A Miracle

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𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟳

𝙰𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚕 𝟺, 𝟹𝟶𝟶𝟷 (an hour or so later)

Good news is, they didn't find out.

Success.

Bad news is, the government is doing something shady. And they brought me, my friends, and other acquaintances of mine.

My fellow scientists.

With me included, of course.

Did I mention I was a scientist?

Failing in success, is this what they call it?

I forgot.

Anyways, midnight.

Yes, it's exactly midnight. 𝟷𝟸:𝟶𝟶 𝙰𝙼.

A little more than what should be an hour had passed since the last log happened.

Wait, wouldn't I have to change the date to 𝙰𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚕 𝟾?

…I'll get back to that. Maybe.

Anyways, since I was confronted with the government people and 'gently pushed' into coming with them. As we were leaving my house, I saw that out of other people's houses, the same men wearing professional clothing and guns brought along other people who I'm very well familiar with.

Then, together, we went to a place beneath our neighborhood.

An underground bunker lab.

,,,

Like what the actual duck!? How the hell did I not know of this!

So, like the curious people we are, we courted death by asking them questions.

Of course, with our inquiries along the way, the people who brought us along said to never write or tell anyone about this.

...

...it looks like I'll be breaking some rules.

Heh, they'll never find this diary anyways.

It's not like I'm writing this just because I have a grudge against the government.

Hahahahaha.

Hah.

...am I going crazy right now thinking I'm actually talking through my diary by writing to some figurative person who's probably going to read my diary sometime in the future?

I thought I left those days behind years ago.

Sorry, I digress. Let's get back to the point.

Anyways, thirty or more of us were gathered in some office after walking through hall after hall. I never bothered to count how many times we've seen what looks like the same hallways and rooms.

At the head of the table, some person wearing a mask was sitting down comfortably. Behind the person and basically everywhere else, men wearing masks and holding assault rifles silently stood there.

…heh, I already smelled this a mile away.

Even when the masked person started speaking with an obvious machine that distorted his or her voice, I knew it was already bad.

Too bad I can't run away.

I'll skip all the details about the lectures of 'saving the world' or 'save humanity' and all that crap.

We all know this is-I beg your pardon for my blunt language-"bullshit" at its finest.

Hell, even my friends and other acquaintances can confirm. I secretly looked around and saw their hands sweating, licking their lips, and gulping a lot of saliva.

Finally, at the end of the long lecture and other-my apologies again-"bullshit" they finally got to the point.

They said they discovered a new energy floating around in the air around us, and they want us to find a way to use it.

They called it…𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢.

-A note written by yours truly, an about to be dead lowly professor

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…

The first day, bullet shots rang out.

In the very early morning, where no sun graced the horizons, the smell of smoke and fire filled the air along with countless other noises as we tried to push the damned monsters back.

They were like fireflies in the darkness, for the fire that burns from them is enough to shine in a radius that beats a campfire in the night.

The monsters that came from hell never stopped.

Originally, seeing that these monsters were on fire, we used water hoses and such, but it barely doused their flames.

Eventually, hours and hours of continuously pushing, they finally fell back, and we had a breather.

We felt we had a chance.

…

Oh how wrong we were.

…

When the sun should be rising, even when gray clouds expand across the sky,, they march towards us once more.

We used water on them once again.

It worked, and it pushed them back. Hope ran through our bodies, adrenaline filling our veins. We even began joking around, smiling.

There was hope.

We thought we saw a light at the end of the tunnel.

Then, when it became the afternoon, when the sun should be at its highest, more came. And not just a few stragglers.

Last time it was a couple of 'em.

Later, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.

As soon as the water ran out, the monsters came back once more. Like a tsunami, they were an endless onslaught of nature.

They kept moving forward.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥.

𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙠𝙚𝙥𝙩 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙.

In the end, there...there was nothing we could've humanely thought to have done to stop them in their tracks.

So we fell back, running as fast as we could towards the vehicles.

…

The next day, in the early spring morning, the first snow began to fall.

Like all snow, it's terribly cold and chilling to the bone. Our bones felt stiff, and our arms and legs numb.

It was as though it was some kind of gas that's seeping deep into our bones.

We can feel something heavy slowly weighing down on us, and the few with breathing problems began hyperventilating.

It was a good thing that we brought coats and warm gloves just in case according to procedures.

Although it was cold, we didn't complain.

We thought it was a miracle, a miracle from God.

