ATTENTION.
TW: Almost death experience. Mention of war. Depression.
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Three years prior.
Nikki was only thirteen when she got dragged into the middle of a war. She didn't ask for it, but her planet was getting careless and thought that using children to win the war could be an innovative idea. It wasn't, but the courage to go against the government orders was long lost.
So she did what was she was expected to.
She fought, studied, developed unique skills to go high up the rank. Becoming a sergeant at the age of eighteen. Not bad. Enough to make her country proud.
It was not what the girl desired, but in her eyes, it was the only thing she could do. Only being that way because she never found the time or disposition to figure out her true wishes in life. Always too busy, too tired for anything but to fight.
This miserable routine turned into a miserable life quickly. Nikki superiors always praised her and were constantly using the girl as a perfect example of a patriot citizen. The positive effect that those compliments once had now transformed themselves into pure neutrality. She didn't felt anything when receiving them. As a matter of fact, she stopped feeling anything at all.
Her life was now bland. Everything became black and white. The reason to be alive began to fade in the same way the bloodstains in her clothes would eventually do.
Her conscience got to her. The weight of guilt felt unbearable. The young one just wanted to disappear, to close her eyes and to never awake again. To stop feeling the constant ache on her heart every second that passed on her miserable life.
She wished that everything would end. Forever and with no turning back.
To sleep and never be awake again.
It was a deplorable Wednesday when Nikki superior got between her and her meal, demanding her presence in his office. When she got there, no request was made, only one command was given.
She wasn't allowed to ask questions. Her only responsibility was to retrieve something, a stone that once was lost.
A crew of six was formed. The spaceship was automatic, one of the first of its kind, as a consequence, all the crew stayed inside a safety vault, unable to see how they got to their destination.
Nikki was the first to step on the planet and the only survivor. She saw the beauty of stone for mere seconds before being blind by a burning light.
Her first thought was pity worthy.
"Finally, I will get what I deserved. All I have left now it's the kiss of the angel of death."
But she was mistaken. She passed out and wake up on what she assumed was a dream.
Nikki found herself in a dense forest, beside her, sat leaning in a Redwood tree was a tall form. They were so tall that their face becomes invisible to her average human eye. The character was wearing a silky white dress and a red cape with a few golden details. The body just enough in shape to be recognised as a humanoid, but as you study them sharply, only the void coexisting with its around could be perceived.
In a tentative to find out what was happening in her surroundings, she begins the first contact.
- Uh...hi?
A sobbing, merciful voice echoes into the woman ear, flocks of birds fly to them as they gather around the entity-body, almost as if they were hugging them.
- I made you, do you know that?
Nikki nodded without realising. It felt like she could only control her mind, her thoughts. But the body could not move when demanded. She did not felt a hint of terror. Instead, her heart warmed, curiosity made its way to her brain, the only need she felt at that moment was to hear the one alongside her.
- I hear your thoughts. Why do you hate my creation? Why do you try to destroy yourself? I made you perfect as you are. Please don't turn into the second child that will break my heart.
Waterfalls appear, flooding the surroundings. Nikki now swims closer to her new acquaintance.
- What do you wish for? Please, don't cry.
- Undo your mistakes child, while you still can, and when the time comes I promise that you shall be received with open arms.
After finishing their say, the figure stands up and takes out of their back a giant stone, protected by a bell jar. They deliver to their heroine dust of the said gem and just like that Nikki wakes up gasping for air.
She is in a bed.
Her heart is beating fast and the sounds of ocean waves crashing are the only sound she hears.
In her hands a small pouch that when opened would reveal pink bright sand.
The woman didn't know where she found herself to be.
Nevertheless, she smiled.
For she felt free.
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This how they look.
:)))