Light in the Darkness (English)

Chapter 1

September 18, 2017

Three years have passed since I lost my family to the Darkness. Adam, who lives with his son Daniel, took me in. Daniel bears an uncanny resemblance to his father, they both have jet-black hair. Daniel's eyes are light, like the clear blue sky, while Adam's eyes remind me of a turbulent ocean. Their hair styles are different: Daniel's hair reaches the nape of his neck, with curly locks, while Adam keeps his hair much shorter. When I first met them, Daniel and I were still children, but he's now eighteen years old. He's tall, slender, but his muscular physique is becoming more like his father's.

However, their personalities are entirely different. Daniel is quiet, reserved, preferring to observe and listen rather than speak – I would describe him as an introverted personality. He has never had any friends besides me; I am his only friend. But there's another side of him that he only shows when it's just the two of us, a side that's like an open book, as kind and helpful as Chris. Over these three years, he has always been by my side, every moment, and I don't mind. I was alone, and he felt alone too. In the first few days, I noticed how much he needed someone, how much he needed a friend. He needed me, and I needed him after losing everything.

Daniel had also lost everyone except his father. He had been living in this house alone with his father for years, without his mother and siblings. That's why we understood each other from the very beginning. Every day, we remembered our lost family members together.

The Darkness began three years ago. Since then, we no longer look up to the familiar blue sky during the day; instead, everything is dark and foggy. It's not completely dark like night; I would describe it as if we're already past sunset but haven't reached the black night sky yet. The evenings remain normal, unchanged, and the nights are as dark as they used to be.

People turned into monsters, and their numbers increased through their bites, much like in zombie movies. If they bite you, you become one of the Dark Ones. Yes, that's what we call them. Adam said that not everyone is affected by their bites, but he couldn't provide an answer to why this is the case, and he doesn't know why. However, this doesn't mean that those unaffected by the bites are safe. The Dark Ones kill indiscriminately.

This new, terrible world was brought about by Dorian Black. The Darkness originated from him and infected everything. He misused this power; he should have kept it to himself. Nobody knows who he truly is. Nobody knows him. Adam told the story that this had happened to the world once before; someone else had plunged the Earth into Darkness, but it had been defeated. Many people knew this story, although not everyone believed it. They knew that the Darkness could pass from one person to another, but everyone believed it wouldn't happen again because the last bearer had been declared dead. Everyone believed that Dorian had died in an accident, and Dorian had no children to inherit his power. Everyone who knew about this lived with the belief that Darkness was now part of nature.

As it turns out, this was not true. Dorian is alive and thriving, infecting the whole world. Some didn't believe that Dorian had died in that car accident. They were right. Even if people knew who Dorian was, why does nobody know who the Light is? And if they once knew who Dorian was but thought he was dead, and now he's back, why does nobody know who he really is? Why do people know Dorian but not the Light? Daniel suggested that Dorian probably changed his name to avoid detection, and he thought the same thing happened to the Light because the last known Light, whose name was known, was the one who had saved the world from total Darkness. After that, nobody knew anything about their descendants.

Adam mentioned two swords, the Sword of Darkness and the Sword of Light. Initially, these were the vessels of the two powers, but people later realized that a sword could be stolen or destroyed at any time, whereas a person carrying the power could not be found among millions. That's why people now bear both Darkness and Light within them. About the swords, all I knew was that only the Light could wield the Sword of Light, and only the Darkness could use the Sword of Darkness; no one else had that ability.