"Mama!"
"Mama! Seth! Where are you?"
The child, terrified and choking on smoke, took two steps back, just in time to avoid the burning piece of wood that fell right in front of him.
He stopped and screamed again.
"Mama! Can you hear me?!"
Nothing.
Lowering his head, he pulled down the collar of his T-shirt, using it as a mask to reduce the risk of suffocation, and coughing again as he did so.
"Seth!"
His weak voice struggled to come out of his mouth, and the crackling of the flames left little room for any more sound to spread. yet, he had to call for them.
Still no response.
He decided to backtrack, and as he turned around, his right hand touched a piece of plywood that had caught fire.
"ARGH!"
The pain shot through his body, and his tears, already held back by a willpower extraordinary for a nine-year-old, began to flow freely. He fell to one knee and bit his lips with all his strength to keep from screaming in pain, so as not to waste even more of the air in his already depleted reserves.
He shook his hand vigorously, wrapped it in his T-shirt and pressed down with his able hand, which honestly did nothing to relieve his pain, then continued his way.
He repeated his call.
This time, he heard voices, faint but audible, coming from a corner of the room. To his great relief — if relief was the right word to describe how he felt — someone answered from the other side of the flames.
"Yugo! Are you there?!"
"Mama! Yes, I'm here!"
He tried to move forward, but the flames were already too high to give him any chance of taking another step.
"Yugo, don't come any closer and go get help!"
"But ma—"
"NO BUTS!" his mother yelled.
Yugo froze.
Despite the urgency of the situation and the fear he felt, nothing could make him feel more terrified than his mother's anger-filled, almost savage scream at that moment.
"I'm your mother, so do as I say!"
The child, afraid and exhausted, took a step back, but then rekindled the flame of his will and took another step forward.
"No! You and Seth have to come with me."
"I told you to get out of here quickly and go get help."
His mother's voice, firm at first, cracked.
"Seth and I are safe for now. But I don't know for how long, and we're stuck."
"No! No! I can't—"
"SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME, DAMN IT!"
A sob was heard.
"I told you to listen to me!"
The female voice, now interspersed with sobs, tried harder than ever to regain some semblance of firmness.
At that very moment, a piece of the ceiling, already badly damaged by the fire, broke off and fell into the flames, creating even more smoke that assaulted Yugo's nostrils.
His mother let out a small cry, driven by instinctive fear, but immediately pulled herself together as the younger brother started crying.
"Only you can get out of here. We're starting to suffocate, so you need to go and get help immediately. Everything will be fine here, but you have to do what I say, please!"
Tears in his eyes, desperate and tired from this nightmarish situation, the little boy resigned himself to doing what his mother told him.
"I'll be back," he said, trying to swallow the enormous lump of anxiety that was stuck in his throat, as he set off.
He crossed the rooms of the house at whatever maximum speed he could, given the little respite and running space offered by the flames and smoke, which were struggling with all their non-existent strength to suffocate him.
Avoiding another crumbling piece, he opened the door to the backyard garden, stepping out into the darkness of the night.
The surrounding street was lit by lampposts, whose lights were dwarfed by the incandescent glow of the blaze.
As Yugo rushed out of the garden, he saw people massed nearby. They all seemed panicked, but how could they not be when such a conflagration suddenly broke out in the neighbourhood?
The kid saw one of their close neighbours and ran towards him to ask for help, but no sooner had he covered about ten metres than a deafening crash was heard behind him.
Paradoxically, as though the world had fallen silent, no more noise reached the young boy's ears as he turned around, hoping that what he thought was just that... a thought.
The shock created by the absolute catastrophe unfolding in front of him, and the despair taking roots in his mind and heart, froze him in place. His eyes went blank and tears streamed down his face.
He opened his mouth, wanting to scream in madness.
Yet, despite all the cries he thought he was uttering, no sound came out.
Right at this moment, an explosion erupted from the house and the shockwave threw the boy back, shattering what little consciousness he still had, and made him sink into a state close to slumber.
