“World peace, like community peace, does not require that each man love his neighbour – it requires only that they live together with mutual tolerance, submitting their disputes to a just and peaceful settlement.”
- John F. Kennedy.
Okura Higuchi was just a boy on the Day of Arrival. The day they came, came to take everything. Led by the dictatorial leaders of their nations, armed with their antiquated sense of morality. The Humans claimed they wanted to help the Nivians, advance their planet. Nivians were already biologically greater than the Humans, but perhaps some trust was to be practiced.
Okura's father talked of them every day as if they are not to be trusted. That, due to their nature, they had some kind of extrinsic motive. Our own desire to interact with other forms of life would stab us in the back, he said. Mother disagreed. But she always sought the best in people, and refused to let her partner's xenophobic tendencies cloud her view of the Humans.
But they, as average citizens of the planet Nivius, could not truly surmise or predict what was to come. So, suffice to say, when the Day of Reckoning came, some suspected it, but nobody could truly say they were ready for it.
Okura remembers it vividly. He didn't want to, and he sometimes pretended it happened faster than it actually did, but that was not the reality of the situation. He remembered. Being plucked right out of his slumber as the sun rose. Sounds of terror filled his eardrums as he stepped out of his family mansion. He looked above as several aircraft, piloted by the Humans, blazed through the skies in the direction of the nearest city. Even from his position, he could hear the screeching of his people as they were blown to bits by the bombs dropped from the aircraft. His view of the city was clouded by the saturation of the explosions filling the area.
What Okura didn't remember, however, was what his father saw. Akuma was in the heart of the city, in the heart of the madness and the trepidation. Running, as the bombs hovered overhead. Running, as the ground convulsed with each fulmination. Running, as a cloud of smoke came towards him.
He ran into the cloud. Into the darkness.
At first, it was blinding. His ears rung. But eventually, his vision cleared through the smoke and the fog.
And he wished it hadn't.
People were rushing past him, away from it all. Some missing an arm. Others with their clothes torn to shreds. Blood all over. And he knew these people. He ate dinner with some of them, took care of their children.
These were his people.
He continued to walk forward. Destroyed vehicles, crumbled buildings, scattered limbs, people crushed to death under fallen debris. Crushed like insignificant termites, an evil means to an evil end.
"Akuma..." A voice called out to him. And, suddenly, numbness overcame his entire being. He didn't want to believe he heard it.
He turned, cautiously. And, again, he wished he hadn't.
The love of his life, slumped against a wall, with a sharp object piercing her spine. Her breathing was erratic as he approached her, and his eyes begin to dwell with tears.
"Don't move." His voice was hoarse as he grabbed the body of the object. She looked him in the eye, though he tried to avoid making contact. With a hard tug, he ripped it out, eliciting a scream of terror from his partner. Quickly, Akuma cuffed her in his arms, lifting her up.
"Akuma..." She groaned out, louder this time. He still moved ahead, back in the direction he came.
"We're going to get you help, my love."
"What happened?"
"The Humans." He choked up. Finally looked her in the eye as his pace picked up.
"They did that? They killed..." She coughed.
"Stop talking. We're going to get you help."
"I watched the nearest hospice crumble before my eyes."
"We'll get you back to the mansion. Kurosaki can help you."
"You were right. You've always been right about them..."
For the first time in his life, he had wished he was wrong.
The next thing Okura remembered was his father running back towards the mansion. A body in his arms. Akuma ran, he ran until he collapsed in anger. The body rolled across the ground, and Okura came over to help his father. Help him pick up the body.
The deceased body of his mother.
Shoving Okura away, Akuma seeped with rage. Pure hatred had polluted the confines of his soul. He stared at his fallen love one, a loved one who lived a beautiful life and died an ugly death. She was slaughtered, without a care in the world. His partner in life, the only person he ever trusted. And she was gone now, gone because of those damn Humans. He made it his goal to protect his family, and now, things had changed. In this moment, he decided on a new purpose.
Vengeance.
He was going to kill all of them.
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