Or some higher being.

For a whole day, the monsters didn't attack us at all, and we looked miles from our base.

We couldn't find any.

Voices in our group said the snow will hopefully stop them, but some of us knew otherwise. After what we saw, we had low expectations.

In the end, we were right.

The day after, before the crack of dawn, the monsters came.

Neither weakened nor slowed, these monsters taller than the rest of us walked towards us.

In fact, the flames that seemingly wrapped like armor around their bodies, if they have one, seemed to have grown much more ferocious and menacing.

It scared us.

…

Over the course of the not so dull day, we used barriers, tried to lure them to places with large bodies of water, and many other things.

Just as always, our plans seemed to be of no use whatsoever.

If they fall into the pit trap, it would fill up till others would walk over them. The barriers we made at the last minute didn't work as well, because they just either walked around them or stormed through them.

We try to hose them down, but there were too many. Hosing them down is a drop of water in a large bucket.

The only benefit was that we can delay them a small amount.

Our leader called for air support, to spray water down from above, but the snowy storm grew stronger, making the idea improbable.

Explosives were out of the question, especially with what happened a day ago. A few of the soldiers tried it once out of desperation, but it seemed to have made the monsters engulfed in the blast a tad bit larger.

They were once almost or at least are seven feet tall, and now they're definitely past seven feet tall.

So, they kept pushing us back, farther and farther away. Feet, yards, meters, kilometers, miles...

They never stopped walking.

Walking towards us.

No, not us.

The city.

Our home.

Where our family, friends, and memories filled with nostalgia waited.

We stop to rest, fight, escape, stop to rest, fight, and escape.

Rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat.

Rinse and repeat.

Many, many times, we wanted to give up.

Many, many times, we wanted to flee.

It felt entirely hopeless. The light at the end of the dark tunnel no longer illuminated our path.

We're stumbling in the darkness, and we don't know when we'll fall into a hole in front of us.

…

Then…a miracle happened.

…

Filtering through the gray blanket that wraps the sky in its embrace, a dark blue light shined through its impenetrable barrier.

…

Soldiers, humans, and even monsters; they all stopped, and they all looked up.

And the miracle emerged.

From up above in the sky, glimmering, sparkling lights descended.

From up above in heaven, many, many butterflies fell from the clouds.

Almost as uncountable as the snow that drifts and weaves along with the wind currents, the blue butterflies fluttered towards the city.

Then, some of the clouds parted ways, and the full length of the swarm emerged.

A long river of blue, shining dots of light seemed to have no end. Just like a river, they came from a certain point in the far off somewhere, and up close they were huge and miraculous.

The miracle and power of nature.

Their bountiful blue light reflected off of the snow, and their might was exposed.

A miracle to remember.

And just like a miracle, it faded away, disappearing like a rainbow.

For a moment, all stopped.

And for a while, the monsters simply stood there, waiting.

They didn't take any step forward.

They didn't move at all.

They just…stopped.

It was a miracle.

…

'A miracle to remember,' Amor thought as he and his clones flew back up into the clouds.

It took a couple days to just fly to this place without much magic.

Now they'll simply fly back.

As the winds howled, creating sounds of musical varieties. Yet, those sounds are sometimes soft, yet hysterical. Loud, yet calming.

Just like what had happened earlier…

…

It was like a dream.

One moment, Amor was steadily flying along with the cold, snowy wind.

The next, he was Tacitus, lying on a hill, in the shade of a tree surrounded by a sea of gold.

Then, a warm breeze flowed through the entire field, the sea of gold danced and weaved. Tree leaves fell and danced around the black-haired boy.

A leaf had just fell onto his face, and he sneezed, flicking it off.

Now, Amor-no, Tacitus always had his fair share of dreams

Also seen them to..

Dreams encompass a hidden wish, a hidden message in the depths of the sea. What people can only perceive is the "tip of the iceberg," or so they say.

The boy would rather say they can only see the surface of the ocean.

What remains to be seen, hidden from mortal eyes and coils lies within the ocean's depths. Where no light nor sun can reach, where nothing can illuminate it.

Those who dare seek the hidden wish, the hidden message, must wander through it like a lost traveler.

A lost traveler wandering through a field of snow, surrounded by a blizzard so thick and strong they cannot see a couple feet ahead nor take one more step forward.

Each step may bring them progress, and each step may bring them towards hells jaws.

This does not just apply to humans. Many other living beings hold this desire, this hope inside themselves.

