Shackles

Shackles

That darkness which drapes your heart. The shining smile with which your sins shy behind. The pressure pushing you down. These and more, these suppressions which bind you. Your shackles, rein or release, they still have you.

Haze, the surroundings blurred white, the only coloration are two children on a patch of grass; yet, even they were blurring as their conversation went on.

“Owain?” spoke the young girl with a stereo voice, “what do you want to do in the future?”

Owain merely shrugged as he turned his back to her. The girl prodded Owain’s shoulder to get him to look back at her, and when he did not, she thengrabbed his collar and pulled him down to look up at her face; a pouty mouth.

“Owain!” pouted the stereo voiced girl, “Geez, you gloomy grouch grr- you are always like this! How do you think you will make anymore friends beside me?”

“I will not,” sighed Owain, “because what is the point? As for my future, whatever.”

“Owain!” grumbled the stereo voiced girl, “I really am worried about you, you know. Just because you are wealthy, does not mean you can do nothing! Well, you can, but you know what I mean.”

Owain knew he invoked her distress, and he had enough decency to care for it.

“Fine,” sighed Owain, “I will not do nothing,  but what I will do in the future; keep it on hold.”

The girl’s mouth turned into a sweet smile, one which glued itself permanently in color as everything else was quickly blurring.

“You will?” cheered the girl whose voice was fading in and out of memory, “Well, for YOU that is good enough. Just promise that now. Also, promise me-”

Everything was silenced and blurred, drowned by static; all except that smile.

  Current Day

Owain woked up dazed, murked by the meddlesome murmurs which plagued his sleep. If not for the sun, which irked him to roll out of his bed, he would have just continued his slumber.

Owain was bountiful by birth. His parents were a dynamic duo, whose efforts through the business industry in Pangea Ultima made them very wealthy, and having such traits; Owain himself was a prodigy, nothing was out of his league. However, these bounties burdened him; his future was predicted to be sublime, but with it so set- he feels as if he has to do nothing.

Owain ended up an unusual student for those reasons. With his attitude, he had taken up many delinquent behaviors, but he was a phenomenal student academically. Owain sometimes doubts his peculiar persistence, and attempts to quit with a bitterness on his lips, that bitterness however, always ends up being the source of prevention for when Owain attempts to quit.

Quickly did Owain prepare his person and made his way to Kusari Academy, a luxurious landscape of modern school buildings intertwined into one, akin to a circuit. When he arrived at the gates, Owain was prepared to do his usual graffiti, but was stopped by the girl who approached him.

“Hey there!” called the girl, “What you up to?”

Owain turned around and sprayed the paint at her face. Fortunately for the girl, she backpedaled, moving just enough out to avoid being sprayed.

“Woah,” growled the girl, “what was that for?”

“No reason,” said Owain, “also introduce yourself. My name is Owain.”

“Nice to meet you, Owain!” said the girl, “My name is, Luce, animal extraordinaire, and- wait. Do not trick me and change the conversation! Well, I did want small talk. First off, paint hurts the environment. Second, you are an interesting guy.”

“You are a lunatic,” said Owain, “leave me alone.”

Owain booked it, spraying paint at Luce’s direction to keep her away.

“No!” shouted Luce, “You are hurting the environment!”

Luce then went in pursuit of Owain, in an attempt to scold him over his hazardous habit, which caused a bewildering chase to ensue.

To Owain’s surprise and annoyance, Luce was highly athletic, enough to gain up on him if not for the spray paint. Owain knew his spray paint would not last much more, so he decided to jump the academy fence by using the nearby dumpsters as stooling. Owain went out into some trees until he felt that he was no longer being chased by Luce.

Owain was hesitant on the thought that the fence jump was enough to stop Luce however, and he was right. The chase continued, just that the roles and participants changed, as signaled by Luce’s scream.

Owain ran back to the fence and climbed over it again to witness the situation. The dumpster was opened, and some strange being was after Luce. Owain was appalled, the strange being was some humanoid grotesquery of metal.

“What in the-,” thought Owain, “what is that thing. Was it in the dumpster? I woke it up, did I not.”

Owain was furious, his entirety heated up, muscles spazzed and ached in disgust. Owain was conflicted, what could he do, he should fix his mess, but he would just end up another corpse. He was stuck, bound by both thoughts into doing nothing, he hated it. The pressure in him built, which caused immense pain, pinned by pride and preservation.

“Do you want to help?” whispered a voice, “I may grant you the ability to break out and fix this mess, break one of the things pushing you down.”

The voice shocked Owain, but it was calming, enough to trust. Owain too lost to fully grasp it all just gave a slight nod, and his mind became clear. A sense of serene fluidity struck Owain, which loosed him from the pressure, and once Owain felt completely freed; he saw a violet, diagonal ring of light on his left wrist. 

“Break out.”

Owain looked at the light, and instinctively he spun it. The light emitted cracked the world, energy flowed everywhere, broke out to be unleashed.

Break Out!

Once the light dimmed, there was Owain, shining, and another violet ring of light mirroring the one on his wrist; sashed him from right to left. The word on it, ‘Rebellion’.

The world felt light to Owain, his speed surreal, in an instant he caught back up to Luce and stood in front of the creature to guard her. The creature paused, but then shook off the surprise to attack Owain, but Owain broke out of that possibility. Owain rushed up and kneed the creature in the gut, hard, and then landed a devastating flurry of punches.

“Your existence,” said Owain, “I am breaking it.”

The violet ring of light which swirled around his left wrist grew, and Owain landed a clean strike, shattering the creature into nothing.

Owain just stood there, adrenaline shooked him nearly senseless. After a bit, Owain regained his composure, and turned to see a stun Luce. Luce just stared at Owain until she lighted up into amazement.

“Oh, my, gosh!” squealed Luce, “You are amazing! Wow, just- oh, where are my manners? Thank you for saving me!”

Luce beamed a sweet smile, and it stung Owain, neither bad or good, yet comforting. Owain had no idea what was going on or what would happen, but he felt one thing for sure- things were getting amped up.