Life of Riley

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A writer, in love with cryptocurrency 🪙 and nature 🌳…

2 years ago

In community: Filipino Readers(42bb)

Topics: Weekend, Writings, Fiction

After the defeat of The Shadow, Riley is sent to live in the woods with the elves where he becomes acquainted with Mika. Riley later leaves the forest to join the human resistance movement and is a witness to the rise of the Shadow.

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During the war, he was forced to kill by the Shadows, who mistook him for a Shadow in disguise. He soon learns that the two parties were not brothers and that he is now a member of a human nation called “The United”. There are also many stories of him and Mika fighting against eachother or rather, against their own kind. Later, when Mika discovers that she is actually a half-human, she finds out that there are others like her as well. Matsu and Katana are the closest species to Riley.

As the war begins to end, Mika and her brother, Miku, are forced into hiding and they join forces with Riley to stop the remnants of The Shadows. In the final battle, both sides were defeated, leaving only Manchi and the other half of mankind to stand, now on the brink. When the sun rises, the battle is over. Just as they thought they would, a little while later, there is the sound of an explosion and all is quiet.

Then Miku says, "So, what happened?" Riley looks up from where he was sitting and says calmly, "I guess I just figured that it's over now. We won." Yaaay! I had no idea what it meant at all. What I did know was that everyone else seemed fine. So why did Mika just smile and say 'Fine'.

So he asked Mika what would happen if ' The' war is on again. Well, I figured it wouldn't hurt to test the ground.

Mika's smile was the only thing Riley would remember. A smile that seemed genuine, even when it wasn't. That smile from the face of someone we knew. At the end of her sentence, her smile seemed more real than the smile of anyone I have ever known. Her smile was all that mattered. Every human I've ever met who had been forced to fight had a smile on their face. Their smiles. My father had his. And I know it in my heart. Just like Mika did. We all had smiles. Those smiles would bring us to our knees if we didn't hold them up.

Smiles that were almost a joy, the smile of an old friend that we are still trying to remember and hold onto. With that smile, Mika could see into Riley's heart and understood him. If this wasn’t his brother and she could feel that way with someone she cared about, then she would not be afraid to let her guard down. Riley wasn't afraid of her either, his fear was in her heart. For the moment I think that Riley got the biggest laugh out of it, though he never said a word to her. Instead, he just watched her for a while until the smile left her face, and then he returned to his desk to write up his report on the incident.

That was enough for me then. Enough to see the truth about something so terrible, for so long. Knowing that that person was suffering and would suffer forever, knowing that this was not all there was. My father would never have made that mistake. And that's why I won’t do that. When his daughter is kidnapped and killed by the shadow of Shadows, the world goes dark, all but Riley, was able to see the shadows. His vision is so brilliant that when the moon rises in blood-red light, he sees the new day for the very first, full, beautiful, perfect day ever. He makes a pledge to protect those who have no other way to survive. Soon, a new kind of man is born in his world. One who will change the way we think.

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In this world, we will do anything. We will kill anyone. No one will ever be left alive. Our leader, his name is mysterious Riley, will set the stage for the coming war. His plan is to make humans hate each other. To make them forget that they are one people. For that to happen, we all have to forget all the rules, our traditions, everything that made us who we were. Until one day we can all become one."

Mika was crying. She looked at Riley with a strange, unreadable expression on her own face. "So you're human?" Riley shook his shoulder and said, "You're the one who's human". *It was in the same room* Mika said that to Riley when they first met. Riley looked around the room and saw that everyone there was human, except him. He had to hide. In the meantime, he could watch the others as the humans did. On the other side. Before he knew what was happening, Riley was caught by humans. Mika was a young human woman. Her son, *Miku*. A human boy.

So betrayal is no big deal in the human world, Riley couldn’t believe he got hung over the gates of the Humans faraway from the Elves. Mika was before him but the smile she used to trick Riley into the hands of the humans was sincere. She realized she had just fallen in love with a creature far away from their kind, she fell in love with their enemies. But how could she overcome the battle in her heart? Riley was weak and prepared for death.