Like a flame lit within a lantern, it guides the lost on the dark path, barely lighting a few meager feet ahead of them.

It warms them, it embraces them, it depends on them.

The flame can only be fueled as long as those who want it to keep burning desires too.

Once their desires disappear, so too will the flame, dying amidst the cold storm.

It is near to impossible to light the fire once again, for the end is already in front of them.

However, there are exceptions to this.

And so, only when they walk through this obstacle with the fire lit within would they make it out to the other side.

Who knows if they will find the answer they seek, or more obstacles.

'...hmm?' Tacitus thought.

'Why am I thinking this-'

"Tacitusssss-! Big brotherrrrrr-!"

'Hmm?'

The boy sat up, and looked afar. From afar, in the forest that borders the golden sea, a purplish-auburn-haired girl, a few inches shorter than him, and a few inches taller than the golden sea, appeared.

Bursting out from the trees, she ran towards him.

Running and running, the girl didn't stop, shouting at the boy lying in the shade.

"Taaaaacciiitussssss-!" she yelled, reaching her hand out to him.

Every second, she kept running, running to him. Every second, she was being pulled away from him.

She was so far, yet so close.

What a cruel, yet wonderful dream this is.

So the boy breathed in as deeply as he can. He smelled the familiar earthy scent, the familiar wind...

"I'm sorry Rin!" he shouted. "I need to go now! But I'll come back, I swear!"

"No," the girl cried out. "Please, don't-don't leave me again-!"

Then Tacitus-no, Amor simply woke up.

When he heard his name being called again, he forced himself out of the cruel dream.

One moment, the black-haired boy was surrounded by a sea of gold, and the next, the blue butterfly once again found himself flying in the sky amidst the clouds and snow along with his clones.

No, not exactly clones.

More like pieces of him.

"𝘛𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘴…"

Said a whisper in the sky. A whisper that was entirely different from Rin's voice.

"𝘛𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘴…"

Another whisper.

"𝘛𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘴…"

And another one.

Once was an accident, twice was a coincidence, third…

It wasn't a coincidence.

It's the same whisper that has been plaguing Amor's mind ever since that god forsaken dream. Now he can't say it's a trick of the mind nor a hallucination.

It's a figment of his imagination, gone out of control because of his dreams.

'I already know you're saying my name.'

"𝘛𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘴…"

'Stop saying it. Why are you saying it?'

"𝘛𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘴…"

'...what do you want from me?' he thought.

'There must be a limit in what you're repeating.'

"𝘛𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘴…"

Perhaps now the curse of thinking is working in tandem with this cursed imagination. Thank the Lord God Almighty for this curse.

"𝘛𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘴…"

'...'

"𝘛𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘴…"

'...'

"𝘛𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘴…?"

There.

'You really are listening to me aren't you, you foolish woman,' Amor thought.

"𝘛𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘴…"

'...'

The butterfly looked underneath him.

Tiny ant-like figures desperately struggling. To protect their homes. To protect their family and friends.

Maybe to even keep their jobs.

But most of all, they struggle…

To survive.

"𝘛𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘴…" the whisper said once more.

The blue butterfly swayed amongst the howling winds in the clouds along with his swarm of clones.

For some time, he had left the thought be. It wasn't the first time words of someone in the past haunt him even till this dead.

This was the second time.

Suddenly, he imagined that ignoring the voice would raise the ire of that fictional ignorant woman.

His curse was a gift.

Then, he sank into the clouds, letting its harsh, frozen cold touch embrace him. As he let the winds push him back, Amor's eyes graced the snowy plains beneath him.

'...'

Yet…

He looked from the ground and towards the city.

From afar to the west, it looked so bleak. Gray, lifeless, empty…yet, even though it looked so desolate, it was flickering with lights.

Many colorful colors of green, yellow, and red. They all flickered like tiny stars amidst the vast night sky.

There, many people whom he doesn't care for live in that city. There, many who desperately struggle to live exist.

There…Anna's parents lived in that city.

There...his remaining family from his previous reincarnation lives there.

"..."

'I really am one of the seven fools,' Amor thought.

…

After granting a miracle, the blue butterfly fluttered back to the sky along with his swarm.

The ocean of fire beneath him halted, paralyzed, as the blue butterflies let the winds push them back.

Back towards the east.

Back towards home.

As he let himself be swept along the current of the wind. Amor wondered if the dream was real.

After all, all dreams are short.