That night, on the coast of the town...525Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt6Lr0Ez2WC
The moonlit beach was littered with debris from sunken ships and boats, acting as a continual reminder of tragedy for the survivors who had made the promenade their home. They buried their faces between their legs in rage beneath their bashas and tents lining the gardens and parks of the seaside, where bike paths and walk trails were once used for evening strolls. The houses along the coast had frightening faces, and the busier streets, once the core of the commercial sector, had devolved into nothing more than a shelter for the destitute. Fights frequently broke out over dwindling food for a can of meat or an extra loaf of bread, which the settlement’s guards had to keep under control, although it was evident that many lacked the common sense as they had when everything was normal.
Huddled beneath an urban woodland that had miraculously survived the blitz, two boys sat together in front of black smoke rising from their firepit, which they constantly fed with twigs and timber harvested from ruins, the crackling flames reminding them of that terrible night. The scenes from what felt like purgatory replayed in their heads, and all they could do to help each other was chatter away their paranoid thoughts about the same skies that they had to sleep under.
Being wary of the stars above him, which he often mistook for the manmade lights of the steel birds that caused this mayhem, the half-blood boy tightly wrapped himself in a tattered piece of fabric that served as a blanket, hoping that it would bring him some assurance. “Will you return to Dannen?” Arminius stared into the fire and asked as the warmth caressed his face.
Unable to differentiate between warmth and cold, the accented foreigner hugged his knees and shook his head. “Where would I go?” Julien answered softly. “I lived alone, and I never liked the place anyways.” He felt a deep-seated resentment with his homeland that he tried to make peace with while distracting himself by poking around the fire, the flames angrily sending sparks and embers into the air, dancing with the ashes in the wind and fluttering like a ballerina’s hand.
The thin tarp over their heads flapped as if it was going to be ripped from its hitches, but it withstood the gales, which swept over the boys kept safe within a sanctuary of trees.
Arminius turned to Julien with an inquisitive look on his face. “What about your grandfather or your parents? Did you not live with them?” He asked, innocently inconsiderate of the possibility that it might not be the best question.
The blonde-haired boy’s eyes widened when he was reminded of his home, but he did not wish to make his friend uneasy because of a little tongue slip, and he relaxed his shoulders, readying himself to tell his tale. “I… I have only known my grandfather ever since I was little.” Saddened, he seemed forced to speak in ambiguity, revealing only enough for Arminius to catch on without lying or unravelling the whole truth to a friend he had met mere days ago.
Disturbed that he was the one to bring up such dark memories of Julien, Arminius lowered his head in guilt and mumbled. “I see…”
Julien had once wondered who Arminius was to be able to appear so calm about everything he had shared, but he kept his thoughts to himself, only knowing that meeting each other was a miracle given the circumstances of the world. He smiled and looked at Arminius, but he saw that his gaze was drawn to something else he could not comprehend. The half-blood boy appeared to be staring off into an unattainable distant world, like the stars hidden behind the raft of clouds that sheltered the nearly full moon, whispering his ambitions as if he were making a promise to his future self.
Curious as to what he was thinking, the blonde-haired boy broke the silence when he suddenly asked his friend. “What will you do now?” Julien stared at him and watched for any changes in his expression, but Arminius remained puzzlingly still.
Arminius turned his gaze down towards the sea and thought about what he most wanted, but there was one answer that was clearer than anything else he desired. “Peace.” His answer seemed too mature for his age, but after what he had gone through, it was only reasonable. “To find peace.” He remembered what his sister had told him many times before, and only then did he manage to commit himself to this path that he did not know would alleviate the world of any more turmoil, greed, and pain.
However convinced that his friend knew what he wanted to do, Julien was confused as to how a near-eleven-year-old boy could even attain something as monumental as peace. “I would like that too, but… how are you going to do that?” Julien clenched his fists and questioned, feeling his heart being clasped by a sensation of angst.
The calmness in his friend's face relieved the feeling that had gripped his heart when Arminius finally turned to face him. Arminius smiled tenderly, appearing to understand Julien’s concerns, having chosen a path that no one else would know about until it was right on their doorsteps and knocking, but Julien noticed that his gaze had not yet returned to the present. He was still looking far into the future, at the beginnings of a journey that would last over four decades and be forever etched in history, but when Arminius’s smile broke, Julien sensed something was wrong. At that time, he was unaware that this schoolboy had already decided to puppet the fate of the entire world.525Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2IaUTnrGgH
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