Paralysed, his limbs refusing to obey him, he could only lie there.
Suddenly, he felt strong hands pulling him and another pair, gentler, caressing his face. With his consciousness continuing to fade, impossible to maintain, he heard words echoing in the distance.
"Don't let yourself... Nightmare... Wake..."
[Wake up!]
***
The voice of his co-officer, pulled Yugo out of his slumber, as it echoed through the earpiece attached to his left ear.
The young man — now 18 years old — lying on the semi-circular engraved floor of one of the levels of the floating gardens of the Stravagon ruins, opened his eyes with a grunt, expressing boredom and unwanted disappointment.
Raising his right arm, he opened his hand as if to catch the sun, which was proudly shining in the azure and limegreen sky, where cottony clouds floated by on the breeze that occasionally brushed Yugo's face.
Yugo stared for a moment at the burn scar near his thumb.
'Tch. That dream again.' he sighed
The earpiece, once again, emitted a slight beeping sound, followed by a voice, that of his co-officer speaking to him.
[We have new intel on this operation. A meeting is scheduled with the mayor of Stravagon. Over to you.]
"Got it! Thanks, Lucile."
[You're welcome. You can always contact me if necessary. Check your external switch, the mission objective has been updated.]
"Okay! End of communication!"
Right after that, he pressed the button of his earpiece and the communication was interrupted.
"Right! Let's see what we've got here!" he then said, with another sigh, tapping twice with his fingertip on the star cross medallion, adorned with a scythe, that was pinned on his shirt — on the right side of the chest.
At that moment, two energy spheres came out of the medaillon and hovered above yugo. After a bit of moment, they fused to form a sort of holographic window which appeared in front of him, its scatttering blue glow displaying the various pieces of information he needed for his current mission.
(Quest: Purify the Negacion sighted around Stravagon City, Merina County, Region of the Seven Peaks, Kovagar Kingdom, Karvit Union, Veropa Continent.)
(Immediate objective: Meet with the mayor)
(Secondary objective: Evacuate civilians and minimise collateral damage).
Yugo dismissed the window, stretched out to his full length — raising both arms, that he then crossed — and yawned a little, as his scarlet hair swayed in the light breeze.
He raised his head to the sky and closed his eyes, reflecting on the nature of his mission, and let himself get lost in thoughts.
***
The Negaciones, these creatures first appeared about eight centuries to a millenia ago, wreaking chaos, desolation and death wherever they passed. With them, or maybe before, came the Kilith, a new source of energy that spread across the planet, changing the ecosystem, fauna and flora on a global scale to the point where even humans were influenced after a while.
Of course, some nations downplayed the danger at first, preferring to focus on the Kilith, and above all, they saw in a positive light the fact of seeing a rival fall without even having to lift a finger. Then, all they had to do was reach out to gain new lands and resources, without too much effort and without sending an army to do the dirty work.
In short, it was a godsend both for rulers eager for new riches and for soldiers who would be spared the trouble of waging gruelling and costly campaigns, and above all, being slaughtered on a battlefield that was not worth it to them. And that's not to mention the thieves and looters who took advantage of the 'incursions' to grab a bit of loot and exercise their unsavoury skills in the towns and villages that had suffered the wrath of these creatures.
However, this deliberate negligence — for politico-military and, above all, economic purposes — ended up affecting the whole world. The threat had grown so dire that humans had no choice but to stop fighting useless wars and ally themselves among survivors to counterattack, though of course, it wasn't all smooth sailing. But after two centuries of struggle, humanity more or less managed to understand the danger and contain it.
This was, in fact, the very reason for the existence of the organisation to which Yugo belonged.
***
Yugo opened his eyes again, fixing his scarlet eyes on a bird hovering in the sky, and exhaled deeply.
'Well, it's time to get back on the road.'
As he returned to the Metatrain stop, Yugo took on a well-deserved batch of fresh air, and let his hair sway gracefully, swindled by the sweet breeze of the Elradine plains.
"Let's hope I don't have to deal with a nightmare, this time too!"