(My second FF! hope my writing has improved! Have fun!)

Proofread by: wannabeproofreader and daylius

I remember that day like it was yesterday. Two kids running on the streets, under the watchful gaze of the night moon.

“Zeph! Wait for me. You are too fast. I can’t run anymore” the 13 year old girl in a black yukata complained whilst panting heavily. She was somebody any person would undeniably depict as ‘cutest girl in the world’. Her shoulder length hair was swaying in the gentle breeze in the starry night. Her white face was reddened due to lack of oxygen but anyone who saw her would instantly cuddle her. The cute girl stood still with her petite hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.

“You are slow Naoki, that yukata slows you down even more. Didn’t I tell you not to wear something so flashy?” I sighed, shrugging my shoulders. Looking at the girl I couldn’t help but smile. Her petite yet cute figure and the way she was panting with reddened cheeks made my heart flutter. Walking towards the girl I flicked her forehead with my fingers.

“Fueh!” making such a cute sound the girl jumped backwards a little, her slender hands covering her forehead. With teary eyes she glared at me, those eyes were threatening me of an imminent danger.

Smiling at her gesture, my hands involuntarily stretched forward making the girl shut her eyes in fear of more pain. But my hands moved to her head patting her gently. Naoki opened one of her eyes to see what was going on with a timid expression. I smiled once again at the cute thing in front of me.

“Hora! Let’s go. The fireworks are going to start” I stretched out my hands so that the girl could hold on to it. A smile

broke out of her lips and she held my hand tight with hers. I turned back and walked gently dragging the girl in black yukata.

Naoki and I were on our way to the yearly fireworks festival that we always attended. Unlike the previous years, this was

the first time that we were going to the festival alone. Usually either one of our parents would have joined us. This time

it was just us, we both had cried and begged our parents to let us go. With a few dramatic events they finally allowed us.

It was an all-out war for survival. With all that said the two of us are now on the way to the festival.

A twenty minute walk through the lanes and we finally reached the place. With innumerous stalls set up, the ground was

like a bee hive. Woman and men were everywhere, some in yukatas while some in traditional clothes with couples,

families, and friends. The stall owners were all trying their best to attract customers. Some of the stalls were busy while some others hardly had any customers. Different types of food, games, and so on were on display so there were like a

million stalls. The people were like water flowing in between the stalls, slowly. There was laughter everywhere I looked.

The very smiles on the faces of the people was refreshing.

“Naoki! What do you want to do first?”

“Um!” Naoki pondered for a while and said “I want to eat, I am hungry”

“What? You want to eat? Of all the things we can do here that is the thing you want to do?”

“Yes. I want takoyaki!” Naoki replied.

“This girl! Fine come on” sighing heavily I grabbed the girl once again by her hands and walked towards the stall we

normally go to.

“Oji-san” I called to the owner of the takoyaki stall.

“Oh! It’s you two. Where are your parents?”

“Its just us two this time oji-san”

“Ho ho, a date eh? It is so nice to be young” the owner said laughing out loud.

The word date caused the both of us to blush. We had been together since we were born and so we were always together thus I was considered her boyfriend by the entire town.

“Oji-san give this girl something to eat, or she will eat my head”. I said, poking Nao’s head which made her kick my leg

and then bite my hand for teasing her.

“See! She has started with my hand!”. She let go of my hand and then turned away pouting. The owner laughed and gave

us the takoyaki. We then bid farewell to the owner and moved to the next stall. An hour or so passed and now we moved

to a place where we could watch the fireworks in peace. Separated from all those who came, we sat down on the ground

looking at the starry sky and waiting for the hanabi to start.

Everyone present was looking at the sky waiting for the fireworks. The time had come for the fireworks to begin. But

there were none! Ten minutes later and nothing happened! The people began to get rowdy. There were shouts from all over demanding the fireworks to start. It was among all that ruckus that it happened.

From nowhere, a light flashed, bright and warm. The whole sky was lit up like the sun had suddenly moved closer to the

earth. All the people including me and Naoki were blinded. After one good minute, the light began to fade! Our vision

began to adjust itself slowly and the things around us began to become clear. We looked up to the sky and were

dumbfounded! The starry sky which was there moments ago was no longer visible. Dark clouds now covered the sky, the

moonlight was hardly escaping the clouds. We stared at the dark clouds in astonishment. We looked far away to the horizon but all we saw were the same dark clouds stretching all over the night sky.

The people began to panic. Naoki grasped my hand tighter. My heartbeat began to rise. I looked around me but in the dim light there was not much that I could see. I tried to call out for help but the people were busy protecting themselves. Panic began to hit my little heart. I was now sweating profusely and on the verge of tears. Naoki was on the ground and was already crying.

“Naoki. Don’t cry. It’s alright. I will take you home now. Get up” I pulled her up and then began walking towards the group

of people. Before we could reach them, the sky shone once again blinding us again. We stopped and closed our eyes to protect us from the light. Once the flash died out we heard a roar like sound echoing all throughout! The sound was so

loud that I involuntarily placed my little hands on my ears. I looked up at the sky to see where the loud noise was coming

from and once again I froze.

There were cracks here and there in the dark cloud. The white moon light which was supposed to be coming out of those

cracks was not present. Instead a red light escaped those cracks. And the next moment the light stopped. This was

followed by black fumes coming out of the sky. The fumes were coming out from everywhere, the dark sky was slowly

dissipating.

In an hour or so the night sky was back and the moonlight was bright as ever. But the black fumes were still hovering

over the sky. The fumes then began gathering at random spots. Each spot was miles away from the other. I could not

believe what I was seeing. It was as if those black fumes were alive, they gathered at places which were of equal distance from each other. I questioned my eyes while my brain was searching for explanations. ‘How can the distance

between them be so precise? How are these things gathering towards each other? What the hell is going on?’

As if to answer my doubts, the fumes then began to mold themselves into a rectangle, the top part of the rectangle was

not straight but an oval.

“A door?” I spoke without realizing that I said that out aloud. Naoki looked up at me and then at those black fumes.

The fumes began to solidify slowly. After what seemed like an hour, there in the air was a humongous black door,

floating all by itself. The doors had carvings of some beasts, humans, and something else too. Those beasts and humans

were piled up on each other, on top of them were beings with wings, above them were some things which looked like

humans but had fangs and claws. And so there were many life forms which I had never seen, not even in mangas and

animes.

“Vampires, Werewolves, Angels, Demons, Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Demons!” I counted the races I knew among those

carvings, there were still more than ten races other than the ones I named. But what fascinated me the most was that,

above all those piles of races, there was a man in armor standing with a sword and a shield in his hands. It looked as if he

was the one that had slain all of those below him. But what caught my attention was not that. When the entire door and

carvings were pitch black, the man alone was covered in white as if he was absorbing the surrounding moonlight.

Once the door solidified it began to descend to the ground. Slowly, as if to not hurt the surroundings the door came

down. When I looked around once again, I saw there were other huge doors far away and they too were descending. In

minutes the door touched the ground without even the faintest of noise.

In the year 2021, March 13, in the blink of an eye, the Earth that I knew came to an end! ---***---

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