Eccende of what we are

Birds chirped as the city glowed beneath the evening sun. The smell of baked pastries floated through the streets. Stone roads still held the day’s warmth, and voices echoed through the narrow lanes lined with captivating buildings that looked to stand no longer than a memory. Music drifted from a nearby restaurant, whilst tourists laughed under the shade of umbrellas. Car engines hummed far in the distance, and a crisp, gentle breeze passed over the city as the hour struck. The cities clock tower chimed, harsh yet softened by the evening air.

To Stello Aramane, it felt unreal; he loved how the bright sun hit umber-toned skin. Then a slight discomfort in his hand brought him back to the bags in his hands.

As he adjusted the shopping bag in his hand and frowned. “You know how long it took me to get all of this; now I have to carry them too? I still can’t believe you talked me into it,” he said to his sister, Acacia, walking a few steps ahead. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled. The jacket wrapped around her was the one he’d spent months saving for, a deep burgundy coat with a soft cream lining, its brass buttons catching the evening light. It had been his birthday gift to her, and seeing it on her never failed to make him smile.

“Then stop complaining,” she said. You are supposed to be celebrating! You’ve spent years buried in school;

Stello clicked his tongue. “Then why am I playing butler?”

Acacia glanced over her shoulder. “Because you wanted to, duh,” she teased.

“I said nothing like that.”

“Your hands did. They were so free, they were begging me to hand you the bag.”

“You’re just making things up now.”

“How could you call your own beloved sister a liar?!”

A grin spread across Stello’s face as he looked at her. Acacia spun around to face Stello, bumping his shoulder. “Sixteen years old and already heading off to college.” She grinned. “I guess I’ve got a genius for a little brother,” Stello smirked and rolled his eyes.

“Don’t start with it.” She said, pointing at Stello. “You know most people your age are worried about exams, jobs, and girls, but here you are worrying about your college schedule.”

Stello laughed. It was strange, seeing everything he had worked for end.

They continued walking through the bustling streets, stopping every so often to admire the city’s old architecture or peek into souvenir shops.

“So…” Acacia asked, “Have you decided?” Stello looked at her in confusion. “Huh, about what?”

“Your major? dude did you already forget ”

Stello paused, his mind drifting away for a moment. “Astronomy, I’ve always liked the stars. They kind of draw me in when I look at them sometimes.”

Acacia folded her arms proudly. “Mom and Dad would’ve loved hearing that.”

“I mean, after the name they gave me, they better be,” Stello replied jokingly.

Acacia smiled. “Damn, you can’t get sentimental even for a second?.”

“My bad, K. I do think about them all the time, y’know,” Stello said, bringing along silence after how they were like and stuff. “I never really got the opportunity to miss them,” Stello commented. He tried to recollect his parents, but even a face couldn’t come to mind.

“I know,” Acacia said as she looked to the floor for words to comfort her brother.

Silence settled between them for a moment as Stello’s smile got swept away. “You ever think I actually did enough for them to be actually proud of me?” Acacia stopped walking to turn to him. “What?”

“I graduated early… everyone’s telling me I should be proud…” Stello paused, his confidence wavering. “But what if I’m not?”

He looked down and rubbed the back of his neck. “What if I just can’t do it, dude... what if astronomy just… isn’t for me or anything at all?”

Acacia stared at him for a second, then pinched his arm.

“Ow,” Stello said as he winced.

“Then don’t, and that’s not an option, so don’t even think about it!” Acacia smiled warmly.

He was about to respond when he noticed she had stopped moving. Her smile faded. Her eyes remained fixed on the now slightly dimmed sky.

“Acacia?” No answer... for the first time, something unusual for his sister. He looked at her face.

“We need to leave right now,” she said, her voice colder.

The air seemed to change. A loud trumpet-like sound blew through the air... every conversation seemed to die off all at once. Car engines idled. Pigeons became silent. Crows that had crowded the ground only moments before burst into the sky in flocks.

Stello looked around with pure confusion. “What was that? What’s going on?” Acacia didn’t answer. She stared upward. Sweat was dripping down her neck. Her eyes were fixed somewhere beyond the clouds.

“Acacia?” Stello managed to utter. He’d never seen her like this. She seemed to snap back to reality as she grabbed his wrist so hard it hurt.

