Papa told me had something important to tell, vague traces of hope surfacing from the ocean in his eyes. He started by asking me a question.

"First of all, do you know about Montezio?"

However he did not wait for an answer, and continued.

"He is... well, it'd be more appropriate to say was, the founder of our city. It all boils down to him finding the 5 pillars of Arkanoth and each of them supervising a specific aspect of the city, and Montezio was... he was doing something, probably... I think? Anyway, that's not the important part. What you do have to know is that I was able to put you in the Montezio's foundation! I know you have no idea what that is, but it's the top notch of education! With that, you'll be able to have a great future, isn't that great!"

His voice grew distant as he kept on praising that Montezio's foundation of his, my eyes lost focus as one fundamental question arised:

"How?" my voice came out broken, not understanding how this was possible. "How could you possibly pay for it? You say it's the best of what can be found, but we have to steal and beg for money to even eat once a day. Why do we live in such a place if you could afford to pay for that?"

He looked surprised, and a little ashamed too.

"I had to cut ends. Some things I used to do I stopped doing. It was hard, really, but it was the right choice."

The look on his eyes seemed to indicate he had some doubts about that being the right choice, but they also possessed some sort of will, as if to show nothing could shaken his beliefs.

I simply agreed to what he said, not trying to find out what he meant by right choice and those activites he stopped doing.

Few hours later, we arrived in front of the establishment; It was a grand building that could have easily been mistaken for a gothic church if not for the length it occupied.

"Here we are. You just have to go ring the doorbell and they'll take care of the rest, you just have to listen to them, be a good kid, and never let anyone see your left eye, is that alright with you, big boy?"

"Yes papa, don't worry about me, I won't let anyone see it," I answered with a big smile.

I was left alone, standing in front of this imposing building that scared me. I never enjoyed school, most of the time I got beaten up for not answering the right way and those who did nothing to me did not seem to care about what the other adults did to us. I took a deep breath to try and calm down my worried heart.

When I finished calming down someone arrived and let me in, introducing me to the Montezio's foundation. He showed me around, explained how my schedule would work, and reassured me when I asked if I could see my papa back, saying I could either stay sleep in the dorms or go back to my house, however it wasn't a passable excuse to arrive late at school.

It was a fun, new experience; here people seemed constantly happy, adults taught us things and did not even scream and hit us when we did not understand, also, no one ever told any bad word, when I asked why, they told me it could hurt others if we said those without thinking. I like it here, although I don't see what's the big deal with bad words, they are funny to say out loud and no one will ever make me believe it can hurt people. It's impossible. Only actions can hurt people.

I met other kids and even became friends with some of them, or at least I think so, they didn't become my friends just to steal my lunch like the kids at the last school, right? There was Teresa, a blondy with two ponytails which looked funny, and there was Jim, he had short, dark hair, and an expression like he was always smiling, even when he was sad or angry.

One morning, our teacher asked us if we knew about Montezio.

"He is the founder of Arkanoth," smugly answered one of the students.

"A vague answer is a useless answer, please develop."

The kid grumbled, he must have answered thinking he could score some easy points thanks to the seemingly trivial question - easy points, because yes, this school used points to grade students, and I despised that. To have points you had to answer questions, ask questions that were related to the course and smart (didn't they tell us there were no stupid questions, then how can there be smart questions!?) and pass tests.

"Montezio gathered the five pillars of Arkanoth. Each of the pillars contributed to an aspect of our city's prosperity." The kid finally answered after much thoughts, too much - the only reason he wasn't evicted yet despite his stupidity was because his parents had a ton of money! I know it's true because Jim told me so!

"A correct answer, not the one I was awaiting, however. Montezio is that well-known for one and only reason, beside of course founding our city and bringing to it prosperity," she paused her speech a few seconds so that everyone understands the importance of what was about to be said. "He showed us the Past. As you all know, History is separated in two distinct eras. The first being the Obscure Past, a time of primitive technology and of an habitable Earth. We live in the second era: The Second Beginning, also known as nemactli. Humanity was abandoned to deadlands, deprived of the happenings of yesterday, leading to the title of Obscure Past, however Montezio unveiled what truly happened for everyone to know, and I'm expecting one of you to tell me what that is he unveiled."

