Destinare

He opened his eyes and slowly took in his surroundings, searching for one thing that looked familiar.

He found none.

His scraggly, dirty blonde hair fell over his eyes, hindering his azure gaze from further scrutinizing his surroundings. All he saw around him were the remnants of what might have once been a prosperous, bustling city. There were broken, dirty walls and streets surrounding him, stained with what appeared to be a combination of blood and sewage. The cold, hard concrete beneath him only served to further his distinct discomfort, and the scuttling sounds of hungry vermin echoed in his ears. Across the street, he saw what seemed to have been a children's park, but rather than fill him with cheer and fond memories, the sight that met him sent a shiver down his spine. The image of small, lifeless children strewn on the monkey bars engraved itself in his mind, ascertaining that it remain there to forever haunt his memory.

His stomach churned, threatening to reveal what little nourishment he had managed to obtain over the past several days. With that, he quickly rose, his ripped denim jeans catching on a protruding pipe from the wall against which he was leaning. His movement inadvertently tugged the pipe, because of which a groaning sound, as of a dying chorus of men, escaped from the pipe, followed immediately by a gush of biting, frigid water. The liquid seemed to pierce him, numbing his skin and chilling it to the bone. A string of vulgar expletives escaped his lips before he could entirely pull away from the pipe.

Upon escaping the monstrous burst of water, he ran ahead, momentarily forgetting about the park graveyard he had previously noted.

That is, of course, until the smell hit him.

The coppery, stale scent of blood hit him hard– so hard, in fact, that his step faltered in his otherwise flawless stride. Bile instantly rose to his throat, the stench of death and decay almost more than he could bear. Changing course, he turned to his left, and what met his gaze was simply incomprehensible.

A vast field, lit by the pallid light of the moon, lay before him. It was filled with rows of flowers of all kinds with a stream cutting right through its middle.

He had never seen a sight more serene in all his life.

Hot, scorching tears began to stream down his face, paving a path through his sweat-stained cheeks. A torturous agony rocked through his body as he looked behind him, gazing at the decay that lay there.

"You know what you must do."

He looked down at his dirtied, calloused hands, freezing drops of water rolling off their sides and onto the street.

"No one can fulfill your destiny but you."

He fell to his knees, the tears replenishing themselves all the faster, making their way through the scruff of blonde facial hair that covered his strong jaw. An air of defeat surrounded him as he fell back to lean on the heels of his worn, white sneakers, his skinned knees supporting the rest of his weight.

"I can't! I can't do it!" he yelled, his distraught cry ringing through the night. He felt his body convulse wildly, as though physically rejecting the prospect.

"Do you know where you are?"

Of course he knew where he was– or rather, where he would be if he were to complete the task before him. He realized it when he saw the field– that fabled field that he thought could only exist in the most beautiful of dreams.

That dream represented the future of the world, if only he could muster the courage to change it.

"You realize, don't you, that it is always darkest right before the dawn?"

As though on cue, the faintest stream of sunlight seemed to filter over the fields, gaining more and more vibrancy as the seconds ticked away. The light met his eyes, washing his deep blue orbs in a brilliant light.

And before he knew it, his heart felt stronger, and an indescribable warmth seemed to fill his soul.

"Will you do it?"

A new steadfastness filled his gaze, and he stood up, shaking his messy hair into place.

"I will– I promise."

With that, he turned back to the scene of death, the determination of a thousand warriors filling him whole.