"You know that's dangerous capt…."
"Yes we can't…."
"Captain you m..m…*
Arthur could hear muffled and distant voices as his mind drifted between conscious and unconsciousness. It was like he drank large pots of alcohol.
His body felt heavy and his mind throbbing painfully like it was beaten senseless. As he tried to get up, Arthur's mind lost control and slowly the mushy picture turned into pitch black darkness.
Arthur again tried opening his eyes and a random scene emerged in his sight.
"Wh.. what's this?" Arthur saw a little boy. His hair was black and his black eyes shimmered in bright sunlight.
The boy stood in front of a tall man. His silver white hair gave him a distinct look. Arthur's mind was still lost. He couldn't speak or move. He just stood there and saw the scene absentmindedly.
The man looked down at the boy straight into eyes.
"Arthur, did you get into another fight?" Rayhart asked on seeing a tiny nosebleed flowing down Arthur's nose.
"N…no," the boy answered nervously.
Rayhart sighed. He got down on one knee and gently placed his hand on Arthur's head and spoke gently.
"Arthur, fighting is not inherently bad. If there are humans, there are fights. What actually matter is your intentions, your reason to fight."
He looked into Arthus's eyes and continued.
"A weak man fights for glory. A strong man fights to protect himself and an idiot fights for others.
So Arthur WHO ARE YOU"
"Erm.. umm… I will be a strong man father" Arthur replied with hesitation and a deep thought for a 5 year old.
A warm smile emerged on Rayhart's face.
"A strong man huh?Hmm, that will do for now."
Ray stands again. Patting Arthur lightly on his head
"Arthur, I will leave now. Take care of your mother for me" he said, eyes drifting towards his wife Cecile.
Both eyes hid the sorrow in them and both knew that other did the same.
"But where are you going farther" Arthur asks clinging onto his father's clean grey robes. Interrupting the conversation.
"Not very far away son, not very far away" he gently caress Arthur's hair and looked at his wife one last time.
"I am sorry Cecile."
"You should go now, Ray"
No words were uttered in their talk. The talk was wordless and silent. Like a pleasant breeze, it can be felt but can never be seen or touched.
Rayhart took a deep breath in and with a final look at his family he turns around and walks down the garden full of flowers in the spring. Trees held their breath and flower stopped their dance as wind carried smell of sorrow and goodbyes.
Ray didn't stop to turn or wave back. His legs never stopped with footsteps heavy and slow. They walked and walked until his back faded into the distance.
Arthur's vision slowly blurred with each step not with tears but because of water coming out of eyes.
"Umm fanm. Fathhh.." Grown arthur who watched whole scene from sideline, tried to scream to his father but no matter how much he tried no words came out of his mouth. His body didn't move and now even his eyes couldn't see him. It was just like before that terrible helplessness.
"father.. father.. FATHER!"
Arthur woke upright with a jolt.
Huff… huff… Arthur's eye finally opened and light entered into them. He gasped for air sharply like water was drowning him deep inside. His body was sweating profusely all over and all his clothes were dripping wet.
As he opened his eyes suddenly everything looked mashed up and blurred but slowly as his eyes relaxed the old room came into his sight.
The room was not too big. Judging from the size of the bed, it was only for one person. The room had an open window and a study table just beside it. One corner of the room was occupied by an old wooden bookshelf.
It was daytime and cold winds entered the room after the rain, giving Arthur great relief.
"Ack, it hurts" Arthur's head was banging like someone was playing drums in his ears.
He raised his hands to hold his head when he remembered that he was shot with a magic bullet in his shoulder he hurriedly took off his upper clothes and to no surprise the hole was there in the shirt but when he saw his shoulder there was no injury.
He tried moving his hand to check the pain in his shoulder
Left. Right
Up and down
but there was no pain, infact his shoulders felt light like many days of tension was released in them.
He got up from bed and looked around the room. The study table was a mess, many weird symbols were drawn on the pages all over and ink was scattered on them like someone accidentally knocked it over.
He tried to take a look but his head hurted the more he looked at them. So he moved past them quickly.
Arthur walked up to the bookshelf and stared in amazement at the amount of books all over the shelf. He always loved reading story books but he never saw so many together at one place.
He took out one book and read the title.
"Huh, Basic fundamentals of Arrays?"
hurriedly he took out another book reading.
"Different runes and their uses."
Arthur placed the books back and rushed back to the table and looked again at the symbols drawn on paper.
"It's a mage. This is a mage's house." Arthur exclaimed, heart almost jumped out.
Humans were divided into two parts in this world. Mages and regular people . Two out of every three people in this world were mages and that remaining 1 person were manaless. They are considered even lower than animals due to the hatred that took its roots at the start of humanity. The reason is mostly forgotten by now, leaving behind only a hollow shell of hatred.
Normal people live in specialized concentrated camp areas allowed by mages and they are not allowed to leave the area without a supervising mage's permission which was always a NO if mage was in good mood.
They are only given work at the lowest spectrum of the society. Their life is miserable and they can do nothing about it because of how powerless they are.
Arthur became nervous on finding out that it was a mage's house but he quickly calmed down thinking-
"If they wanted to kill me why would they save me in first place. Why would they even bother"
Standing near window, Arthur's train of thoughts were interrupted by an icy cold wind. He walked up to the window and looked outside. It was first floor he was standing on.
The house was completely surrounded with trees and forest with no village or another house in sight.
Arthur's eyes drifted to a beautiful pond at entrances, because of all the trees the pond's surface was as calm as a mirror even with all the cold wind.