Whispers erupted in the class, every student too unsure what to answer.

"It seems apparent none of you know the answer. The reason behind the almost-total annihilation of Earth, only leaving behind our great city's lands, is Daemons. They hide amidst humans, sow destruction, seek chaos, bring death. They live for death, death of innocents, of citizens, of Humanity. We cannot trust them, for they slaughtered us, bringing down our civilization. They are a threat to humanity. As of today, there still are Daemons living amongst us."

At first, some of us laughed, passing it of as a simple joke to scare us, but she continued to talk, without stopping, then the ones laughing started to look around, their eyes betraying uneasiness and a deep fear starting to anchor in their heart. An oppressive silence occupied the room.

"Fortunately, Montezio was here and gave us a way to find, and eradicate, those horrors. Contrary to us, humans, they possess a mark on their left eye, so to find one, you just have to well observe their eye to confirm wether they're Daemons or not."

Everyone let out a sigh of relief, except for one who screamed:

"Jacques, why are you constantly hiding your left eye, is it because you're one of them!?"

The oppressive silence suddenly reappared, all eyes on me. This silence was broken by an angered Teresa.

"You stupid! He's not a Daemon, he had a car accident! You know that very well so why say such stupid things!"

A car accident - a convenient lie I came up with, judging the 'pirate-whose-eye-got-eaten-by-a-shark' lie of papa to be a tad bit too far fetched for my liking. Plus it's not like I could tell them how I got it, even if I remembered how I got my eye to look like that, it was too risky... Well, I did have an idea behind the whys of the new looks of my eye, and it had to do with that magician outside the city, bad thing is I couldn't seem to remember how the discussion ended no matter how much I thought about it.

The student who screamed stuttered an apology, not used to seeing the charming Teresa fuming in anger.

As I went back home, papa was nowhere to be found, instead a letter was left. On it was written a mere word: Sorry.

I never saw my papa back. From that day onward I slept at the dormitories school gave us.

Although I've never seen him back, nor did I talk about him, I often thought about papa; he had changed a lot after mama left; first he started taking responsiblity, as if the harsh reality of mother leaving had awoken him in some sort of way; then there was his character, although he still was the same carefree, simple-minded papa, he stopped being reckless, instead thinking of the possible consequences of his actions; finally, the most troubling change was him in general, he had too much changed in too short a time, be it on the inside or the outside. What I meant was he aged, too fast, adults often say people exposed to stress may look more old, but could you really have half your hair dye white and your bones hurt like they never did in less than 8 months? Worst of all were his eyes, they had lost the light to them, it was like looking at an empty shell, disheartening, it made my heart ache.

Days flew by, none seemed different from the last one, it felt like living the same day on loop, except that same day was only the merest fraction of a second, it stopped feeling that way after a few months, however. I didn't know if it was normal, and I didn't tell anybody about that.

What we were learning at school seemed useless, to me at least. It was weird seeing other kids think those pointless courses would shape their future. However I had to learn or else I would be evicted from school, and then I would lose my only two friends, so I learned even when I didn't feel like it.

They taught us numerous things, such as the names of the five pillars; there was Tovernus the famished, otherwise known as Xochua the truth-seeker, Itza the punisher, Quetza the avarious, Chico the reaper, Teca the prideful, and finally there was Montezio, the one who governed above all, creating this city from his hands with the help of the 5 pillars he gathered.

