Prologue: The War Of The Light
War is any armed conflict or state of intense opposition between different groups or ideologies.
The key to winning is to be prepared to do whatever needs to be done to
ensure your victory, that is to expend any resources at hand.
"The sun!" A voice could be heard exclaiming from deep within the sea of running people. "Something's wrong with the sun!" It yelled desperately, conveying the most frantic of tones.
It had all started as every other atrocious event begins: quietly. Just a normal morning, with people going about town in the same manner as any other mind-numbingly ordinary day; the crowd conformed of common people minding their own common business and with no clue to the change their lives were about to experience forever. Everything was just the same; until someone stopped. For whatever reason, be it exhaustion or contemplation, or perhaps something as boring as tying up one's shoelaces; but sooner or later someone stops and looks around —or up in this instance— and notices something that defies the otherwise never-ending routine.
After a few still moments, the situation pivoted, and what was deadly silent bursted out into the loudest chaos. The crowd once frightened and still as statues, exploded into panic as soon as they noticed the swirling changes on the sky above their heads, and the strange quality of the light coming down on their bodies. No one really knowing exactly what had shifted, just aware that there was something absolutely, definitely, deadlywrong.
A little boy toddled his way through the rising chaos, unusually skilled in walking among the panic and devastation, moving his chubby little legs across town with haste and determination, doing his best to avoid being trampled by the rushing people and squinting his eyes to stare at his surroundings, as if attempting to figure out what had made all those people so scared.
Said boy had walked over a very great distance from where he was supposed to be, but even at his very young age, he knew better than to care at all for useless things like expectations and responsibilities. He ran away from the voice calling his name piercing through the ocean of chaos in an attempt to locate his whereabouts. He had managed to slip past the eye of those tasked with keeping him where he should, but the little miscreant was not yet ready to return; there was finally something fun going on, and he just needed to find out what it was.
In the back of his mind, he had a vague notion of the world around him growing steadily dull and dark; but he paid it no mind now that he was finally free to roam around and explore to his heart's content. His tiny feet carried him away from the calling voice as he ran until he found himself at the docks. Opening his eyes wide to an even bigger commotion running its course there.
The sailors were abandoning their ships, frantically swimming to shore as if chased by some unseen attacker, but the boy with the opal eyes failed to understand the reason. He couldn't see what was so scary as to drive them out so fiercely aside from the big waves crashing violently unto the rocks. For that toddler, a life at sea aboard a ship wandering the oceans sounded like the best possible option on which he could think to spend one's days, and definitely the last place he could imagine anyone running away from.
The screams grew much louder and desperate, but he still couldn't figure out why those present cowered away from the water as if it were poisoned. He approached the shore, as the crystalline water splashed on his face and clothes, drenching him completely for his efforts. He looked up, but the light coming from the sky was fading, like when clouds covered the sun, except there were no clouds to be seen.
Suddenly, as he was distracted, the scene changed too. But instead of developing into disaster as it had in the city, the atmosphere stopped completely and the sea fell still as a tomb. The boy's breathing quickened, there was no denying that, but he was also very curious. The colours of the water transformed from bright blue and turquoise, to the deepest mix of teal and black; as if festered liquid were spiralling over the surface and contaminating everything in its way. Like a single drop of blood spoiling an ocean of the clearest tides. The child halted in his pace and walked over to the shoreline, he bent closer to examine the strange water in front of him and was delighted by the sight. He frowned, and got even closer, the scene around him forgotten for the moment as he tried to decipher the most terrifying and interesting thing he had encountered. The dark waters had transformed, and they no more resembled waves, instead they moved about like thick tentacles coming from the deep.
Just as he was about to reach out and tentatively touch one of the moving appendixes with careful fingers, the choice was abruptly taken out of his hands as he felt a violent force —probably one of those sailors rushing away in terror and carelessly shoving away anyone on their path— push at his back and plunge him into the water; but the boy had no time to think about that, since he was swiftly sinking through the depths of the ocean. An all-encompassing black surrounded him completely and crushed his little body with pressure. The boy moved his arms and legs uncoordinatedly, trying to rid himself of the watery trap; but he was unable to lift out to the surface. The water like arms coiling around his limbs and dragging him down into a far abyss.
He fought and fought, uselessly attempting to back away from the strange-looking water; but eventually his limbs grew tired of the struggle and the terror squeezing his soul for what he saw rendered him unable to keep resisting the pull of the waves for much longer.
His fight came to an end as he floated surrounded by the cold, vast emptiness.
His eyes, tired and defeated, were starting to close as he slowly lost consciousness, when he noticed something strong and sturdy grasped him from under the armpits and tugged him. He didn't know what it was, he just felt the ocean around him move as he was dragged up.
Just before he was about to break into the open air, his gaze caught sight of something very strange. A big pair of bright teal eyes staring at him from the deep; looking at him as if they knew him; and that was the moment when the boy started to try and reach the surface faster. He stared at them for a few more moments until they grew very small as they got left behind when he broke out into the water line and was kissed by the fading sun.
Once on the shore, he coughed up an incredible amount of water and stared up at the eyes of the stranger that had basically just saved his life. At this, the man gasped and backed away, hurrying in fear the moment he saw the bright mop of soggy violet curls on top of the boy's head, sticked to his young forehead in innocent charm. The boy was left there, alone, utterly confused as he watched the retreating back of his unexpected saviour, and wondering what about him could had made a hardened sailor more afraid of him than of the terrifying tendrils they had seen in the ocean.
The tides were crashing at the rocks on the beach again, the sea awake once more; yet the suffocating atmosphere was not able to leave them. There was an unrelenting frown on the toddler's face, as he looked back at the water from which he was escaping; because whatever that thing had been, could surely not reach him on dry land, could it? The boy scrambled away from the lapping waves and rolled over until he was sitting on the shore.
That is how his brother found him. Not even sure of what had happened. His brother's eyes strange, as he grabbed forcefully on his thin arms and yanked him forward. The older boy started running, while the toddler struggled to keep up with his unrelenting pace. His tiny feet were padding swiftly as he avoided tripping, worried he would be left behind were he to fall.
"Don't look back." The older commanded, his stern tone in complete contrast with his frantic movements. Desperately sweeping the both of them away from a still unknown threat.
"But-" The little boy tried to counter, all the more anxious to see what they were getting away from now that he had been told not to look. He tried turning his head, but was still too young to coordinate that much running and shaking his hand to dislodge the other's painful grip on his wrist, to see behind him too. He wasn't even able to wipe away the water that was splashing on his face when his rushing set loose droplets from his wet curls.
"No!" The brother cut him off, taking a second to look at the other in the eyes and plead. "Just, don't." He commanded, just before resuming their frantic escape through the docks. The deep blue eyes had looked at him in dread and fear, and the boy could not remember ever seeing either of those emotions over his brother's face before.
It was with this thought in mind—or perhaps a series of thoughts culminating in this one— that the little boy managed to turn his head around, just the tiniest bit; only to be immediately bewitched when he saw something translucent advancing from the shore and wipe out everything in its path.
Author's note: So... After almost a year I finally am able to continue this story. This instalment will be the middle part of my Descendants inspired trilogy.
Disclaimer: This work is loosely based on a plot line of Disney's Descendants Franchise. If you haven't seen it, or don't like it, please know that you can read it and understand everything. None of the actual characters of Descendants appear. For those of you who have seen it, you know where this is going. Also, there are a few nods to the original hidden not very subtly in the narration.
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Hope you all like it.