"Is someone sitting there?" Arthur thought to himself seeing a figure sitting beside pond. His eyes narrowed and hands covered area above his eyes to take a closer look.
"A..A girl?" She was almost the same age as Arthur, long golden hair and white skin which almost had a slight pink colour to it.
As Arthur looked more closely the girl suddenly turned and looked straight into Arthur's eyes. Her eyes were calm like the pond. Her deep dark eyes felt like they pierced straight through Arthur's mind and read what was never revealed.
Arthur looked away flustered, moving away from window and staring back at the mess study table. He didn't know why he stared but just when he was about to walk back to bed.
A calm voice entered Arthur's ears
"You know, it's not good to look into other people's work without their permission"
His heart jumped out of surprise. Arthur turns around hastily twisting his whole body.
A boy roughly his own age or possibly younger, dressed up properly with a white shirt and a jacket on top of it. Stood at the gate. His deep blue hairs was short. The boy just stood there, his hands crossed and a complex expression on face.
"Di…Did you save me?" Arthur asks nervously. His fingers fidgeted by his side. The one in front of him was a mage afterall.
Sigh.. "Just follow me" the boy spoke softly as he moved down the hall.
Arthur hesitates for a second but wipes off sweat from his forehead and followed behind quickly
Creak… crack…
Weird noises creaked as arthur followed behind into the old wooden hall.
"I.. it's so dark" arthur thought to himself as his heart felt unease looking at end of hallway which was completely dark with no sign of an opening.
As they both walked further the once bright hallway lit with sunlight was now completely and utterly dark as if they are not in hallway but in an dark open space.
"Hold my hand" said they boy extending his hand. He looked unbothered but his face showed a slight of annoyance.
"Ye…yes" arthur could barely see the boy in front of him by now. He took a leap forward and held the boy's hand quickly.
Swoosh… woosh…
As soon as arthur grabbed his hand the darkness blew away like smoke in the sky.
Pupils shrunk and arthur squinted his eyes, covering the bright light coming directly into his eyes with his hand.
The flash of brightness in eyes slowly stabilised and The room came into view. It was a large room with sofas in the corner to sit and lamps beside them. A door was opened on the other end of room from which the light entered, it was the exit but what attracted Arthur's attention the most was not the room itself but the people in it.
A young man in his early twenties sat on the sofa, reading a thin book in his hand. His hands and book were illuminated with soft sunlight entering the room from the window. His posture straight and movement dignified like a high ranking noble. A soft aura surrounded him entirely. The man saw arthur through a corner of his eyes and immediately raises his head, he waves at Arthur hello with a bright smile on his face.
Arthur was confused and nervous. His eyes subconsciously swept away from the corner to the centre of the room. Where a tall man roughly in his late twenties stood with his hands behind his back. His broad shoulders, thin waist and lean muscles gave a sharp look to him but what struck out the most to Arthur was his glimmering light green eyes.
"So you are finally awake" said the green eyed man in the centre looking arthur directly in the eye.
Arthur was stunned for a second.
"Why are all of them so nice to me. They are all mages and I am just a normal person. What do they want from me, no what even can I give them" arthur thought to himself.
"Ye…yes" he replies nervously, turning his eyes to the floor.
Normal people were not allowed to talk to mages while looking in the eyes or they were killed or even tortured for amusement.
The man sighed. "Can you guys give us some space to talk personally" the man said requesting both the young boy and the man sitting on sofa to leave them alone for a while.
Both didn't say a word and walked out of house through the door. The man however waved back at Arthur and gave a thumbs with a warm smile before finally closing the door.
"Oh, I didn't tell you my name, did I?" he started the conversation to ease the tension.
The man continued to speak, seeing Arthur in a deep thought.
"You can call me Gideon, come let's sit and talk" the man said signalling at two seats and a table at the centre which weren't there earlier. Both chair and table came out of the wooden floor, shaping and shifting wood like clay.
"Let me join you." Arthur blurted out. There was a time when the kingdom was prosperous. The king was a strong man and his subjects trusted him completely even the normal people with no magic abilities were given a chance to grow. He was the first king in human history who thought of normal people too. Before that normal people were considered even less than animals just like now.
But one day suddenly the king refused to attend his monthly assemblies where problems were brought to him by people seeking solutions and then another, then another and the king never showed up after that day. He made most of treaties and decisions from his palace and implemented them.
Nobles were given all the power and they started oppressing people of Kingdom. Poor mages or weak mages were killed on wimp and normal people's conditions were even worse.
Seeing this injustice a group of people rose, fighting the kingdom in dark for their and everyone else's freedom. People called them The rebels.
"Do you even know who we are?" Gideon asked. Smile on his face faded and was replaced with a dark serious expression.
Arthur gulped saliva down his throat. He could feel the change in tension.
"You are the rebels" Arthur said hesitantly. Cold sweat broke from Arthur's head. His pupils dilated as he felt the immense pressure of silence in the room.
"What even is point of my life anymore. Mother and Ned both are dead. Killed by scum of this kingdom. If I just leave this place silently today what will I even do with my life, simply await death of old age."
Life only has meaning when it has a drive. A life cannot move forward without drive in it. Even when a person's life is empty and deprived of their drive, the only thing that keeps them moving is their drive in them to find their drive for life not knowing they already have that. A person with no ambition does not mean they have no drive. Even a person with zero ambition live. Drive is not something grand and possessed only by strong and successful. Something as small as the will to eat an ice cream is a drive. The will to see sunset from a particular place is a drive.
Even something simple enough to just exist until everything get better when all in the life is misery and suffering is also a drive.
And most often than not the simplest of drives are harder to find than an ambitious one.