"I remember a time before the rain..."

Said my old grandmother while she looked outside, at a safe distance from the bullet-like sonata of the heaven high above.

"Back then, people found the rain calming... thoughtful, some sort of divine aid..."

We were in what used to be a hotel lobby, drenched and moist from the rain that destroyed the upper floors. My mother looked at my grandmother with sorrow before going inside to get supplies...

"Before, my child, one could stand naked in the rain and not even get a scratch..."

I looked at the old woman, amazed at her story... and I asked her if she ever did such a thing, her response still haunts me to this day.

"I never did it, soft rain was something I took for granted..."

As the drops falling from the sky slowly ceased, and the rain stopped, my mother and I got up to leave... back to the underground facility with an iron ceiling... we left grandma there... as my mother put it, she was becoming a burden... and wouldn't live long anyway...

I took her for granted...

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUvh4xTID5s)

"You know?"

Said someone on the other side of the white curtain...

"No matter what, I'll always love you"

The person, whoever it was, had a kind voice I sort of remembered from a dream, who would say that to an old decrepit woman like myself? that can't even remember her own name, much less the people that used to care for her?

"Do you remember me?"

Asked the voice, and I didn't quite know how to respond, as if my words had been stolen away by the hourglass of time, I wanted to see this person's face, I reached to the curtain and a faint memory invaded me with the need to see the person on the other side.

"I'm an old friend..."

The curtain was then pulled by the person on the other side... now I knew it wasn't a person, instead, it was some sort of creature, with more eyes than I could count, wings on its back, and a tender smile on its face... at first, I wanted to escape, but then I heard the voice again.

"I've always been here for you Avis... It's time to go..."

When the creature took my hand, I seemed to forget what pain was... and suddenly remembered everyone in my life... every memory that I had lost...

Up there, I saw faces that I now recognized as old friends and family... and allowed myself to feel like a little girl again.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd7KC3PaEaA)

I was at first ignoring that it was happening, seeing something in the corner of your eye is pretty common when you live alone for the first time... or at least that was what I told myself to be relaxed... but... this time, when I flipped my head, I saw... it.

A humanoid creature with skin and eyes the color of the blackest night, its figure looked somewhat soft and delicate, its arms far too thin to do me any harm, but still it was leaning up to look me directly in the eye.

At first, I panicked, but then I realized it didn't seek to do me any danger, it just stood silently and motionless looking at me as if it waited for me to do something... finally I cracked it, looking somewhere else, that's where the creature disappeared.

...

No I know it's there, moving, takin space in the places my eyes are blind to, I don't know what it wants, I don't know how to make it leave... but I've been feeling sicker and sicker... I think this thing I saw was death itself...

Is this the cruelty reserved for those condemned to hell?

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLu9GmV2vF0)

Yeah, sorry, I think I couldn't find anything inspiring.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVlS64b_4K8)

Once upon a time, before the guns, the bombs, and the electricity, there lived two sisters, twins that were destined to be queens of the land they inhabited, but their mother fell pregnant again before it was their turn, both twins, adults at this point, reasoned that if the baby in their mother's belly turned out to be a boy, their destiny would be ruined...

So... they organized a plan...

They got a potion from a wise woman, on the pretense that one of them was pregnant and didn't desire the child, then, the two wicked women feed the woman the brew with some tea...

...

Both the twins were caught in the act by the king's physician, when their father heard of what they had done, he sent them to a tower... there to stay until they starved... oh, but what a misfortune, the drink worked, and the queen miscarried...

...Now the kingdom had no heirs... no hope... and when the kings both died, everything fell to ruin under riots.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajM4vYCZMZk)

Many legends have spoken of the day a girl arrived at a castle with crystal slippers, or how a wooden puppet was brought to life... or how a beautiful prince was turned into a monster on his 15th birthday...

This story is neither but listen closely, because you may recognize a common element from them all, a creature that's both revered and feared, and that most monster hunters would never risk to encounter...

The blue fairy...

A creature that's capable of transforming men and fabric alike, sometimes, they are good, and attack the wicked with curses, and the holy with blessings... but it always comes with a price...

Few ever talk about the price, about how both sisters of poor Cinderbelle lost their eyes and toes...

How the pine puppet caused its creator great pain and sorrow.

How the beast captured a woman to be his bride...

So, if anytime you cross paths with a blue little creature that offers you a magical responded to your problems, don't listen to her, they are nothing but an imp that will come back to collect their price.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvNZeh6f8vE)

In this world, when children come of age, they are separated and go through one of two gates, by tradition, they can choose...

But social pressure would always dictate that boys went through the warrior's door, to be trained to be brave soldiers... And the girls went through the Matriarch's door, to be trained to be wise leaders...

...But Carlo wasn't a normal boy, he never fought other kids, his blood wasn't imbued with bravery, and his heart craved knowledge, he wanted to read, heal, and cook the same as the woman who led every social and religious event, in their role of life-givers...

