I can't help but remember every detail. From the ruined buildings, destroyed paths, and screaming voices, mixed with a horrible odor that surrounds and chokes the atmosphere, like the smell of melted steel.
From up above a red black hole over watches it all, like a god, leaving destruction in its wake, threatening to take it all.
I vividly remember every sound, smell, sensation. I was like a ghost trying to outrun the inevitable, a remain of the past that refused to accept its fate.
I runned and runned, i wonder why, after all this time, why was i running?, the only thing on my mind was to live.
A selfish wish, refusing to give up, to let my existence end along with everyone else, only looking out for myself and leaving everything behind.
I don't think I'll ever forgive myself for that.
My fragile body move trough the ruble as if running from that omnipresent sun. My every instinct makes my body move, telling me the danger the red entity behind me represents.
It's useless. A mere corpse can't hold on to the world of the living, my legs were failing me, and my suffering increased with each passing moment.
I was about to die. I knew it, my mind denied it so my body gave up first.
I fall helplessly to the ground and i let out a quiet, painful scream. I turn to see the night sky, the only thing undisturbed by the chaos.
With each labored breath, i feel my energy leaving me.
Now that i think about it, my death was sealed there, no, i already died. Whatever existence Emiya Shirou was before the fire, was ripped away in an instant.
My fate was already sealed, i just denied it.
The next moment, will be buried in my mind forever, this is the moment, 'Emiya Shirou' was born, were my constant existence wasn't entirely worthless, and my life was given meaning.
A miracle that shouldn't have happened, a salvation that was never meant for me.
As if coming from the sky, a figure enters my vision,like guardian angel, a living among the dead, reaching for what i feeled was already not there.
His face at that moment, it will follow me to my grave, to haunt me forever.
A smile engraved in its face, the most hopeful thing i ever seen. The man looks at me as if I'm the last remaining thing in his life.
For a minute, I'm stupefied, time's frozen for me, my mind couldn't think of anything else at the moment.
My consciousness finally gives up, and with my last breath i drift into a peaceful dream.
At that moment, i was reborn. Emiya Shirou was given life.
-/-
When I came to, I was laying on an unfamiliar bed, staring at an unfamiliar ceiling.
I look around to what was a big room filled with similar beds, and more importantly, similar victims.
At that point I remembered, the day I came to the hospital I was wrapped up in bandages, unable to move, with only children to share the place, but i understood my hopeless situation and the days passed like a blur.
This was the day I almost fully recovered and was beginning to fend for myself a bit, if I'm not wrong at that point the doctors couldn't believe that I was still alive, from the moment I was admitted to the hospital to the day I began to heal, my recovery was essentially a miracle.
And I couldn't help but feel the same, for what was essentially a room full of people that barely made it, most of them were permanently injured or traumatized in some way. And here I was, after a couple of weeks of heavy care I began to steadily heal, in contrast to the other kids, I had a future.
Suddenly I hear a door opening and footsteps coming close to me. I turn and see who it is; a tall man with an old wrinkly coat and large uncombed hair. At that point I thought he looked quite unassuming, and feeled more like a big brother, rather than a father.
With a kind but coarse and stern voice he began to peak
"Hello there. You must be Shirou-kun, I wanted to speak to you"
He flashed a familiar smile, then I understood who I was talking to.
"I'll be direct. Which would you choose?. Going to an orphanage, or to be adopted by this stranger?"
With hindsight it seems like a silly question, at the time there was no difference to me, and the only person that came to visit me was him. So, I decide to go with him.
"I see, good to know, then I'll need you to get ready, we are leaving today so you'll get used to your new place as fast as possible"
He packs everything hastily and before finishing, he turns to me.
"Oh, I forgot, I need to tell you something important before you come with me."
I look up to him quizzically
"First of all, i am a Sorcerer of some sort" He says to me lightheartedly
When I heard those words I instantly believed them, innocently admiring him.
And thus I became his adopted son, with my last name changing to 'Emiya'
'Emiya Shirou', I remember being quite proud of having the same last name as the man who saved me.
But most importantly my life was given a meaning.