They each contributed to one aspect of the city, Xochua assured the entirety of the city's construction, as for Itza, he punished the evildoers found guilty by the judicial system put in place by Montezio the founder, Quetza helped humanity make leaps in technology, permitting for a better quality of life in the Second Beginning. Chico made, as the chief of the Agricultural Department, a thought-impossible accomplishment by turning the once barren lands of Arkanoth into life-bearer dirt, it was even more amazing when you knew those lands had stayed barren till the end of last Era, that is to say, for centuries. The last one was Teca, who directed the field of medecine, one of his creations being the terminals of Arkanoth, in exchange of a humble sum, it would save your life no matter your state, only condition being you still had to be alive, or else it would be as useful as wishful thinking.

When not at school, I often went see my friends, their houses was only few minutes away from the foundation, so I could easily go see them after class. That's what I did this day.

Their houses were the polar opposite of mine, they each were in the heart of my favorite District submerged of wonderful light, that is District S. And their houses were clean enough to think they just bought it.

When going to see them, me and Jim often went to Teresa's home, it was because her house was bigger so we could laugh and play without bothering her parents.

When I arrived in front of the front door I rang the bell, maybe a little longer than necessary (I liked the music that came out of it, it wasn't something I knew of but it was very appeasing, it soothed my mind - my friends called it classical music, apparently it was a genre almost dead due to it coming from the Obscure Past).

Teresa's parents opened the door and let me in. I directly headed to the stairs and climbed them, going toward the bedroom, where my friends waited for me. We liked to play numerous games, there was, for example, Arachnamax, a game testing one's reflexes by making them crush the most spiders possible. I didn't like that game, I did not tell them but all those spiders scared me.

Tonight, we would stay later at her home, that was because her parents would be away for the night. We played at truth or dare, trying to discover funny secrets we had or even make us do funny things, like trying to walk on our hands.

"It's your turn!" Teresa loudly said while looking at Jim.

"Then I choose truth."

She pondered for a bit, wondering what interesting secret she could get out of him.

"You have to tell me... if you're in love with someone!"

I wasn't sure if Jim had seen, but a glint of expectation could be seen in her eyes as she delivered her question. However Jim simply said, with a voice used to this kind of question from her, that he wasn't in love with anybody. I laughed at the scene.

"And you, why are you laughing, huh! It's true, I tell you, I'm not in love with anybody! Anyway, now it's your turn, so, truth or dare?"

"It will be dare for me."

Jim cheered at my answer. It seemed he already had something in mind for what I'd have to do.

"Awesome! I always was curious about something, but I never had the courage to ask you. Say, can you show us what your eye looks like?"

My heart stopped for a second, and I heard Teresa protesting.

"Don't worry, he doesn't have to show it. He will loose if he does not show it, however!"

Teresa continued protesting, saying it was inconsiderate of him to ask me that - sometimes, she said words I didn't understand, and I'm pretty sure it was the same for Jim. Jim joked and said that if she was so scared of what my eye looked like, then she could just declare forfeit and be the loser. Before another wave of protest could arise, I spoke.

"I really don't want to lose, so I will show you what it looks like, but just this one time, okay? And you must never tell anybody what it looks like."

Strangely, when I agreed to it, Teresa stopped making a fuss and instantly nodded along Jim when I explained them the rules. It looked like she also wanted to know what it looked like, at least a little bit.

I slowly approached my hand from my eye patch, I tried to calm down my heart but failed to do so, and my hands trembled a little bit at the prospect of what I was doing. I knew I shouldn't reveal it to them, but I also knew I couldn't go on like this, and that the longer I waited, the harsher the response might be, after all it wasn't a little secret, and we knew each other from long ago.

I took off my eye patch; a closed eyelid was revealed.

I waited some more, trying to relax myself while the tension in the room rised.

I gathered my courage, and suddenly opened my left eye; to their surprise, what was revealed wasn't the eye someone could have had after an accident but a fully functional and normal eye, except for strange glyphs appearing inside my pupil; they were a deep red, glowed a little as they constantly moved, creating a sensation of falling inside a never-ending hole, and gave off a chilly feeling, as if murmuring undecipherable words to your ears.

In mere seconds, their reaction went from surprise to incomprehension all to stop at pure terror. Teresa screamed as tears welled up in her eyes, Jim pointed me with his trembling finger and cried out:

"Daemon! You're a Daemon!"

