"Shirō! Wake up, Shirō!" A much lighter voice echoes out, at first it was muffled before it began to become much clearer. As my eyes focus on who's calling out my name. My little brother, Akarui. His hair is whiter than mine. Bright, brilliant doe-like eyes that can invoke happiness onto even the poorest of souls, and most of all, his wondrous nature, as if the boy has Terra as a little playground he gets to explore in and meet all sorts of people. We're in a train station, covered by a thick metal roof on a rainy day, as I heard the countless amount of droplets smack onto the metal roof above our snowy heads. I was on the bench, tail wrapped around my waist as many Anima, Eclipsed and Humans walked by us, some entering trains heading for their next stop and others strolling by. Hearing my brother, I got up, sighing. . . He was about six years younger than me and being that exact number of age. I gave him a half-smile, I was a bit ill- considering I had just woken up from an All-Father knows how long nap.
"Yes? Rui?" I replied softly, having this much more gentle tone. Akarui was special to me, Rui being his nickname amongst the family, it was actually me who ended up calling him that, by mistake, that is. He quickly responded, "Our train to Angels Fall will be here quickly! Get up!!" He demanded, tugging my tail, with strength that made me hop off the bench, laughing. "Fine! Fine! I'm up, Rui." I chuckled, waving my hand off as my tail sways back behind me but this was odd. . . All of this was four years ago, am I reliving a memory? Is this just some sort of reverie? I can't tell but all I can do is think and ponder on what I'm in, but that's all I can do. . . I can't move myself, I can't tell my brother that this may all be fake. I can only think. After about a minute, the train came in as me and Rui hopped on, finding seats to plop ourselves down, relax, chat, and have typical brotherly bonding- like declaring thumb wars and whatnot. After a while, I just lay back and look at the window, watching many landscapes fly by before we go through small towns after small towns. I began to drift off to sleep as I felt Rui lay his head next to me, curling his tail around him. I smiled, as I shut my eyes fully.
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"We have arrived at the Angels Fall train stop. Please, all passengers are kindly asked to gather up their things and step out.", the intercom woke us up, awfully loud but oddly the woman seemed like she was being more quiet on the other side of the mic. Me and Rui hop off, all we really have is money to buy essentials at a shop. We walk over to a local store as I lift my head up, staring at the magic-empowered lights before paying attention to what's ahead of me.
"Hey! You're Yuriro's boys!" The shopkeeper greets us, a pretty large and robust man, he has a pretty large but neat beard with a reflective head. He had mentioned our father's name. Personally speaking, I hardly know him, just that Father came by here often when he was around. "Y-Yeah. . . Hey, sir." We had fully entered the store by now. I look at Rui and say, "I'll go look for snacks and drinks, 'kay?" before I head off. From the corner of my eye, Rui walked up to the shopkeeper's counter and chatted with him. Typical Rui, can't ignore him but oddly, that's what makes him lovable. I trench through isles having snacks, potions, vials for enhancing Magic, et cetera. I grab about two bags of chips, two drinks, one bottle of water for me and another for Rui, and about 7 curative potions in-case if we get hurt. Yet this was a handful, I should've grabbed a backpack, but then the shopkeeper would holler to me, "Hey, Shirō! Why don't you try putting those in an Inventarium?".
My ears flickered at him, what now? I walk up to him, nearly dropping the items in my hands before I ask, "Care to explain?" I asked before he responded. "An Inventarium! A pocket dimension dense with Enogu. From what I've heard, Eclipsed and Anima can use this, including Practitioners after some training. You're putting items essentially into your "soul" or whatever, it's useful and considering you're both Anima, it shouldn't be a problem!" He said, but never explained how. "C-Can you explain how I do this?" I began to grunt, my arms getting uncomfortable with all the items I had gotten before he said, "Well, I guess try to put some focus and concentration? Concentrate your magic." Yeah but how? I try to do what he's quite literally just said and, 'fwoosh!' Through sparks of magic, the items had vanished.
"Did I-" I try to ask.
"Yep. You did it." He says,
"Now, try to think about an object in your Inventarium and it should come right out!"
I place my hand on my chin, thinking about what I can pull back out. . . I thought about one of the bags of chips I got. After a bit of trying, maybe nearly half a minute. 'Pop!' It appeared as Magic sparks out of my hand.
"There. Now pay." he demands, I almost forgot. Perking my ears down as I nervously chuckle, paying for the items I got.
"Say, you know us a bit so, what's your name?" Rui asked.
"Cid. Cid Wayward." he responded with a smile.
"Hope to meet you again!!" Rui exclaimed, I smiled at the moment. It seemed like we made a new friend. One who knows who we are. We walk towards Angels Fall, a popular lake to head to for tourists and grab pictures. We were heading here to meet up with friends of the family, but Mother and Father are still busy getting ready and grabbing their own items. I began to walk with Rui close to me, heading for Angel's Fall.
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We're about a few minutes, probably 6 minutes away from Angel's Fall, a large lake covered in Enogu, emitting beautiful arrays of light and glittering particles of Enogu. Folk say it's like this due to an Angel falling down, drenching all of the water in Magic, but it's probably some children's fairytale. It's surrounded by mountains and cliffs, the tips clad in snow.
"Shirō?" Rui says, looking at me.
"Mhm?" I replied.
"I'm thirsty." He says. I can already tell what he wants next, so I don't hesitate reaching my hand out as a bottle of water had conjured from sparks of Enogu, handing it over to Rui. "Here." I say, my voice soft like a pillow.
"Thanks!" He grabs the bottle and immediately gets to drinking when he takes off the cap, wagging his small yet fluffy tail behind his back. We pass by many people, beings like us, half-human and half-animal don't pass by these parts often, so we stood out and got a few glares. "It's so crowded." I say beneath my breath, I looked around the small central area around Angel's Fall, people have cameras out, others are talking about its beauty and the lore, and the other possible sights for pictures. We're probably hundreds of feet above ground level, standing on steel plating with guard rails at the edges, with a bridge leading to the lake. Me and Rui began to make our way to the bridge as my ears perked up at a sound. 'Crack. . . Crack!' I looked up at where the noise was coming from, the air. The fracture immediately began to open up, a hand reached out of the fracture, making it grow wider. . .
"-?!" I stared at it in horror, Rui stood next to me, oblivious before suddenly my vision would begin to black out again. Why? Why now? Before whatever that thing came out, the very thing that ruined my life forever.
The being that murdered my brother.