So he went through the matriarch's door... when the dress was placed on him, traditional and filled with context, he felt no shame as his tutors expected, he felt pride... he discovered, in the girl's academy, to count, plan, strategize and keep track of everything that the society needed...

He discovered himself to be a prime homemaker and party planner, he enjoyed making stuff with his hands for the other members of his class...

He wasn't... outstanding, but he was as good as anyone could expect him to be... when the time came to graduate and choose a warrior to assist, he choose a girl that went the opposite way, through the warrior's gate...

...And that's how Carlo found his place in the world... and became the first male Matriarch.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyNXeCfPB2U)

The great cat army was assembled on the left side of town, speckled through the roof, and awaiting the order of general snowball to attack, it was impressive how you could make so many cats be in the same place at once, but it seemed that they were all ready to give their lives protecting this city...

On the other side, in all of the roofs, there were the sons and daughters of the shadow realm, creatures that were mostly white eyes with shadow-like bodies... they had come to take this city away, death in the flesh... and they were only seen by the brave cats...

The order was given, banners made with trash and rags were raised and the cats started to jump from their roof to the next, some using their nails to scratch the shadows, others, had constructed complicated tools like hammers and swords, alongside helmets and armor...

The great fight was silent and every human and dog sleep through it, as metal and shadow fuel clashed in a display of pure power...

Many cats "went missing that night" but others proudly went back to their owners... don't be deceived, cats weren't fighting for the humans, they were fighting for themselves... or at least, that's what they all convinced themselves of.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbhk5yYgUxI)

I remember many things that happened in my youth, but one particular one I keep in my heart, is the dings and dongs of my grandfather's clock, which stood in the library as a shining remembrance of my deceased grandfather...

The man was jolly as anyone can be, consistently with bad puns and his enthusiasm for repairing stuff, as he once repaired the great clock that now had a weird tune whenever it marked six PM.

I didn't say he was the perfect man, did I?

No, his heart was filled with the hatred of decades past, for anyone who wasn't as he was, when the family discovered my sister was leaving home to live in a free union, he was the first to call her a bitch...

When I came out as gay... he insisted to my entire family that I should've been taken to the military, and that they would straighten me out...

When he died, I couldn't remember the happy times, of which they were many, my mind fixated on how the hate in his heart disallowed him to see us as his children anymore... luckily the rest of our family was there to protect us from his un-founded wrath...

...Now I can't help but feel uneasy when someone says that they "miss my grandfather"...

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_3NGcYVVAE)

There is a legend that swirls in the wind of this land, of an old tale from tongues estranged from each other, about a tree that exists in the middle of the black woods, a tree born when a fairy forgot about everything in her life... who she loved, who she mourned and even who she was, and so gave up her life so that nobody would ever forget anything ever again...

It is the tree of memories, that grows in a waterfall once every 10 years, if you see the tree and eat from its fruits, you'll remember anything that you've ever forgotten about, if instead, you wish to forget something, you can still gain something from finding the tree...

You shall simply wash yourself in the river that flows from the roots of the true, but beware, the water will take away all of your memories, and you will be reborn a new person... you may remember what you know, but not who you were or who you love nor mourn.

...That is a legend that I heard from my grandmother once...

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQzd_4QUdFc)

>Many legends have spoken of the day a girl arrived at a castle with crystal slippers, or how a wooden puppet was brought to life... or how a beautiful prince was turned into a monster on his 15th birthday...

This story is neither but listen closely, because you may recognize a common element from them all, a creature that's both revered and feared, and that most monster hunters would never risk to encounter...

The blue fairy...

A creature that's capable of transforming men and fabric alike, sometimes, they are good, and attack the wicked with curses, and the holy with blessings... but it always comes with a price...

Few ever talk about the price, about how both sisters of poor Cinderbelle lost their eyes and toes...

How the pine puppet caused its creator great pain and sorrow.

How the beast captured a woman to be his bride...

So, if anytime you cross paths with a blue little creature that offers you a magical responded to your problems, don't listen to her, they are nothing but an imp that will come back to collect their price.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvNZeh6f8vE)

Someone already asked for this instrument!

If you cross the river here, through the stone bridge that will swallow you up if your heart is heavy with evil... you may arrive at a tiny temple at the base of the mountain, there you may find a wise man, who shall ask you to say your three favorite things in the world... you mustn't lie, he'll know and won't give you access to the stairs leading to the top of the mountain...

As you go up, through every step, you'll remember a thousand reasons to come back, if there is none, you'll believe fake reasons, many of which have made brave men turn back and run downstairs...

There is a tiny wooden box in the top mountain, and in that box, there is a silver owl, and that owl holds in its beak a little tied note, if you are brave enough to snatch the note, you'll find a truth inside, a truth you must accept right away, otherwise, the little owl may get angered and attack you.

...The truth is about yourself, and it's true beyond any shadow of a doubt... that little scroll knows you better than you know youtself.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujzMHLac404)

Good one! I had the same idea!