My world stopped, the broken clock refusing time to resume, as for my heart, it went for a desperate run, tears welled up in my eyes and their reaction scared me. Then disbelief mixed up to that fear. Am I this scary, does the simple view of my left eye alone can break almost a year of friendship? No, that can't be it, it cannot be real, however my hopes are shattered as the time goes back to regular. The clock of time repaired, I am greeted with the screams of Jim and the scared voice of Teresa which intertwines to her irregular steps trying to escape a danger she made up herself.

"I have to call the cops!" she stuttered.

Why would she want to call the cops? Is it to... arrest me? No, it has to be something else, I refuse to believe it, she wouldn't do that, she wouldn't betray me, I am sure - she said we were friends!

While Teresa runs for the phone, Jim points a trembling knife toward me. He resembles a fierce cat whose path of retreat has been blocked, leaving out only fight for an option.

"Jim? Why are you pointing a knife toward me, y-you could hurt me. Please, stop that, you're scaring me. We're f-friends, right? You wouldn't kill me for a stupid eye, r-right?"

No matter what I say, he doesn't listen to me, does not even answer me. Fear swells up once again and my world goes awry for the second time, however this time it is accelerating; I see Teresa talking in the phone, Jim prepares himself to attack me, I cry.

How could that happen? I deny reality, I refuse to acknowledge my friends have betrayed me and are trying to kill me, I want it all to just be a nightmare, an horrible nightmare, however I do not wake up, I'm stuck in that horrible reality.

For the second time the clock is repaired, and time goes back to normal.

Jim runs in a straight line, his knife aiming for my heart. Rage awakens my dulled senses, to know he does not even bat an eye as he runs to murder me. A wild animosity takes control of my body, my heart is pounding, and I put my hand in front of the knife as it's going to graze my heart.

The knife tears down my skin and slipped into my hand.

Jim is paralyzed by surprise. I tighten the grip of my impaled hand on the handle of the knife, and turn it 90 degrees. Jim loses hold of his weapon.

I slowly watch him fall down, fear dances along disbelief in his eyes. I take the knife out of my impaled hand, blood dripping.

The rage inside me goes rampant, bringing forth changes in my body. My blood boils as if lava, and yet I exhale a breath freezing on the instant every object it touches, my pulse works like two hearts and the rage takes control of my emotions.

Without even realizing I'm rushing toward Jim, the knife's handle against my torso, I ready myself to attack him - no, to kill him.

He is paralyzed by what appears to be dread, he must be realizing he is living his last moments. It does not affect me, not after what he did to me. He does not deserve my forgiveness.

The knife comes hurtling toward his stomach, I feel the knife slowly making its way to the innards of its victim. Blood flows and he gazes at his wound. He coughs a mouthful of blood, an intense pain suddenly awakens inside my left eye and I stop being myself. I rise up my knife and stab him againg and again and again. Each time my blade falls, My reality accelerates, I feel nothing but numbness, making me feel less human. And each time my blade rises, ready to fall once again on my victim, time decelerates, I feel each and every particle of my being and could count my heartbeat.

I cannot hear anything, nor can I see, I can only feel the sensation of my knife repeteadly piercing its victim's flesh, again and again, going on without ever stopping.

At long last, I come back to my senses. Only guts and pieces of what was once his face remain. I look around and notice a curled mass; it's Teresa, I see a translucid trickle flow down her cheeks, reminding me of a divine elixir: tears.

I try to stand up, my knife slips off my hands. The noise of the metal clashing against the floor awakens the pain inside my cut hand, and I realize what I have done. I go away without glancing at Teresa, I don't want to think about what just happened, I don't want to think about the past, about our friendship, I want to run away, to think about something else, about the future.

I am a Monster.

When I come out of the house, sirens start wailing yonder. Are they coming for me, or for someone else? This thought secretly appears in the back of my mind and lingers. My future is becoming uncertain, I am becoming anxious by the second, yet I cannot seem to be able to come out of my lethargy.

