Solare and Luna make their way to
the group of people Solare knows of while walking through the connected series of
buildings. Whenever the rain pours down on them, the heat surrounding Solare
evaporates the rain around them as it keeps them dry.
“Woah. I’ve never seen anyone with
your ability. How did you get it?”
“It’s more of a curse than a blessing,
in my opinion. I have no idea how I got it. I just woke up one day with it, so I
don’t have a clue as to how I got it.”
“How is it a curse?”
“I’m always feeling hot and everything
with the exception of your hand burns when I touch it. I can’t even eat
properly. Speaking of which, I’m starving.”
“We should stop for a second then
so you can eat. I’ll feed you if you-”
“No, you don’t need to. I can do it
myself.”
“Okay. Let’s find a place to hide
first.”
“Good idea.”
The two follow a little nook in a building
to eat in. It’s a caved-in room with two entrances that’s just big enough to crotch
into.
“What do you want?” Luna says while
showing Solare what she has.
“Uhh. This.”
Solare quickly puts the food in his
mouth and chews it before it completely burns. He coughs at the taste of the
food and how fast he’s eating. While he coughs, Luna manages to get a look at
Solare’s face that he’s been trying to hide. She finds that his face is
completely black, and his eyes are so black that they might as well be hollow. Solare
is surprised that his face didn’t scare her. Even Luna is surprised at her own
reaction.
“What?” Luna says with a smile, “Here,
I’ll feed you.”
“No, I-hey!”
Luna tries to put food in Solare’s mouth.
“Say ahhh.”
Solare grudgingly opens his mouth and
eats the food Luna gives him for a little while.
“Okay, that’s enough. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Not wanting to show his embarrassed
face to Luna’s smile, Solare quickly hides his face again.
“Alright, let’s keep going.”
Along the way to their destination,
Luna asks Solare, “How did you make those arrows from before?”
“With whatever wood I could break
apart from the buildings then lit them on fire with my cloak. I don’t have many
left so we have to avoid as much trouble as we can.”
“Are the people we’re going to meet
friendly?”
“Hardly. They’ll be friendly only
if you can help them.”
“I’m sure we can do that.”
“Even so, I doubt anyone can help
us find the answer to our dreams.”
“You have to hope at least a little.
There’s no use in being pessimistic.”
“No, but also there’s no use in
being overly hopeful.”
“Why are you always so down?”
“Do I need to spell it out for you?
You can see it for yourself. We’re stuck in these tall buildings with a flood
below us and the never-ending rain that is bringing that flood to us if the buildings
don’t fall and bring us to it first. On top of that, there are the various kinds
of birds out there hunting us. I’m certain that if you stay in one place for
too long then they’ll find you.”
“That doesn’t mean that we still
can’t find a way to survive.”
“I wish I had your optimism.”
Solare and Luna enter a shopping
mall barricaded with metal and wooden flooring that looks shoddily made, but solid
enough to pass for protection. They go up to the front gate and Solare knocks
three times, which gets the gate to open.
The man behind the gate who opened
it, says to Solare, “What are you back for, fire boy?”
“Just stopping by. Not much.”
“Is she your girlfriend?”
“No.”
“Mm.”
Solare walks away, but Luna walks
up to the man with her bag of food and asks, “Do you want something to eat? You
look hungry.”
“Oh, uh. Thank you, little missy.”
The man takes a couple pieces of
food before Luna moves away.
While walking away, Solare
whispers, “Why did you give him food? We’re already running dangerously low and
who knows how much left is out there?”
“He looks like he needed it.”
“We could’ve needed it later.”
“Stop worrying. The place I got
this from had more. So, who are we going to talk to?”
“That guy over at the bar over
there. He knows the most out of everyone.”
When Solare and Luna go up to the
man at the bar, he looks at them with wary eyes. The thing that catches his
attention besides Luna’s eyes and skin color is her bag that still has some food
in it.
“What do you want, fire boy?”
“Do you remember that weird dream I
told about in passing? This girl apparently had the same dream I had, and it seems
like we both have something to do with it that could possibly save us all. Her
name is Luna by the way.”
“Luna and Solare, one burns like
the sun and the other is pale like the moon. Yeah, that would make sense. How
do you think I can help?”
“I remember you saying that a
priest or someone like him could help me. Can you get us to him?”
“Whew. Getting you to him? First, that
was a joke. Second, I don’t even know if he’s alive.”
“Why’s that?”
“He’s living in the sewers of the
city.”
“What? Aren’t those flooded by now?”
“Not certain sections, no, but
there’s only one entrance and it’s a pain to get to since certain kinds of
bird scout that area.”
“Oh, well if that’s the case, then
there’s no use-”
“No, we’re going to take a chance,”
Luna says with confidence.
“You don’t know what you’re saying
Luna. It’s already going to be a chore getting past the water and the birds. We’re
not even sure if the guy we’re looking for is alive.”
