The Golden Tragedy

Author’s note: This short story is fan fiction based on a game called Sky: Children of the Light (Sky: CotL), made by the TGC company. In addition, the story is heavily inspired by the 9/11 tragedy, celebrating its 20th anniversary and thanking the front lines for their service, the brave citizens who stepped up to help others and mourning those who lost their lives. The battlefield terrain, being next to the Golden Wasteland temple, represents the scene when both the Twin towers were struck by two hijacked planes from terrorists, in which the dark dragons in the photo above (krills) represent the planes and the remaining pillars after the tragedy in the story represents the 9/11 memorial. Other special thanks to Butter, Estella, and Nicole for helping out with the story cover above and photo editing from Catherine Duong.

Keywords:

1 Krill - A hostile creature in Golden Wastelands; also known as the dark dragon

2 Golden Wastelands - the 5th realm in the sky realm, are best known for their hostile creatures and dark plants.

“You, go to the left side! And you, try to distract the krill (1) at the right!”

The soldiers briefly nodded, and flew towards the chaotic scene, then disappeared into the smoke and ashes once I pointed the direction to go to. All I heard in the background were the roars of the dark dragons attacking the temple in Golden Wastelands (2) and innocent people screaming for help. It was a tragedy to remember; it felt like I could still hear the scene echoing in my ears. Yet, when hope was fading citizens, in the sky realm stepped up. I saw people going through the rubble and helping out or getting them out of the disaster safely. It showed that front-liners like us aren’t the only ones to be called heroes. The people in the sky realm are heroes too by helping one another and saving a few lives with their good deeds. Hence, the tragedy was named The Golden Tragedy, it was a terrible moment, yet the “golden” part was the moment for average citizens to be recognized as heroes. Now it’s been 20 years ever since it happened. I’ve revisited the same site every year on the same day, looking at the rebuilt temple in front of me, but the remains of the old pillars, still chipped and worn, are still there. Each post had the name of the person who died during the scene. As I scanned through each pillar, a name or two caught my eye, which I readily recognized who they were. They were one of my close friends whom I had for many years. I held back my tears, clenching my fists. After the scene and everything was resolved, I left with my friend’s souls high up in the clouds, hopefully in a better place now.