Introduction

Albedo Act 1

HIKARIMONOGATARI

You may be wondering who I am, and what this story is about.

At this part of the story, My name really isn't important,

and while I could go nameless from here on out, it would be rude for you readers.

You may call me Paolo.

It's really quite a generic name, especially here in the Philippines.

Who am I? 

I am just a mundane artist one with various talents and skills. (It's one of the few aspects of my persona that I am proud of)

I work for a small advertising company, and sometimes I am hired by other smaller studios and workshops.

My line of work requires me to stay out late and commute home, since I don't have much of an income.

One of the routines I go through every day is a long walk from my office to a specific bus stop.

That long walk from work had always been peaceful for me, until recently.

Not that it was uneventful; the city's nightlife and the bustling rush of the commuters consistently kept one company in Manila.

It was this sense of normalcy and the presence of other ordinary folk that gave me peace of mind.

The presence of other people...

There was a sense of certainty in the complete and utter chaos of strangers and their indifference to everyone around them.

I could truly say I was alone, isolated from the rest of the world. 

I was safe.

No one was out for me.

For in that nameless crowd, I knew that I didn't matter to anyone.

That worked for me.

That's the way it has always been since I began my work, and I intended to keep it that way.

Yet, one night, I made a foolish mistake.

I divorced myself from that crowd, the shroud of anonymity created by the modern world.

I broke from the norm, the calculated chaos to which I had subjected myself.

Working late, and traveling home at night, is really a dangerous practice.

Even in a cosmopolitan place like Makati, roads can get dark. 

Really, really dark.

The streets at this time have much less activity than people expect.

Even a cosmopolitan place like Makati can become a ghost town. 

The presence of 'other' people has a different meaning in such circumstances.

It's the first lesson I was taught when I entered this hidden world.

It's the first lesson taught to children about the night.

"Stay away from the night and its denizens."

Though mankind seems to have overcome the 'night', many have forgotten the true meaning of that warning.

Our primal fear of the primordial darkness.

The shadow of the unknown.

Enemy predators in the dark.

 "Them". 

On that fated night, a dark fear long hidden within myself was reawakened.

On that fated night, the world conspired to set a series of events in motion.

On that fated night, I had to face the light of truth once more.

I use the word 'fated' here, with a begrudging acceptance, for I am someone opposed to the very notion of destiny.

This story is about darkness, fate, and light.