“I don’t care. It’s better to try
than to stay up here and waste away.”
“Hmm. I guess you’re right.”
“Wow. This is the first time I’ve
seen you change your mind so fast, fire boy. Is this girl special to you or
something?”
“What’s your price for getting us
down to the sewers?”
“Your food and I want to hear Luna
sing a song.”
“You want to hear her sing? Why?”
“She has a nice voice and this place
could use some music while we eat especially since we recently lost our singer.”
“What do you say, Luna?”
“I’ll do it. I know something I could
sing.”
Luna makes her way up to the stage
and the people of the community gather to hear her sing.
“Raise
your soul to Heaven
Cast
aside your worries
Take
a breath
And
release your agonies
My
hope withers with every passing day and renews the next
The
love I hold in my heart struggles to stay alive
Will
I ever find a place to rest my head?
Or
even find a light in the darkness?
Maybe it's really all gone
My
life will shrivel into nothing
The
only purpose of living is another breath
And
the love I long for doesn't exist
Raise your soul to Heaven
Cast
aside your worries
Take
a breath
And
release your agonies
If
you can't go on,
Then
I will carry you till the end
My soul ignites with yours
Our
two hearts become one
Your
pain becomes mine
Fight
by my side
Never
let go of my hand
And
I will never let go of yours
The world crumbles to its inevitable end
Everyone
is out for themselves
Everyone
has lost the will to love
Maybe
it's all for nothing
But something keeps me going
Then
something brings me back down
And
again I come back to life
But
still, I keep pressing on
Raise your soul to Heaven
Cast
aside your worries
Take
a breath
And
release your agonies
If
you can't go on,
Then
I will carry you till the end
My soul ignites with yours
Our
two hearts become one
Your
pain becomes mine
Fight
by my side
Never
let go of my hand
And
I will never let go of yours
This is nothing that I imagined
It's
not even close to a dream
How
can I hope to live with you
When
you disappear with each passing moment?
Raise your soul to Heaven
Cast
aside your worries
Take
a breath
And
release your agonies
If
you can't go on,
Then
I will carry you till the end
My soul ignites with yours
Our
two hearts become one
Your
pain becomes mine
Fight
by my side
Never
let go of my hand
And
I will never let go of yours
I know that I'm not in control of everything
That
nothing will be what I expected
And
as I cry I let go of my dreams and embrace yours
Let
our Two Hearts Become One
So
that we can be strong enough to live, to learn, and to love”
Everyone in the community claps for
Luna. Solare is impressed by Luna’s singing ability as well and moves to the
stairs to compliment her but is there just in time to catch her as she trips on
a step. The community is even more shocked to see that Solare’s touch doesn’t
burn Luna at all. The people in the community bring Luna extra food for her performance.
While they eat, Luna feeds Solare and he unconsciously accepts it without
complaining and doesn’t react in any way until the community points it out.
“Hey, it’s not like I want her to
feed me,” Solare says before Luna gives him another bite to eat.
“Sure you don’t,” the man from the
bar says, “I’m really curious as to how she can touch you and not be burnt.
Luna, can you touch my hand?”
“Why are you asking her that?”
“I just want to see something.
There’s no need to be defensive.”
Luna touches the man’s hand and he
feels a cold but also comforting feeling.
“Oh, wow. She’s cold despite being
near you.”
“You’re cold, Luna? Do you need a
jacket or something?”
“I’m fine, thank you. I don’t feel
cold at all.”
“Hmm. You two are very strange. I
wouldn’t doubt it if the answer to saving the world had something to do with
you.”
“If you say so,” Solare says
somewhat dismissively.
Banging is heard on the gates. The
gatekeeper runs to answer it when it is suddenly broken through by black birds
that look like vultures. The barricades covering the windows fall apart as well
as more vultures break in. These vultures have multiple heads and limbs to grab
people. The members of the community begin to fight back with crudely repaired guns.
“Where’s the watchman?” the man
from the bar asks.
“Here. I was distracted by Luna’s
singing.”
“Next time don’t let a pretty girl
distract you.”
The community manages to fight back
against the vultures with the help of Solare, but the birds have taken and
killed five people out of eight. Knowing the relentless nature of the birds,
the community begins to pack up their belongings.
“I’m sorry I caused this and that I
couldn’t help,” Luna says to the man from the bar.
“Don’t worry about it. There’s nothing
you could’ve done. We’re going to be moving anyway,” the man then turns to the
remaining community members, “You guys go on ahead. I have a deal to pay off.”
“Are you going to take us to the
sewers? Why don’t you just point us in the right direction and leave us?” Solare
asks.
“I’m a man of integrity, so that
means I do what I say. Besides, I’d rather do something than waste away like
Luna said.”
“Okay.”
“Thank you, sir.”
The man, Solare, and Luna take
whatever they can and head out to the sewers in the vague hopes of finding the
answer to saving the world.
This song is the inspiration for the song/poem in this chapter.
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