“I said we need to leave. Now!” Her voice was sharper than he had ever heard it.

People started to murmur. Some began pointing at the sky. Some took out their phones, attempting to record what was happening. She began pulling him into the crowd in a rush to leave the situation. As the evening began to dim, the light didn’t fade like a normal sunset; it shifted, as if something immense were moving over the city, shrouding it in complete darkness. Another sound tore through the air. Stello’s heart ached when he heard a child crying nearby. The ground began to shake. Acacia, who had been walking, began running through the street, pulling Stello with her. Windows shattered. Streetlights burst, and shards of glass rained down on the street and into stores. The city’s clock tower began to split down the middle, causing the plaza to erupt into chaos. People began to scream. The once beautiful city was now left in Havoc and ruin.

“What’s happening?!!” Stello shouted. Acacia looked back at him, her face still pale, far different from her vibrant golden brown skin; at that moment, it looked like it was sapped of its life.

Her golden brown eyes filled with dread. “I didn’t think it’d happen here, not right now ”. Before he could ask what she meant, the center fountain they were running toward erupted. Stello was thrown back by the sudden impact; dust and debris filled the air around him.

When the dust finally cleared, Stello caught sight of something standing within the crater. A tall, hunched creature stood amongst the rubble.

Its elongated limbs were concealed beneath scorched, chalky white skin. Its face was almost human yet strongly unfamiliar; slender eyes sat beneath a thick brow, while a thin, warped smile stretched across its face.

Its head tilted toward the crowd nearby. Before Stello could make sense of what he was seeing, another creature landed on a rooftop.

Then another.

Six more creatures descended on the city’s remaining buildings. A scream echoed in the distance, followed by a thunderous roar. Panic swept through the crowd as the creatures closed in. The people of città delle ceneri fled in all directions, driven by sheer fright.

The city had been built atop a great battlefield; the ground was destroyed, the soil smelt like blood and gunpowder, the earth soaked with the dead’s tears.

And from the torn battlefield, refugees and people with no homes resurrected the battlefield, and now, from cinders, it came.

From cinders it shall return.

Stello sat frozen in fear as a creature began advancing toward him.

“Stello, Move!” Acacia exclaimed, stepping in front of him.

But he couldn’t. His blood ran cold as the creature drew closer, its twisted form crouched low to the ground. For a moment everything seemed to stand still.

Then-it sprang.

Stello barely raised his arms before it ploughed into him.

The force sent him flying across the stone road. A sharp pain surged through his lower back as he crashed into a heap of jagged rubble.

Everything rang. The world dissolved into a blur. Through the haze, Stello could faintly hear Acacia screaming his name. He tried to stand, but his legs buckled beneath him. His vision flickered, struggling to make sense of blinding light emerging from where his sister had stood. Then, before he could comprehend what was happening, a colossal shockwave tore through the plaza. Darkness consumed everything.

A few hours later....

Stello awoke to rows of injured civilians huddled beneath makeshift emergency tents. Some wept quietly, while others stared blankly into the distance. Medics hurried between tents, tending to the wounded, as guards stood along the fences.

“Where are you, K?” The question lingered in his mind.

He jolted upright, frantically scanning the sea of tents and debris before him. She was nowhere to be seen.

“The monsters…” he remembered.

A few minutes later, Stello found himself walking through what appeared to be a temporary shelter. A sign hung above a crudely constructed fence.

ZONE 3.

“Just how long had I been out?” A sudden dread tightened in his chest.

Around him, people moved like ghosts. Some were wrapped tightly in blankets, their shoulders trembling. Others sat in huddled groups, murmuring, perhaps wondering if the creatures would return.

None of it mattered to Stello.

He just wanted to find his sister.

“Hey, kid,” said someone behind Stello

Stello turned to see a guard approaching him. The man looked to be in his mid-forties, with a few strands of grey peeking through his brown hair. His face was lined with faint creases, and a yellow vest hung over his uniform, white stripes running down either side, eyes that had seen multiple broken families and tragedies.

“You need to stay in the zone.” He said, his voice tired from the day

Stello glanced around, only now realizing he had wandered towards the end of the tents, where a crudely constructed fence separated the shelter from the ruined city beyond.

“My sisters out there,” he said, forcing the words out.

