Ryu, still laying on the floor of his living room in the dark with his arm over his eyes, was illuminated by a soft gentle beam of moonlight resting on him. The room was lit by the moon and lights coming in from the outside of central which, at the same time, cast shadows on everything in the room.
"Wake up boy. We need to plan how we're going to move forward but, before that, I need to explain what happened to you."
"Oh, it's you Mr. voice. I never got your name, did I?" Replied Ryu.
"Call me Ar. But--"
"Ar. A very unusual name. Where is it from?" Ryu quickly interjected.
"Boy!" Shouted Ar, "This is no time to be beating around the bush. Your moment of cowardice caused the death of your family, and that very moment has passed. The best thing we can do for them now is to avenge their terrible deaths."
Ryu slowly got up from the floor with a puzzled expression on his face. "Ho- How do you know that? I never told you what happened to me or even that I was with my family."
"Boy, this is no time to be looking for enemies within! Aren't you at least curious about why you were targeted? Or even where in the hell you were!?" Ar furiously responded.
"Hell?" Ryu asked with an even more puzzled expression and his question was followed with nothing but silence. He then decided to humour Ar. "Before we get to the main questions, how are you just a voice? Or have I just gone mad?"
"I assure you, you are not mad. The cause of my current state
…has its tale, of which I will tell you sooner or later but, for now, let me explain."
"You're right. So, where were we?" Ryu asked the voice after yet another moment of silence.
"I'm not too sure about that place myself. When I arose it was already there. It hasn't changed since the girl has probably been there longer than me but she is unable to speak. I've tried to help her in the time I've been there but to no avail."
"How long were you there?"
"I reckon a few years but the concept of time on that side is… flawed. Getting back to the subject at hand: You. Ryu, you have become an irregularity in this world of yours. In other words, you are not bound by the law of causality."
"But how is that enough to warrant my family's death?" Ryu interrupts as he got up to sit on the only sofa in the room.
"Let me finish boy. In your world exists rulers, existences that govern aspects of your reality and allowing it to be the way it is."
"Are you talking about 'the gods'?"
"Is that what you call them here? Anyway, at least you've heard of them, makes the explanation easier."
"Yeah, from history class and children's stories. But they're taught to us as the way early man understood the world around him, by creating 'gods'. They couldn't understand what determined luck and misfortune, so they made gods that pick and choose who to bestow these things upon. Although, Enacia's teachings are not the same."
"Uh-huh... Listen to me, those 'gods' as you call them, are real, and your newborn state of existence is perceived as a threat by those very 'gods'. That's why you were about to be murdered."
"What are you saying Ar?" Ryu's voice began to quake as he spoke, "The people that killed my family and wanted to kill me and my friends we're gods? But then why?! Why not just kill me! Why kill my family and leave Toshiko's alive? Why?!" He angrily asked Ar while sobbing.
"Now that you're done with your pointless rant that won't change your situation in the slightest, to someone who doesn't even have a body to top it off. Shall I answer your questions? The reason they killed your family is that irregularities cause ripple effects. Everyone around you is bound to get roped into your misadventures. For that boy's grandparents, I have no idea, but those people weren't gods. It would be more fitting to call them lackeys. If it was a god that came after you, you would be long dead."Ar finished.
"But how am I a threat?"
"That, I do not know for sure. My memories of these things are in disarray. They're more like...dreams. When you wake up you can't remember everything, only blurred fractions."
When Ar finished answering Ryu, another silence filled the room but this time a deafening silence as Ryu took in all he was told.
"Ar, Why are you helping me?"
"By helping you, I'm helping myself. We have both been wronged greatly. I am but a shell of my former self, a voice in a girl's body, constantly sleeping to avoid disappearing within her.
Listen, boy, the world above, or rather within, is what you're stepping into. You're already inside and it is going to take from you. But I will help you in any way I can to right the wrongs we have experienced."
"Thank you, Ar."
Ryu then got up and walked out of the apartment and stood by the balcony of their floor. He put his arms on the railing in front of him and leaned in. "Oh, Ar I never got the opportunity to welcome you to central. Well, this is central."
Ryu peered over a beautifully lit bustling city filled with lights as far as the eye could see giving the city a soft timbre glow.
end