Lost Radiance

***

Sound of tanks and warplanes. People screaming. Men, women, and children ran through the streets.

The sound of bombs dropping

The odor of charred flesh and hair; people dying in agony

Cities being bombed.

Mages use spells to shoot down airplanes

People being burned alive.

Soldiers trying to protect their homes and families from enemy fire

Thousands of bodies were scattered on the ground.

Men and women scream in agony as they die.

Ships are being sunk with hundreds on board.

***

In a world where conflicts between nations were rampant, magic was desired by everybody.

There were many countries that held onto this desire for power and used it to fight each other. The only ones who tried to avoid conflict were those who had no hope of winning against them. They would run away from the conflict and try to live peacefully.

But that didn last long either. As soon as one country fell into ruin, another nation would come in and take its place.

Even though everyone knew how dangerous fighting wars could be, nobody wanted to give up the power they gained from war. It became an endless cycle.

Countries started building big factories near their borders so they could make a lot of weapons quickly and give them to their soldiers.

Some countries had enough money to build giant portals that acted like gates, allowing them to transport troops directly into enemy territory. Others used teleportation spells to send smaller armies over. There weren any rules or regulations regarding what type of technology you used for warfare; anything was allowed!

The world then began to suffer the consequences of the war.

The oceans began to dry up.

A disease spread throughout the land, killing millions of people.

The air began to deteriorate.

That was when a mysterious god appeared.

”The world and its creatures are so interesting; they have a power that threatens ours, but they prefer to participate in their stupid wars. ”

”I will restart this stupid creation. Lets see if the following inhabitants can amuse me. ”

In a quick movement and with a smile on his face, the god snapped his fingers.

The mysterious god exterminated every living thing that lived in the world.

The only thing remaining was the foundations of past civilizations; the buildings had deteriorated, and nature had begun to heal after so much destruction.

He thought about creating a new life, but he wasn sure if there was a reason to do so.

What was the point? The only thing that remained was death.

This time, he decided not to create anything.

Instead, he created nothingness.

The nothingness was a big ball of emptiness.

It looked like a black hole surrounded by stars that hadn yet formed.

If a light entered nothingness, it wouldn ever emerge again.

He sat down and watched the destruction after creating nothingness.

The nothingness continued to grow until it covered everything. It began to move around the planet and became known as the Void.

Over time, the void grew larger and wider.

”So boring! ”

The unknown god snapped his fingers, and the void began to shrink and disappear.

It created a huge explosion and blew up most of the world.

All that remained was a lifeless surface.

”Oh well, I guess this is the end. ”

Just when he left Earth, the void started to expand again.

Something appeared in the void, which was filled with nothingness.

It was a child.

The child looked around at the empty space, confused.

The child looked down and saw himself.

”Who am I? ” he asked the space around him. ”How did I get here? Why am I alone? ”

The child kept asking these questions; he eventually realized that he was the only one left.

This was the beginning of a brand-new world.

The kid had no idea why he was born, nor did he know what he should do with his life.

He wandered aimlessly around the barren terrain, wondering if anyone else existed.

As he walked, he came across some ruins that seemed like they might have been part of the previous civilization.

He looked inside them and found a tall pillar inside.

He touched the pillar with his hand.

Nothing happened.

He took a closer look and noticed that it was made of crystal. He also noticed that it was glowing softly.

After looking at the pillar for a while, the boy touched it again.

He felt something.

The crystal pillar was shining brighter.

He touched it a third time, and a beam of light emerged and hit the pillar.

When the light hit it, the light turned into a golden sphere.

As the light faded, a man stood before him.

”Hello, ” said the man.

They both stared at each other in silence.

The boy didn know what to say, so he just smiled and nodded.

”You must be the first being in the reborn world, ” said the man.

The boy didn respond.

The man laughed. ”Don worry, you
e not the only one. Youll meet others soon. ”

The man vanished.

The boy kept staring at the spot where he had disappeared.

He wondered if the man was going to return or if he had gone away forever.

He glanced around at the ruins.

The boy was curious and wanted to explore all the things he found.

He didn stop to think about the meaning behind finding a pillar that produced a light beam.

He understood that the pillars were ancient.

This meant that he was lucky to find one, even though it was empty.

Despite his human appearance, the child had no need to eat or sleep.

Since he had none of these needs, he wandered the wasteland for years without stopping.

Meanwhile, the earth started to heal itself, and plants began to sprout.

The sky cleared up from pollution; it became blue again.

Every creature that lived on Earth was now extinct; however, new creatures emerged.

Flowers bloomed everywhere, and animals roamed the land.

And so millions of years passed.

The child had become the protector of the earth.

Eventually, the child started to notice people.

They walked through forests, fields, and mountains.

”Hey, who are you? ” he asked them.

Nobody responded.

The child kept talking to strangers.

No matter how many people he talked to, he never got an answer.

He stopped trying to talk to them.

People began to build settlements, farms, and villages.

The child watched as they built towns and cities.

He saw that the new humans were different from him.

They spoke in strange languages, wore weird clothes, and ate food hed never tasted.

”Why don you talk to me? ”

Still, nobody answered.

He was lonely.

He felt like he was the only person in the whole world.

The boy always had the hope of seeing that man he saw on the pillar millions of years ago.

As time passed, the child became more and more curious about his origins.

”Maybe Im not from this world. ”

The boy searched for information about the pillars he found all over the world and discovered that they were all connected.

”Are these pillars the reason why I was born? ”

His research took him to the center of the globe, where he found a city.

The child wandered around the city, searching for answers.

He studied the culture of the humans that lived there.

The humans appear to have discovered something in the pillars and developed some kind of energy from there.

The child was fascinated. ”Do the pillars have a deeper meaning than I know? ”

He learned that people believed that the pillars gave birth to the Earth.

He began to wonder if he could find the truth about the pillars.

One day, he heard someone crying.

He followed the noise and found a young girl sitting next to a tree.

She was holding her knees and rocking back and forth. She was sobbing loudly.

The boy approached the little girl and knelt beside her.

Her tears flowed freely and she cried louder, shaking her head violently. Her body trembled as she shook uncontrollably.

He put his arms around her.

Tears streamed down the childs face too, but he didn cry as loudly as the girl.

The girl asked him: ”Where did my mother go? ”

The boy was terrified because she had spoken to him and could see him.

”Can you see me? ”

”Of course, I can. ”

”Do you understand what Im saying? ”

”Yes. ”

The girl grabbed hold of his arm tightly.

”Please tell me where my mommy went! ”

Suddenly, she froze, still as stone.

The girl was frozen solid, unable to speak or move.

Without understanding what was happening or the meaning of death, the child panicked and ran away from her.

He hid behind a large rock and waited for her to awaken.

Time passed slowly, and the sun rose and set.

During that period, the boy spent his days hiding, waiting for her to wake up.

The girl didn wake up, so the boy lifted and carried her with great difficulty to the pillar where he had spoken with the man.

He laid next to her after gently placing her on the ground inside the pillar.

Days turn into weeks, months, and finally years.

The girl never woke up again.

The last thing that could be seen of the girl and the boy was that the boy had disappeared.

Vanished as if he had never existed. As if his existence were nothing more than vast nothingness.