{5 hours ago}
"Don't run too fast, Nox, your father can't keep up," a soft, melodic voice called out to him as he ran up a meadow filled hill.
He turned around chuckling at how far behind he had left the two, before he slowed down and allowed them to catch up.
His mother was the first to reach him, her long dress brushing through the tall grass as she laughed breathlessly.
Behind her came his father, panting exaggeratedly, one hand clutching his side. "By the stars, Nox," he groaned, pretending to collapse dramatically. "Are you sure you're not half wind spirit?"
Nox giggled, "you're just getting old, Dad!"
"Oh really?" His father shot him a mock glare before sweeping him up and tossing him into the air, "can an old man so this?"
Nox's giggles could be heard even below the hill as his father spun him around in the air.
The air, the blue sky, the meadows, the lack of pollution all pointed to one thing, this was during the age of the gods.
During the time when the sun, the real one, burnt brightly in the sky.
And for a boy like Nox, it was a time when the world felt endless.
His father set him down gently, kneeling to ruffle his hair. "See that?" he said, pointing toward the distant skyline — where rows of white stones that reached for the heavens stood, their tips glowing faintly with divine energy. "That's Solis. One day, you'll stand there and see what real beauty looks like."
Nox's eyes widened. "Will we go there together?"
His father smiled, but there was hesitation in his eyes as a flicker of something young Nox couldn't recognize passed in them. "Someday. When the time is right."
His mother stepped closer, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Don't rush to grow up, little one," she murmured."The world changes faster than you think."
But before he could turn around and say anything else, his parents had suddenly disappeared.
Nox blinked in surprise, looking around the empty meadow. The spot where his mother had stood just a second ago now held only swaying grass.
The warmth of his father's hand on his head was gone too, replaced by a chill that crawled down his spine.
"Mom?" he called softly, glancing around. "Dad?"
But there was no answer.
Suddenly, a sound too loud to ignore was heard directly above him.
The young Nox slowly looked up the sky, only to be faced with a scene that made him tremble even more.
The sky, as if just a fabric was tearing open above him, and beyond the tear was just.... endless darkness.
As if spilling into their world, the blue skies suddenly turned darker and soon after, the sun followed suit.
The darkness slowly spilled into it as if ink in clear water. The golden glow of the sun slowly dimmed before it was fully consumed by darkness.
The warmth from it that had bathed the meadow moments ago vanished in an instant, replaced by a biting chill that made Nox's breath visible in the air. The soft rustle of grass due to the wind grew still.
"M-mom...? Dad....?" Nox called out, his voice trembling as fear gripped him, but there was still no answer.
But that was still not the worst yet....
Soon enough, from the tear in the sky, something began to fall.
At first, Nox thought it was rain. Dark droplets descending from the slowly descending from the rift.
But as they neared the ground, he realized they weren't drops of water. They were shapes.
'Run,' his mind told him but before he could move a step, the ground suddenly opened up beneath him.
His arms moved forward, trying to grab anything, but it was useless.
Before he knew it, he had already started descending down the Abyss, and the last thing he saw was a bright human shaped golden light standing at the edge of the hole looking down at him as he descended.
Down he went, faster and faster, as if gravity itself couldn't wait for him to reach the bottom but just before he could land, his eyes snapped open.
***
A pair of golden eyes were revealed as his lids moved out of the way.
The first thing that came to view was the ceiling that was barely holding together. It seemed as if it would fall at any moment, but Nox knew better,
That thing has been holding up for as long as he could remember.
"It's that dream again," he muttered with a sigh, passing a hand through his black hair.
The dream had been recurring ever since he turned twelve, with ever single detail being the same.
So much so that every single time he had the dream, it felt so real...
But he knew it couldn't be, the age of the gods was centuries ago and from what he remembered, his parents had abandoned him here in the slums when he was little, leaving him with nothing but a necklace.
It hung around his neck even now with a simple piece of black cord with a small, circular pendant attached to it.
He lifted it between his fingers, staring at the faint symbol carved into it — a sun partially covered by shadow.
Why did they leave it with him?
He had no idea. They hadn't cared enough to not abandon him, so why care enough to leave him with this ?
"No use thinking about it," he muttered as he got off his makeshift bed and into the bathroom.
For a couple of credits per month, this place was better than most in the slums,though that wasn't saying much.
The bathroom was barely wide enough for him to stretch both arms, and if he was lucky enough there'd be water running... How clean would be questionable but that didn't matter much.
He passed by the cracked mirror, catching his reflection on it. For a seventeen years old living in the slums, he looked pretty good..
Short, yes, but at least he has more flesh on his bones than most.
His golden eyes gleamed faintly in the dim light, an odd color for someone born in the slums. People noticed them sometimes, but he'd learned to look away before they could ask questions.
After a quick shower, he stepped out of the bathroom and towards the chair at a corner of his room where his clothes lay.
He pulled a faded black shirt first among the small pile, followed by black pants and a dark gray jacket, one that you wouldn't know if that was its color or it was just black faded beyond recognition.
Whatever it was, it didn't matter.
All that mattered was that it was clean and wearable.
Putting them on, he picked up a pair of black boots that completed the look.
Standing up he wanted to walk towards the door, but paused, as if expecting something, and soon enough, a knock came.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
"I know you're in there, Nox" an angry voice came from the other end, "get the hell out here and give me my creds."
'There it is,' Nox thought to himself with a smile, his morning wouldn't properly start without that angry shout at his door.
"Well, gotta run." He whispered before hopping up a window and jumping out, leaving whoever was knocking completely fuming.
The moment his boots hit the metal ledge outside his window, Nox was already moving.
The cold morning air brushed against his skin as he leapt across the narrow gap between buildings, the familiar adrenaline waking him better than any cup of stim-coffee could.
"NOX!" A voice roared from below, echoing through the stacked maze of shacks and rusted platforms that made up the lower slums. "You little rat! You think you can keep skipping rent?!"
"I'll pay you back when I have enough creds to survive on old man," he shouted in response.
The landlord, a broad, bald man named Vargo, leaned out the window just below Nox's room, red-faced and sputtering. "You're dead next time I see you, you hear me?!"
"Well, you gotta catch me first," he said with a chuckle, "and with a body like that, I highly doubt you can."
Luckily, he was too far for the landlord to hear else, he'd have been tempted to break down Nox's door and throw all his things out.
"Alright then," Nox said as he landed on one of the roof tops, "What will we scavenge today?"
Unknown to him, in just a few hours, his life was going to change a whole lot more than he ever expected.