“We know. More people are missing, and we’re looking for them. But you have to wait your turn, so rest up, kid.” The man said with a voice of understanding

“Search teams are still operating; when we receive the all-clear, you’ll be able to leave”. The guard continued calmly.

A visible frown formed on Stello’s face.

“When is it safe?” He looked up at the guard. “The city got ripped apart, and you’re waiting to know if it’s safe?!” said as stello snapped back.

The guard remained unfazed.

Stello clenched his fists. Behind them, a medic hurried past, pushing a stretcher, a body covered by a white sheet. I’m going out there,” Stello demanded.

“You can’t,” the guard fired back.

“I’m not asking,” Stello stated

Before Stello could turn around, the guard grabbed his shoulder. Firm, not aggressive. “You go out there alone, we won’t be able to help you.”

Stello stared at the hand resting on his shoulder. he calmed, yet still he pulled away, steadfast in his decision.

“Why stay?” He muttered just loud enough for the guard to hear. “No reason if my sister is out there .”

Stello waited until nightfall. The camp shifted into quiet rotations. Tired guards stood beneath the dim floodlights, their exhaustion slowly replacing their vigilance.

Stello slipped through a loose section of the fence near the edge of the zone. No one stopped him. No one but the man noticed he was gone, and he stayed quiet, as he knew no words nor actions could waver his decision set in his heart.

The city beyond was worse in the dark.

Stello made his way through rubble, taking in the ruins around him. Buildings leaned in like broken teeth. Streets had been carved open as if something dragged itself through them. Smoke still rose in thin wisps from cracks in the rubble.

Stello moved through it anyway.

Back to the plaza where it had started.

Just as he remembered, the fountain was gone. Only the crater remained where the stone and water had once been. Stello stood at the edge, replaying what had happened only hours before.

Then he saw it.

Something beneath the rubble caught his eye. Stello quickly slid down into the crater, making his way towards the object protruding from the debris. He reached down and pulled it free.

A jacket.

Torn at the sleeve. Burned along the edge.

Stello froze.

It was her jacket.

Stello stopped breathing.

For a moment, his mind filled with possibilities he didn’t dare to consider. His fingers tightened around the jacket.

“No...” His voice barely escaped him.

“No-no, no, no,” his mind screamed, rejecting the thought.

He dropped to his knees and began searching. He pushed aside rocks. Dug through ash and threw broken pieces of stone behind him, desperately searching for something he both wanted and feared to find.

Nothing.

There was no body. No sign of her. Just ruins.

Stello’s breathing grew heavier. His eyes burned as tears began to form, blurring the destruction around him.

He felt his heart tighten and tear; everything around him started slowly turning dark around him as he fell onto his knees, holding the jacket to his heart.

Then his whirlwind of emotions took a sharp pause as he heard something fall out of the torn jacket.

Perfectly preserved, not a burn on it.

Stello froze. He reached for it, carefully brushing the dust away before pulling it free. The paper was folded, crumpled at the edges and stained with dirt.

His hands trembled as he struggled to unfold it.

A map.

His eyes scanned it, then stopped.

A single location had been circled: an abandoned building on the outskirts of the city.

Stello stared at it.

His chest tightened.

But this time, it wasn’t grief.

It was hope.

“She’s alive,” he said with half hope.

He swallowed.

“I know she is,” because the thought that otherwise would be too painful to even think.

He rose to his feet, clutching the map in one hand and his sister’s jacket in the other. For the first time since the city fell, Stello didn’t feel like he was walking into the unknown. He had somewhere to go.

He turned towards the shadowed ruins.

Then he noticed something strange.

The darkness didn’t seem so dark anymore.

At first, he thought it was the moonlight breaking through the clouds. But as he stared deeper into the ruined streets, shapes began to emerge- distant buildings, broken walls, piles of rubble he could have sworn were invisible. Moments ago.

Stello blinked.

The shadows seemed to shift.

He looked again.

There they were.

He stared into the distance, confused. Somehow, he could see farther than he should have been able to. The faintest outlines stood out against the night, as though the darkness itself had become less opaque.

He didn’t understand it.

He didn’t question it. Not now.

He tightened his grip around the jacket and stepped forward.

Whatever had happened to his sister, Stello was going to find her.