"11 Years Ago"
Lying down, looking up, I see the great big star, the one our whole lives revolve around. Can't live without it, and it's everything to us, the Sun. Bruises across my body ache as I hear the sound of hysterical laughter bellowing across the open field. A silhouette approaches, bringing his disgustingly nostalgic laughter along with him, slowly replacing the sun in my vision."Did you see that? It was fricking hilarious how'd you lose again like that, dude?"
"HEY!" "I didn't lose to anyone!" Weirdo.
"Ah, yes, the big bad Jake Zephyr didn't just get thrown on his back while flailing like a little girl. I'm sure." He says while snickering.
"Ugh. You're honestly such a jackass." I say, spitting some remaining blood out of my mouth.
"Plus, I didn't lose at all! You just happened to catch me off guard today, and never again!" He looks down at me, covering his mouth, trying to stifle his laugh.
"Did you stay up watching anime again? There's no way a 5-year-old would even understand the meaning of being caught off guard."
"I'm the smartest five-year-old on the planet then!" I say while he slowly walks down towards me and flicks me in the head.
"And a five-year-old shouldn't be cursing either, what did I tell you about that chico?"
"Cayate!" "I can do whatever the hell I want," I say under my breath, pouting, folding my arms, and walking off.
"Espera! (Wait!) Adonde vas? (Where are you going?)." I don't respond to bullies. Walking off, he starts talking again, spouting his stupid "older brother wisdom" and says, "Hey man, I know you want everyone to start taking you seriously, but you gotta drop this obsession of winning every battle you're in. It's kinda unhealthy at this point."
"But if I lose none of the girls will like me, and none of the guys will think I'm cool!" I say with childish naivety.
"But that's the thing, life's bout more than just appearances, it's also about..."
"About what?"I ask in suspense for an exciting answer.
"About lessons!" He says, flicking me in the head once again. "But then again, what do I know? I'm just a BULLY!" He says, laughing hysterically once more.
Present Day
"You always were so insightful, ay hermano?"
"What?" "The hell are you on?" Yohan says, gazing down at me. As I try to pick myself up, a sharp pain surges throughout my entire body, shutting down all attempts to get up.
"AHHHHHHH!" I scream as the pain-stricken screech bounces and echoes off the walls. Where the hell are we?
"Save the pain and all that other stuff for another time," he said, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and lifting me. "We're in unfamiliar territory, I think we got sniped by a bunch of Ethereals back there, and I had to rush over to some place safe, but I don't know how long it'll be till they find us." "And you can bet your ass once they do, they'll blend us like smoothies."
"I've never seen one in my life, but I didn't expect them to be so..."
"Cunning? Ruthless? Powerful? Well, that's the situation we're in now, so toughen up and pay attention." So bossy. "The attacks back there were made of wind, so we're probably in an aerial world, which means..."
"Which means...?" He sighs.
"We are floating in the sky right now and at an even greater disadvantage than normal because they can fly, and we can't." We're cooked.
"Although from the looks of it, we seem to be heading towards the eye of the storm, so whether or not we make it out of this hellhole will be determined soon enough." Looking ahead, I see a pile of rubble seeming to be blocking something. "Hey, can you walk now?"
"Sure," I say as I push off him, wincing in pain, and he seems to notice but not say anything as he kicks the rocks away with a casual look on his face, creating a tiny shockwave that blows my hair back. Are all raiders this strong? Nah, he's gotta be an outlier orsomething. A tunnel appears where the rocks were blown away, and he just walks into it. Someone's not as cautious as they like to appear.
"You coming?" He says, snapping me out of my hesitant stance.
"Yeah..." "Wait for me!" I run into the tunnel, and darkness overwhelms my senses. All I can hear is the sound of dripping water, and I can't see anything. Unsure of what to do, I just go off of instinct and continue walking as there's no other choice. I bump into something, unsure of whether or not it's him, I grab it and sure enough...
"DONT grab me like that again." Reassuring his antisocial behavior, I back off. In the darkness of the cave, there's a little bit of light allowing me to see the outline of his body. He takes advantage of this and finds a crevice and backs up, charging and slamming into the wall, opening up our entrance into this unknown "eye of the storm" as he calls it. He jumps down with an aura of confidence, landing on the ground without a scratch, even though we're on a 50-foot-high cliff.
"HURRY UP!" "I wanna get out of this place already, it gives me the creeps."
"The hell?" "You expect me to jump down THERE?!"
"You literally fell from the sky and survived." "If you can't survive this, you might as well just die here." He says while walking off. What a pessimistic jackass. But at the same time, he's kinda right... How the hell did I survive a fall from that height? With a daring smirk on my face, I hit a running start, jumping off the cliff. BOOM! A resounding echo bounces around, and as the dust clears, I sit up triumphantly.
"I knew that plot armor would come in sooner or later," I say, smirking at my genius talent. I look around the scenery stuns me; castle ruins or something like it is the ONLY way to describe this place. Yohan runs his hands across the walls; there are even some murals depicting what can only be described as brutal war, and from the looks of it, there seems to be a shadowy figure who seems to be the cause of it all, or that's what I get from it anyway.
"Woahh!" "I didn't know Ethereals had culture like this kinda cool seeing as how they're bloodthirsty monsters, but they must have some batshit crazy lore." As Yohan's hands trace along the walls, he stops and asks a question.
"Do you really think all Ethereals are monsters?"