Chapter 1:  Seed

I was never one to be strong or special; was never one to be the kind of creature anyone would even think twice about looking at, and for most of my life, I was used to it.

The fact that I passed my childhood years as nothing but a shadow to the world had become a facet of life, but I didn't want to accept it just yet. I didn't want to live in the darkness forever.

But Mother was worried when I expressed this dream to her. I could see her eyes, the slanted cyan scrutinising me for every flaw and metaphorical hole she picked out in my body. "Childish," she would scold. "Do you think you can do that with that sickly body of yours?"

Sometimes, I screamed at her; screamed about how she'd been the one to inflict this curse on me, with me expelling pent-up pressure and distaste at the world and her choking back inevitable sobs—

—and I would regret every spiteful word that I spat. I had gone a step too far and said things that were untrue and that had made my mother break down in tears, apologising for things she had never done wrong and begging to be left alone for the next few hours.

It was no one's fault that I couldn't reach that goal. It was no one's fault. It was no one's fault.

It's still not fair—and that was a fact that was irrefutably true. I was a Larvesta. I was a being believed to have been born from the sun, and yet, I had been cursed with such a frail body.

My friends had started to disappear—though it was slow; gradual, it was still fast enough for me to notice. I didn't blame them—it was hard for them to slow down and always accompany someone like me who could never even dream of keeping up.

And on the evening that I realised that I was now nothing but alone, I sobbed.

It's unfair, I felt like screaming, but my throat was raw and dry and didn't want to work. Why was I born this way? Why am I so weak? Why can't I make an impact on the world like I want to—why must I always be in the shadows—why, why, why?

I cried myself to sleep that night, and my mother found me the next day, shivering and muttering incoherent phrases to myself in my restless slumber—and she could only watch in pain.

She could do nothing.

❦유❦

"It's best that you stopped hoping," Mother would insist, her narrowed gaze containing so much more melancholy than a creature should ever deserve to possess, and I knew that she had tried to be positive once too—but she was always the logical one in the family. "Please."

She had fell silent after that, leaving me in the protection of our home's isolated walls and going about her usual chores.

If Mother has given up, have I?

Maybe—if I'd been allowed out of my home; Mother had become stricter with my visits to the outside—I would have seen what "truth" was. Maybe that would have encouraged me to believe Mother.

Of course I had heard from the Volcarona about the many woes of the world. About the rumoured fact that the sun had been destroyed; about the ruthless humans that were capturing Larvesta and using them as sacrifices for sunlight.

I had asked why they hadn't headed after the Volcarona—they were stronger and said to have the power to replace the sun if necessary—but the species had turned violent and had started to rampage, not allowing any humans to come close to their homes.

The humans wanted the Volcarona in order to restore sunlight, but these Pokemon were creatures attuned to wilderness and fights, and they refused to be used like that. They, like all of us, were afraid of dying, and that had led them to turn to violence.

If angered, the humans had no chance of winning. This was a time where even Legendaries couldn't afford to be selfless, and more often that not, Mother had said that it would have been a human corpse that would be left behind than that of a Volcarona's.

They had managed to press these humans into giving up hunting them—it was a fruitless battle, after all—and they had tried a new alternative. The regions were now fighting against various cults that they claimed to have been associated with the so-called loss of the sun; they reined in willing Larvesta and Volcarona to battle and help them.

I had suggested joining before, but Mother had snapped at me, saying it was dangerous and that neither of us should even try to venture near the human's base camp. 

"Are you stupid?" she had growled. "Do you really think they can help with anything? Do you really think you'll make an impact that way? They just want to save themselves; they just want to gain your trust so that they can make you be the next 'sun' or something."

"Remember, Larvesta, never venture outside without me. The world is in a horrible condition right now—you'll only get hurt if you do useless adventuring."

I was sure that she was exaggerating. I had only seen nature a few times—not in months, but I had—and what I had glimpsed of the outside world had been soft green edges and flowers in all their glory.

Mother was just worried, right? The world couldn't have changed so much in such a short span of time—it was still made up of those gentle meadows with some cheesy, glowing filter slapped on it, right? 

Perhaps—if I wasn't so ignorant—I would have seen the miles of cold earth beneath us; the wintery colours that caused the world to seem so much more lifeless than it was supposed to be—the ominous sensation of death and dread that sent chills down the spines of many.

Instead, however, I remained oblivious.

❦유❦

I hope you enjoy! Votes, comments and critiques are welcome~