The Burden of Destiny | Sequel to The Aura Within

20 | For You

Hope found herself in a dream so real that it scared her. A dream was supposed to be an escape from the real world. A dream was supposed to be a place where no harm could find her. A dream was supposed to make her feel at ease when her physical body was at its most vulnerable. Haku had given her a Lunar Wing to ward off any nightmares that kept her awake at night. Since then, she had never suffered from another nightmare with the divine protection blessed by the legendary Cresselia. It was her spiritual shield.

And yet, the nightmare managed to break through that shield and brought about a disturbing sight. All around her, she saw piles and piles of corpses, both human and Pokémon alike. The sky was a gloomy gray, the thick clouds hiding the sun completely. With the addition of the moderate fog surrounding the earth, everything appeared to be completely dark. An involuntary shiver ran down her spine upon feeling the temperature suddenly drop.

Hope wrapped her arms around herself. Her eyes fell on a cleared path for her to walk along among the sea of corpses. She gulped down her uneasiness and hesitantly began her walk on wherever this path led her to. The silence was thick with only the echoes of her footsteps resonating around her. Every breath she released came in the form of a mist. There was something unsettling about this place, and as strange as it was, the piles of corpses weren't the reason she felt this way.

The longer she walked, the more this unsettling feeling grew stronger. She felt like the eyes of the dead were watching her, boring holes with their empty, piercing stares. Hope yelped when her foot tripped on something. She looked down and gasped at what had caused her to trip. It was an arm attached to a corpse that was only made of a head, arms, and torso. Hope knelt down and slowly reached out to move a strand of their hair away. She screamed, falling back when their eyes met her startled blue ones.

"B-Brother?!" Hope exclaimed, finally recognizing the face of her dead sibling.

Why is this happening? Her eyes darted in every direction as she scrambled to her feet. Why am I here?

Hope began walking faster than usual, trying to reach the end of this path as quickly as possible. Up ahead, she spotted a bright light coming into view. Hope's eyes glistened naively before she broke into a run. She didn't know what awaited her at the end of this path, but as long as she was away from the sea of the dead, it didn't matter. Her breaths came out in short pants as the light became closer within sight.

The blonde woman closed her eyes and reached her hand out to capture the light. She felt the warm embrace of the heavenly light envelop her body. Unfortunately, that comfort rapidly faded as the light dimmed down enough for her to reopen her eyes. That spiritual shield that protected her all this time in the land of dreams had failed her tonight.

Hope stood at the forefront of a world consumed by chaos.

The sky was painted a blazing orange with streaks of yellow and black clouds of ash. The sun took on a crimson red color instead of its usual luminous gold she was used to seeing on a hot sunny day. Fires of all sizes consumed the ruins of great architectural structures within the region. The familiar nauseating scent of burning ash filled her nose, causing her to gag. This place was much worse than the attack on Heiwa Town. Hell was the closest word she could describe the scenery around her.

She watched in disbelief as the few survivors of the fires fought one another to the death. Hope wanted to run up to them and separate them until she managed to get a closer look at them. She recognized them wearing the standard uniform of the Rota Knights and the Obsidian Knights. Hope rubbed her eyes to make sure they weren't deceiving her. Sure enough, after looking around at the other survivors, it was all the same.