"What is the meaning of the universe? Is there a meaning to life?"

Humans have searched for something to believe, for a single answer, a unified theory that would resolve each and every one of their doubts in every field of knowledge and make them feel complete beings. This has been true since the beginning of their history.

Unable to find anything like this, they invented various concepts such as philosophy, religion, love, family or friendship in order to feel fulfilled.

This used to be the first and only escape route when trying to face the harsh reality of their insignificant existence.

The second way is through entertainment. By creating imaginary worlds and alternate realities in movies, television, books, comics, manga, video games...

Especially those things they call video games. The latter had a big boom in recent times.

After several technological breakthroughs, such as the emergence of increasingly advanced neural networks and finally, of graphics cards capable of using their own minds as the main processor.

This discovery allowed them to access to a matrix in which they could actively and freely develop with other humans, interconnected in a large global network they called the internet, as if in a collective lucid dream.

From the mid-21st century onwards, the use of these devices became widespread and the already thin lines between reality and fiction began to blur.

In these worlds, they can play at being gods and forget the emptiness that eats away at their souls. They can give meaning to their lives or simply stop wondering if there really is one. A world, no, whole universes of possibilities in which they can be themselves or choose to be whoever they want to be and let themselves go.

It's hard for me to imagine, but being such banal and ephemeral beings, I can understand it to a certain extent.

Most people just want to feel in control of their own lives. They want to be masters of their own destiny, shaping every rule of their own alternate reality, even if it is merely a three-dimensional illusion.

"Humans like to play god. Perhaps this is why they no longer believe in us."

"I wonder what they would do if they knew of Eden's existence. Surely such destructive apes could not contain themselves and would kill each other to get in."

"The truth is, they ceased to be apes long ago and became extremely complex beings."

"Yes, perhaps you're right. Perhaps they have evolved a little. Their technology mimics ours after all, but, to me, they've just gone from prioritising reproduction and survival of their species to questioning the meaning of their existence and suffering from anxiety. And some of them don't even bother to think about everything around them and prefer to shut themselves away in imaginary worlds. Why do you see this as progress, sir?"

"Because millions of years ago, we were the same."

"Because we gods could cry too."

26/04/2052

4:34 Am.

Tokyo, 8th district.

Haru was standing on a cloud, looking down on a silver skyscraper city built atop a mountain, probably hundreds of times taller than Everest.

There was a crack, followed by a roar only comparable to the explosion of a supernova. Cries from children and adults alike. People in eccentric costumes accompanied by bright colours that Haru swore he had never seen before. They all ran through the streets of the silver city in terror and vanished in a fog of sinister aura. Out of the mist a sort of humanoid figure slowly took shape, slowly advancing through the fog, leaving behind it a halo of death. Before he lost his vision he could see the creature's crimson eyes staring back at him. They resembled the predatory eyes of the dark elves of his people's legends.

In the confusion he lost track of time and space. He felt his body float lightly through the fog of war and ash that now made up the landscape in which the silver city stood moments ago. Suddenly he heard the voice of his sister, Akira, recite like a poem.

"-When darkness comes choose your path brother, crush the stars. Pull the devil's trigger and light the world," she continued, "When angels dance in purgatory, find yourself in heaven. Before oblivion imprints its scars on you, hold on, live in prayer, shine.

He woke up shaken and drenched in sweat. That dream again, no, recurring nightmare, Haru thought. His sister's words echoed in his head like an ancient mantra imprinted on his own consciousness. Is it some kind of prayer she's never told me about? he wondered.

It was a warm spring night, and Haru could not sleep well. This nightmare had thrown him off balance.

There was something strange about the atmosphere, or so he felt. The lights in Tokyo normally didn't let you see a single star in the sky, and yet if you looked up, that night you could see the Orion belt and each of its droplets dazzling clearly in the night sky. Haru noticed this as he looked out of the window on his mantelpiece while lying in bed.

"-They used to say it was a bad omen, I never believed it." -he said to himself. Then he took a picture of his parents from his bedside table. He was still a bit agitated and thought maybe this would calm him down a bit.

