God Eater: Daedalus Festival
Prologue: Triggered
A.D. 2065, April 12, 19:07
It was the Daedalus Festival: a celebration for the Daedalus river system created by Project Icarus which protected our village from Aragami for generations. The festival began with the traditional fireworks opening. Then floats made from recycled materials paraded the streets. Every villager left their small houses and watched the parade. But there was one person who stayed away because of a "gut-feeling" he had: me.
I stayed inside the room, avoiding everyone's cheers and frolics. I would have joined them any time, but not at the moment. Other than being afraid of fireworks, I was afraid of something abstract: nightmares. It were nightmares that kept me up at night, nightmares that kept me vigilant of my surroundings. But most importantly, it was a nightmare that foreshadowed the horrid event which was about take place.
It was five minutes before the actual festival. My father wanted me to join in with the other kids from the neighborhood.
"If you stay there, you won't get to see the floats." he said.
"It's fine. I don't want to see it."
Then he chuckled and said, "Well, it's better than staring blankly at the wall."
"No, it's not."
Then he paused for a while. None of us made a sound until he turned around and said, "...If that's what you want..."
"Bye."
He closed the door quietly, making sure he wouldn't disturb me anymore. And he didn't, because my last goodbye to him was the last thing I said before... it happened.
While I was sleeping on my bed, having a nightmare about the whole village drowned in blood, a scream from outside awoke me. At first, it was just one, but then everybody started screaming. Then I heard squishing and crashing together with the screaming. I wanted too see what was happening, but I gave it a second thought and decided to hide under the bed instead. Rubbing myself in dirt, I hid at the corner and waited for the door to open. I was scared, my heart was beating like crazy. I was breathing heavily, but I knew I had to keep my cool. And then...
"Bam!"
The door opened, revealing a velociraptor-like beast. It had two legs, a big tail, and a heavily-guarded head. Its jaws were covered in blood. Never had I seen something so terrifying. I covered my mouth and nose with my hands and prayed that the monster wouldn't spot me.
Fortunately, it left without finding out. I stayed under the bed until all the screaming had ended, which was almost an hour. Slowly, I crawled out, making sure that the coast was clear. And indeed, it was. There were no more screaming. Actually, there was no sound at all. It was too quiet. I looked out the window to see what all the ruckus was about and saw... A horrific scenery.
The once peaceful and clean village was now stained by blood and flesh. The streets were full of corpses and all the houses had collapsed, some only partially. It was too much for a 5-year old boy. I screamed to the top of my lungs, with tears falling down my cheeks. Then I collapsed, into a deep sleep, and I wished that it was all just a dream...
It was real... the Aragami had arrived... The Daedalus river couldn't protect us... The war between humans and gods had begun...