Time never stops for anyone.
ｗｅ ｃｏｍｅ，
As a result, we come, and we go.
ｗｅ ｇｏ．
When o̟̩̖̝̭̳ͅn̪̯̳̥̣̪e̮͙̗̱͈̠̺'͙s ̠͉̝̟͖̰̼l̪̤͇̱͎͚͎i͇͖fḛ falls apart…
Who will be there to pick up the pieces?
Blurry scenes flashed by. All they could see were vague shapes, thoughts and emotions at first. Thoughts of abandonment. Confusion. Being lost. Until the images focused, yet kept their pace. Gray walls. Khaki tile floors. Rusty, creaky beds. All of these were only visual memories, with not a single sound to be heard. As per usual. Every day was the same, to the point of all blending together into a giant, bleak pattern of two people approaching, leaving, then being replaced with two other people. Day after day, month after month, year after year. Since there was no sound, there was no one to listen to. They knew how to speak with their hands, but not with their voice. Everyone knew how to speak with their voice, but not with their hands.
Everyone except one person. Their existence was clear, but their identity wasn't. That's where the memories stopped and everything faded to blackness. It remained as such for a moment until, suddenly, a weak light pierced through the seemingly endless void. This light slowly grew and morphed into a circle underneath them. As they fell closer to the circle, their descent slowed down on it's own. Then, they landed on their feet gently.
Finally they could take a breath and look over themselves. They wore a purple and blue striped shirt, with unzippable sleeves on their upper body. On their lower body they wore a pair of shorts that covered from their waist to their thighs, with an area of white on the front surrounded by a shade of navy blue, along with having the ends folded up once and a small sunflower insignia on each leg. Only their knees were showing as their shins were covered by a pair of long white socks, which ended within a pair of standard-looking brown boots. Their skin complexion was just a tad darker than fair, and their left cheek held a worn pink bandaid just under one of their two squinting eyes.
After they finished looking over themselves, they looked around their surroundings, shielding their eyes from the intense light coming from… whatever they were standing on. Suddenly the light evaporated, pulling off of the platform in shards, with those shards now flying upwards. In its place now lay a large mural of the human themselves, seemingly in a comatose state, with their shadow trailing downwards from their form. For the first time in their entire life, they… heard something. It was less of a whisper and more of a voice forming together inside of their subconscious.
"What seems like the end…" the voice spoke in a chilling, yet reassuring tone, "is only the beginning. All things start at the first step taken. Go ahead, and let your fears float away." As no other option seemed to have presented itself yet to them, they did just so and carefully walked to the center of the platform.
They jumped a little bit when three silver pedestals rose from the ground in their field of vision: one to the left, one to the right; one right in front of them. The pedestal on the left held a shield of decent size for their frame, with a shape of a sunflower visible on the front of it. The pedestal on the right held a mighty staff, ivory throughout with an opaque blue crystal on the top, in a shape reminiscent of a flower. Finally, upon the center pedestal lay a floating sword. It's blade was shining silver against the light, and it's handle was blue with a golden hilt, said hilt holding a small insignia of a sunflower at the center of it.
"After the first step," the voice continued, "there must also be a first decision. Take your time. Trust yourself." At first they walked towards the shield, but then a sudden force gave them an urge to pick the sword. The force… didn't seem to be from an external source. It felt as if it was of their own volition. Heeding the voice's words, they walk towards the sword - but then they stop themselves. Was that really their own action…? Yes it was. They took another step towards the… "This isn't me," they thought in realization. Struggling against the force, they moved to the pedestal on the left and picked up the shield.
"The power of the guardian.
Mercy for all you cross.
A shield to repel danger."
"Is this the power you seek?" the voice appeared once more to ask. The human nodded as they looked down at the shield in their hands. The shield disappeared in a flash of light, leaving only a cloud of particles to raise up and dissipate in the air. "Now, you must pick something to give up," said the voice. The human turned around and stepped off the pedestal, then they walked towards the sword.
"The power of the warrior.
No mercy for those who wrong you.
A sword of great devastation."
"Is this the power you wish to be free of?" questioned the voice. Once again, they nodded as they held it in their hands, and the sword faded away into particles of light. "Your decision has been made," the voice spoke once more.
Suddenly, all the pedestals, including the one they were standing on, descended downwards into the mural and sunk away, leaving only bare ground left. The shield appeared once more, now in the human's hands. They jumped slightly once again as they held onto it, then they had a feeling they should look behind them. Despite the only source of light coming from below them, there was a long shadow of themselves stretching over the platform, mirroring their exact movements. Suddenly, the shadow sprung out from the ground in a shadowy mist, keeping its form exactly as a copy of the human's but… much larger, and with opaque yellow dots where their eyes should be. The human child's breathing suddenly accelerated, unsure of what course of action they should take. The shadow took a step towards them and spawned, what appeared to be the shape of a blade in it's hand, the size of it possibly being at least three times larger than they were. The shadow raised its arm slowly, leaving the child near-petrified in fear. In the next moment, its arm came down, the blade heading straight towards the human. Out of survival instincts alone they raised the shield up, not a moment too soon, not a moment too late. Sparks flew as the blade was stopped by it, the flower symbol now glowing radiantly. After a moment of pushing, both the blade and the human bounced away from each other. The human took a couple blind steps backward, realizing too late that there wasn't enough ground left to support them. Before they could fully understand it, they fell off, the shield dissipating from their hand as they plunged backwards into the abyss.
Once again. Darkness. Fear. Confusion. Muted memories of abandonment.
Fear not what has happened today. Hold hope for a new tomorrow.
ＫＩＮＧＤＯＭＴＡＬＥ
～Ｅｎｄ ｏｆ Ｐｒｏｌｏｇｕｅ～