Unbreakable Bond in the North African Deserts

It was a cool, calm day in Africa. A few clouds were scattered among the sky. The sun scorched the earth beneath it, but there wasn’t a single person around to notice. The dead silence was interrupted only by the sound of sand being kicked up as Ayaka and Lumine ran through the dunes.

“Lumine! What are you doing?!” Ayaka yelled between breaths.

“Ahahah...I think I got bored of walking outside,” Lumine said, smiling at her. “Let’s play in the sand!”

Ayaka rolled her eyes, “You know what? I don’t care anymore, just keep running!”

When they reached the top of the dune, they stopped for a moment to catch their breath. They could see the entire Sahara desert through the gap between two mountains of sand. The sun was slowly disappearing behind a mountain on the horizon, drowning itself in the ocean of clouds. It was a beautiful sight that would have moved anyone else to tears, but neither Ayaka or Lumine had any time for that. Behind them, a loud explosion ripped through the air and shook the ground beneath them. They were too far away to see anything clearly, but what little they could make out terrified them. They turned around and began sprinting across their own dune towards safety.

After what seemed like an eternity (but was probably only ten minutes), they finally made it to the other side of the dune where they found shelter in a small African hut and hid inside with their hands over their heads. They didn't have to wait long until they heard something approaching from behind them. Their hearts pounding more violently than before, they peered out from under their arms and saw two dark figures surrounded by flames walking toward them. Their fear quickly turned into confusion as they recognized one of them as Lumine's father, William Knighton III, who had been looking for him since he went missing after his grandfather's funeral two days ago.

William ignored Ayaka and walked up to Lumine and held out his hand for him to take it so he could help him up off the ground, but Lumine refused and stood on his own two feet without any assistance from his dad or anyone else who offered it to him. “What were you thinking?! You can get yourself killed like that! You scared me half to death!” William yelled at him with all the anger and frustration he could muster up at his son for making him worry so much about him for so long. Suddenly realizing how embarrassing this scene must be for Lumine in front of Ayaka, William immediately apologized to her before she had a chance to say anything herself, adding, “We’re very grateful that you brought my son back home safely tonight; thank you very much, ma'am; I hope we can meet again some time soon when things calm down around here; good night!” He bowed politely before turning around and walking away with his son following closely behind him while rubbing his forehead with both hands as if trying to rub away some kind of headache.

After leaving Ayaka and finally feeling confident enough not to embarrass himself further, Lumine stopped and confronted his father about his decision to run away from home and what he had been doing during those two days when nobody knew where he was. “Dad...what do you expect me to do? Sit at home all night long while Grandpa rots away in his coffin? That is just wrong! He doesn't deserve this! Not after everything he's done for us! This whole world is wrong! There is suffering everywhere you go these days because rich people just want more money than they need already, even though there are people right outside their houses starving every day just because they don't have enough money left at the end of each month after paying all their bills! How can you just let this happen like this? …I mean, I'm sorry; I shouldn't be talking back like this...you're my dad after all...but...I mean...things just aren't fair anymore these days; things haven't been fair for a long time now, actually."

Lumine continued, reflecting on his friendship with Ayaka and their shared understanding of the world's inequities: "So I don't really know why I'm surprised by any of this: Grandpa dying early; you being upset about it; me having to go through life always feeling alone because nobody wants me around unless they need something like money or votes or whatever. But then here comes Ayaka who wants nothing except my friendship since she needs nothing else. It's amazing how easy it is being friends with someone who doesn't care about your family's fortune or power at all, even if she never notices how bad I am at talking with girls without freaking them out. Maybe one day we'll be able to do something together about all this unfairness if we stick together." Lumine thought aloud, marveling at how someone so