Yimara Iwazaki
A gentle widow in her early 40’s
““Follow the crimson light” she’d told me, the woman in my dreams; and so I did. It called to me, and I answered. Suddenly I heard, saw, and knew.”
Upon seeing her for the first time, Yima would seem like an ordinary person... But look closer, and you may catch a few otherworldly features. Her right eye, for instance; a permanent reminder of the day of her wedding. An unexplained phenomenon swiftly claimed the lives of her family and her husband to be. However, it spared her; reaching out to her, it clung to her body and mind, entangling parts of her in a crimson web. Perhaps it was fate, for she managed to escape, but barely. Already being emotionally and physically broken, the incident had also left her biologically altered. Marks had been permanently engraved onto her skin. Her right eye was tainted a topaz-yellow, blinded and paralyzed. The seemingly alien markings cover the upper right side of her back, her right arm, the right side of her neck stretching to her shoulder, and over parts of her face.
A year passed, and on the anniversary of the incident while visiting her parents’ grave, Yima’s paralyzed topaz-yellow eye began observing something extraordinary in the corner of her eye. Her vision of it was blurred; an orb, much like the one she had seen all those years ago but somehow clearer, passed her vision from afar. Yima laid down her bouquet of flowers, wiped her tears and held her hand over her other unharmed eye. She pursued the orb, and surrounded the pulsating light ever so gently within her hands. She recognized it, however something about it was different from the others. The orb pulsated, emitting a powerful force which overwhelmed Yima, knocking her unconscious. Yima awoke from what felt like an age long stasis, by what appeared to be a small fae. The voice she had heard so long ago stood before her, and somehow, Yima knew deep down what had happened. The world of her childhood imagination was no longer imaginative; Yima’s otherworldly eye had granted her vision of an alternate dimension existing in parallel with the human world. Like flicking a switch, Yima would be able to see, hear, touch, feel and sense the alternate pane of reality, and found acceptance and peace knowing with the help of her guardian that her loved ones had passed on from the human world, and began anew in the world that stood before her. Heaven? Possibly. Nevertheless; biologically altered, Yima now possesses features unlike those of ordinary humans, and currently exists as the silent medium that knows there was more to existence than meets the eye.
------ Bio ------
Growing up in the suburbs, Yima always had a friend or two to play with; One of whom eventually became her significant other. Despite this, as a child Yima would occasionally be found running off on her own, chasing what was assumed to be specs of dust and imaginary friends who led her away from what ever she was doing from time to time. Her parents were worried about it, but they figured it was only natural for a child to have imaginary friends. Yima made Akira’s acquaintance when she and her family had just moved in next door to the Hayashi-household, and were greeted and welcomed by curious neighbors. Both of them were 5 years of age at the time, and not being the most extroverted of children, Yima kept her distance from Akira when they had first met. Yima had never been a very open child; that is, until Akira and Yima really got to know each other.
Accompanied by another neighbor, Yoshiro, Akira and Yima were thick as thieves. Throughout their years in middle school, Yima, Akira and Yoshiro would take on the world before them with an adventurous spirit, where their minds were their limit and where time passed swiftly. Yima would still observe specs on occasion, and be comforted in times of need by her imaginary friends, but would pay less attention to them as the years went by. As with all good things in life, they all come to an end. Their end would be Yima’s 18th birthday. Moving away to attend college, Yima lost contact with her two childhood friends entirely. For the next eight semesters, Yima would be tied down to her schoolwork. Time passed, and Yima moved on with her life, however broken she felt for leaving behind what she had. Four years later, and a new ripened graduate from the Iwazaki household walked out of Tohoku University, greeted by her family, and her good friend Akira. Yima dropped her things, and leaped toward Akira, and was reunited with a firm and comforting grasp, neither of them ever intending to let go. Akira and Yima’s reuniting brought not only nostalgic feelings of friendship, but eventually those of love. Having matured immensely over the years that had passed, Yima and Akira decided they were ready to live on their own. A year later, atop a hillside overlooking the city they grew up in, Akira had mustered the courage to finally ask her to marry him. Yima accepted, and shed tears of joy.
Their wedding was to be held at her childhood neighborhood home. However, the disastrous outcome that came to be, surpassed anyone’s imagination. A paranormal catastrophe claimed the lives of half of the wedding’s guests, including Yima’s mother and father, Akira and Yoshiro. Yima was branded; half of her body was permanently covered with ancient markings, and her right eye became blinded and paralyzed. She awoke in a hospital, and was informed of the tragedy that had occurred. Yima sat in complete shock for hours, and finally, cried for days on end.