Maybe if they're coming for me, I will be able to explain everything - Yes, maybe they'll listen to me, and they'll understad I did not choose to have that mark! They're adults after all, of course they'll listen to me! Even the cops who caught me stealing understood me! They'll surely let me go back to how everything was, I'll have my friends back, I won't feel alone like before, yes, because they're adults!

So why do I feel, deep down, that they won't listen. Why am I so sure they'll fire as soon as they see me, and that they will kill me just like I killed Jim. Why am I so sure I won't have any grave with my name on it, that even my father and mother will not come back to see their son one last time. Why do I know Teresa either will not come back to see my corpse one last time after having been killed by cops, because for her I'm but a monster who cold-bloodedly killed her friend, in front of her at that.

Nobody will support me, I need to go away.

I am a Monster.

I start staggering away from the scene, the staggering rapidly becomes a desperate run with my life on the line, I don't look back, nor do I stop. I want to get out of this life, start everything over. I want to finally be accepted and loved. I want to have everything I never had, all the riches of the world, a family that will never betray me.

So I run without ever stopping.

I pass by the houses in a flash. I feel like my whole world is falling apart. My breath is unsteady, my legs are giving way and each breath burns my lungs a little more. I can only ignore the pain and keep on running. I still can hear the sirens wailing in the far-off distance, ready to handcuff my freedom.

Streets darken as passerbies become scarcer and scarcer.

My train of thoughts take me to distant lands. I imagine a house standing atop a green land, a family waiting for my return, the sweet scent of eggs and bacon. But that isn't reality.

The bitter sensation of blood in my mouth stops my train of thoughts and allow me to see an old, disfigured man standing yonder from me with a wondering expression.

Suddenly, a strange light appears meters away from me. It is enormous and exceedingly bright, making it look like a second Sun.

It seemed to have swallowed reality, but in truth it was but the light blinding me from everything except that strange sun. It was a white sphere made of light and nothing else. The more I looked at it, the more I was attracted to that blazing Sun. Was it reaching out to me? I do not know why, but my instinct is telling me the Light will save me, I need to reach it, no matter what, or else... I don't know, but I have a feeling deep down that's what I want, to grasp the Sun - and my instinct never betrayed me.

My legs are no longer on fire, nor does my breath burn my lungs, and strangely enough, the Light is not hurting my eyes, instead appearing like the warmth embrace of a being gazing upon me, wishing to protect me at any cost.

I wondered if the light had something to do with Time. Although I never talked about it to anyone, I never forgot it - that feeling of days and even months flying by, it haunted me for months, making me doubt reality and its worth, it made me believe I wasn't living my life, only seeing fractions of seconds of each day.

It made me feel like it was all a dream. So I tried to forget that feeling by living without a care, only savouring the good moments and delecting upon my most cherished memories, yet the feeling never really went away, it only just lessened, and right now, it had awoken and was as strong as ever.

I could now reach the light with my hand. It did not have any odor, and was a lot less bright than some minutes ago, now reduced to the beam of a mere flashlight.

This thing is intriguing, it may only be composed of light, but it still floats and moves like a wave would. It is now the size of a ball, although perhaps a little smaller, and the more I approach it, the more abstract its form becomes, slowly but surely drawing an image.

After having scrutinized it like my future depended on it, I touched the Sun, and I felt something; it was the handle of a tool, I gripped it and a soothing sensation brushed my five senses, and for a second I felt a sixth sense come and install itself to the right of my heart, showing me an entire new world of possibilites that were once impossible.

This image was that of a dagger. I could say it was of the most beautiful making even though I never touched one before. If one asked me what the most perfect thing was, I would spend no time to answer: this dagger.

With it came strange memories, that of a prison, a master, a treachery leading to a fateful encounter, and a monster beyond ration looming over my head.

The light died down all of a sudden, letting my world be engulfed in darkness, and I lost consciousness.