Chapter 1: Wandering

It had been night time for a while when Riku finally reached the edge of the city whose continuous, colorful glow had been Riku's constant, ever-growing companion for a few days now.

Riku had lost track of the number of days and nights spent wandering along his chosen path. The only proof he had of the passage of time were the wounds on his back; which had long since stopped bleeding. Instead, they had hardened over and begun to itch before he so much as first laid eyes on the lights of civilization.

The field he had first found himself in had ended in a dark forest, the winding road he was following acting as the only semblance of a clear path within the dense underbrush.

He couldn't bring himself to feel scared of the foreboding forest or threatening cries of the creatures within it. In fact, he usually couldn't bring himself to feel much of anything. Even exhaustion and starvation were only feather light distractions at the back of his mind.

The starvation, once Riku figured out what the strange, uncomfortable sensation was, was easy enough to quell. A few fruits here, some nuts there, whatever was easy to get without straying too far from his dirt path did enough to keep the unpleasant sensation at bay. Though there seemed to be a strange, slowly intensifying sensation as if he had swallowed sand at the back of his throat that wasn't fixed by eating; but he dismissed it without much thought.

Mortality was never supposed to be comfortable or easy. That's why beings like him existed in the first place.

It was sleep that Riku learned to dread. The loss of consciousness was bad enough. Let alone the recognition that the valuable time which should have been spent continuing on was being wasted as he slept.

But the worst parts were the dreams.

Nightmares, really.

Riku could never remember them when he awoke, but his pounding heart, heavy breath, and painfully intense rushes of emotion were unpleasant enough on their own accord.

What he did remember were the eyes.

Depending on the dream, there were three sets of eyes.

The amber eyes that should have been filled with wisdom, warmth, and laughter, were instead clouded over, unseeing, lifeless. These eyes only left Riku feeling completely empty; devoid of any emotion save the hollow pang of guilt.

Then there were the murderous golden eyes, so cold and cruel, that were always on the verge of taunting him, except for the fierce hatred that burst from them. Defenseless and scared, Riku would wake up terrified, oftentimes struggling to fight off a nonexistent predator.

It was the dreams of sky blue eyes, piercing into his very soul, filled with a deep heartache and terror that haunted Riku the most, however. These dreams were the hardest to wake up from, as Riku would awaken with tears streaming down his face, feeling such a crippling sense of loneliness, it would be all Riku could do to not curl into a ball, never to emerge.

But once again, as Riku was always reminding himself, mortality was not meant to be comfortable. So no matter the dream, Riku would force himself to stand. Focusing only on driving his aching legs forward one step at a time.

As he went on, Riku eventually got used to the cycle of silent walking, eating, and sleeping, with only the knowledge of a single boy's existence to provide any direction. The forest sometimes seemed like it might continue forever, dark and claustrophobic, lightening only marginally during the day from the small amount of sunlight that filtered down from the dense canopy.

Eventually, though, Riku began to notice something new.

The first time he saw it, he had thought it was the sun on the horizon, about to rise, its light barely peeking out between the trees. But unlike the sun, it didn't move, and soon the true sun came out, causing the new, mysterious glow to dim. Riku opted to ignore it as the day went on, but when it reappeared again the next night, in the same position only brighter, Riku realized what it must mean.

It was the light of a city. The destination he hadn't known he was heading towards. His relief would have been palpable, had he not been as far beyond exhausted as he currently was, thanks to his fitful bouts of sleep and minimal amounts of nutrition.

Every night from that moment on was new. Slowly the trees thinned, as the light from both the city and the sun grew brighter.

By the time Riku could see the city itself, it was practically on top of him. The forest holding its own until it looked as if the trees could reach out and touch the buildings on the furthermost outskirts of the city.

From what he could tell, the city itself wasn't all that big. Just a few blocks were actually densely populated with tall buildings. Further out, it looked like the city slowly faded into a larger, far more relaxed looking town. Some of the buildings looked harsh and modern while others stood in contrast, looking to be much older and certainly built to the design of a far grander, more artistic mind. The further out you looked from the skyscrapers, there were grand victorian and beautiful, gothic style buildings, all centered around a tall clock tower that chimed out the hour. Beyond them, there was a spattering of smaller, homey looking buildings.

The closer Riku got to the city, the slower his pace became. The ache of his muscles and weakness in his limbs forcing him to slow more and more, even as his mind urged him on faster and faster.

By the time Riku had reached the border between forest and city, his body had begun to declare all out mutiny. Having forced himself to stay awake longer than he otherwise would have, now that he was so close to his apparent goal; Riku was awake late enough to hear the clock chime 4 times before ringing out a short, melancholy tune.

He saw no other individuals wandering the streets as he crossed the threshold from forest to city. Only a small handful of cars drove by as he stumbled along, not bothering to stop even for the red traffic lights on the otherwise empty streets.

It was only a couple blocks into the main part of the city that the last vestiges of Riku's strength gave out on him. Unable to understand what was going on, but too far gone to properly assess the situation, Riku found a place to hide for the rest of the night, or until he could find a way to get his strength back.

It wasn't much better than the dirt path he had slept on before. In fact, this little hideout, while protected from the looming threat of rain, had the downside of being behind a garbage bin. A sliver of concrete between the metal of the bin and the siding of a building, just wide enough for him to squeeze into. But it was slightly out of the way from the noise and brightness of the city around him and sheltered from the wind as it began to pick up.

More quickly than he was used to, Riku's exhaustion began to claim his consciousness once again, even as his body shivered from the damp, cold air. His cloak, now full of holes from the briars of the forest not doing much to provide him with warmth.

But right as he was drifting off, he heard the first human voice he was aware of since having first stepped foot on his path.

"So she was right, after all." The gentle voice spoke, startlingly close.

Opening his eyes and lifting his head as much as he was able, he saw a petite girl with bright indigo eyes and wine red hair, crouching down only a little ways away from his hiding spot. Her eyes were uncannily bright, but so soft and kind, even in this state, Riku only felt relief and comfort washing over him under her gaze.

"Hello, there." she spoke again, once she knew she had his attention, "My name is Kairi. It's okay, I am here to help. Can you stand?"