Resistance

Chapter VIII Prologue

Muffled sounds echoing all around, a full gray sky looming overhead...Every bit of it seemed empty, lifeless. Even as people walked the cobble stone roads, their energy seemed fake. A strange, heavy aura felt as though it were choking the very air they all breathed.

However, none of this mattered to the individual who walked on ahead, his long, unkempt black hair swaying gently with each step. His royal blue eyes fixated on the path ahead of him...And yet, no light seemed to flicker within them, completely lacking any sense of life or vigor.

His surroundings hardly seemed to matter to him. He barely even paid them much notice.

None of it mattered.

“Aaron??” A familiar voice called out to him, but he could only just barely bring himself to glance up, light blue eyes meeting his own.

Rei, his older brother, groceries in hand, rushed over to him in worry.

“Have you been fighting again?” He questioned, giving his younger brother a once over, picking out several bruises along his arm, but Aaron was quick to jerk away from him. “...Aaron, please. This has to stop.” Rei urged him, not knowing what else he could do. Aaron had been completely out of his control, and truthfully...He worried one of these days, Aaron would get himself into a situation he wouldn’t come back from.

Aaron however, seemed to have no response to his older brother for some time, not even looking up once since their eyes met the first time.  

“Mind your own business.” Was his response once one finally came out, before he walked past Rei without another word to offer him.

He disregarded Rei entirely, rather, though he didn’t hate him. Aaron wasn’t even sure if he was even capable of any sense of hatred.  

...No, that wasn’t entirely right, was it?

What Aaron hated...Was the way things were. The way people seemed to accept them as they were, despite how miserable each of them truly felt...Every single one of them simply accepted it all.

The loss of loved ones in the past, and the loss of them every day that passed since. All of that was accepted as just...That.

It couldn’t be helped, they would say.

This is just how things were, they would insist.

Rubbish. Aaron refused to continue living in such an empty world. A world devoid of Hope.

It didn’t matter how...He just wanted it all to end...And eventually, he would get just that.  

He wasn’t sure how much time has passed, how many days had passed, and the situation started over something trivial enough. He couldn’t truly say, couldn’t truly recall how it all ended up the way it had.

A duo of Diou soldiers had been hanging around a kiosk within the market district, harassing the owner. An elderly man, defenseless, and left alone by the passerby, who didn’t want to become involved.

As Aaron watched on, he felt a prickle of resentment stab at his chest.

They always...Just did whatever they wanted.

Yet the people of this city weren’t any better. They only worried about themselves, their own lives, their own safety. Turning a blind eye the moment an individual’s situation turned sour, not even daring to offer a helping hand.

He hated it.  

Without giving it much thought, his legs already sprung into motion, rushing in and socking one of them in the gut.

Being substantially smaller than the man however, it didn’t come as a surprise as he was quickly put back into his place.

Everything after that, he couldn’t entirely recall. Perhaps he had said something that had gotten under their skin, for they were unusually violent compared to the norm.

Bruised and broken, he was eventually tossed into a back alley, the steady trickle of rain beginning to patter against his numb body...He was sure if they continued, he would be killed, but...That was okay.

He closed his eyes, accepting things as they were without fighting back.

How ironic, he thought, doing the one thing he hated so much about the rest of the city-folk.

...But those final blows he was expecting never came.

He heard a commotion, the guards shouting, the sound of shuffling across the pavement.

He opened his eyes...And right before him, there was another kid, about his own age, fighting them off.

...Aaron couldn’t believe his eyes. Just who was this crazy kid? All he could seem to make out was a flurry of white hair, and a long, furry thing trailing behind him as he managed to chase them off.

“Good riddance!!” He shouted after them with a little huff before he turned around and looked down. “Hey! Are you alright??”

...Honestly, just who was this kid? Why’d he have to go and make a mess out of everything?

He had to admit, he actually felt just a tad bit angry, glaring up at this white haired kid...But even though Aaron was burning holes through him, that kid just continued looking down at him, his emerald colored eyes looking incredibly clear.

“...Do you hate it?” He was asked, not being able to make sense of the sudden question. “The way things are...Do you hate them?”

Did he...Hate them? He supposed the answer to that should have been obvious. Need such a question be asked?? Before Aaron could even answer however, a hand was reached out towards him.

“...Then come with me.” The voice that rang out seemed unusually loud, as though cutting through the dense fog that consistently shadowed Aaron’s mind. “I want to change things...I’m going to change things. You can count on it. I’ll change everything.”

...For the first time in what felt like an eternity by now...Everything seemed so amazingly clear, that hand still outstretched towards him, those eyes so bright and vibrant.

...Ah.

He thought.

He’s so bright.

Like the sun itself.

He didn’t truly understand why, but he thought...Just maybe…

Before he was even conscious of doing so...He began to reach his own hand out, wanting to take that hand, reaching out for that single, glimmering beam of light. A single string cast down in a pool of darkness.

He wondered what sort of world this person would create…

Surely it would be a bright and beautiful place.

And so...He took that hand.