Haru and his sister Akira lived on the outskirts of District 8, with their maternal aunt and uncle and their grandmother. They had never met their parents, and whenever they were about to ask about their fate, their family insisted on changing the subject, as if it were some kind of taboo.

They would never tell him what became of them, though, and they were not in the mood to do so until both brothers came of age, or so they said. His aunt and uncle always told him about their parents' adventures and ways. Haru had been told several times that he inherited his adventurous nature from his father, as well as his eyes, sometimes dull vinotintos, when excited, a fiery red.

Haru detailed the picture of his father. A thin man, very tall and jovial in appearance. Straight, grey hair, reaching down to his neck. He wore a black suit that contrasted nicely with his eyes and hair. He had a smile from ear to ear. It was her wedding day.

When he looked at his mother, he remembered his sister Aki, who, they said, inherited her eyes, porcelain skin and natural beauty.

It was no wonder. Akira was the spitting image of her mother, both porcelain dolls as white as snow and with the bluest eyes Haru had ever seen. They glowed even at night, with all the lights in the house turned off.

If eyes really were the reflections of the soul, as people said in the Middle Ages, then his mother and sister Akira were probably noble spirits or Western angels in disguise, Haru thought.

Of course, by the same logic, he must be some kind of demon like the one he saw in his dreams. To him there was no way it was possible, his father looked like an angel fallen from the sky, even with those flames for eyes.

After a while of admiring the picture and remembering his family's stories he finally calmed down. That night he felt strangely close to his parents.

Haru then smiled sweetly just before falling asleep.

Where am I? What is this sensation of lightness that invades my whole body? she asked herself desperately as she fell into an absolute void, as dark and deep as a black hole.

Suddenly, visions and bright images began to appear before her. The sensation of falling suddenly stopped and when she realised, she was in a beautiful meadow at midnight. A few metres away stood a maiden who resembled her mother when she was young, dressed in a red kimono with a cherry blossom pattern, a very old-fashioned cut.

At once she could see the clear sky. Entire stars and constellations were fully visible, as she had never seen them before in Tokyo. They stole all the limelight from the bright waning moon, which, in a normal situation, would surely have stood out for its brightness. -Akira thought.

When she looked away from the stars, she saw how a herd of foxes as white as snow followed and obeyed everything the girl in the red kimono told them. The girl was so beautiful that she looked like something out of a fairy tale. The cherry blossoms on her kimono and her white, knee-length hair gave her an aura that Akira could only describe as divine.

The girl was telling her beloved foxes a sad story. Akira was more than 10 metres away and was afraid to come closer so as not to disturb the peace of the herd, but she could still hear perfectly well.

It was almost as if the young girl wanted her to hear the story, as if she were telling it just for Akira. 

The tale was about a kind man and his beloved wife. Together, in love, the man and his wife lived an idyllic life. Unfortunately, the couple broke up after she died giving birth to their youngest child.

The grief-stricken man vowed to get her back and declared war on the other world just to see her one more time.

After a long and difficult journey, when he finally found his beloved, she was no longer what he longed for, she was not the one he once loved, and never would be until the day he died, for her soul had already transcended and reincarnated a thousand times.

With nothing left to fight for or live for, grieving and with his honour sullied after having taken up arms against his brothers, he decided to end his life.

When the girl finished telling the story to her pack, she turned, and Akira at that moment could have sworn she stared at her for a few seconds and then smiled.

Then a beam of light surrounded the girl's body and before Akira could understand what was happening, she transformed into a white fox much larger than the others.

It wasn't just its size that was special. It had nine tails and a symbol on its forehead, a black crescent accompanied by a dot on the upper right side.

This maiden, now transformed into a majestic creature, as divine in appearance as her human form, ran into the infinity of the meadow, which was as dazzling as those stars. The rest of the foxes turned and, from a distance, bowed roughly to Akira. Then they looked at their leader and ran after her, struggling to keep up. They all continued on their way until they were lost in the night mist.

Akira heard the sweet voice of a young man for a second: "Hinari Okkami" It said.

6:30 am.

she woke up, it was the day of final exams and she had one last review to do. her mundane worries made her forget and downplay the dream she had just had.

"-I have to get Haru up too, that idiot must have fallen asleep again."