couldn't see them, and with horror, I realized the girl and librarian weren't there. I turned to our town, now wreaked and broken, with a level of terror that surpassed any before. I sprinted, frantic, to return and find them, but the back of my shirt was grabbed. The soldier who grabbed me pulled me back and told me not to return; I wouldn't listen. I struggled to escape her and finally managed by headbutting her nose, causing her to yelp in surprise. She dropped me, and I started running again. However, the other soldiers were already waiting, alerted by their friend's yelp. The soldiers of Falkor tried calming me down, but I wasn't listening. I kept telling them to move over and over again. That I had to save my friend. I had to save the librarian. I had to save them! Then, one of them knelt before me and wrapped his arms around me. Thinking that he was restraining me, I tensed, yet he didn't move. I stayed still, surprised and confused at what the man was doing, and then it hit me. He was hugging me. I started crying, the contrast of emotions overwhelming me. I had to go find them! I didn't want to move. They needs me! I'm scared. They could be hurting or stuck somewhere! "I have to save them." I whispered hopelessly. "I have to try." I was losing hope, I felt exhausted, and even if they let me try, what could I do? The town was blazing, and that haunting minty smoke smell was everywhere around me. The man sat back and put his hands on my shoulders, looking straight into my eyes with his own, and said the words that still haunt me today. "Their dead." After that, I just cried, looking at the blazing inferno as loneliness and grief drowned me. I didn't turn my eyes away, not once. This is why I noticed masses of blackness forming and slipping away from the village, leaving only runes. They were the Antumbra. That is when my hatred for the Antumbra was born. I was going to hunt them all down. The Antumbra, the Aeron rebellion, and anyone else involved. The girl and librarian were dead because of them, and I am going to make sure no one will ever have to go through what I had to. I am going to protect our world. No matter what.