It was as if the sun was falling.
The youngster stood on a hill, blankly gazing at the patch of land dyed in bright red in the distance.
A town peaceful only moments ago, now swallowed by the raging fire that lit up the sky.
Castles, houses, fields, dogs, pigs, children and elderly — all burnt to ashes by the flames.
Within this hell, only one giant shadow was motionlessly standing.
Even the huge buildings the youngster usually had to look up to see were flattened by the huge shadows as if they were but toys. With hands darker than the night, it carelessly waved its flickering sword.
With every wave, the flames spouted from the blade wound like a giant snake, engulfing both living organism and inanimate matter.
No one could stop it.
Because the monarch and the soldiers that tried had long been annihilated: scattered like smoke and dispersed like ashes, with not even a body remaining.
The area that caught on fire was in the middle of the town, while the youngster’s home was at its borders.
Therefore he was able to escape together with his family, to this hill far from the reach of the flames.
However the residents of the town, tens of thousands of lives, were almost all surrounded by the merciless flames, perishing painfully under the evil scorching fire.
The baker’s son Kandi [1] probably didn’t escape.
His childhood sweetheart — Ammata’s [2] home, burned down in front of his eyes.
Frio [3] the friend he always bickered with, the friendly uncle Pessoas [4], everyone… everyone was dead.
However at the same time, the youngster could only be dragged by his parents, sprinting desperately, helpless.
Taking advantage of the free time in between working in the fields, he was always waving swords made of branches, taking out the Imperial Seal, pretending to be an evil-fighting hero of justice.
Every child believes there is nothing they can’t do. However the feeling of invincibility in his juvenile mind, on that exact day, burnt to dust together with the lives of those he cherished.
When he realized his own insignificance and powerlessness, he stared at the powerful black giant.
“… I must become strong!”
Was it in order to take revenge for everything that had been taken away?
Or was it to resist the fear carved into his heart?
The youngster himself did not know; he simply gazed into the distance, until the town became ashes, until the giant turned into black fog and vanished.
[1] (坎堤 kǎn dī) I couldn’t find a direct translation of this, but the name is simple enough that I kept it close to the original. That is assuming that these are all Chinese versions of Western names (the other names seems to suggest that. Feel free to correct me on any names, or propose better translations of them.
[2] (亚玛塔 yà mǎ tǎ) Apparently there’s a hotel named like this. 亚玛塔 being the Chinese translation, while the original name was spelled as “Ammata”.
[3] (弗利欧 fú lì ōu) Same case.
[4] (佩索亚斯 pèi suǒ yà sī). The closest match I found were for 佩索斯 (Pesos) and 佩索亚 (Pessoa). Decided to go for “Pessoas” as the name.
Kei Project 